Abstract: An agent assistance program (AAP) is disclosed for evaluating business potential of a general insurance agency, insurance agent or broker and, if justified by the business potential, locating an insurance underwriter in the office of the general insurance agency. The evaluation is based upon a potential increase in business. An underwriter assigned to a particular agency, agent or broker is provided with a computer configured to access an affiliated insurance company's network and/or database to facilitate the underwriter's use of the insurance company's rating system. The workstation may be periodically updated with rating information relevant to the insurance agent so that the underwriter is able to provide a quote in the event of a database, network or communication link outage.