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Towards XML standards in insurance

Kemble, John
 
 John  Kemble
 Manager, Electronic Commerce
 Association of British Insurers
 London 
 United Kingdom 
Association of British Insurers,  51 Gresham Street
London   EC2V 7HQ United Kingdom
Phone: +44 20 7216 7325 Fax: +44 20 7367 8594 email: John.Kemble@abi.org.uk web site: www.abi.org.uk
 Biography
 John Kemble - John Kemble started work in the computer department at the British Insurance Association in 1973. He first ventured into electronic commerce in 1989, when he was asked to head up the newly formed IT Development department at the Association of British Insurers. Now Manager of Electronic Commerce, his role is to represent the industry's views on various EC standards bodies, and to help to co-ordinate insurance electronic commerce activities. He is also responsible for InStep, which is the UK EDI initiative in the personal lines area, and helped set up their first project involving the creation of XML standards for motor insurance. John is currently Chairman of EDIFACT D9, the insurance committee of the global EDI standards setting body, and a member of the EDIFACT Management Team and Steering Committee. He is also Vice-Chair of eEG7, the EDIFACT European insurance group. In his D9 role he was responsible for setting up a pilot project creating XML standards for cargo insurance.
 Abstract
 Communications standards have traditionally been fragmented in the insurance industry, with little co-ordination between areas that are geographically separate, between different lines of business and between different business functions. XML could provide both a rationale and ability to break down those barriers - but only if the industry is prepared to face up to the challenges this opportunity presents.
 XML Standards in Insurance
 
  • the insurance industry
    •  
  • standards in use
    •  
  • XML to the rescue?
    •  
  • a way forward
    •  The Insurance Industry
     
  • General
    •  
  • Life and Pensions
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  • Healthcare
    •  
  • Commercial
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  • Reinsurance
    •  An Insurance Company
     
  • policy sales and administration
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  • claims handling
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  • accounting
    •  Policy Sales and Administration
     
  • clients
    •  
  • intermediaries
    •  
  • software systems suppliers
    •  Claims handling
     
  • clients
    •  
  • claims handlers
    •  
  • claims adjusters
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  • vehicle repairers
    •  
  • replacement goods providers
    •  Accounting
     
  • banks
    •  
  • credit agencies
    •  
  • finance houses
    •  Consolidation, Globalisation and Partnering
     
  • mergers to form insurance giants
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  • companies increasingly multinational
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  • odd bed-fellows
    •  Current Electronic Commerce Solutions
     
  • EDI
     
  • EDIFACT
    •  
  • National/regional/community standards

    •  
  • WWW
     
  • HTML
    •  
  • XML

    •  The Way Forward
     
  • ebXML
    •  
  • EDIFACT
    •  ebXML
     
  • Solving interoperability problems
    •  
  • Delivering a definitive set of technical specifications and recommendations
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  • Inaugural meeting 17-19 November 1999
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  • 18 month project plan envisaged
    •  EDIFACT
     
  • EDI Standard
     
  • Directories
    •  
  • Syntax
    •  
  • Message Design Rules
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  • Approval & Maintenance procedure

    •  
  • Global
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  • 13 Industry Sectors
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  • Technical Groups
    •  EDIFACT Insurance Group
     
  • D9 (Global) and EEG7 (Europe)
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  • D9 - Europe, USA, Canada, Japan, Columbia, Australia
    •  
  • EEG7 - Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Netherlands, UK
    •  EDIFACT Insurance - Europe
     
  • Policy Administration, Claims, Accounting, Cargo, Healthcare, Reinsurance
    •  
  • EDI messages
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  • Data Modelling
    •  EDIFACT Insurance - Global
     
  • XML discussed in March 1999
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  • Pilot study set up in Cargo area
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  • Based on Data Model
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  • Pilot implementation due shortly
    •  Why EDIFACT?
     
  • Background in standards
    •  
  • Neutral
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  • Global reach, global trust
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  • Owned by user base
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  • UN, ISO backing
    •  Current initiatives
     
  • Cargo insurance pilot
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  • Motor quotation pilot
    •  The Insurance Project
     
  • Top down model
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  • Bottom up - reverse engineering existing solutions
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  • Mapping between the two
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  • To be documented using XML
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  • XML to be extracted as required
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  • Extendable to other technologies eg OO
    •  
  • Started March 2000
    •  
  • Watch this space
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