CCC estimate files, explained: AWF, XME, EMS, BMS and PDF

The files at a glance

An estimate written in CCC ONE can leave the building in several shapes. Some are for software, so another system can load the numbers; one is for people. Here is how they compare.

How an estimate file travels

For an independent appraiser, the estimate rarely goes straight to the carrier. It is written in CCC ONE, uploaded to the portal or IA firm that sent the assignment, reviewed there, and then passed to the carrier, and sometimes on to the repair shop. Each hop wants a slightly different file.

What is an .AWF file?

In collision estimating, an .AWF file is a CCC ONE workfile copy. CCC ONE lists it as an export type called Workfile Copy - AWF Estimate, next to the EMS estimate export.^[1] A workfile copy carries the estimate itself, so the person who imports it gets an editable estimate in their own CCC ONE rather than a printout.

You create one with CCC ONE's Export Workfile Copy command, and CCC ONE can be set up with one or more folders where those exports land.^[4][6] The receiving side brings it in with Import Workfile Copy (covered below). CCC also calls the import-from-disk feature Auto Workfile Entry (AWE), and some of its older training material refers to these as AWE files.^[2][8]

The same extension, other meanings. File-extension directories list several unrelated programs that have used .awf, including an old Adobe workgroup plug-in and waveform files from a hardware simulation tool.^[17] If someone hands you an .awf outside a claim, it is probably not an estimate. Adobe software will not open a CCC workfile, and CCC ONE will not open those.

What is an .XME file?

An .xme file, in a CCC workflow, is a single-file CCC workfile: the estimate packaged so that CCC ONE, on the appraiser's own computer, takes it in as an editable estimate. It is not a document you read, and it is not meant to be opened by anything other than CCC ONE.

Two practical points. First, an .xme is not interchangeable with an .AWF: renaming one into the other does not convert it. Second, the extension is also used outside collision estimating, most notably by the Generic Modeling Environment, an engineering tool.^[18] An .xme that did not come from a claim is likely one of those.

What is an EMS file?

EMS is the Estimate Management Standard from CIECA, the collision industry's standards body. CIECA developed it in 1994 as the industry's first standard way to export estimate data, originally so it could flow into shop management systems.^[10][11] The format is dBase 4: the estimate is written out as a small set of database files rather than one document.^[10]

The files inside an EMS export

CIECA describes an EMS file as a zipped folder of sub-files.^[11] You will see extensions like these, all sharing the same base name:^[16]

• .ENV
• .AD1
• .AD2
• .VEH
• .LIN
• .TTL
• .STL
• .PFL
• .PFM
• .PFO
• .PFP
• .PFT

The names hint at the contents (VEH for the vehicle, LIN for the estimate lines, TTL for totals), but the authoritative field definitions are in CIECA's EMS specification, which is a members' document. The practical rule: keep the set together. A lone .VEH or .LIN is useless to the receiving system.

CIECA calls EMS end of life: it has not been updated since 2006, and CIECA encourages BMS or its API for new work.^[10] It is still everywhere, though. CCC ONE exports EMS 2.01 Estimate files, and its import and export folders are set up in the machine settings.^[1][14] Portals and shop software read those folders; Mitchell's help, for example, tells users to point its connector at CCC ONE's EMS export path.^[15] CCC, which once planned to switch EMS exports off, later said it would keep supporting them.^[13]

What is BMS?

BMS is CIECA's XML-based standard and the one CIECA puts forward today.^[10] Where EMS hands over the whole estimate, BMS lets the sender include only what a given business needs, and it covers many more transactions than estimates alone.^[12]

On the CCC side, BMS data is exchanged through CCC Secure Share, which CCC describes as applying the BMS protocol with encryption; in 2021 CCC told Repairer Driven News that repairers and vendors must use Secure Share for BMS.^[12] For an independent appraiser this mostly happens behind the scenes: you rarely send a BMS file by hand.

The PDF estimate

The PDF is the estimate as people see it: the printed report with the vehicle, the lines, the totals and your signature block. It is what the adjuster reads, what the insured gets, and what a reviewer marks up. It cannot be imported to rebuild the estimate in another system, which is why portals usually want it alongside a data file. Mitchell's help for CCC ONE users, for instance, has you upload the estimate and then attach the PDF on a separate step.^[14]

Lock the estimate before you print the PDF you send, so the PDF and the data file describe the same version.

Which file should I send?

The assignment instructions decide. When they are vague, this is what each party typically needs:

Why the split? Software needs structured data to load the estimate without retyping, and people need something they can read without software. That is why most portals ask for both.

How to import a workfile into CCC ONE

These steps follow CCC's repair facility help for importing a workfile copy from disk.^[2] Menus differ between CCC ONE editions and releases, so treat them as a guide and check your version's help if a label does not match.

1. Save the workfile somewhere you can find it, such as your desktop.
2. In CCC ONE, choose Action > Import Workfile Copy.
3. Select Import copy of workfile from disk, then Next.
4. Browse to the file, select it, choose Open, then Next.
5. Choose Finish. The workfile now appears on your Workfiles screen.

In the insurance company edition, the same import starts from the Import Workfile from disk link in the My Work panel.^[3] On the web version, cccone.com, imports rely on the CCC ONE Data Transfer application running on a Windows PC.^[9]

When the file will not open

Double-clicking does nothing, or asks for a program

That is expected. Workfile copies are imported from inside CCC ONE, not opened from the desktop. Use the import steps above. If you do not have CCC ONE and only need to read the estimate, ask for the PDF.

It is not actually a CCC file

Both .awf and .xme are shared with unrelated software.^[17][18] If the file did not arrive with a claim, from a carrier, firm, shop or estimating tool, it is probably something else.

It came from another system or an older release

An estimate written in a different estimating system will not import as a CCC workfile; that is what EMS is for. Files from older CCC software can also behave differently. CCC does not publish a compatibility table we could find, so the reliable fix is to ask the sender for a fresh export from a current CCC ONE, or for the EMS set and the PDF.

EMS files never appear

Check that EMS is enabled for your CCC ONE account and that the import and export folders are set in the machine settings; CCC notes that the communicating and EMS features must be enabled before those options can be configured.^[1] Then confirm the receiving program is watching the same folder.^[15]

The estimate came across, the photos did not

A workfile copy is about the estimate; photos may not come with it.^[7] Get them from the portal or ask the sender.

Someone renamed the extension

Changing .AWF to .xme (or anything else) does not convert the file; the importer will reject or ignore it. Ask for the right export instead.

Where blnd fits

blnd pulls assignments in from the claims portals independent appraisers work in and drafts the estimate from the assignment photos. The draft comes back as a PDF and, once you have added your CCC template (a workfile you export from your own CCC ONE, so the files carry your office and estimator details), as an .xme and an .AWF: files you can import into CCC ONE.

You import the draft, review every line, change anything you see differently, and lock it in CCC ONE as you always do. Nothing is uploaded to the portal until you approve it. See how blnd handles your portal logins.

CCC ONE is a registered trademark of CCC Intelligent Solutions Inc. blnd is independent and not affiliated with CCC, CIECA, Mitchell or any claims portal. Product names are used only to describe file formats.

Sources

CCC's help pages differ by edition and release; we cite the edition each step comes from. Checked October 18, 2026.

1. 1CCC help: Overview, Importing and Exporting Files · CCC ONE, repair facility
2. 2CCC help: Importing a Workfile Copy From Disk · CCC ONE, repair facility
3. 3CCC help: Importing a Workfile Copy From Disk · CCC ONE, insurance company
4. 4CCC help: Exporting a Workfile Copy · CCC ONE, insurance company
5. 5CCC help: Requesting a Workfile Copy from the Library · CCC ONE, repair facility
6. 6CCC help: Setting Up File Export Directories · CCC ONE, repair facility
7. 7CCC training: Requesting an Estimate Share from an Insurance Staff Appraiser (PDF)
8. 8CCC training: Job Aid, IA Workfile Copy (PDF)
9. 9CCC help center: Import & Export Workfiles on cccone.com
10. 10CIECA: Standards overview (EMS, BMS, API)
11. 11CIECA: EMS Standard
12. 12Repairer Driven News: Estimating systems discuss body shops' options for managing BMS communication (May 2021)
13. 13BodyShopBusiness: CCC eliminates Secure Share transaction fees, will continue to support EMS files
14. 14Mitchell help: CCC ONE Estimating Files
15. 15Mitchell help: EMS or BMS Path Configuration and Troubleshooting
16. 16DBFView (App Store listing): CIECA EMS file extensions
17. 17file-extensions.org: .awf
18. 18file-extensions.org: .xme