Dynamic preloading of insurance product data in insurance policy management system

• US 20040193455A1
• Filed: 03/28/2003
• Published: 09/30/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 03/28/2003
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: The Ohio Casualty Insurance Company (Liberty Mutual Holding Company)
• Original Assignee: The Ohio Casualty Insurance Company (Liberty Mutual Holding Company)
• Inventors: Kellington, John S.
• Application Number:
  US10/401,363
• Publication Number:
  US 20040193455A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/4
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/02 Banking, e.g. interest calculation or account maintenance credit or loans G06Q40/03
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/08 Insurance

Abstract

An apparatus, program product and method dynamically preload product information from an external database into the working memory of a policy management system to facilitate efficient, high volume access to the product information during runtime of the policy management system. Typically, the dynamic preloading is performed during the initialization or boot-up of an application server in the policy management system, and the working memory is resident in a computer upon which the application server is also resident such that high speed access to the preloaded product information is available. Moreover, accesses to the external database during post-initialization runtime of the application server are typically avoided, thus eliminating the overhead associated with accessing the external database.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method of providing access to product information for insurance product offerings in a policy management system, the method comprising, during initialization of the policy management system:

retrieving product information for a plurality of insurance product offerings from an external database; and

dynamically creating a plurality of product data structures in a working memory in the policy management system using the retrieved product information, wherein each product data structure is associated with an insurance product offering from among the plurality of insurance product offerings, and wherein each product data structure is accessible from the working memory during runtime of the policy management system to facilitate the retrieval of product information for the associated insurance product offering independent of the external database.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein retrieving the product information and dynamically creating the plurality of product data structures are performed for all insurance product offerings for the policy management system prior to completion of the initialization of the insurance policy management system.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising, after initialization of the policy management system, accessing product information for a selected insurance product offering among the plurality of insurance product offerings by accessing the associated product data structure resident in the working memory.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein each product data structure comprises a product object, wherein accessing product information for the selected insurance product offering comprises accessing the associated product object.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein the policy management system comprises an application server having access to the working memory, wherein retrieving the product information and dynamically creating the plurality of product data structures are performed by the application server during initialization thereof, and wherein accessing the product information is performed by the application server after initialization thereof.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the product information stored in the external database for the plurality of insurance product offerings includes a product table, an attribute table and a relationship table, the product table defining a plurality of products, the attribute table defining a plurality of attributes, and the relationship table defining a plurality of relationships between products and attributes respectively defined in the product and attribute tables, wherein the plurality of products includes a first product, the plurality of attributes includes a first attribute, and the plurality of relationships includes a first relationship that associates the first attribute with the first product, and wherein dynamically creating the plurality of product data structures in the working memory includes:

assembling a first product data structure for the first product by accessing the first relationship to determine the association of the first attribute with the first product; and

associating the first attribute with the first product data structure in response thereto.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the relationship table comprises a product/attribute relationship table, wherein each of the plurality of relationships in the product/attribute relationship table defines a product/attribute relationship, wherein the product information stored in the external database for the plurality of insurance product offerings further includes a product/product relationship table that defines a plurality of product/product relationships between child and parent products defined in the product table, wherein the plurality of products further includes a second product, wherein the plurality of product/product relationships includes a first product/product relationship that associates the second product with the first product in a child/parent relationship, and wherein dynamically creating the plurality of product data structures in the working memory further includes:

accessing the first product/product relationship to determine the association of the second product with the first product; and

associating the second product with the first product data structure in response thereto.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein the relationship table comprises a product/attribute relationship table, wherein each of the plurality of relationships in the product/attribute relationship table defines a product/attribute relationship, wherein the product information stored in the external database for the plurality of insurance product offerings further includes a role table, a product/role relationship table, and a role/attribute relationship table, the role table defining a plurality of roles, the product/role relationship table defining a plurality of product/role relationships between products and roles respectively defined in the product and roles tables, the role/attribute relationship table defining a plurality of role/attribute relationships between roles and attributes respectively defined in the roles and attributes tables, wherein the plurality of roles includes a first role, the plurality of attributes includes a second attribute, the plurality of product/role relationships includes a first product/role relationship that associates the first role with the first product, and the plurality of role/attribute relationships includes a first role/attribute relationship that associates the second attribute with the first role, and wherein dynamically creating the plurality of product data structures in the working memory further includes:

accessing the first role/attribute relationship to determine the association of the second attribute with the first role and associating the second attribute with the first role in response thereto; and

accessing the first product/role relationship to determine the association of the first role with the first product and associating the first role with the first product in response thereto.

9. The method of claim 6, wherein each attribute defined in the attribute table includes a name/value pair.

10. The method of claim 6, wherein retrieving the product information for the plurality of insurance product offerings from the external database includes retrieving all of the product information from the product, attribute, and relationship tables via queries to the external database.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the external database comprises a relational database.

12. A policy management system, comprising:

a working memory;

at least one processor; and

program code executable by the processor during initialization of the policy management system and configured to retrieve product information for a plurality of insurance product offerings from an external database, and to dynamically create a plurality of product data structures in the working memory using the retrieved product information, wherein each product data structure is associated with an insurance product offering from among the plurality of insurance product offerings, and wherein each product data structure is accessible from the working memory during runtime of the policy management system to facilitate the retrieval of product information for the associated insurance product offering independent of the external database.

13. The policy management system of claim 12, wherein the program code is configured to retrieve the product information and dynamically create the plurality of product data structures for all insurance product offerings for the policy management system prior to completion of the initialization of the insurance policy management system.

14. The policy management system of claim 12, wherein the program code is further configured to, after initialization of the policy management system, access product information for a selected insurance product offering among the plurality of insurance product offerings by accessing the associated product data structure resident in the working memory.

15. The policy management system of claim 14, wherein each product data structure comprises a product object, wherein the program code is configured to access product information for the selected insurance product offering by accessing the associated product object.

16. The policy management system of claim 14, wherein the program code is disposed in an application server having access to the working memory, wherein the program code is configured to retrieve the product information and dynamically create the plurality of product data structures during initialization of the application server, and wherein the program code is configured to access the product information after initialization of the application server.

17. The policy management system of claim 12, wherein the product information stored in the external database for the plurality of insurance product offerings includes a product table, an attribute table and a relationship table, the product table defining a plurality of products, the attribute table defining a plurality of attributes, and the relationship table defining a plurality of relationships between products and attributes respectively defined in the product and attribute tables, wherein the plurality of products includes a first product, the plurality of attributes include'"'"'s a first attribute, and the plurality of relationships includes a first relationship that associates the first attribute with the first product, and wherein the program code is configured to dynamically create the plurality of product data structures in the working memory by assembling a first product data structure for the first product by accessing the first relationship to determine the association of the first attribute with the first product, and associating the first attribute with the first product data structure in response thereto.

18. The policy management system of claim 17, wherein the relationship table comprises a product/attribute relationship table, wherein each of the plurality of relationships in the product/attribute relationship table defines a product/attribute relationship, wherein the product information stored in the external database for the plurality of insurance product offerings further includes a product/product relationship table that defines a plurality of product/product relationships between child and parent products defined in the product table, wherein the plurality of products further includes a second product, wherein the plurality of product/product relationships includes a first product/product relationship that associates the second product with the first product in a child/parent relationship, and wherein the program code is configured to dynamically create the plurality of product data structures in the working memory further by accessing the first product/product relationship to determine the association of the second product with the first product, and associating the second product with the first product data structure in response thereto.

19. The policy management system of claim 17, wherein the relationship table comprises a product/attribute relationship table, wherein each of the plurality of relationships in the product/attribute relationship table defines a product/attribute relationship, wherein the product information stored in the external database for the plurality of insurance product offerings further includes a role table, a product/role relationship table, and a role/attribute relationship table, the role table defining a plurality of roles, the product/role relationship table defining a plurality of product/role relationships between products and roles respectively defined in the product and roles tables, the role/attribute relationship table defining a plurality of role/attribute relationships between roles and attributes respectively defined in the roles and attributes tables, wherein the plurality of roles includes a first role, the plurality of attributes includes a second attribute, the plurality of product/role relationships includes a first product/role relationship that associates the first role with the first product, and the plurality of role/attribute relationships includes a first role/attribute relationship that associates the second attribute with the first role, and wherein the program code is configured to dynamically create the plurality of product data structures in the working memory further by accessing the first role/attribute relationship to determine the association of the second attribute with the first role and associating the second attribute with the first role in response thereto, and accessing the first product/role relationship to determine the association of the first role with the first product and associating the first role with the first product in response thereto.

20. The policy management system of claim 17, wherein each attribute defined in the attribute table includes a name/value pair.

21. The policy management system of claim 17, wherein the program code is configured to retrieve the product information for the plurality of insurance product offerings from the external database by retrieving all of the product information from the product, attribute, and relationship tables via queries to the external database.

22. The policy management system of claim 12, wherein the external database comprises a relational database.

23. A program product, comprising:

program code configured to execute during initialization of a policy management system by retrieving product information for a plurality of insurance product offerings from an external database, and dynamically creating a plurality of product data structures in a working memory in the policy management system using the retrieved product information, wherein each product data structure is associated with an insurance product offering from among the plurality of insurance product offerings, and wherein each product data structure is accessible from the working memory during runtime of the policy management system to facilitate the retrieval of product information for the associated insurance product offering independent of the external database; and

a signal bearing medium bearing the program code.

24. The program product of claim 23, wherein the signal bearing medium includes at least one of a transmission medium and a recordable medium.