For Actuarial Analysts ·
What you'll accomplish
An experience study runs for weeks, and every Monday you re-explain where it stands. A ChatGPT Project gives each study its own home. OpenAI's help article describes projects as grouping chats with reference files and custom instructions. With your study plan and running notes in one project, the weekly status note, the review checklist and the "what changed since last status" note start from the same material each time. The study file and your workbook remain the record.
What you'll need
Data caution. Check three things before you add anything. First, your company's AI policy and whether ChatGPT is an approved tool for study notes. Second, your plan's data controls for whether chats and files are used for training and how long they are retained. Third, what the notes contain. Use codes ("Study S-12", "Block A", "Reviewer B"), and keep out data extracts, results tables, policyholder details and anything tied to a person. If the policy does not allow it, the same setup works with a study plan and notes that you invent or rewrite as generic placeholders.
An invented example of the running notes:
Study S-12 (invented). Experience study for Block A.
Week of 5 Oct: Data request sent to the data team. Reviewer B asked for the exposure basis to be written down.
Week of 12 Oct: Data received. Control totals check started. One mismatch to resolve with the data team.
What you should see: Two short documents with codes and no extracts. Troubleshooting: If your notes grow long, keep only the last four weeks in the project file and archive the rest elsewhere.
What you should see: A project page where you can add files, add instructions and start chats. Labels and layout can change, so look for those three areas. Troubleshooting: If you cannot find Projects, it may not be offered on your plan or workspace. Ask IT, or use a single saved chat.
This project supports one actuarial experience study, referred to by its code.
Use only the files and what I write in the chat.
Never invent dates, owners, results or decisions. Write [blank] where a fact is missing.
Never propose an assumption, a method or a conclusion for the study.
Keep each output short, in plain language, using codes for blocks, studies and people.
End every output with a list headed "Needs checking" naming the facts I should confirm against the study file.
What you should see: Both files listed and the instructions saved. Troubleshooting: If the project ignores your files, start a new chat in the project and name the file in your first message.
At the end of the week, add your new lines to the running notes file (replace the project file with the updated version), then start a new chat in the project.
Write a weekly status note for Study S-12 for Reviewer B. Use the running notes. Cover what was done, what is waiting on someone, and what is next. Keep it under 150 words.
What you should see: A short note using the same codes and dates as your files, plus a "Needs checking" list. Troubleshooting: If the note mentions something you never wrote, delete it and remind the project to use only the files.
In another chat in the project, ask for a checklist built from the study plan.
From the study plan, list the checks Reviewer B would reasonably want done before the study is signed off, as a checklist of short items. Base each item on a step in the plan. Do not add methods.
What you should see: A checklist tied to your plan's steps. Troubleshooting: If it adds technical checks that are not in your plan, strike them or move them to a separate list for you to raise with the reviewing actuary.
After updating the notes file, ask:
Compare the latest running notes with the status note I sent last week (pasted below). List what is new, what changed and what is still open. Status note: [paste last week's note]
What you should see: Three short lists: new, changed, still open. Troubleshooting: If it misses a change, check that the project file is the updated version.
The project's memory is not the record. The study file and your workbook are. Before sending a status note, compare each fact with the study file.
Agenda for a check-in
Write a five-item agenda for a 20-minute check-in on Study S-12, based on the open items in the notes.
Handover note
Write a handover note for a colleague who will cover Study S-12 next week. Use only the files, and flag anything unclear.
Overdue steps
List the steps in the study plan whose target date is before 12 October and that the notes do not show as done. Do not guess.
Questions for the reviewer
List the open questions in the notes that need Reviewer B's decision, worded as short questions.