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Last updated: 2025-09-19


Integrations - National Insurance Producer Registry (NIPR)


Overview


The National Insurance Producer Registry (NIPR) integration for SmartOffice enables U.S. brokerage general agencies to onboard advisors quickly by electronically downloading advisor data directly from NIPR's Producer Database. Soon, the integration will also gives agencies the option of automatically downloading ongoing updates to that data after the initial download.


The data that can be downloaded into SmartOffice includes:


  • Demographic data
  • Addresses
  • Phone numbers
  • E-mail addresses
  • National Producer Number (NPN)
  • Licenses
  • Appointments

The database, updated daily, is a central repository of advisor data covering all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Guam, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. For more information about NIPR and the Producer Database, visit the NIPR website.


Requirements


  • NIPR account: Before beginning the setup process described in the following sections, you must obtain a user ID and password from NIPR (this information is required to configure the integration). To do so, send an e-mail message to marketing@nipr.com inquire about receiving Producer Database data. Make sure to mention that you are using SmartOffice. NIPR charges a per-transaction fee for each licensing/appointment data request (requests for NPN data are free), as well as a monthly fee for each advisor you want to monitor for updates. For these reasons, your agency must complete an agreement with NIPR before you can set up and use the integration. Note the following:
  • NIPR will bill your agency directly on a monthly basis.
  • NIPR does not charge a membership, setup or cancellation fee. - NIPR does not require a minimum number of transactions per month.

SmartOffice Setup


Office Setup


A SmartOffice user with the Pending Case \& Policy Setup Administrator license must enter the agency's NIPR account information in Policy/Case Setup \> Licensing/Contracting Setup \> Electronic L\&A Setup.


For instructions, see the Electronic L\&A Setup section in Policy/Case Setup - Licensing/Contracting Setup.


User Setup


Once office setup is complete, a SmartOffice administrator with the ability to assign licenses must enable the appropriate license for each SmartOffice user who will use the integration.


  1. Sign in to SmartOffice Pro.
  2. Do one of the following:
  • If you are setting up the integration for the user account your are currently signed in to, click the profile menu in the upper-right corner, and then select Profile \& Settings Image from base_button_profile_settings.png.
  1. With the user account record open, click the User Rights content link.
  2. In the Licenses column, under Integration, select these user rights:
  • Get NPN
  • Get Licensing
  • Get Licensing/Appointment
  1. Select Menu \> Save.

Data Setup


Advisors


  • Ensure that all of your advisor records have a Social Security number entered on the advisor Personal content link. This information is used to retrieve the advisor's National Producer Number (NPN) from the Producer Database. The NPN is required to download licensing and appointment data from the database. If the Social Security number is missing from the advisor record, SmartOffice tries to find the advisor in the database based on name and birth date.
  • To receive ongoing updates automatically for an advisor (this feature is coming soon), select the L\&A Alert option on the advisor's Personal content link.

Carriers


  • In your SmartOffice carrier records, make sure the NAIC ID field on the carrier Detail content link is filled in. The NIPR data feed matches carrier information in appointment records using the NAIC ID. If this information is missing in SmartOffice, duplicate carrier records may be created.

Using the Integration


Initial Data Download/Manual Update


Follow these steps to download data for an advisor for the first time or to perform subsequent updates manually.


  1. Search for the advisor and open the advisor's advisor Personal content link.
  2. If the advisor's NPN field is blank, select Menu \> Integrations \> Get NPN to download that information from the Producer Database. The NPN is required to download licensing and appointment data from the database.
  3. Select Menu \> Integrations \> Get Licensing or Menu \> Integrations \> Get Licensing/Appointment, depending on the information you want to retrieve. Important: If you choose to retrieve appointments, SmartOffice currently downloads all of the advisor's appointments, including those the advisor may have with other agencies. You will have to manually delete any appointments that are not relevant to your agency.
  4. Wait a few moments while SmartOffice connects to the Producer Database and downloads the data.
  5. When the advisor record reappears, review the Personal content link,  License/Compliance content link and Cont./Appt. content link to confirm that the data was downloaded (it may be necessary to manually refresh the page to see the changes). Note that any addresses and phone numbers downloaded from the database have "NIPR" in the Remarks field to indicate their origin.

Note: Data from NIPR does not change or overwrite existing data in SmartOffice advisor records. SmartOffice tries to match incoming demographic, licensing and appointment data from NIPR with existing records in SmartOffice to avoid creating duplicates. In some instances, however, duplicate data may be created if SmartOffice encounters any uncertainty when matching data.


Automatic Update (Coming Soon)


For advisors you have designated to receive automatic ongoing data updates from NIPR (see Data Setup), no additional action is needed. After the initial data download, NIPR will update the advisor's data in SmartOffice automatically. Update checks occur daily.


You can specify which information you want updated automatically by accessing your account on the NIPR website. You can narrow it down by type of business, type of data (demographic, licensing and/or appointment), state, and carrier.