ACORD - An Introduction

- Vinay Rajadhyaksha

Need for Standards

• Internal / Enterprise wide reuse• Smooth communication with intranet/internet applications

Usage of standards establishes the following:• Common Message

- Standardized message payload• Common Structure

- Organization of various entities• Common Vocabulary

- Insurance specific

Who is ACORD?

• Independent and Objective Association• Develops, Manages and Promotes Standards• Have a large membership profile

- carriers, re-insurers, agents, lab companies etc• Active in the insurance space

- life, property & casualty, reinsurance• Working on developing standards since 70s and

on life insurance standards since ‘94

Why XML?

• Not a technology tied to a particular platform or vendor

• XML is- Self describing- Structured

- ExtensibleXML provides the language, ACORD

provides the vocabulary

ACORD Life Basic XML Concepts

• Date<Birthday>YYYY-MM-DD</Birthday>

• Type Code (LookUp Values) <MarStat tc=“1”>Married</MarStat>• Identifiers

<Policy id=“1”> …… values</Policy>

• Currency, Month, MonthDay

ACORD Root elements

• OLifE

This is the OLifE server object or the root element

• TXLife

XML based transactions

• XTbML

Actuarial data

OLifE

• The OLifE object is one of the root elements in the overall schema.

• The OLifE object contains number of primary objects. Here are some examples

- Party, Activity, Holding, Relation, PolicyProduct etc

Other important constructs

• Relation• Attachment• Defined extension mechanisms

- KeyedValue- OLifEExtension

• All objects under the OLifE have an definite sequence and in certain cases have other constraints.

Coverage Planned

• Activity

• Holding

• Party

• PolicyProduct

• Relation

Activity

• For Policy service, this tracks administrative activities for the service department.

• For automatic processing, contains information requiring automatic processing

• For producers, this typically tracks the activities an agent engages in when working with client during the sales process.

Activity Examples

• System message- Informing user of some action take;

Call up the proposed insured/agent and get additional information. Call up Third Party Vendor and check up on requirement status. Ask Medical doctor to look at a case data.

• Appointment, Call• Change coverage, change face amount

Activity - Properties

• @ID• @PartyID

Party responsible for filling (Doing) the activity.

• ActivityTypeCodeSYSTEMMSG, APPOINTMENT, CALL,COVCHG, MATDATE, CORRESPONDENCE, TODO

Activity – Properties Continued-1

• ActivityTypeDescriptionANNIVERSARY, COLDCALL, FOLLOWUP, POLICYSERVICE, UNDERWRITINGREQUIREMENT

• ActivityStatusACTIVE, CANCELLED, COMPLETE, PENDING, SUSPENDED

• ActivityStatusDescriptionNOINTEREST, NOTREACH, RESCHED, SOLD

• ActivityDetails

Activity – Properties – Continued -2

• Priority

- High, Low, Medium

• DueDate

• DoneDate

• RecurringFrequency

• LastUpdate

• Opened, Closed - Date

Holding

• Holding is a top level object that contains basic information about any holding. The type of holding will be indicated by secondary-level objects contained within the holding object.

Assets & Liabilities

Policies, Investments, Loans, Banking

e.g. Life insurance, yacht, bank accounts, home loan

Holding Properties

• @id• HoldingTypeCode

POLICYINVESTMENT, ASSETLIAB, BANKING, INVESTMENT

• HoldingStatusACTIVE, DORMANT, INACTIVE

• PurposeBUSINESS, BUYSELL, INV, PERSONAL, RETIREMENT

• CarrierAdminSystemADMIN, CLAIMS, NB

Holding Properties Continued -1

• AssetValue, LiabilityValue• HoldingForm

GRPGEN, GRPASSOC, IND, INDUSTRIAL• Policy• Investment• Loan• Banking

Policy

• The policy object is needed if the holding is a policy. It contains all the policy properties that are generic across insurance policy types.

• If the policy has investment options, the investment portion of that holding is represented using the investment object in the model.

Policy Properties

• @id• @ProductID

Reference to the investProduct object• @CarrierPartyID

This is a reference to the Party Aggregate of the Carrier of this item.

• @BankingIDIn the case that the PaymentMethod is 'electronic funds transfer' or 'credit card billing,' this is the PartyID of the bank associated with the payments

Policy Properties – Continued -1

• PolNumber• LineOfBusiness

e.g. Annuity, Health, Life, LTC etc• ProductType

e.g. Term, term with cash, LTC, UL, VUL• CarrierCode

e.g. GEFA, AML• PlanName• ReinsuranceInd• PolicyValue • PolicyStatus

ACTIVE, CANCELLED, FREELOOK, GRACEPD, LAPSED, MATURED• EffDate, IssueDate, TermDate

Policy Properties Continued - 2

• PaymentModeANNUAL, DAILY, 4WKLY, MNTHLY, QUARTLY, BIANNUAL

• PaymentMethodCREDCARD, ETRANS, LISTBILL, PAYROLL, REGBILL

• PaymentAmt, AccountNumber, RoutingNumber, BankAcctType,

• CreditCardType, CreditCardExpDate• XOR Group

Life, Annuity, Disability, PropertyandCasualty

Policy Properties Continued - 3• RequirementInfo

Provides requested, outstanding and completed requirements associated with the issuance of a Policy or a Producers Appointments/Licenses/Registrations

– @id– @AppliesToPartyID The party for whom requirement is required– @RequesterPartyID The party requesting the req. e.g. carrier– @FulfillerPartyID– @PhysicianPartyID– ReqCode e.g. MVR, MIB Update, MIB details, LAB– RequirementDetails

Policy Properties – Continued 4

– ReqStatus Cancelled, Completed, Outstanding, Received

– RequestedDate, ReceivedDate, DueDate

– Responsible Party Type e.g. Agent, HO, Insured, Laboratory, physician etc

– HORequirementID

– StatusEvent (ACK, Add. Forms etc)

Policy Properties – Continued -5

• ApplicationInfo

This is used to support the workflow associated with the submission process, providing information essential to determining where an application is in the submission process

Policy Properties – Continued - 6

• The policy object has the following four major subclasses

- Life

- Annuity

- DisabilityHealth

Disability / Health / LTC Policy

- PropertyAndCasualty

Life Properties

If the policy is a life insurance policy.• FaceAmt, FaceUnits, ValuePerUnit

DeathBenefitAmt• InitialPremAmt• Coverage• LifeUSA

If the policy is issued within the USA, this object contains the properties that are unique to that marketplace.

Coverage Properties

• This object contains the properties that pertain to a specific coverage or rider within a policy. The base coverage information for this policy is represented using this object as well. A collection of coverage objects represents all the coverages or riders for a particular life insurance policy.

• PlanName, ShortName, ProductCode• LifeCovStatus

ACTIVE, CANCELLED, FREELOOK, QUOTED, REINSTATED,PENDING, ISSUED, APPROVED

• LifeCovTypeCodeENDOWMENT, LTC, TERMLEVEL, TERMINCREASE, TERMDECREASE, UNIVLIFE

• InitCovAmt

Coverage Properties – Continued -1

• IndicatorCodeBASE, RIDER

• LivesTypeJOINTFTD, JOINUND, JOINTLTD, SINGLE

• EffDate, TermDate• DeathBenefitOptType

INCR (Face + Cash), LEVEL (Db = Face)• BenefitPeriod(1yr, 10yr, 5 yr) etc• Coverage acts a container for CovOption & LifeParticipant

Coverage OptionSupports options/benefits on a coverage or rider. Each coverage/rider may have one or more options or benefits associated with it. Each option or benefit is depicted using this object. Options can also be considered modifications to a coverage or rider. A collection of option objects is utilized to represent all the options or benefits a particular coverage or rider may have.

• @LifeParticipantRefID• CovOptionStatus• LifeCovOptTypeCode

e.g. ABE, ADD, ADB, CTB, WP• UnderwritingClass• AEROBIC, PREFPLUS, PREF, STD, DECLINED• OptionAmt(In units), ValuePerUnit• EffDate, TermDate• BenefitPeriod, BenefitMode• Container for ReinsuranceInfo

Life Participant Properties

Life Policy Coverage Participant Object is an association between coverages and Parties. (This is a one-to-many relationship.) This object represents the different participants that are associated with a particular coverage

• @id• @PartyID• @MailingAddressID• LifeParticipantRoleCode

ATTENDPHYSICIAN, PRIMAGENT, BENE, APPLICANT, SPOUSE, CHILD, PRIMARY

• IssueGender, SmokerStat, OccupClass, UnderwritingClass

Party Properties

The party object represents the basic information that applies to either a person or organization. The long-standing interpretation is that the properties of Party represent the current state of the person, whereas the properties in Coverage represent the state of things at the time the Coverage was issued. Party can be Person or Organization.

• Further classification- Agent- Carrier- Physician- Proposed Insured- EMSI/LabOne

Party Properties – Continued - 1

• PartyTypeCodeORG, PERSON

• GovtID• GovtIDTC

CAN Australia, ARBN Australia, Canadian Bus. Number,SSN, Tax Ref Number SA

• ResidenceState• PrefComm

EMAIL, FAX, PHONE, REGULAR MAIL• FullName

%L, %F %M %S for person• Address• Email• Phone• Employment• Risk

Person Properties

• Person is always a subset of party. If Party.Type = OLI_PT_PERSON• FirstName• MiddleName• LastName• Prefix(Dr., Mr. ), Suffix(Ph. D, etc)• Gender(M, F, U, O, OU), MarStat(D, E, Se, M, Si, W)• Birthdate, Age• DriverLicenseNum, PassportNo• OccupClass (H, M, O, Prof), OccupationType (Cook, Agriculture),

SmokerStat (Current, Never, Prior)• Height2, Weight2, birthjurisdiction

Organization Properties

• Organization is always a subset of party. If Party.Type = OLI_PT_ORG

• OrgForm – Association, Corp, Mutual Company etc

• TrustType – Alaska Trust, Cemetry Trust

• NatureCategory – Agriculture, Construction, finance etc

Address Properties

• Address pertaining to the party.

• Line1, Line2, Line3, Line4, Line5

• City, AddressState, zip, AddressCountry

• StartDate, EndDate, YearsAtAddress, LegalAddressInd

Phone Properties

• Phone information relating to a party

• CountryCode, AreaCode, DailNumber, Ext

• BestTimeToCallFrom, BestTimeToCallTo

• StartDate, EndDate

• PhoneCountryTC, BestDayToCall

Carrier & EmailAddress

• A sub object under Party, providing more detailed information about the insurance Carrier.

• Carrier- CarrierCode, NAICCode

• EmailAddressAn e-mail address pertaining to the party.- EmailType – BUS, PER- AddrLine- PrefEMailAddr- StartDate, EndDate

Employment

• Aggregate providing details regarding a person's employment history.• @ID• @EmployerPartyID• EmployeeID• HireDate, RetirementDate, TerminationDate• AnnualEarnings(includes non-sal income), AnnualSalary• PayType

COMISSION, SALARIED, HOURLY• SalaryMode• EmploymentStatusTC

ACTIVE, ACTIVEDISABLED, DISABLED, LAIDOFF, ONSTRIKE, RETIRED, TERMINATED

• OccupClass, Occupation

Risk Properties

• The risk information associated with insuring a party

• AutoViolationsPoints, AutoLicenseSuspension, ExistingInsuranceInd, ReplacementInd

• There are indicators provided for specific diseases like DiabetesInd, CancerInd, AIDSInd, TobaccoInd

• MedicalCondition, MedicalTreatment, PrescriptionDrug, LifeStyleActivity, Violation, FamilyIllness, MilitaryExp, CriminalConviction

Medical Condition Properties

• Information about a party's medical conditions• @PrimaryPhysicanID• ConditionType• ConditionStatus

COMPLETED, ONGOING, PENDING, RECOVERED, DRCARE

• Cause

ANXIETY, JOB, KSTONE etc

Medical Condition – Continued -1

• RecoveryDate, TreatmentStartDate

• NumberEpisodesLastYear, ConditionLocation

• MedicalTreatment

• CariadacMurmur

Medical Treatment

• Information about a party's medical treatments

• @TreatmentPhysicianPartyID• @TreatmentFacilityPartyID• TreatmentType

ADVICE, CHEMO, CHIRO, DIET, HOSP, MED

• TreatmentReason

PrescriptionDrug

• A Prescription Drug Object• PrescriptionDrugType

PPS (Prof. Phy. Service)• PrescriptionDosageUnit

Milligrams• PrescriptionDosageStrength• PrescriptionDosageForm

TABLET, OTHER

LifeStyleActivity

• Information about a party's lifestyle activities• LifeStyleActivityType

AVIATION, BALLOON, BOXING, RUGBY, MILITARY

• ActivityFrequency• Accidentdetails• AviationExp, RacingExp, UnderwaterDivingExp

Object Linkage - Navigation

Linkage between various objects defined.

• Composition of objects

• IDs available within objects

• Usage of the relation object

Composition of objects

• Party Person, Organization, Address, Phone, EMailAddress, Physician, Risk

• Holding Policy Life Coverage CovOption, LifeParticipant

IDs available within objects - Continued

• LifeParticipant @PartyID, @MailingAddressID

• CovOption @LifeParticipantRefID

• Policy @ProductID, @CarrierPartyID, @BankingID

Usage of the relation object

• @OriginatingObjectID• @RelatedObjectID• OriginatingObjectType

4 = Holding, 6 = Party• RelatedObjectType

4 = Holding, 6 = Party• RelationRoleCode

Agent, Beneficiary, PrimPhysician, Underwriter, Carrier, Owner, Insured

• RelationDescriptionAccountant, Boyfriend, Fiancee, Brother

Usage of the relation object

• StartDate, EndDate

• PrimaryAddressID

• PrimaryPhoneToCallID

• PrimaryEmailID

Person Navigation

• Proposed Insured

/OLife/Party[@id =

(//Relation[RelationRoleCode[@tc=32] and OriginatingObjectType[@tc=4]][1]/@RelatedObjectID)]

RelationRoleCode = 32 OLI_REL_INSURED

OriginatingObjectType = 4 OLI_HOLDING

[1] signifies first occurance

Similar complex navigation logic is defined for other life participants like owner, beneficaries, spouse and children. Refer the xmlifeselects.xml

ACORD Schema Extension

• KeyedValueGeneric object used to expand object hierarchy. Each proprietary data item is represented using a KeyedValue object. A collection of KeyedValue objects is utilized to represent all the data items that have been appended to the particular object. KeyName, VendorCode, KeyValue

• OLifEExtensionObject used for extending the ACORD model. OLifE Extension which uses the ANY construct to allow for any valid XML to be contained in the extension

Coming soon.…

What’s TXLife all about?