Many of you reading this are abundantly aware of the amount of time and energy wasted typing and re-typing information into underwriting and policy systems. The issue is especially apparent when multiple parties exist in the value chain (e.g., agency, MGA, carrier).
Specializing standards-based data using processes and components — that are also managed by standards organizations — is a way to drastically reduce the problem. Fortunately for all of us, this work is going on right now.
Standards organizations like ACORD have done an excellent job of creating data exchange standards for B2B information exchanges, but there's always been something missing: context. Without context, a messaging layer is like a box filled with Legos. The context is found within processes, which are realized through components. Those components communicate through both generally (simple create, read, update, delete) and process-specific services. Those services communicate with messages.
None of what I've said is new news, nor is it something gone unsaid before; in fact, that's both part of the answer and the problem. So many companies, especially vendors, have created component and process models that the content is a commodity at this point. Unfortunately, that commodity has not been standardized – every company's component model is different, yet fundamentally the same.
Fortunately for us, ACORD is working aggressively on the ACORD Framework, which is a five-part set of models for the insurance industry. Each facet is influenced by one or more vendor contributions that have been enhanced by carriers through the ACORD validation process.
ACORD has already delivered a business dictionary, capability model, information model, and data model. The component model, however, is the part that brings it all together and enables context-specific services and message data to be transmitted with little human interaction. Components are to the other Framework models what the network is to computers, printers, tablets, and so on. Work on that model has just begun, and now is the perfect time to learn about and influence it (hint, hint).
Check out ACORD for more and check back with my blog posts because I plan to write more about components, models, and how they're used. For my next entry, I'll provide details on components and why they're the missing link.
If you take one thing from this post, know that components are the missing link to efficient information integration across the various processes and organizations in our industry. ACORD's upcoming component model is how that link is realized. I urge you to participate or follow along as the model gets developed. This is big.
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