With the newly architected solution, CGI is far better positioned to respond to industry issues and challenges. More new products have been developed since the new platform came “on-line” than had been developed in the past 18 months.
As an independent, objective IT services company, CGI constantly looks for ways to deliver its products and services in a better, more efficient manner. CGI works with leading technologies and software to bring solutions to clients that match their business requirements. Strong partner and alliance relationships deliver such benefits as reliability, economy and speed of implementation.
Recently, CGI partnered with Microsoft to apply Microsoft's .Net technology to upgrade CGI's Automobile Claims History service. This database, which is Canada's most comprehensive personal auto insurance database, contains more than 30 million policies from over 70 companies. This consumer database is accessed by some 8,000 insurance brokers and agents more than two million times per year with near immediate response times.
The Challenge
CGI created the “AutoPlus system” in 1988, and its applications have served the insurance industry well. However, in recent years there has been a significant increase in the use of AutoPlus by front line point-of-sale staff. Insurance brokers and agents utilize this tool to verify disclosed claim activity and to help assess risk.
As business volumes and the acceptance of Web-based delivery increased, the capacity of the old system was strained and service was being impacted. CGI recognized the need to reposition the AutoPlus system and at the same time not disrupt the current services.
The Strategy
CGI set out to redesign the application to reflect the changing needs of the user community. Originally the system was largely a batch reporting system but CGI saw that there was an ever increasing demand for on-line WEB/XML based access. A decision was then made to reposition the application around a “services architecture” model to ensure that the current and future needs of the clients would be met.
CGI selected the Microsoft .Net technology as it concluded this would result in the lowest overall total cost of ownership. In addition, tools available to CGI from MicroSoft allowed CGI to quickly build a team of professionals who would be proficient in the new .Net technology.
Our desire was to build an overall solution on a web based services architecture that would better meet the current needs of the users and position us well for the future.
The Technology
- Windows 2000
- SQL Server
- Visual Studio .NET
The Results
The new Claims History solution was delivered on schedule and on budget. In addition, the existing services are able to deliver a new set of products by leveraging the new tools and technologies.
With the newly architected solution, CGI is far better positioned to respond to industry issues and challenges.
More new products have been developed since the new platform came ‘on-line' than had been developed in the past 18 months. This ability to develop and deploy rapidly is directly related to the tools and platform.
Overall, CGI succeeded in applying a new technology to re-platform a crucial business component using a best-of-breed Microsoft toolset. The system's improvements have allowed CGI to develop better products faster, in an efficient and cost effective manner.
