MIP Holdings, a South African software development company, has expanded its scope of operations in the financial markets with the release of its life assurance administration application, AstraLife.
Jack Selesnik, AstraLife project manager, says the system takes care of the day-to-day administration tasks every assurance company faces, such as claims, end-of-day/month/year processing as well as automatic and manual receipts and payments. "Whether it is new business, claims or updates to policy and personal information, AstraLife is designed to make the administration as simple as possible," Selesnik says.
AstraLife is also the first step in MIP`s all-encompassing vision to incorporate the administration of medical aid, pension and general financial funds into one system. "These businesses all make use of the same basic foundation functionality and we have built this into AstraLife," he adds. "Of course, we realise each business has its own unique characteristics, as does each market and we have built the system to be easily customisable for every client`s needs."
For example, if a user selects a client or product which is for life assurance, the system will `speak` life assurance lingo, If a user selects a client or product which is for pension, the system will represent data in the pension lingo. What really makes AstraLife stand above other products is that from a single interface, a user can immediately see everywhere that a client interfaces to their business - from beneficiary, life assured, policy owner, dependant and so on.
Apart from the traditional administration features, the product is fully integrated into general ledger as well as all the necessary payment interfaces: ACB, credit card, Persal (government), SARS, Telkom and others. Developed on a Progress database using Dynamics, a Progress development tool originally designed and developed by MIP, the system is completely Web-based while still offering a feature-rich user interface. The benefit is that only a small application footprint is installed on the user`s computer while the main body of data and business processes remains safely on a server.
MIP has completed its pilot phase with an assurance client boasting 144 000 policies, a figure that grows every month. "The system went live in October 2002 and a series of case studies with different scenarios were put together to try and test each piece of functionality," Selesnik affirms.
Numerous features not normally included in assurance packages have been included in Astra Life:
* Product configuration data is captured using spreadsheet technology via a cut-and-paste mechanism.
* Products are component based. Reusability of calculations is a key design feature that reduces new product implementation time and cost. The first installation supports 85 actuarially signed-off products utilising of a total only 44 components. Each component may use product specific tables entered via the spreadsheet interface.
* A report interface has also been designed to enable documents to be created using an XML to PDF process, permitting users to digitally sign reports and policy documents.
* Brokers add a complexity to the industry and a versatile management system simplifies all of the issues associated with split commissions, payment terms, clawbacks, broker migration, etc.
* XML assists in the conversion of data from foreign systems to AstraLife.
* Business processes are driven via built-in wizards and workflow procedures.
* Fax, e-mail and SMS have been integrated into the solution. Insurance companies can use SMS to notify brokers that their clients` policies have been accepted, or to notify clients directly.
Astra Life is the result of a long development process between MIP and the application`s first client. Developing the system for an assurance company and then running various scenarios in the pilot phase has ensured the product is targeted at the specific needs of life administrators and provides all the functionality they require to run their back and front offices while focusing on customers.
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