What is AL3?

AL3 is one of the P&C standards created by ACORD. This standard was developed in the early 1980s. AL3 is designed as a batch communication method for policy and commission data. Data dictionaries and supporting documentation of AL3 standards are stored in the Access database maintained by ACORD. This database is mainly updated every 6 months with new variations and changes.

AL3 standard is widely used across the Insurance industry of the USA for property and casualty data transmission. As per ACORD, more than 500 companies are using this standard.

ACORD AL3 Library:

The ACORD AL3 library accomplishes the AL3 messages standards. Which is basically used in the insurance industry. AL3 Standards are maintained by ACORD and AL3 messages handle the transmission of insurance information like policies, claims and so on.

Structure of AL3 file:

The structure of the AL3 file consists of groups and elements. As shown below:

Each group contains a number of elements that belong to that particular type of group (for example, Basic Insured Information (5BIS) groups contain elements like Insured’s Name, Agency id of Insured, and So on).
While we talk about the AL3 Elements, AL3 elements can contain specific information of Insured, policy, and so on. Each element has its length, data type, and class type. Description of these elements is also available in the ACORD database for help.

How to open AL3 files?

Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) is a process that helps to exchange business documents electronically. So AL3 is an EDI standard for the insurance industry.

To open an AL3 file we should have to use suitable software. Without any proper or suitable software, there will be a window message like: “How do you want to open this file?” or “Windows cannot open this file”.

Software: To open AL3 files, you can visit the website: https://products.winsurtech.com/. Here you can find an AL3 Product of Winsurtech named “AL3 Web Viewer”. You can also use the “AL3 Desktop Viewer” offered by Winsurtech. This will help you to open an AL3 file and also help to download the same file in JSON format.

Can we convert the AL3 files into other formats?

Yes, it is possible to convert an AL3 file into other formats like JSON, AMS_MAP, XML, etc. But suitable programming is needed to convert these files. You can use already existing APIs and software to convert AL3 files.

Software: Winsurtech offers an API or even a binary product (that can be installed on the server) to Convert an AL3 file into JSON, AMS_MAP, and XML formats. This API makes it very easy to extract data from the AL3 file into readable format. You can visit the link: https://winsurtech.com/al3-to-json-rest-api/ for more information.