Axe

Working Model

A working model provides an insurer with a pre-customized system that is configurable to meet their specific business needs.  The working model contains application domains, UI components, user roles, process frameworks, application widgets, dashboard reports and document templates.

These put together give the insurer a working system, designed based on best practices, which can then be tailored through rules configuration and integration, with their own policies, guidelines, branding, products and processing rules.

This approach allows for rapid implementation of a solution that best fits an insurer’s business.  Easily integrateable with existing systems, Axelerator's working models deliver a way of quickly building a flexible solution that is future-proof and adaptable to meet current and future business requirements.

Rules Engine

At the heart of Axelerator is its unique rules engine.  This provides for a rules-driven environment where the application, content and process are defined within rules.  Rules capture logic and specify action.  In Axelerator, rules are centrally managed and drive everything including presentation, business logic, data validation, integration, workflow and calculations.

The Axelerator Insurance Platform provides a highly scalable foundation for building software applications tailored for the insurance industry.  It is superior to traditional programming tools for applications that involve many business rules and demand quality user experience.

Axelerator’s engine thrives on complexity. There is no practical limit to the number or inter-relationships of the rules.  The engine’s unique design means it can handle very complex scenarios with very rapid responses.

Reflexive Questioning

In Axelerator, rules drive the structure and flow of data capture forms allowing questions on the forms to be altered in real-time in response to user and system input.  Questions are dynamically driven by the answers users give, allowing reflexive questions to be asked and detailed questions included which are too voluminous for paper or static web forms.

Reflexive questions can be rendered on the user interface either as “dynamic” where they appear immediately on the same screen or configured to appear on a following screen when the user presses the “Next” button.

Rules Studio

The Axelerator Studio tool provides a user-friendly drag and drop GUI interface for defining and managing rules.  It is designed to be used by business analysts, rather than programmers or developers, so that rules and applications can be developed quickly and maintained easily.

Through the Studio, an insurer can define the questions needed to gather information, the conditions under which each question is asked, roles entitled to the rule, and the action that occurs once a question is asked.

Rules Deployment

Rules developed in Studio are deployed to an Axelerator server via another GUI tool.  Once rules have been developed, or changes are made to existing rules, the Axelerator Rules Deployer tool is used to version the rules and to move the updated rulesets through the various testing environments to release to production.

Personalization

Another key part of the Axelerator platform is its personalization engine.  This delivers the multi-channel capability.  It allows for the definition of users and roles, channels, white labelling, UI themes, and user workspaces. 

Role types can be defined to provide for differing levels of access.  When users are created in the system they are assigned a role type which governs what processes and information are visible to them and what they have access to.

Axelerator’s personalization functionality provides the ability to generate and present the web user interface differently for each route to market used by an enterprise, e.g., directly through the organization’s website or through a partner so the web interface takes on the look and feel of the partner’s website.  This is often called white-labelling.

Personalization is currently being extended for country and location templates to enable multi-currency, multi-language and other country specific variances to be configured as part of the personalization process.

Web Framework

This generates the Web User Interface and works in tandem with the Rules Engine to deliver the flexible presentation layer capabilities.  Axelerator uses information provided in the rules to determine how the web page will be presented to the user.  Rules-driven web pages are generated dynamically, with no hard coding required, giving insurers’ the flexibility to rapidly make changes to rules and pages simultaneously.

Eclipse RCP Framework

Like the Web Framework this generates the User Interface within the Eclipse Rich Client Platform so it can run stand alone on a PC or Laptop.  This can be synchronised with the main server, sending up new quotes and applications, otherwise known as sessions, and receiving back new rules and code changes.

Workflow/STP

The Axelerator platform also provides an in-built, configurable and flexible workflow engine.  Workflow capability combined with the rules engine is the key to delivering the adaptive straight through processing feature in Axelerator.   
Axelerator provides an intuitive interface that guides the Users though the various steps. When one person has completed their tasks, it moves an item to the dashboard or workbench of the next person or team in the process.

Users can be alerted of work needing their attention via email or through other messaging systems.  Service Levels are automatically tracked to encourage prompt service and to trigger escalation of tasks when overdue.

Document Management

Axelerator contains document generation tools for producing web reports, PDFs and Microsoft Word documents.  Session specific documents can be generated from Microsoft Word templates.  The templates can be edited in Word, and data uploaded from a session to produce tailored documents or reports.  Graphs can also be dynamically generated and saved as images for embedding in Word or PDF documents.

User Access Methods

Axelerator runs on a central server, and can be accessed via the internet, mobile devices, tablets or offline laptops.  The Mobile Technology version allows Axelerator to be run on a laptop not connected to the Internet.  Mobile users can gather information using Axelerator and apply complex business rules offline.  Once connected to the Internet, Axelerator Mobile automatically synchronizes the changes with the central server.

User Services

Axelerator provides full control over user registration, authentication and authorization through its User Administration module.  Axelerator verifies the User ID and Password and retrieves the access rights assigned to the user by either referencing its own User Authentication system or linking to an external LDAP user authentication system.

Integration Services

Axelerator can integrate with, or overlay, existing back-end or legacy systems, allowing the creation of rules that access existing systems and integration of them into new automated processes. 

Integration is achieved with standard connectors incorporated into Axelerator for common technologies and applications.  Custom component integrations can also be created which are client-specific and built using the integration tools available with the Platform which include web services, API’s and database access tools.

Security

Axelerator runs inside a J2EE Application Server and Axelerator works with the J2EE security features to ensure enterprise class security.

Portals and Reporting

Role-specific dashboards or workbenches displaying the items requiring attention and other information specific to a user’s function are included.  These are easily configurable to meet an insurer’s specific requirements. 

These dashboard components include real time Management Reports such as on Service Level results, Workload tracking and analysis of Sales trends and results.

Self-service portals can also be configured and can allow users to perform functions themselves over the internet without requiring the insurer’s intervention.

Axelerator creates an audit trail of activities of each process which can be analysed to look for bottlenecks and streamline processes.

Data Extract

The bulk of the information gathered by the question dialogue and the subsequent internal actions performed such as calculations are stored in XML.

The Management Reporting extract converts all this data to an SQL database format to enable detailed analysis.  Normally this data is scattered over paper forms and unable to meaningfully analysed