LONDON, August 28, 2018 – ACORD, the global standards body for the insurance industry, is reducing the complexity of connecting trading partners as they use ACORD Standards for the first time, or upgrade to newer versions by enhancing the capabilities of its Test Harness. This includes expanding the number of scenarios available in the testing environment.
Chris Newman, Managing Director of ACORD in London said: “More and more insurance businesses are realising the benefits of adopting ACORD Data Standards, generating efficiencies and reducing friction at every stage of the insurance value chain, from quoting, binding, issuing of policies right through to claims handling and payments.
“But the process of connecting with a large number of trading partners across the re/insurance community, especially when upgrading to new standards, can be complex and time-consuming. We want to do everything we can to make that easier for them, and the improved testing environment will significantly lower the cost and effort required.”
The existing model for peer to peer acceptance testing is that all parties run a series of tests bi-laterally for every upgrade. ACORD have worked with the Ruschlikon community in developing a number of those test scenarios, so that they can be run against the Test Harness with enhanced capabilities. Brokers and carriers will therefore be able to complete those scenarios once rather than repeat the exercise for every one of their electronic partners.
Simon Squires, Senior Operations Lead UK & Ireland; International & Premium Collections at XL Catlin and Chair of the Ruschlikon Steering Group said: “The Ruschlikon initiative has a large community of more than 50 members and, as it continues to increase in size, the volume of tests required also increases exponentially. Up to now, every time we needed to run a test we had to repeat it with every one of our electronic partners, which required a significant allocation of resources. With the new additions we will be able to complete those scenarios just once rather than multiple times, making it cheaper, easier and more efficient for everyone involved.”
Learn more at www.acord.org/testharness.