The model follows a data object hierarchy, making it highly portable to today's technologies and providing the most flexibility when implementing. The products typically considered when building out the model include:

• All aspects of traditional life insurance (e.g. term, whole life, variable products)
• Annuities
• Disability
• Health
• Long Term Care
• Investments (e.g. mutual funds, stocks and bonds)

The data is modeled in such a fashion that as additional product lines are added, the model can easily be expanded to include those product lines. It also supports multiple languages, multiple jurisdictions (e.g. states), and multi-national use.

The model defines the common data in various applications within the insurance industry and looks at the overlap of data between diverse products. Product categories typically considered include:

Throughout the definition of the model, the focus is on the sharing and communication of information. If information needs to be moved from one system to another; from one party to another; or from one process to another, it is modeled into the ACORD Life, Annuity & Health Data Model.

Development is done in a phased approach. Rather than trying to model all the information needed by the life insurance industry up front, participant priorities focus our efforts ensuring standards are developed more rapidly for implementation.

Data Outside the Model

As we build out the model, there will always be data elements that do not end up within the model. This could be because of the phased development approach, or more likely because an element is a proprietary requirement that does not belong in a standard. In all implementations of the data model, a way to extend the model to support unique requirements is provided. This allows the standard to be applied for cross-application communication, and still be functional within a proprietary implementation, allowing the standard to be fully adopted across the enterprise.