Member Reports - Acord

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18 Advisory Services acord.org/advisoryservices “ACord’S STAFF IS weLL PrePAred ANd doeS AN eXCeLLeNT joB IN ProvIdING AN overvIew oF THe oPTIoNS For BuILdING ouT ACord ModeLS. we APPreCIATe THAT THeY Are ALwAYS wILLING To oFFer ANd reCeIve INPuT. THIS reLATIoNSHIP wILL Be CrITICAL AS we Go ForwArd AS A CoMPANY ANd AS AN INduSTrY IN deveLoPING THeSe ModeLS.” -toBy nunn SenioR aRchitect, cincinnati Financial An important aspect of ACord’s current re-organization is the expansion of services that help our members in all programs with Standards implementations. In 2011, ACord began to offer Advisory Services, including Standards and Framework training to individual companies, implementation communities, and other groups. ACord Advisory Services staff can: • Present an overview of why and how standards should be used • Recommend tools and resources to maximize your investment in ACORD standards • Improve your standards knowledge before starting a new implementation • Explain how to understand and implement the ACORD Framework • Help prepare your implementations for ACORD certification • Prepare you for ACORD Certified Expert tests • Offer best practices for managing and facilitating an ACORD implementation project • Help you address internal barriers to standards implementation • Educate new and emerging markets on the value of using ACORD standards • Guide implementation communities looking to address common challenges by sharing consistent messages and workflows • Conduct surveys, benchmarking and market analyses • Perform company health checks to determine readiness for ACORD implementation Tools A key long term goal for ACORD is to further the implementation of Standards via distribution of tools and utilities that developers can use to build industry Standards into their software products. ACORD will make more tools available as we continue the migration to modelbased Standards and components. A good example of why ACORD’s tooling initiative will benefit members: Message Forge. Message Forge “MeSSAGe ForGe ALLowS Me To Be More AGILe IN THe CreATIoN ANd doCuMeNTATIoN oF THe STANdArdS, wHICH IN TurN ProvIdeS our MeMBerS wITH IMProved ANd More eXACTING IMPLeMeNTATIoN reSourCeS.” - yolanda auStin, acoRd In 2011, the addition of Standards programs for Australia, Southern Africa and Workers’ Compensation Reporting brought ACORD to a grand total of eight Standards programs, and made ACORD more representative than ever of the global insurance community. But with that rapid growth came a challenge: How to quickly provide new communities with an efficient method for Standards development that could remain consistent across geographies and lines of business? Our members wanted robust and precise messages, tailored for different audiences such as business analysts or developers. So we studied the existing message documentation from all of our programs and took the best aspects of each. When we put it together with our members’ feedback – breakthrough! We’d created a meta-model for message development: Message Forge. Message Forge at its core is a template for uniform message creation. The template Testing and Certification Facility approach means all specifications look and act the same way, and enable members to develop deliverables that contain the same level of consistency and detail across the board. Another benefit is the ability to add data directly as a Maintenance Request that can be voted on and added to the specification right away We piloted Message Forge using the Employee Benefit Census and LIMRA messages. The results were satisfying, says ACORD’s Karen Mottley, who worked on the project. “When we did a demo of the Message Forge pilot at AIF, people from several different working groups immediately said, ‘I want that too.’ It tells me we’re on the right track, and it feels good to help make it happen.” We listened, we took action, we built Message Forge. It’s how we’re working and where we’re going. ACORD Testing and Certification Facility acts as a virtual business partner to validate that an organization’s messages are sent and received in ACORDcompliant workflow. Certification by the Facility is a prerequisite for participation in many implementation initiatives In 2012, we plan to release an ACORD Standards Translator utility for the specific purpose of translating any version of any one ACORD Standard to any other in the library. 19
20 20 Facebook.com/ACORD.Standards @ACORD_Standards acord.org/about/iga Communications with the launch of important new initiatives like ACord 2020 and the reorganization of the Standards development process, the communications group took on an even more crucial role in promoting ACord’s activities to the industry. In 2012, ACord‟s communications tools will be focused on promoting a strong sense of community among ACord members and engaging them as active participants using our website and other social media tools. The ACord newsletter entered its second year as a weekly publication, with a strong subscriber base. Fresh content and unique perspectives provided by professional industry writers and bloggers, alongside the ongoing contributions from leading publications are making the newsletter a valuable one-stop hub of industry information, aggregating content of interest to all our member communities. ACord video’s new bi-weekly “ACord in the News”, spotlights our accomplishments and milestones worldwide. It can be viewed on the acord.org homepage. ACord’s social media presence continues to grow on Twitter and Facebook. Staff post regular updates and we are adding new fans each week. A LinkedIn group launched this year to promote the ACord Implementation Forum Group grew to 600 members. An ACord LoMA Forum group has been launched for the 2012 event. ACord communications aim to raise awareness of the ACord mission with focused and targeted messages that drive home the value of implementation to each industry community. Industry & government Affairs “BY PArTNerING wITH ACord, we Are eXCITed To HeLP drIve STANdArdS, eSPeCIALLY THoSe uNIque To our LIFe ANd HeALTH INSurANCe INduSTrY, To ProvIde CAPABILITIeS, eFFICIeNCIeS ANd eCoNoMIeS To ProduCerS ANd INSurANCe CoMPANIeS, uLTIMATeLY To THe BeNeFIT oF CoNSuMerS.” -aRt JetteR, nailBa ACORD’s members hail from many lines of business and countries, each with differing needs, interests and opinions. To make sure our goals for the future align with our members’ and the industry’s many priorities, ACORD works actively with industry and government associations to stay well informed and to educate the industry about our initiatives. Many ACORD members come from the Information Technology sector, and since IT infrastructure investments receive increased scrutiny in the current financial climate, ACORD works to help their insurance business counterparts understand why ACORD Standards are an especially important and valuable tool that should be implemented. At the same time, we work with IT departments to increase their understanding of the business sector, so they can anticipate business strategies and develop tools that will help achieve their organization’s goals. ACORD participates in a broad range of trade association meetings, conferences and collaborative projects covering the range of insurance industry lines of business and geographies represented within our membership. We had strong presence as invited speakers, event sponsors and exhibitors at major conferences including RIMS, NAILBA, CIAB, the Big I and more. We bring a focus on specific near-term projects with implementation and advocacy opportunities. We actively track regulations that impact our Standards and Forms, and also larger international developments like Solvency II and other modernization efforts such as emerging marketplace conduct. ACORD’s partnership with the National Insurance Producer Registry (NIPR) is a great example of what happens when insurance-related data is shared between the industry and the state regulatory bodies. The ACORD/NIPR relationship has yielded significant advances in creating appropriate standard messages to transmit that data. “THe MoST eXCITING MoMeNTS IN MY roLe AT ACord Are wHeN I GeT To eXPLAIN To A TrAde ASSoCIATIoN CoLLeAGue or AN INSurANCe SuPervISor wHY ACord’S dATA STANdArdS MATTer So vITALLY. THIS INduSTrY MANAGeS rISk ANd INForMATIoN, ANd THAT ALL CoMeS dowN To dATA. So IT’S THrILLING wHeN You TeLL PeoPLe ABouT How our STANdArdS IMPLeMeNTATIoNS LeNd eFFICIeNCY ArouNd THe GLoBe, ANd wATCH THe LIGHT dAwN oN THeIr FACeS.” -ann henStRand, acoRd 21
Page 1 and 2: www.acord.org © 2011 ACORD Corpora
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Page 19 and 20: 34 keY STAFF gregory a . maciag Pre
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