Systems for digital management of underwriting insurance contracts

• US 8,073,717 B2
• Filed: 07/03/2008
• Issued: 12/06/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 07/03/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Guidewire Software Incorporated
• Original Assignee: FirstBest Systems, Inc.
• Inventors: Pelenur, Julian E., Cummings, Paul Thomas, Pilkerton, Joseph, Belizaire, John, Lynch, Kelly Ann, Glass, Jeffrey Jerome, Chen, Hao, Muldoon, Thomas Albert
• Primary Examiner(s): Kyle, Charles
• Assistant Examiner(s): NIQUETTE, ROBERT R
• Application Number:
  US12/167,598
• Publication Number:
  US 20100004954A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,251 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 705/4
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0637 Strategic management or analysis, e.g. setting a goal or target of an organisation; Planning actions based on goals; Analysis or evaluation of effectiveness of goals
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/382 insuring higher security of transaction
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/03 Credit; Loans; Processing thereof
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/08 Insurance
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/16 Real estate

Abstract

Disclosed are systems for underwriting insurance contracts. In one embodiment a system comprises a rules database of business rules specifying one or more conditions based upon one or more underwriting parameters; a user database comprising entries corresponding to registered users; and a processor configured to: provide to the user a form having a plurality of data fields generated based upon the underwriting parameters specified in the business rules; receive a plurality of inputted underwriting parameters corresponding to the data fields; determine whether the inputted underwriting parameters satisfy the business rules; and if at least one of the inputted underwriting parameters does not satisfy the business rules, provide a status message indicating that at least one business rule is not satisfied. The status message can be provided in an interface that includes a graphical element linking a part of the status message with a portion of the displayed form.

Claims

1. A system for processing and managing insurance contracts, the system comprising:

a rules database comprising a plurality of business rules, each business rule specifying one or more conditions based upon one or more underwriting parameters;

a user database comprising a plurality of user entries corresponding to a plurality of registered underwriters, wherein the user entry corresponding to the registered underwriter includes an underwriter class; and

a processor having access to the rules database and the user database, the processor configured to;

provide to an interface operated by the registered underwriter a form having a plurality of data fields generated based upon the underwriting parameters specified in at least a subset of the plurality of business rules, wherein the form provided to the registered underwriter is based at least in part upon the user underwriter class;

receive a plurality of inputted underwriting parameters corresponding to the data fields from the interface operated by the registered underwriter;

determine whether the inputted underwriting parameters satisfy the business rules, wherein the determination of whether the inputted underwriting parameters satisfy the business rules depends, at least in part, upon the underwriter class; and

if at least one of the inputted underwriting parameters does not satisfy the business rules, provide to the interface a status message indicating that at least one business rule is not satisfied.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the status message includes an identification of the at least one business rule that is not satisfied.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the interface comprises a form display area for displaying the data fields, and a status display area for displaying the status message.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein the status display area includes an element corresponding to the at least one business rule that is not satisfied by the inputted underwriting parameters.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein the interface further comprises a graphical element linking the element of the status display area with an element of the form display area corresponding to an inputted underwriting parameter that does not satisfy the business rules.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the graphical element is created in response to input from the registered underwriter.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the input includes a selection of the element of the status display area.

8. The system of claim 6, wherein the input includes a selection of the element of the form display area.

9. The system of claim 6, wherein the input includes hovering a cursor over the element of the status display area.

10. The system of claim 6, wherein the input includes hovering a cursor over the element of the form display area.

11. The system of claim 6, wherein the graphical element includes an indicia of a reason for which the input data element does not satisfy the business rules.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the indicia includes a color.

13. The system of claim 11, wherein the indicia includes a texture.

14. The system of claim 11, wherein the graphical element includes a shape which is computed based upon a size and location of the element of the status display area and a size and location of the element of the form display area.

15. The system of claim 1, wherein processor is further configured to provide the status message to a second registered underwriter, wherein the user entry corresponding to the second registered underwriter includes a second underwriter class, and wherein the second underwriter class corresponds to a broader scope of underwriter authority than the underwriter class of the registered underwriter.

16. The system of claim 1, wherein the processor provides the status message to the second registered underwriter in response to receiving an instruction from the registered user.

17. The system of claim 1, wherein the processor is further configured to permit at least one of the plurality of registered underwriters to alter at a subset of the business rules.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the user entry corresponding to the at least one of the plurality of registered underwriters includes an underwriter class, and wherein the subset of business rules is determined, at least in part, based upon the underwriter class.

19. The system of claim 1, wherein the processor is configured to store the received plurality of inputted underwriting parameters, and to permit a second registered underwriter to make at least one change to the stored plurality of inputted underwriting parameters.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein the change to the stored plurality of inputted underwriting parameters comprises a change to one of the plurality of inputted underwriting parameters.

21. The system of claim 19, wherein the change to the plurality of inputted underwriting parameters comprises an annotation to one of the plurality of inputted underwriting parameters.

22. The system of claim 19, wherein the processor is configured to permit the stored plurality of inputted underwriting parameters to be viewed by a third registered underwriter via an interface operated by the third registered underwriter, the interface comprising a form display area for displaying the data fields and a change display area for displaying the at least one change to the stored plurality of inputted underwriting parameters made by the second registered underwriter.

23. The system of claim 22, wherein the third registered underwriter is a different underwriter from the registered underwriter, the second registered underwriter, or both.

24. The system of claim 22, wherein the change display area includes an element corresponding to the at least one change to the stored plurality of inputted underwriting parameters made by the second registered underwriter.

25. The system of claim 24, wherein the interface further comprises a graphical element linking the element of the change display area with an element of the form display area corresponding to the data field to which the change relates.

26. The system of claim 25, wherein the graphical element is created in response to input from the third registered underwriter.

27. The system of claim 26, wherein the input from the third registered underwriter includes a selection of the element of the change display area.

28. The system of claim 26, wherein the input from the third registered underwriter includes a selection of the element of the parameter display area.

29. The system of claim 26, wherein the input from the third registered underwriter includes hovering a cursor over the element of the change display area.

30. The system of claim 29, wherein the graphical element includes a shape which is computed based upon a size and location of the element of the change display area and a size and location of the of the element of the form display area.

31. The system of claim 26, wherein the input from the third registered underwriter includes hovering a cursor over the element of the parameter display area.

32. The system of claim 25, wherein the graphical element includes an indicia of the nature of the change to the store data elements.

33. The system of claim 32, wherein the indicia includes a color.

34. The system of claim 32, wherein the indicia includes a texture.

35. The system of claim 1, wherein the interface includes data provided by the processor and viewed in a web browser.

36. The system of claim 35, wherein the data includes a Flash program.

37. The system of claim 1, wherein the underwriter class is determined based on the registered underwriter'"'"'s level of authority.

38. The system of claim 1, wherein the underwriter class is one of junior underwriter and managing underwriter.