2009 Sessions

Session Tracks
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	Business
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	LAH (Life, Annuity & Health)
	PCS (Property & Casualty/Surety)
	RLC (Reinsurance & Large Commercial)

The ACORD Implementation Forum is your source for ACORD standards training and education. Learn from the experts and share your experiences at this interactive event. And don't miss this chance to network with your peers and fellow implementers.

The following is a list of sessions and events currently scheduled. Check back regularly for updates.

Navigate By Day: Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday

Tuesday - November 3, 2009 LAH=Life, Annuity & Health ● PCS=Property & Casualty/Surety ● RLC=Reinsurance & Large Commercial
8:00 AM - 5:00 PM Life, Annuity & Health (LAH) Plenary 9:00 AM - 10:00 AM ACORD Framework: Introduction The ACORD Standards Framework consists of five related facets: 1) a Business Dictionary representing terms used in our industry; 2) an Insurance Capability and model; 3) an Information Model (Object Model) representing data elements for the entire insurance industry; 4) a logical Data Model built from the Information Model, and 5) a Component and Services model. This session will explain the facets and the current state of development for the entire Framework. You'll also learn how the ACORD Standards Framework will be used to generate standards globally as well as hear some of the many other benefits it could bring to the industry. 10:00 AM - 11:00 AM ACORD Framework: Capability Model This class will go into depth on the upcoming release of the Capability Model. It will explain what the model is, what has changed, and how it can be used within the industry. 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM ACORD Framework: Product Diagramming for Product Design 1:00 PM - 2:00 PM ACORD Framework: Information Model This class will go into depth on many of the 17 different components of the Insurance Information Model. It goes beyond the basics of what the ACORD Information Model is, showing you the details. 2:00 PM - 3:00 PM ACORD Framework: Data Model The ACORD Framework Data Model is an effort to transform the ACORD Information Model into a logical level entity-relationship model. This session will explain the path taken, lessons learned, and illustrate the results to date. 3:00 PM - 4:00 PM ACORD Framework: Product Schema The ACORD Product Schema is a way to generically define insurance products in XML messages. This forthcoming ACORD standard is more than a schema; it also includes a product diagramming technique business analysts can use to gather requirements and design products. This session will explain the notion of “product diagramming” and show how those products can be expressed in XML. 5:00 PM - 6:00 PM Welcome Cocktail Reception ^ Back to Top
Wednesday - November 4, 2009 LAH=Life, Annuity & Health ● PCS=Property & Casualty/Surety ● RLC=Reinsurance & Large Commercial
7:30 AM - 8:30 AM Continental Breakfast in Exhibitor Foyer 8:30 AM - 10:00 AM Opening General Session 10:30 AM - 11:30 AM Ten Steps Toward the Perfect Message Ten tasks every business analyst should have on their list of things to do as part of creating the perfect ACORD LAH message. Creating an ACORD LAH message can be a complex process. Business analysis and application can run the gamut from the nitty-gritty details to capturing the core essence of the big picture. This session will delve into ten time-honored steps in the process (some obvious, others not so obvious) to bring you closer to creating the perfect message. 10:30 AM - 11:30 AM Connect to All Your Distribution Channels Efficient workflow will lead to more growth. Hear from organizations, using systems based on ACORD standards, and how they are connecting to all their partners. Join the discussion on what we see coming this year and next year to ensure growth in Personal, Commercial, Executive and Excess/Surplus lines of business. 10:30 AM - 11:30 AM Creating an RLC Roadmap for North America If you are a reinsurance or large commercial company or cedent in North America, attend this session to discuss and help create a plan for implementing ACORD RLC standards more widely in the region. This is an interactive event exploring the value of a roadmap and its linkages to ACORD standards. Learn from the experiences of other implementation communities internationally. 10:30 AM - 11:30 AM ACORD Messaging Library Design Principles The ACORD Messaging Library is a set of business messages based on a common architecture across all of ACORD's business domains. In this session, you will learn how the standard is organized and how the messages are defined using common design rules. 11:30 AM - 12:30 PM Leveraging ACORD to Implement SOA Services How MassMutual leverages ACORD Standards across the enterprise in implementing SOA Services with various vendor systems. The presentation also discusses the following briefly: business challenges; standardization of messaging, systems interfaces, and business process automation leveraging industry standards; benefits and actual payback to date; governance process to ensure ACORD Standards are consistently applied; lessons learned; next steps, including continual collaboration with ACORD and strategic vendors. 11:30 AM - 12:30 PM Research Results: Company Unique Coverages The use of non-standard codes is a considerable nuisance for the producer community when receiving AL3 policy download. It impacts ease of doing business and influences decisions made by producers when doing business. Fortunately, an industry effort managed via focus group meetings involving various standards participants including producers, solution providers and insurers has resulted in a proposed path forward. Learn more about the effort and get an update on status of this project. 11:30 AM - 12:30 PM Implementation and the ACORD Messaging Library After learning the basics of AML, join this open discussion with early implementers. Share experiences on general and specific topics and suggest ways of improving the ease of implementation for external as well as internal data exchange. 11:30 AM - 12:30 PM Electronic Accounting, Claims & Settlement ACORD created guides that describe how to implement accounting, claims and settlement using ACORD RLC messages known as eBOT and eCOT. While still in line with existing guidelines, these give an updated view of the core dataset that is required and describe flows and message interactions to a new level of detail. Gain an overview of these guides, a perspective on where they have refined the previous recommendations, and find out how they can help you push forward with your own implementations. 12:30 PM - 1:30 PM Lunch and Special Event 1:30 PM - 2:30 PM LAH Messaging: Pending Case Status Pending Case Status is one of the most widely implemented messages. This session will show the ins and outs of creating and using the Pending Case Status message. It will also cover recent changes and additions to the message. 1:30 PM - 2:30 PM ACORD Web Services Profile: 2.0 vs. 1.0 ACORD Web Service Profile (AWSP) is now going to AWSP version 2.0. This new version will be based on finalized Web Services Standards developed by W3C, OASIS and WSI. Hear about the benefits of adopting this new specification as a stable exchange standard. 1:30 PM - 2:30 PM The ABCs of US Insurance Regulation: Data and Compliance From the CTO/CIO on down to the newly-hired business analyst, everyone in insurance IT operations is eventually touched by regulatory requirements. Whether it is a last-minute request from your legal, government affairs or compliance department for a specially-formatted custom report – due next week!, or a seemingly incomprehensible set of requirements changes for a policy production system, licensing program or marketing feed, sooner or later the complex regulatory requirements which govern insurance touch planning and project management for an entity’s information needs. This presentation will help provide a basic understanding of how insurance legislation is passed, what state insurance departments care about, how regulators exercise their oversight roles, and why, with special attention to the areas where regulatory requirements touch IT and standards. The session will help you place those sometimes annoying and mysterious requests for support into a more comprehensible industry framework. 1:30 PM - 2:30 PM PCS: Implementation Guide Development ACORD has developed several implementation guides for the Property & Casualty/Surety Standards. While each of these guides follows the same template, this meeting will show the variations in content as well as the direction for future guides at ACORD. 2:30 PM - 3:30 PM eForms Next Steps: The Train is Moving!! Since the delivery of eForms, implementers are implementing and finding new areas to expand the functionality. During this discussion, we will focus on what you want to see next in eForms. Would you like ACORD to deliver a list of valid codes for fields? How about identifying in the form the relationship between certain data fields? Or maybe the dependencies between different forms? Be a part of the next generation of eForms development. 2:30 PM - 3:30 PM Product Modeling: What Does It Mean for Product Profiles? Many are already implementing product profiles using today's LAH Data Model. This session will examine how this process may be affected by Product Modeling efforts of the Framework. 2:30 PM - 3:30 PM Interoperability Using Web Services and ACORD Standards This session will demonstrate the interoperation of ACORD based Web Services implemented on different system platforms. You'll also see both basic and more advanced features of the ACORD Web Services Profile and hear about experiences and lessons learned. 4:00 PM - 5:00 PM eForms Programming Techniques ACORD delivered eForms in the fall of last year. Since then early implementers have delivered products using eForms and have faced challenges. For example, what do you do when a form has new data fields? How do you handle mapping of fields to the data in the system? During this session, ACORD will first present the technical process for implementation of eForms followed by a discussion of techniques used for certain scenarios. Implementers in the field will share their input. 4:00 PM - 5:00 PM The LAH Relation Object: The Mortar Holding the Bricks Together Take an in-depth look at the Life, Annuity, and Health Standard Relation Object - the object that pairs two top-level data objects and describes the role they play in the relationship. In a message containing multiple data objects, such as policies, agents, beneficiaries, etc the Relation object sets them in place by defining who does what for whom. Learn the history of the Object and how it ties the major data aggregates together along, See examples of how should and shouldn't be used. 4:00 PM - 5:00 PM The North American Market & Catastrophe Risk Data Property exposure data loses quality due to the number of links in the insurance chain from property owner through agent to reinsurer and even cat bond promoter, The issue is particularly important for US hurricane/windstorm because of the concentration of value at risk and pressure on re/insurance capital. The session will bring together the stakeholders to explain their specific objectives and methods and help each other develop solutions through the creation of a virtual community of interest. 4:00 PM - 5:00 PM ACORD Framework: Introduction The ACORD Standards Framework consists of five related facets: 1) a Business Dictionary representing terms used in our industry; 2) an Insurance Capability and model; 3) an Information Model (Object Model) representing data elements for the entire insurance industry; 4) a logical Data Model built from the Information Model, and 5) a Component and Services model. This session will explain the facets and the current state of development for the entire Framework. You'll also learn how the ACORD Standards Framework will be used to generate standards globally as well as hear some of the many other benefits it could bring to the industry. 5:00 PM - 6:30 PM Networking Cocktail Reception ^ Back to Top
Thursday - November 5, 2009 LAH=Life, Annuity & Health ● PCS=Property & Casualty/Surety ● RLC=Reinsurance & Large Commercial
8:00 AM - 9:00 AM LAH Open Steering Committee Meeting & Breakfast 8:00 AM - 9:00 AM PCS Open Steering Committee Meeting & Breakfast 8:00 AM - 9:00 AM Continental Breakfast 9:00 AM - 10:00 AM General Session 10:30 AM - 11:30 AM Improving Licensing & Appointment Communication NIPR (National Producer Insurance Registry) provides a gateway between the insurance industry and the insurance regulators (the individual states). The gateway messages support the full range of compliance activity such as licensing, appointments, and state review. Over the past year NIPR has worked with ACORD to develop a series of transactions in an ACORD format that would map to the existing NIPR messages. Attend this session to learn more about the project and the current status of implementations. 10:30 AM - 11:30 AM What's New in New Business for Life This session will focus on new business implementation needs for life insurance. An overview of the implementation guide will be done with highlights on the new additions for medical questions and requirements. If you are currently using the LAH 103 transaction, have plans to, or do not know much about it and wonder how it can meet your business needs, this is the session for you. 10:30 AM - 11:30 AM Standardizing Specialty Lines For many years, the ACORD Specialty Lines working group has been working to develop forms and standards for the industry. Learn about the group's latest developments and how you can implement the standards and encourage implementation across the industry. 10:30 AM - 11:30 AM ACORD Framework: Information Model This class will go into depth on many of the 17 different components of the Insurance Information Model. It goes beyond the basics of what the ACORD Information Model is, showing you the details. 11:30 AM - 12:30 PM Tailoring a Schema to Meet Your Needs Learn how you can “slice” the ACORD schemas to fit your specific needs. See how the ACORD Schema Slicing Utility works and how it can benefit your implementation. Come and see the enhancements made to the utility and join in the discussion on what can be done to improve the tool to fit your implementation needs. 11:30 AM - 12:30 PM The Move Towards Standardization for Excess & Surplus Lines From retail agents to wholesalers and MGAs to the US and London Markets. From spreadsheets and forms to AL3 and XML. There are different ways to communicate E&S information in different markets. Learn where we are today and how we are moving to standardization. 11:30 AM - 12:30 PM Establishing a Center of Excellence in Your Company 11:30 AM - 12:30 PM ACORD Framework Information Model: Life, Annuity & Health 12:30 PM - 2:30 PM Lunch & Special Event 2:30 PM - 3:30 PM Mapping Your Life, Annuity & Health Applications Class will step participants through the entire process of creating a standard ACORD message from existing Part A and Part B applications. 2:30 PM - 3:30 PM Commercial Lines Implementation Commercial lines is the number 1 priority of AUGIE (ACORD User Group Information Exchange). Hear from a panel that has grown their business because they are using the commercial lines functionality they have today. Join in the discussion on what is available to help with implementation today and share your ideas on what is still needed to ensure the continued growth in commercial lines implementation. 2:30 PM - 3:30 PM Testing and Certification: The Implementation Lifecycle The Standard Implementation Life-Cycle comprises at least three stages: Interface analysis and design with validation of message samples; early development testing; final testing and certification. How can artifacts, documentation, message samples, testing scripts available on the TCF help you complete these three stages more effectively? 2:30 PM - 3:30 PM ACORD Framework Information Model: Property & Casualty/Surety 2:30 PM - 5:30 PM ACT E&S Working Group 4:00 PM - 5:00 PM Preparing for the ACE PCS Implementation Test The 3rd examination for the ACORD Certified Expert (ACE) designation requires that you know and understand a variety of technical information about ACORD standards including: data transformation, integration concerns and enhancing and customizing the standard. This session will help you brush up and prepare for this upcoming exam. 4:00 PM - 5:00 PM Preparing for the ACE LAH Implementation Test The 3rd examination for the ACORD Certified Expert (ACE) designation requires that you know and understand a variety of technical information about ACORD standards including: data transformation, integration concerns and enhancing and customizing the standard. This session will help you brush up and prepare for this upcoming exam. 4:00 PM - 5:00 PM Preparing for the ACE RLC Implementation Test The 3rd examination for the ACORD Certified Expert (ACE) designation requires that you know and understand a variety of technical information about ACORD standards including: data transformation, integration concerns and enhancing and customizing the standard. This session will help you brush up and prepare for this upcoming exam. 4:00 PM - 5:00 PM ACORD Framework: Product Diagramming for Product Design 6:00 PM - Dinner Cruise ^ Back to Top
Friday - November 6, 2009 LAH=Life, Annuity & Health ● PCS=Property & Casualty/Surety ● RLC=Reinsurance & Large Commercial
7:30 AM - 8:30 AM Continental Breakfast in Exhibitor Foyer 8:30 AM - 9:30 AM LAH Messaging: Policy Profile for Annuity Gain insights and best practices on implementing the "Policy Profile for Annuity" message in the LAH Standard. Learn from an implementer that exchanges messages with over 40 annuity carriers. 8:30 AM - 9:30 AM ACORD Framework: Capability Model This class will go into depth on the upcoming release of the Capability Model. It will explain what the model is, what has changed, and how it can be used within the industry. 8:30 AM - 9:30 AM Sending & Receiving Electronic Documents Supporting documentation is a fact within the reinsurance community. While ACORD standard messages can exchange the data that business partners key as data into their systems, to support the business process supporting documents are vital. In the past this fact has inhibited implementation of some types of RLC transactions, such as claims, but with the increased introduction of Document Management Systems in our industry and the introduction of XML technology, the ability to move supporting documentation as electronic files has become a reality. This session will discuss the existing standards for sending and receiving electronic documents, consider the technologies involved, and describe current and planned implementations within the RLC community. 8:30 AM - 1:00 PM AUGIE Meeting 9:45 AM - 10:45 AM Automating Producer Appointments The move from paper to computers for managing producer data for appointments and terminations is well underway, but this switch is just the first step. The next essential element is the adoption of ACORD standards for this process and integrating electronic systems together so this data moves directly to its proper destinations without the need for human interaction. This will bring greater efficiencies for carriers. Hear how implementation leaders are using ACORD standards and new technologies to automate producer appointment and termination processes and how they're reducing costs while improving accuracy and efficiency. 9:45 AM - 10:45 AM LAH Messaging: New Business for Term Life Products Learn to create a "Submit New Business" message for Term Life Products. The session includes instructions for the novice as well as coverage regarding recent updates to the standard implementation guide. 9:45 AM - 10:45 AM ACORD Framework: Data Model The ACORD Framework Data Model is an effort to transform the ACORD Information Model into a logical level entity-relationship model. This session will explain the path taken, lessons learned, and illustrate the results to date. 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM Technology Usages of ACORD Standards Internationally When ACORD Standards are implemented in various countries, there are always differences. Some of these relate to content or business descriptions while others differ in the process. During this session, we will focus on what the communities are doing or plan to do to help drive the creation of domestic standards for their community while still maintaining compatibility with the international definitions. Also, some time will be spent discussing how the ACORD Framework changes the current methodology as we evolve. 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM LAH Messaging: DTCC Attachments Service Learn from the efforts of a recent pilot involving a number of insurers and vendors. Get tips on creating the DTCC Attachment Service. Also, hear about transaction modeling, generation of XML, and even see a demonstration of the Automated Testing Service that can help with development. 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM ACORD Framework: Product Schema The ACORD Product Schema is a way to generically define insurance products in XML messages. This forthcoming ACORD standard is more than a schema; it also includes a product diagramming technique business analysts can use to gather requirements and design products. This session will explain the notion of “product diagramming” and show how those products can be expressed in XML. 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM Lunch 1:00 PM - 5:00 PM AUGIE Leaders Meeting By invitation only.

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