ACORD announced the general release of the ACORD FrameworkInformation Model version 2.0. This is one of the five facets ofthe ACORD Framework. Over the past eighteen months, the ACORDFramework staff has been working on this new version that is fullyre-engineered and brings together two significant membercontributions: an Information Model from Prima Solutions and theBusiness Object Model from IBM.

"This was the result of contributions of time and of effort frommany members of the ACORD community and we're grateful to them allfor their dedication, hard work, and commitment to this project,"says Shane McCullough, chief enterprise architect, ACORD.

"Taking content from both sources and merging them into onecohesive and comprehensive model proved to be challenging but verybeneficial to the model itself," says Mark Orlandi, senior businessanalyst, ACORD. "On the surface, both models had very similarcontent and basic structures. However, when digging into thedetails, it became clear that there were subtle differences indesign philosophies and basic modeling principles. Staff andmembers worked together to reconcile these differences and theresult is a new and improved version available to theindustry."

The Information Model 2.0 represents the concepts andrelationships of the insurance industry across all domains. ForACORD, the model will continue to be the basis of all standardsdevelopment. For members, the model will continue to be used as thebasis of application development, for validation of existingmodels, and as a source of information exchange between businessand information technology for example.

"Another factor we considered carefully while working on thisharmonization was the existing ACORD Standards. This included thelarge ACORD Forms Library as well as the XML and EDI datastandards," said McCullough. "It was crucial to make decisions thataligned to existing standards to the Model."

Members participating in this effort were also pleased with theoutcome. "I firmly believe that the ACORD Information Model willrevolutionize our industry's capabilities. Its breadth, scope,detail and purity will help Cincinnati Insurance transform ourinternal architecture. As the vendor community adopts theseconcepts, we hope to be able to adopt their solutions more quicklyand with fewer integration challenges," says John Kellington,senior vice president and CIO, Cincinnati FinancialCorporation.

"We, at Informatica, view the release of the ACORD InformationModel 2.0 as a game-changing event for insurance industry," saysBoris Bolanov of Informatica. "Broad availability of theenterprise-class reference model allows carriers, software vendors,and service providers to align our respective strategies and moveforward together more effectively. We now share a common languageand a clear roadmap."

This model is the next step in ACORD's continued commitment todeliver enterprise architecture to the insurance industry. TheInformation Model provides a variety of practical uses for both theinsurance provider community as well as the service providercommunity. Having a single model representing the insuranceindustry will prove invaluable to the continued success of globalstandardization and business-to-business communication.