We have worked for Life insurance companies, Lloyd's of London Managing and Members Agencies and Insurance Brokers. Some of our recent case studies are described below.

Our client is one of the world's largest insurance brokers. The Technical Libraries System was developed as a new initiative to consolidate and catalogue many sources of information. The client had, in recent years, acquired and merged with several other insurance companies with the result that technical insurance data was spread over many different technologies and locations. Additionally, the internal data now needed to be related to external sources such as publications and web sites and be easily searchable by over 2,000 employees throughout the UK

The project began after Maddox Ford developed a prototype to prove the concept to the business users. We then managed the project and provided the technical lead whilst providing on-the-job training to our client's development team.

There were two main areas of complexity: A generic and easy to use front-end had to be developed so that many different types of information could be classified and searched in a consistent way; and secondly, the SilverStream application server had to be connected to several data sources including Oracle and Lotus Notes databases and document management servers.

For this organisation, another global insurance broker, marine insurance is their oldest line of business. Maddox Ford was commissioned to write an internet-based insurance certificate production and claims reporting system. Technically, the pre-requisite was to develop the application to J2EE standards using EJBs, Java Servlets and normal Java classes.

The application produces certificates of insurance that can be amended, endorsed, printed in PDF format and changed into insurance claims if required. A claim can have a number of documents attached to it in a variety of formats, all of which can be viewed and grouped in various ways. The application was designed to be readily customizable, an example of which is the ratings engine that enables our client's clients to configure their own insurance rates.

Providing extranet access to clients meant that security and access levels were of paramount importance. Access rights are defined at organization, group and individual level.

Prior to Maddox Ford being commissioned, this insurance broker managed its client and contact details via three separate systems using client-server technology. This led to data inconsistency and, ultimately, a relatively poor customer relationship management service. The new application, developed by Maddox Ford to J2EE standards and implemented on a model-view-controller framework, has pulled all relevant data into a single SQL Server database.

The key objective of the application is to provide a uniform, consistent contact management system for use within our client's sales and marketing divisions, allowing them to readily target prospects and better service existing clients.

The user interface and navigation through the system was clarified through navigation 'story boarding' and the development of prototypes. To remove the need for users to logon to the application, access is controlled through the client's Intranet via a hyperlink or a desktop shortcut. Authentication is performed by our client's centralised security system with which the contact management system is integrated. Access rights to specific functions are controlled by user type security levels.