Siebel Connector for ACORD XML Architectural Overview

The Siebel Connector for ACORD XML is a configurable set of components that allow data to be exchanged between your Siebel application and external ACORD-based applications and databases. As shown in the following image, the Siebel Connector for ACORD XML is built on the Siebel Financial Services EAI Architecture, which in turn is built on Oracle’s Siebel Enterprise Application Integration (EAI) Architecture. The Siebel Financial Services EAI framework has been built to support XML messaging-based communication infrastructure.

Generally speaking, users of Siebel Financial Services must integrate with many different applications through messaging mechanisms. In order to fulfill this requirement, many connectors have to be built in order to support various industry standards. Siebel Financial Services is in a position to quickly and easily build and deploy multiple connectors based on the flexible Siebel EAI Architecture.

To demonstrate such flexibility, Oracle has built two connectors —ACORD P&C Connector and IFX Connector—both based on the Siebel Financial Services EAI framework. Please refer to Siebel Financial Services Enterprise Application Integration Guide for more information about the flexible Siebel Financial Services architecture.

High-Level Architecture of Siebel Financial Services EAI. In this image, Siebel Financial Services EAI Architecture sits on top of Siebel EAI Architecture, which in turn sits on top of Siebel Business Architecture. ACORD XMLConnector (including Commercial Lines and Personal Lines) and IFX XML Connector (including Teller Application and EBPP) both sit on top of Siebel Financial Services EAI Architecture. The following components are under Siebel Business Architecture: Security, Data Visibility, Workflow, Transaction Management, Data Synchronization and Replication, Data Analysis, Customization, Software Distribution, Personalization, Content Management, Routing and Assignment, Dynamic Load Balancing, MultiLanguage/Multicurrency, Data Movement, Application Upgrades, Access Control.

The Siebel Connector for ACORD XML is based on the ACORD XML standard for insurance industry exchange. In the Property and Casualty business, the main driver to the Internet is the real-time exchange of data between producers, carriers, rating bureaus, service providers, and others. The ACORD XML standard is designed to address these requirements by defining P&C transactions that include both a request and a response message.

ACORD partially leverages from the existing Interactive Financial Exchange (IFX) specification as the base protocol while we define an Insurance service containing Personal Lines, Commercial Lines, Surety, Claims, and Accounting transactions. It provides functions such as:

Handling the XML message header
Handling heterogeneous commands in the body section of an XML message
Data type formatting and conversions
Data model mapping through the various connector modules

These Siebel Connector for ACORD XML modules include the FINS ACORD Wizard, the FINS ACORD XML Dispatcher, the FINS ACORD XML Converter, the FINS ACORD XML Data Transformation Engine (DTE), and the FINS ACORD XML Transaction Manager.