using soa to modernize critical systems

8/13/2019 Using SOA to Modernize Critical Systems

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2008

C05 Using SOA to Modernize CriticalSystems

Tuesday, November 11th, 4:00 5:15


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Moderator:

Jennifer Overhulse-King, Principal Owner St. Nick Media Services

Todays Speakers: Adam Nordost, Director of Professional Services CommercialLines Arrowhead General Insurance Agency, Inc.

Andy Scurto, President ISCS, Inc.

CO5: Using SOA to Modernize Critical Systems


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Adam Nordost, Director of Professional Services CommercialLines Arrowhead General Insurance Agency, Inc.

Adam Nordost is the Director of Professional Services CommercialLines for Arrowhead Insurance Group, one of the largest generalagencies in the U.S. and an independent program manager withannual premium writings in excess of $900M providing anextensive range of insurance products nationwide in a turn-keyfashion. Since joining Arrowhead in 2002, he has worked withmultiple business divisions, technology vendors, and over fifteencarrier partners to implement highly customized policy admin,rating and billing systems for eleven lines of business in thirtystates. Currently, Nordost oversees all information systems (IS)initiatives for Arrowheads Commercial Divisions starting with

Arrowhead Exchange, Arrowheads point -of-sale platform toagents and brokers, through the entire life cycle of a policy ending

with data feeds to carriers and agencies. He holds a BBA in MISfrom Texas A&M University



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Role of Technology at AGIA

Viewed as a key ingredient to revenue generation and not simply a costcenter.

Faster time to market and ability to distribute to a broad base of producers citedas key success factors.

Technology investment leads to differentiation in the marketplace.

Heavy emphasis put on ease -of-doing- business. Examples include: onlinequoting/binding, e-payments, online endorsements and policy inquiryservices for agents and insureds.

Critical in creating operational efficiencies through standardized web-basedworkflows, e-document delivery and automated processes.



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AGIAs Growing Pains

Fast growth of new divisions led to technology and operational silos

Softening market conditions put pressure on premium growth and increasedfocus on cost controls.

Resources strained as more and more projects queue themselves up.

Core services were not externalized and hence had limited reuse leading toredundant services in organization.



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Time for a Game Plan

Overhaul governance model to ensure a better alignment of IT and businessneeds/expectations. There needed to be a greater emphasis on solutionswith broader application throughout the organization.

Buildup our toolbox with a combination of in-house solutions and vendor

products.

Externalize core services through an SOA architecture to facilitate greaterreuse within the organization.

Coincide platform consolidation (retiring non-strategic applications) withoperational consolidation efforts.



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Expanding Product Distribution through SOA

Arrowhead Exchange- AGIAs secure online portal supporting 10,000+users a day with both pre and post sale services for AGIA products.



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2002- Tightly coupled set of services w/ limited extendibility.



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2004- SOA Proof-of-Concept Externalizing Rating as a Service



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Realized Benefits of Rating as a Service

Opened up a new distribution channel for AGIA products. Net impact wassignificant and the number of e -aggregator partners continues to grow.

Eliminated discrepancies between various internal and vendor systems usedfor online quoting, binding, policy issuance and endorsements caused by

small differences (rounding, manual errors, etc.) in rating programs.

Faster time to market for programs by: Eliminating redundant development of rate changes and new rate

implementations Allowing parallel development of systems and rating due to new separation of

duties



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SOA becomes a cornerstone for the interactionof business services.



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Additional and Ongoing SOA Benefits at AGIA

Faster time to market (upwards of 50%) for programs by eliminatingredundant services within the organization

Adoption of an enterprise print solution allows for shared formlibraries across divisions and platforms.

Integration of Active Directory into internal applications centralizesaccess management, improves password security and reduces thenumber of logins/passwords an employee must remember.



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If you have questions specifically regarding this portion ofthe presentation, please contact:

Adam NordostDirector of Professional Services Commercial Lines

Arrowhead General Insurance Agency, Inc.

701 B Street, Ste 2100San Diego, CAPhone: (619) 881-8414Email: [email protected]

And now, our next speaker, Andy Scurto of ISCS, Inc.

mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]


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Andy Scurto, President ISCS, Inc. Andy Scurto is ISCSs President, Founder and Chief Technical

Officer and has been with the company since its beginning in1994. He is the principal designer of ISCS's insurance processingsolutions, and the firm's primary advisor to insuranceorganizations on operations improvements, MGA programs, dataprocessing and communications. Scurto has over 20 years'experience in IT and development, which includes 18 yearsworking specifically with insurance industry systems. He receivedhis B.S. in Computer Engineering from San Jose State University.



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What Is SOA?

SOA Service Oriented Architecture (sometimes usedsynonymously with Web-Services)Wikipedia Defines:

Architectural style for creating and using business processes,packaged as services , throughout their lifecycle.The IT infrastructure to allow different applications to exchange dataand participate in business processes.New technology wrapped around an old ideaStandardized methodology for modules (services) to speak

Application software version of plug -and- play



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What is a Service?

A black -box module which performs a business function with a welldefined set of inputs and outputsPerforms a business process based on one input and returnsthrough one output no interservice interactionWell defined results can define/build unit testsNo user interface interaction must validate and performindependently with no assumptions.Same results regardless of how called



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SOA Versus Web-Services:

While SOA services are easily exposed as a web-service, webservices are not a SOAWeb-services: Exposing useful business processes in a standardway to the webSOA: An architectural design promoting module (service) plug-and-play and reuseSOA: Easily exposed as a web-service because of service design(defined inputs/outputs and no user interface)



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Why Web Services Is Just Not Enough

Exposing business processes for reuse great for 3 rd party interaction

Generally, a new front end to an old methodology and technology

Does not improve internal architecture

Adds another layer to already existing complicated structures



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Why a True SOA is Better

Ensures all services are ready for reuse and sharingPromotes best practices independent service development (blackbox) Separates the user interface and the business servicesPromotes the use of plug-and-playEnables the system for easier integration of 3 rd party servicesEnables integration of disparate technologies



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What is SOA Not

Not a silver bullet solving all interface problems

All interfaces are small conversions

Must still perform data mapping (XML)

Solves the How not the What



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Why is SOA Important?

Increased ability for re-use, plug-and-playIncreased ability for automated testingSeparates user interface from business processesWell defined communications

Well defined securityStrong Internet supportMuch Easier B2B Communication



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How Can SOA Save My Company Money?

Component reuse smaller more concise code baseSeparate user interface from processes can have multiple userinterfaces, new technologyReduction of system issues easier to testIntegration of 3 rd party components Less code to developIntegration across unlike platforms leverage old technology whileintroducing new



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Examples:

Rating engine service (Arrowhead)Quoting serviceEligibility service (rules)Billing status inquiry servicePolicy status inquiry service

All available for system / web / 3 rd parties



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Implementing SOA

Start by converting commonly used business functions intoindividual services:

Number issuance Rating Policy search Address verification (3 rd party?)

Continue with combining services forming service chains toperform complete processes:

Quoting Issuance

Finally, develop new user interfaces to utilize the commonservice chains to form a system.



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How Do I Ensure Success?

Business services not technical services Adopt an accepted framework / standard (SOAP)Implement a test harness (JUnit)

Adopt a common dictionary / model

Ensure well defined inputs and outputs for all servicesEnsure no cross service executionExpect a huge paradigm shift



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Summary

SOA and Web-Services are not the sameSOA is more powerful and an architectural styleSOA is not a silver bullet defines how not whatSOA ensures better code reuse and plug-and-play

SOA separates the user interface and the business processesSOA enhances integration capabilitySOA can save money, make applications more robust and future -proof systems



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Whats Next for SOA?

Cloud Computing!



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What is Cloud Computing?

SOA on Steroids (Services at a hardware level)Wikipedia Defines: A new label for () the use of shared computing resources. - The gigantic data center in the sky!

Often referred to as HaaS (Hardware as a Service)Hardware, software and services on a pay as use basis



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Why is Cloud Computing Important?

Solves issues of: Disaster Recovery Scalability Equipment/Software Obsolencence Cost of Idle Equipment Power Consumption / Cooling / Space Required Expertise

Allows smaller companies to provide enterprise services andcomponents (low startup costs)

More innovative Many services available more competition Many Open Source or Free services available



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Where is Cloud Computing Used?

SaaS providersInternet service company startupsSmall companies needing quick expansionCompanies concerntrating on business wanting to outsourceinfrastructure

Examples: SmugMug.com (400 Terabytes, 750 instances) MileMeter, Inc. (Texas Auto Insurance )



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Current Computing Clouds:

Amazon Web Services

Microsoft

Force.com

IBM Blue Cloud

Google

Many Others



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Current Cloud Computing Services

Gmail / Yahoo Mail / HotmailSalesforce.comQuicken OnlineGoogle Docs (Microsoft office competition)

SmugMug Adobe Photoshop ExpressMany More!!!



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What Do Clouds Provide?

Infinitely scalable technical infrastructureCompletely managed, backed up, etc.Disaster RecoveryApplication building tools (some Force, Google)

Amazon S3 Simple Storage Service EC Elastic Compute SimpleDB Relational DB Others: SimpleQueue, FlexiblePayments, Mechanical Turk, Alexa

Force SalesForce.com

AppExchange Force.com Sites


d l


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Todays Practical Insurance Uses

Partial/Complete Data Center Replacement -(Primary and/or Backup)Point Business Services (SaaS Options)

Rating Output generation Data Services Electronic Payments Data Reporting


CO5 U i SOA M d i C i i l S


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Tomorrows Potential Insurance Uses

Completely hosted systemsCompletely out-sourced Business Solutions

Billing Stat Reporting

BPO Services: Printing Loss Notice Processing Claims Adjustment

Complete solutions from combining many SaaS offerings




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Summary

Cloud computing is the futureNew technology on an old conceptEntrepreneur magazine -> top 10 business influences

You hear a lot about it

Need to understand it and start to use it April Insurance & Technology: 35% or more of CEOs admit to notknowing what SOA or Web 2.0 is!

Look into how it can save money




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If you have questions specifically regarding this portion ofthe presentation, please contact:

Andy ScurtoPresidentISCS, Inc.100 Great Oaks Blvd. Suite 100

San Jose, CA 95119Phone: 408-362-3000 ex: 101Email: [email protected]

And now, back to our moderator, Jennifer King, for the Q&Aportion of our program.


CO5 U i SOA t M d i C iti l S t


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Q&A with Todays Presenters

Moderator:Jennifer Overhulse-King, Principal Owner St. Nick Media Services

Speaker: Adam Nordost, Director of Professional Services CommercialLines Arrowhead General Insurance Agency, Inc

Andy Scurto, President ISCS, Inc.


CO5 U i SOA t M d i C iti l S t


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Thank you for your time. If you have questions orcomments, or if you would like a copy of this presentationsent to you via email, please contact:

Jennifer Overhulse-King, Principal OwnerSt. Nick Media Services

15695 Glencoe-Verona RoadVerona, KY 41092(859) 803-6597Email: [email protected]


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