Root release update | January 2025

What's new this month? 🚀

• New tools for policy lapse and NTU prevention

  You can now prevent a policy from lapsing or entering an NTU (Not Taken Up) state for a specified duration. Read the docs and Help Centre guides.

  • A new prevent-lapse-or-ntu endpoint allows you to pause lapsing, and any changes will be recorded as policy events: PolicyLapseAndNTUPrevented and PolicyLapseAndNTUResumed.
  • To improve transparency, we’ve added a reason field when preventing a lapse, helping track why the action was taken.
  • In Root Web, a new modal lets you set a start and end date for lapse and NTU prevention, while another modal allows you to resume lapsing when needed. These updates ensure better visibility by logging all actions in the activity bar.
  • This feature is available when the preventPolicyLapseAndNTU setting is enabled in the product module.
    
    
  

• Pending policy status

  We've also introduced a new policy status called pending, which functions like pending_initial_payment but does not raise premiums against pending policies. A new defaultStatus setting in product modules allows you to choose between pending and pending_initial_payment as the default policy status. Read the docs.

• Streamlined product module version management

  You can now publish product module updates independently, without relying on Root’s support. The new rp publish command in Workbench CLI lets you seamlessly publish the latest draft version to live. Product modules now automatically reference their latest respective versions—live policies, quotes, and applications will always use the latest live version, while draft environments will reference the latest draft version. This eliminates manual version bumps, simplifies version management, and ensures consistency across workflows. Read the docs.

• Disable premium debits for product modules

  A new disableDebitPremiums setting in product module billing settings allows you to prevent premium debits for policies within a product module. While the debit job will still run, affected policies won’t be included. If this setting is left undefined, premium debits will continue as usual. Read the docs.

• Alerts for premium and billing day changes on Policy view

  The policy view now displays info alerts when a premium amount or billing day changes while a pending premium payment exists with a different amount or date. This helps you better understand billing updates and how they impact the policy.

  

• Sandbox flushing now includes payments

  When the sandbox is flushed, payments are now included in the reset. This ensures a more comprehensive refresh of test data. Read the docs.

• Clearer error handling for missing API key

  Workbench now provides a clear error message when an action is attempted without an API key, making it easier to identify and resolve authentication issues.

• Alteration hook configuration for Embed | Management

  You can now configure which alteration hooks appear in your Embed | Management flow. By default, all alteration hooks are displayed, but you can explicitly disable any that shouldn't be shown, giving you greater control over policy alterations in Embed. Read the docs.

If you have any suggestions or feedback, please share them with your Project Lead or submit them via the Root product roadmap so that we can take them into account.

Let's build this awesome new future of insurance together 💪