The Challenge
In today’s insurance industry, having immediate access to updated financial data is more than a competitive advantage, it is a competitive necessity. A challenge our client, a major insurance carrier, faced.
They required a seamless data flow between their policy administration system, Guidewire Policy Center, and their financial system, PeopleSoft, with a Data Warehouse acting as the vital intermediate component.
With multiple instances of Guidewire across their products and geographies, traditional methods could not provide the efficiency, real-time accessibility, and streamlined data flow that the business demanded.
The OZ team accepted the challenge, stepping in to overhaul their data integration process with a solution that leveraged the industry standard ACORD messaging format and an enterprise-level message bus architecture.
The Solution
In the new setup, the Guidewire system generates ACORD messages whenever significant policy changes — such as endorsements, new policies, or cancellations — occur. These messages are immediately dispatched to a middleware platform — in this case, IBM’s App Connect Enterprise (IBM ACE). Rather than operating on an older point-to-point data transfer system, OZ instituted a bus-based communication system, enabling applications to subscribe, as necessary and appropriate, to any and all messages originating from Guidewire.
Next, we developed a web service that processes these ACORD messages, parses the data, and stores it in a database that feeds into the client’s Data Warehouse. The use of the Data Warehouse as an intermediary between Guidewire and PeopleSoft ensures real-time accessibility, synchronization, and standardization of data, keeping our client’s financial system continuously updated. This eliminates the need for manual entries and allows for an immediate response to financial changes related to any policy in the Guidewire system.
But we didn’t stop there. Recognizing our client’s unique data needs, we extended our services to handle customized ACORD messages.
Results
The integration between Guidewire and PeopleSoft through a real-time data warehouse has provided our client with many benefits:
- Enhanced Competitive Edge: The ability to access up-to-the-minute financial records has given our client a strategic advantage. By enabling real-time insights, they are now more agile, responsive, and better positioned to make informed, data-driven decisions.
- Streamlined Data Management: The creation of more efficient, accurate, and automated data management processes has brought our client closer to complete migration to the Data Warehouse, translating into significant savings in both time and resources.
- Rapid Implementation: The entire transition took only around 90 days from inception to production, underscoring our commitment to meeting business needs without delays and minimal disruption.
If you’re seeking real-time data integration, financial data accuracy, and operational efficiency, we’re here to help you achieve your goals. Contact us today.