Enhancing Workflow Automation in Insurance Underwriting Processes with

Enhancing Workflow Automation in Insurance Underwriting Processes with Web Services and Alerts Dickson K. W. CHIU Senior Member, IEEE Dickson Computer Systems Hong Kong kwchiu@acm. org, dicksonchiu@ieee. org Underwriting Raymond C. M. Lee Kai Pan Mark Dept. of Computing Hong Kong Polytechnic University 04739356 g@polyu. edu. hk csmarkkp@comp. polyu. edu. hk 1

Introduction n n Underwriting – risk assessment activities in insurance companies. Many operation activities happen before case is routed to underwriter, e. g. , n n n n Scanning of documents Indexing & QC Transfer module Import robot and workflow engine… Workflow automation usually integrated with operational flow Human and machine process integration Overall process monitoring and exception handling Underwriting 2

Approach to existing problems n n Many unexpected problems/events could happen but not handled by existing automation facility For example : n n Image quality of scanned document is unacceptable The integrity of document batch uploaded to file server is invalid Human communication delay among parties Alert-enhanced Underwriting System (AUS) can be used to address these problems Underwriting 3

Typical Flow of Underwriting Operations Underwriting 4

Use case diagram for underwriting processes Underwriting 5

Typical underwriting processes automation in oversea countries Underwriting 6

System Architecture of AUS Underwriting 7

Sample Request SOAP Message from external party Underwriting 8

Sample Response SOAP Message to external party Underwriting 9

Example Scenario Underwriting 10

Web Service Security n Why need to secure communication? n n n XML/SOAP message is sent in clear text Sensitive data may be revealed to unauthorized parties What can be done in protecting data? n n n WS-Security XML Encryption XML Signature Underwriting 11

XML with no encryption Underwriting 12

Encrypted XML Underwriting 13

Summary § Tangible benefits § § § Turnaround time shortened, e. g. , to rescan document Maintain data integrity Help monitoring and decrease time to diagnose problematic cases Staff performance measure from AMS log … Some Intangible benefits § § Shorten the entire processing time Process reliability Improve customer satisfaction. . . Underwriting 14

Future Work § § § Questionnaires to collect user feedback Plan for the extension of AUS platform such that those processes in which exception events are raised are automated resumed Other unexpected exceptions and events Artificial intelligence in handling the exception events Agent-based assistance to internal staff and external users Empirical measurements of the improvement of staff performance and customer satisfaction Underwriting 15

Question and Answer Thank you! Contact: dicksonchiu@ieee. org Underwriting 16