| T.R | Title | User | Personal
Name | Date | Lines |
|---|
| 47.1 | RENIER BANK WIN | SIMVAX::BAKER | | Fri Aug 05 1988 14:59 | 250 |
|
SUMMARY
Attached is an excellent description of Digital's win at Rainier Bank in
Seattle over Token Ring. At Rainier, the account team of Joe Risso - Sales
and Howard Radke and Rod Balsley - Software, effectively demonstrated how a
MicroVAX 2000 could outperform Token Ring in a credit card/consumer lending
credit approval application. The Token Ring with a P/S 2 Model 80 file server
could barely support 7 concurrent users, while the MicroVAX easily supported
29 with better response time. This is an important win for many reasons:
1. The MicroVAX/Ethernet outperformed the P/S2 Model 80/Token Ring by
4 to 5 times.
2. IBM was unable to provide a solution - they kept upgrading the
file server - finally suggested NOVELLE, UNIX and an RT as a last-
ditch effort.
3. This was the first win for Digital at Rainier - a formerly all-IBM
shop.
RAINIER BANK WIN OVER IBM
The purpose of this report is to document the evolution of the Digital win
over PS/2 Token Ring at Rainier Bank in Seattle.
In summary, Rainier experienced a failure of the IBM solution due to the
limitations of the system software and the lack of raw capacity using the
PS/2 and Token Ring. The customer felt that IBM had "led them down the
path" and promised a solution that even IBM later admitted was
undeliverable.
In a sense IBM's weakness was Digital's strength. Digital has the
architecture and system software to easily do what Rainier was attempting
with IBM. It should be noted that this was not so much a win of Ethernet
vs. Token Ring as win of VMS vs. MS-DOS.
I. BACKGROUND
In mid 1987 Rainier embarked on a project to automate the centralized
processing and credit qualification of VISA and consumer loan
applications. The purpose of the project was to address the issues of
excessive loan application turn-around time, validating a new credit
scoring algorithm, and providing a development test bed for the IBM
PS/2 and Token Ring LAN. The intent was to first focus on producing a
functional prototype and later enhance the system for performance.
The process called for branches to FAX loan applications to a central
location where operators would first capture and edit the information.
The system would obtain a credit report from one of several local
bureaus, then run the credit scoring algorithm against the
information. Documentation would be produced for clear Pass/Fails and
be returned to the branch via courier the same or next day. Marginal
applications would be referred to a loan analyst for further review
and disposition.
The plan was to make this system the beginnings of the future branch
automation system by eventually decentralizing all of the functions
except loan analysis which could still be centralized. It appeared
that Rainier IS management was attempting to position PS/2 Token Ring
as the future standard for distributed processing.
II. INITIAL ARCHITECTURE
The first design used IBM PS/2 model 50s as clients systems running
Bank Star software. The client systems would only be used to capture
and edit the loan application data.
A PS/2 model 60 was used as a file server providing a virtual disk to
the client systems and to the model 50 scoring and communications
server. Note that the prototype design used sequential disk file
access which heavily impacted the Token Ring and overall system
performance.
A PS/2 model 50 was used as a credit scoring server, communications
server (to dial-up local Credit Bureaus), and print server for loan
documentation and management reports. It also had a "watchdog" program
which would actively monitor the file server (on the model 60) to
determine when to invoke the communication, scoring, and printing
functions.
The operating system used was MS-DOS 3.2. The programs developed by
Rainier were all written in C.
The development team was faced with writing a multi user application
in a single user environment. They quickly became acquainted with the
limitations of the MS-DOS. There was no facility for data security,
data integrity (eg record locking to support multiple users), data
recovery, audit trails, interprocess communications, or integrated
reporting.
The development of the prototype took much longer than expected. The
delivery dates slipped repeatedly while management and end-user
pressure mounted. IBM provided no support to the team. Rainier brought
in a consultant to help with the design and development.
Although they finally succeeded in building a functional system it was
a poor performer. The limitations of a single-thread, non-keyed file
moving all disk I/O over the LAN caused prohibitively long response
times.
III. REVISED ARCHITECTURE
The bottle-neck in the system was in the structure of the disk I/Os to
the file server. To improve response time the following changes were
made to the initial design:
TO REDUCE LAN TRAFFIC
Bank Star interim data (during data capture) was stored on the
client's local hard disk. It was sent to the file server only after
the data entry and editing were complete.
TO IMPROVE FILE SERVER PERFORMANCE
Informix was placed on the file server to provide keyed record
access and the beginnings of a Data Base Management System. Note
that under MS-DOS Informix operates as a simple, single thread
record access system.
The file server was upgraded to a PS/2 model 80.
The result of these modifications provided acceptable response times
for from five to seven concurrent users, but this was far short of the
need for 30 concurrent users in a production environment. Rainier's
benchmark report concluded that "the increase in response times with
the addition of users results from the "single-thread" nature of the
MS-DOS operating system on the server."
IV. DIGITAL PERFORMANCE COMPARISON
Digital was invited to demonstrate VAX/VMS and our PC networking
capability in a direct comparison to the PS/2 Token Ring
implementation described above.
Initially a uVAX 2000 was used as the file server (replacing the PS/2
model 80) and DECrouters/Ethernet replaced Token Ring. This limited
the client/server link speed to 19.2 kb.
The Informix software and the test database were loaded onto the uVAX
with no changes from the PS/2, the Informix application was not even
recompiled. (It is worth noting here that the customer was quite
impressed with Digital's ability to deliver the equipment, set it up,
load Informix and the databases, load DECnet DOS on the PCs, and be
ready for testing in under three hours).
The results of this test indicated that 15 to 20 users could be
supported by the uVAX 2000 with acceptable response times. The
performance gain on the uVAX could be attributed to the multi-thread
capabilities of VMS which permitted Informix to optimize the database
process through query plan processing, optimization, and concurrency
control. With the capabilities of VMS, Informix was able to add
intelligence and begin to look more like a Data Base Management
System.
The limit of 15 to 20 users was attributed to the memory limitations
of the uVAX 2000. A later test using a 16 megabyte uVAX II showed
acceptable response times for 29 concurrent users (the maximum number
of PS/2s that Rainier could locate for the test).
V. DIGITAL ARCHITECTURE
The customer is now doing a modest redesign of the server software in
order to take advantage of the multi-tasking environment that is now
available to them. An example is the use of concurrent communication
processes to the credit bureaus which is much more easily done under
VMS. All server functions will now be on the uVAX, however the
server-client relationship remains essentially the same.
VI. IBM RESPONSE
IBM's response to Digital's competition was to suddenly become
interested in this project at the eleventh hour. They assured Rainier
that a faster box would solve the problem. An early release of the
PS/2 model 70 was tried but showed no improvement.
IBM also asserted that the team had not properly "tuned" the system,
But after working on it themselves for some time they agreed that
tuning was not the problem.
IBM also suggested using a 9370. However, after it was pointed out
that the 9370 lacked the communications software to support PS/2s on
Token Ring, they suggested that perhaps the PC-RT under Unix would
fill the bill.
As the bank did not wish to become involved with the RT, IBM's last
attempt to salvage the situation was to suggest that Rainier install a
Novell file server running on Token Ring! At this point the
discussions stopped and the bank redirected their attention toward
modifying the application for production using the uVAX system.
VII. SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS
Due to the nature of MS-DOS and lack of supporting database and
communications software, Rainier initially was forced to build a
system that was awkward to use and manage. The design made inefficient
use of the LAN. Because of the inferior systems design the team was
concerned that the system would probably have failed an audit.
At the time the decision was made to use MS-DOS, OS/2 was not stable,
did not have database serving functions, and did not have a LAN
manager (and will not until OS/2E 1.1 is released). Another concern
with OS/2E is that IBM and Microsoft are independently developing LAN
Managers that are not compatible.
The performance would have been better had a full function OS/2E been
available for the servers. The consultant's estimate is that the model
80 may be able to support 15 concurrent users using OS/2E, still below
the production requirement.
In this situation the driving issues involved trying to build a
distributed system with the limited software that IBM provides for the
PS/2s. The relative merits of Token Ring vs. Ethernet were never
an issue.
The Rainier development team did mention that they appreciated the
Digital sales team working directly with them, understanding their
problems and helping them to develop the solution. This apparently was
in contrast to IBM's approach of dealing top down, and not very far
down at that. IBM was obviously concerned when Digital showed up, but
they still did not consult directly with the developers to ask for
their input on the problems.
An additional advantage that the customer recognized was that Digital
solved the problem with the low end of their product line which
provides a clear and easy path for future growth.
|
| 47.2 | Rainier is Insurance? | MSDOA2::HORTON | | Tue Aug 09 1988 00:56 | 2 |
| Interesting account, but, when did Rainier get into the insurance
business?
|
| 47.3 | You are right..but.. | SIMVAX::BAKER | | Tue Aug 09 1988 15:55 | 12 |
| In answer to the previous note, they are not in insurance.
The interesting part of this win is the
success of our networkin strategy and the VMS vs MS-DOS issue, which
are well worth keeping in mind as we work in the insurance industry.
There may well be other "non insurance" wins included in this
conference from time to time. Particular attention should be paid
to applications that can be used to sell into insurance space, not
just applications that are NOW in insurance space.
John Baker
|
| 47.4 | Token Ring or PS/2? | USMRM1::LKATZ | | Wed Aug 10 1988 14:31 | 6 |
| There also is more than just a little question as to whether this
is a win against token ring or PS/2. Either way it's a good win,
but read more deeply for the sales strategy and I believe you'll
find that the positioning against PS/2 was the key.
Lee
|
| 47.5 | UNION CENTRAL WIN | SIMVAX::BAKER | | Mon Aug 15 1988 16:36 | 49 |
| WIN AT UNION CENTRAL LIFE
(HARRY STAMBAUGH @CYO)
Following are the details of the win in Q4 at UCL. UCL aquired another life
company in New York, Manhattan Life. Manhattan had a VAX 11/780 doing a
number of apllications including interfacing to their agent network. As a
result of the aquisition, the majority of the applications were moved from the
780 to UCL's 3090 mainframe in Cincinnati. UCL is a very typical insurance
customer of IBM, large mainframe, a proliferation of PC's, and poor
connectivity and access to information. UCL is an atypical account in that
the MIS function is managed by EDS under a facilities management agreement.
As the consolidation of Manhattan Life and UCL MIS functions occured, UCL
began to look at networking requirements for both companies. They looked at
IBM, AT&T, and DEC. The need was for a WAN for both companies, to provide for
agent connectivity, and communication between ML offices in NYC, downtown
Cincinnati, and Forest Park (UCL's headquarters in suburban Cincinnati). In
addition, the applications required IBM mainframe connectivty, and as a
reesult of the need for mainframe communication, UCL also began looking at
LAN connectivity for their PC's.
EDS was cordial, but wound up recommending the IBM solution. However, the CFO
of UCL hired a person from outside the organization to start a new department
called Affiliate Services, whose charter included the choice of vendor, and
ultimately managing end user computing and agent computing requirements. This
decision turned things in our favor. The new Second VP was a networking type
and quickly came up to speed on our capabilities versus IBM. We won this
initial business in the account, placing an 8250, SNA Gateway, DECmux II's in
NYC, and dial up links from downtown Cincinnati to Forest Park. We are
running VAX PSI for X.25 connectivity for their agents, VMS Services for MS
DOS for PC connectivty, and several SNA layered products for mainframe
communication. Also, UCL has All-in-1, and is currently developing their
tsrategy for end user connectivity.
Everything is currently connected through a DELNI, and we have a proposal in
for an Ethernet backbone for their existing building andthe new building
currently under construction.
The value of the sale was approximately 250K, and should continue to grow at
this formerly all IBM account. I should mention that UCL was also a Beta test
site for Kodak's KIMS system. They have retained the KIMS 3000 system and
Kodak feels that they willl be puchasing much larger system later this FY.
If you need additional information, please let me know. Regards!
|
| 47.6 | AIG Win | 26936::BAKER | | Thu Sep 15 1988 12:37 | 31 |
|
Client: AIG Financial Products Corporation
Sales Rep: John Plucinski @NYO
Application: Custom financial hedging program for interest rate
and currency futures. They insure against financial
volatility.
Motivation: Business growth of 400%/year. Current LAVC at 100%
CPU utilization. Batch runtime 3-hours/evening.
Need information within 30 minutes.
Sales Obstacles: IBM corporate vendor. Corporate EVP and data center
VP heavily supporting AS400. IBM discount of 25%.
Solution: Provide subsidiary CEO with cost of ownership
comparison between Gartner equivalent systems:
8830/6210 vs. 3090. Despite larger vendor discount,
IBM cost of ownership was 200% DEC cost of ownership,
not including signifigant environmental differences.
Coordinate GIA and Tokyo field service action plan to
resolve compatability problems.
Result: DEC win vs. IBM with heavy executive backing. Total
sale was worth over $2,000,000, including an 8830,
6210, remote system vaxcluster, startup package 3,
and full year on-site resident.
|
| 47.7 | Legal system win at Met | FOOZLE::BAKER | | Sun Nov 06 1988 16:07 | 61 |
| The following E-Mail from Ed Forker will be of interest to Insurance
VaxNotes users.
I N T E R O F F I C E M E M O R A N D U M
Date: 2-Nov-1988 10:44am EST
From: ED FORKER @NYO
FORKER.ED AT A1 at HOCUS
at PCO
Dept: NIA
Tel No: 352-2709
TO: See Distribution List
Subject: Win at Met Life
As promised, I wanted to advise and thank all the team members responsible
for a competitive win at Met Life.
The IBM Competitive Group has asked for information regarding our win and I
thought I would share it with all team members:
Reason for Win: Multi-level positioning within the account and a unique
settlement of a law suit which allowed Met Life to purchase our product in
lieu of a cash settlement. Harvey Weiss dealt with Met Life Vice Chairman
to develop the settlement and we positioned our General Counsel with Met
Life General Counsel. We also worked at developing a
partnership/neutralizing the Met M.I.S.group. Other important factors were:
- Win Hindle visits to Sr. Exec. VP of M.I.S.
- Corporate visit.
- Follow-up meeting with Bill Strecker and John Rose.
- Numerous meetings by Ron Hevey and Mike Levy with Se. Exec. VP of
M.I.S.
Application: Automating and integrating the Met Life Law Dept. It included
word processing, electronic mail, time and charge management, litigation
support and integration of a WANG/IBM environment. The textural database
component of the Digital solution is delivered by CMP HENCO. It is
important that it appeared to Met that digital is the one point of contact.
Product Sold: 1-3602, 2-3500 LAVAC and approximately 120 VAXMATES AND 100
VT 320, 12 months on site consultant; current value of pilot $1.2M. The
estimated value over this year and next is an additional $800K.
IBM proposed configuration was 9370 and 220 AT's.
The reason we finally won was that we did not give up, we had the best and
least expensive solution and we had support at all levels of the account
with a plan of attack.
I hope this makes the vacation that Bill Strecker sacrificed not in vain.
Thanks again to everybody for a great effort!!!!
|
| 47.8 | Jackson National Regional Office Win | FOOZLE::BAKER | | Tue Nov 22 1988 13:20 | 51 |
| JACKSON NATIONAL LIFE
..........................................................................
The following notes were developed by Drew Knowland of FISG, and show an
interesting application of Digital technology. Note that any use of Jackson
National as a reference account must be coordinated with Terra Fox, the
account representative.
..........................................................................
I wanted to bring you up to date on a recent Digital win at Jackson
National Life to automate the company's 10 regional offices. A
subsidiary of Prudential U.K., Jackson National Life (JNL) is located
in Lansing, MI and is one of the top 150 life insurance companies in
the U.S.. They are in the top 20 in terms of average policy issued
($156K during 1987). Terra Fox is the Digital Account Rep covering
the account.
JNL markets its products through independent agents and providing
good service is a key component of the company's competitive strategy.
The company has 10 regional offices around the country to handle its
agency business. They recently selected Digital to provide a turn-key
Regional Office Management System (ROMS) solution that, among other
functions, provides for application status tracking, license management
and other agent information. The application was written by Digital
SWS and replaced an older application that was built around Apple
PCs and Corvus LANs. JNL's regional offices range in size from
16 to 300 people and they needed a solution that provided configuration
flexibility coupled with an unlimited growth path.
JNL's three largest regional offices and the home office have been
automated with VAX 3500 and 3600 CPUs to date. The first installation
was in September 1988 and the customer has been very satisfied with
both the application and Digital's performance. It sounds like they
would be an excellent reference source.
The ROMS application was written in Cobol by Digital SWS and uses
DBMS, CDD, and FMS/TDMS. VAXset has been installed in the home office
and the customer is starting to gain experience developing their own
applications using these tools. The MIS department had previously
only had IBM experience. Currently in process is a project to automate
policy printing using a Xerox 4050 printer and the home office VAX.
The home office VAX is also being used by the actuarial department
to integrate their PCs using VMS Services for MS-DOS.
|
| 47.9 | Regional Office Win | FOOZLE::BAKER | | Wed Nov 30 1988 16:38 | 50 |
|
JACKSON NATIONAL LIFE
I wanted to bring you up to date on a recent Digital win at
Jackson National Life to automate the company's 10 regional
offices. A subsidiary of Prudential U.K., Jackson National Life
(JNL) is located in Lansing, MI and is one of the top 150 life
insurance companies in the U.S.. They are in the top 20 in terms
of average policy issued ($156K during 1987). Terra Fox is the
Digital Account Rep covering the account.
JNL markets its products through independent agents and providing
good service is a key component of the company's competitive
strategy. The company has 10 regional offices around the country
to handle its agency business. They recently selected Digital to
provide a turn-key Regional Office Management System (ROMS)
solution that, among other functions, provides for application
status tracking, license management and other agent information.
The application was written by Digital SWS and replaced an older
application that was built around Apple PCs and Corvus LANs.
JNL's regional offices range in size from 16 to 300 people and
they needed a solution that provided configuration flexibility
coupled with an unlimited growth path.
JNL's three largest regional offices and the home office have been
automated with VAX 3500 and 3600 CPUs to date. The first
installation was in September 1988 and the customer has been very
satisfied with both the application and Digital's performance. It
sounds like they would be an excellent reference source.
The ROMS application was written in Cobol by Digital SWS and uses
DBMS, CDD, and FMS/TDMS. VAXset has been installed in the home
office and the customer is starting to gain experience developing
their own applications using these tools. The MIS department had
previously only had IBM experience. Currently in process is a
project to automate policy printing using a Xerox 4050 printer and
the home office VAX. The home office VAX is also being used by
the actuarial department to integrate their PCs using VMS Services
for MS-DOS.
Opportunities for Digital in the account include developing an
expert underwriting system, office automation, and installing a
wide area network to link the regional and home offices (there is
currently no network in place).
####
|
| 47.10 | BLUE WIN!! | FOOZLE::BAKER | | Wed Dec 14 1988 06:32 | 85 |
|
BLUE CROSS/BLUE SHIELD OF MINNESOTA
WALL-OF-FAME AWARD WINNER
Awarded by North Central District Team
December 13, 1988
For team selling at Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Minnesota.
Booked: $450K
Significant Facts:
This team has closed a major new project for end-user computing that has
resulted in $450K of bookings, new business for all Digital service segments,
and significant potential for future major Digital business. This sale was
closed directly with the Vice President of Information Services, who has acted
as Digital's sponsor into the account for this project.
Application Description:
The system will be utilized as the repository for all corporate data that all
reports will be generated from. Data will be automatically collected from the
IBM mainframe and loaded into Rdb. Based on the the information collected, a
decision support system will be put into place for the executive level of
management to do various types of modeling and what ifs.
A 3rd party application has also been purchased from MedisGroups to measure
medical outcomes as they relate to individual hospitals and the physicians who
practice in those hospitals. This will give BCBS the opportunity to monitor
the quality and appropriateness of care received by their members and to
provide important feedback to hospitals and physicians.
The account team that contributed to this sale is comprised of:
* - Primary team members
Sales: Management Team:
*Cheryl Wise Mark Stockhowe
Sue Reardon
Sales Support:
*Doug Siewert Jim Ford
*Laurie Hoffman
Software Delivery:
Brian Waterhouse Dave Black
Steve Kerns
Field Service:
Bill Rau
CAS:
*Renee McIntyre
Marcie Lovejoy
Paula Kenneth
Finance:
*Bob Hayes Gordy Kruse
Leasing:
Dan Larson
|
| 47.11 | Liberty Mutual - Digital Forms Capability | FOOZLE::BAKER | | Fri Dec 16 1988 09:07 | 780 |
| While not strictly a "Win" the attaced information on positioning
of Digital "forms" capabilities at Liberty Mutual will be of interest.
This document also includes evaluation of vendors in the field.
_________________________________________________________________________
Forms Processing Automation System
Vendor Evaluation
_________________________________________________________________________
Developed by:
Matt Kennedy - New England District SWS
Russ Carr - Insurance Resource Center
Marilyn Porter - Liberty Mutual Sales Representative
**** THIS DOCUMENT IS FOR INTERNAL USE ONLY ****
REPORT SUMMARY
Digital has become well positioned and is now recognized by Liberty Mutual
Insurance as the vendor they prefer to turn to for distributed
applications. It was natural then for Liberty Mutual to approach Digital
for a solution to their distributed forms automation needs.
At Liberty's request we made inquiries and did extensive research into
Digital and it's existing marketing partners for a forms automation
solution and turned up nothing at all. Research external to Digital seemed
to indicate that the only solutions on the market were exclusive to the IBM
platform. Only recently a very small company (FormMaker Software Inc.) was
uncovered which has part of the solution today on Digital systems.
This document is a result of our research to find Liberty a solution to
their forms automation problem. Contained in this document is a description
of the requirements for the system as set forth by Liberty and evaluations
of each the three software vendors that appeared to be our best (if not our
only) alternatives for delivering this solution.
As it turns out Liberty's problem and requirements are not at all unique.
In fact during our research many other potential opportunities for Digital
in providing forms automation solutions have come up. Although Liberty has
already selected one of the vendors that we uncovered to deliver the
solution, there was sufficient interest elsewhere in Digital for us to
document the results of our evaluation.
This document contains the following sections:
Section 1 - The Business Problem
Section 2 - Electronic Forms Systems (EFS)
Section 3 - Datalogics Inc.
Section 4 - FormMaker Software Inc.
Appendix A - System Requirements
Appendix B - Vendor Comparison (Pros/Cons)
SECTION 1 - THE BUSINESS PROBLEM
___________________________________________________________________________
It is not uncommon today for a large corporation to maintain and use
literally thousands of different business forms. In fact, according to a
February 1988 report by Dataquest, Inc. business forms compose up to 33% of
all documents used in business. With the financial industries such as
banking and insurance ranking near the top in terms of business forms
usage, Liberty Mutual is no exception. According to Liberty the total
number of different preprinted forms maintained by the company is estimated
to exceed 10,000.
Although forms are very important in assuring the day to day operations of
a company, preprinted forms are very expensive and time consuming to manage
and process. Datek Information Services, a Waltham, MA based research and
publishing firm estimates that U.S. companies spend upwards of $6 billion
every year to purchase custom preprinted forms. In addition the forms
automation vendor Electronic Forms Systems claims that these same companies
spend up to 40 times the purchase price on the maintenance and processing
of these preprinted forms. Insurance companies are acutely aware of this
problem as even their product, the insurance policy, is a business form.
The three problem areas with the use of preprinted forms which are most
apparent are as follows:
o Expensive waste due to obsolete forms
o Expensive cost of warehousing and distribution
o Process of impact printing of variable data is slow
Automating the management and processing of forms can provide substantial
savings in time and money. Forms can be stored online where revisions and
printing are performed quickly and efficiently on demand. There is no need
for expensive warehouse space and distribution requirements. Using data
processing systems and networks the blank form and variable data can be
merged and printed on demand at the requesting or receiving site rather
than printing and distributing large quantities of preprinted forms from a
central site.
After analyzing the needs for automating forms processing at Liberty
Mutual, it became apparent that the requirements for a forms automation
system can be organized into 5 functional categories. The five categories
are forms creation, forms management/distribution, variable data input,
final assembly, and printing as shown in the following diagram:
1. WYSIWYG 2. Forms
Creation ------------>Management
|
|
3. Variable | C O R P O R A T E
Data Input Stream |
(From IBM or DEC) |
| |
------------------------------------------------------------------------
| |
| V
| 4. Final
+----------------> Assembly R E M O T E
|
|
V
5. Printing
Note: Although the above diagram shows a single remote
site, in the actual implementation there could be up to
several hundred remote sites.
The following paragraphs numbered 1 through 5 describe the functions that
are typically performed in the 5 previously mentioned categories. For the
detailed Liberty Mutual system requirements please read Appendix A titled
"System Requirements".
1. Forms creation - At a corporate or home office location, users will
design and create business forms on a WYSIWYG editor/workstation. The
requirements for the forms would be typical of a business form i.e., boxes
with captions in upper left corner, various typefaces, company logo, etc..
At this point in the process the fields in the form are left blank.
2. Forms management/distribution - After creation, these blank form
"masters" must then be transferred electronically via the Liberty
Information (DECnet) Network to remote locations (division/branch/claims
offices) across the US. Users at the remote site would place the new
form into a local library. (A future requirement will be to maintain the
management/update of these remote forms libraries from a single central
location such as home office.)
3. Variable data input - Applications in corporate IBM or DEC systems would
generate the variable data only. The data would be passed over the network
to the remote locations as a print stream. The print stream would specify
to the remote location which form "template" in the remote library the
variable data was to be merged with. Specifically the print stream would
begin with the name of the form to use and would follow with the variable
data only, field after field.
Although not a requirement at Liberty, entering the data from a keyboard
was also possible with 2 of the vendor's systems we looked at. This
functionality was implemented in an interesting fashion. The user would sit
in front of a PC that would front-end the assembly/merge system. The user
at this PC would see the graphical image of the form as it would look when
it was printed with the various typefaces, etc.. The user would be prompted
for input at each field. When complete the form could be printed on the
local system's laser printer.
4. Assembly/merge - As the data is received the remote system retrieves the
specified form from the library and merges the form and the variable data.
5. Printing - After assembly, the form will be printed on a laser printer.
The laser printer could be a general office printer or a dedicated device
should the volume dictate the need. Printer requirements would vary in size
depending upon volume requirements.
SECTION 2 - ELECTRONIC FORMS SYSTEMS (EFS)
___________________________________________________________________________
Electronic Forms Systems
2395 Midway Road
Carrollton, Texas 75006
214-250-7000
Contact: Michael Radice, EFS Division Executive VP
Robert McFarland, VP Marketing
Sales 1987: $100M (includes parent company)
EFS is a division of Computer Language Research Inc. a Carrollton, Texas
based software company. EFS appears to be the largest of the forms
automation vendors. EFS clearly has the most comprehensive forms automation
system on the market today. This system however is currently limited to
running on IBM systems only. Discussions with EFS indicate that to "port"
the EFS software to the Digital platform would not be simple. Indications
from EFS were that this would be a lengthy and expensive process. Senior
management at EFS did however appear very interested in working with
Digital to accomplish this.
The following 5 sections define how the EFS system would address the 5
categories of system requirements outlined earlier. The efforts involved in
bringing the EFS solution to the Digital platform are also discussed in the
this section.
1. Forms Creation
Forms creation is accomplished through a software package called FormCoder
on an IBM PC/PS2. Editing is done in WYSIWYG mode using a digitizing tablet
for drawing. After a creation session the form is stored in a common Forms
Descriptor Language. The user then runs a different component of the system
to define the fields on the form and the format for the variable data that
will be placed in those fields. This process is referred to as form
mapping and is accomplished with either the E-Form or FormWriter Assembly
mapping software.
FormWriter Assembly Mapping software allows the user to map between fields
in a form and strings of characters in a print stream. This mapping is
accomplished by specifying the starting position and number of characters
for each field.
Another component called E-Form Mapping is used to map the fields on a form
for use during the on-screen entry of variable data to the form. This
on-screen data entry process is discussed in the section called variable
data input.
This software would probably never be ported to the VAX. A solution would
be to use the Digital version of the IBM PC or possibly the PVAX with it's
DOS emulator.
2. Forms Management
The management system runs only on an IBM host under MVS and consists of
two parts called Destination Management and FormDriver MVS.
FormDriver is actually the final assembly and print driver software that
would reside on the remote or printing system with separate versions
available for the PC and MVS systems. FormDriver MVS however handles both
local MVS libraries for high volume forms processing using IBM MVS attached
printers plus it acts as the central librarian for the destination
management software.
Destination Management takes care of keeping the remote PC libraries up to
date from a central site. This is accomplished using the EFS E-Link PC
communications software which is used to transfer the forms from the MVS
system to the PC. The E-Link software uses the SNA terminal network for
communications with the host MVS system. On the MVS system, each remote PC
has an account with a listing of forms and their revision dates. The MVS
system can automatically call the remote system for library update on a
predetermined basis or the remote system can log into the MVS system (CICS
login) and download the forms needed. This either-way automatic update is a
powerful feature. Remote sites can be defined in groups so that it is not
necessary to name each file for each site.
EFS has stated that they have invested $50 million in development of
Destination Management under MVS. It is written in PL1 under CICS. A
conversion to the VAX would not be appropriate. A rewrite for the VAX could
be accomplished with less than the $50 million investment but they seemed
reluctant to consider it. EFS has little detail about Destination
Management and could not provide copies of the 42 CICS screens used.
It is possible that Destination management could be accomplished on the
Digital platform by using PCSA for the creation and assembly/merge PCs.
Form files could then be transmitted to the appropriate "Virtual disks"
easily. This method would still require substantial manual intervention
though for exporting and importing of the form files into the libraries, a
function which EFS does automatically under using the MVS Destination
Manager.
3. Variable Data Input
Variable data input is transmitted to the printing system as a print
stream. This approach allows many existing applications which may have been
sending print streams to line printers loaded with preprinted forms. With
this approach the output from these programs is simply directed to a
different print device. Print streams can be directed to the EFS
assembly/merge system in either of 2 different formats.
In the first format the print stream is exactly the same as that which
would be sent to a line printer to impact print the variable data onto a
preprinted form. The only change is that in line 0 a form command is
inserted to specify which form to use. In this format, the print page is
superimposed onto the form image and sent to the printer.
In the second format the form call on line 0 contains a name which denotes
a mapping file. The print file contains all of the field information
without any special formatting and the mapping file is used to find the
values of each field in the form. The value of this format is minimizing
the amount of data produced in order to print the form. Forms may be
associated into a form set and the values for the fields carried over from
form to form. Forms may also be set up to do a top of form or not. In this
way, multiple forms can be printed on the same page. (Care must be taken
when using this feature. This is not full pagination as available in some
other systems.)
Variable data can also be entered directly at the PC by using the E-Form
component. With E-Form the user sees the form on the screen exactly as it
would appear when printed on the laser printer with lines, fonts, etc..
Although both EFS and FormMaker had this capability this was not a
requirement at Liberty Mutual.
4. Assembly/Merge
For processing of the print stream of variable data there are 2 versions of
the assembly/merge software available depending on the volume requirements.
For high volume printing demands FormDriver MVS on the mainframe would
process the variable data. For lower volume and remote processing
requirements a remote IBM PC with PC based FormDriver software is used.
With the PC based system a true distributed forms automation system is
achieved. This section will focus primarily on the PC based assembly/merge
software as this would be nearest in terms of functionality to a VAX/VMS
based distributed approach.
The remote PC system is configured with a special IRMA board, EFS
proprietary graphics board, and an EFS laser printer. The PC communicates
with the host MVS system using the EFS E-Link communications software and
special IRMA board over the SNA terminal network. This system appears to
the host system as an attached 3287 printer.
NOTE: This E-Link communications software although configured on
IBM networks to communicate using SNA can also communicate with
host systems via an asynch line. This system could therefore
potentially receive variable data input from a VAX/VMS system.
When the data is received the EFS PC FormDriver software performs the
following:
1. Checks the information on line zero (the header) to determine
the form the data is to be merged with.
2. Retrieves the form from the library.
3. Merges the fields of variable data into the correct locations on
the form.
4. Passes the completed form to the FormWriter software for
printing.
The product manager indicated that it would be only a couple of months
effort to modify the input and output routines in the assembly software to
be VMS queue based. In our opinion the PC version of the software, written
in C should be easily transported to VAX/VMS providing an VAX/VMS version
of the EFS assembly/merge and printing system.
The EFS development manager indicated that the PC FormDriver software was
30,000 lines of C code. His estimate for developing FormDriver for VMS from
scratch was 100 lines/month or 300 person-months. He estimated that after
contractual agreement (functional specification approved) the software
could be completed in about a year. EFS has no experience in VMS or porting
and expressed concern on the possibility of porting the C software. EFS
claimed their current development commitments would preclude any work in
the next 6 months so the earliest possible delivery would be mid 1990.
We have demonstrated in the lab that using a VMS Printer Queue attached by
an asynch line to the EFS system worked well. The major concern would be
the needed cost of the IBM PC between the VAX and each printer.
5. Printing
The printing is done using a package called FormWriter. This is ultimately
used regardless of the variable data format (lineprinter, assembly, or
entered directly from the keyboard using the E-Form software). The
FormWriter software is available for many printer types.
The complete form when ready is passed to the proprietary graphics board
which generates the form image which is then transmitted directly to the
print engine via a video cable. The main advantage of this setup is high
performance in going from the Forms Descriptor Language to the printer. EFS
claims this approach allows an attached laser printer to run at it's true
rated speed.
Liberty viewed this as a big disadvantage because of the requirement to
have an IBM PC with each printer. Liberty felt that any printer on the
office LAN should be capable of printing the completed form. They were
concerned about the cost of having a dedicated PC for each forms printer
that an office might require.
SECTION 3 - DATALOGICS INC.
___________________________________________________________________________
Datalogics Inc.
441 West Huron Street
Chicago, Illinois 60610
312-266-4419
Contact: Raymond H. Stachowiak, Director Marketing
Approx. Sales 1987: $12M
Datalogics has a long standing history with Digital in producing electronic
publishing solutions with what have been referred to as "industrial
strength" document composition and technical publishing systems. All
Datalogics systems have been based exclusively on Digital's VAX/VMS
platform since 1967. They have a large staff of VMS development people and
are very knowledgeable in VAX/VMS.
Datalogics claims that they specialize in developing custom solutions based
on the components that make up their composition system. They have produced
similar systems for producing real estate multiple listing forms and
insurance policy production systems. Datalogics with very short notice
produced a document which defined what there approach would be to develop
the forms automation system that Liberty required.
Because the Datalogics approach is to build this solution as a custom
application from the ground up they are able to design a system that meets
most if not all of the forms automation requirements. For this reason the
Datalogics solution will not be broken down by the 5 categories of the
forms automation requirements in this document. A copy of the Datalogic's
forms automation proposal is available by sending mail to Matthew Kennedy
@MHO or NANOOK::KENNEDY.
We have given the OK to Datalogics to go ahead and present their proposal
directly to Liberty Mutual.
SECTION 4 - FORMMAKER SOFTWARE INC.
___________________________________________________________________________
FormMaker Software Inc.
57 S. Shillinger Road
Mobile, Alabama 36608
205-633-3676
Contact: Mike Hoover, VP Marketing
Sam Wilkes, President
Approx. Sales 1987: $800K
FormMaker is a small software company with only 30 employees that
specializes in forms automation. FormMaker claims that their philosophy is
to create products that are developed in such a way that they can easily be
"ported" to different hardware systems. To this end all of their software
is developed in C. They also try to leverage companies existing investments
in hardware by supporting numerous systems and printers. Although the
WYSIWYG forms creation system is only available for the IBM PC/PS2, support
for the distributed forms merge and print software currently includes
MS-DOS, VAX/VMS, and UNIX (System V). With the merge and print software
they have tested and support MS-DOS on the IBM PC and PS2 (All models), VMS
on VAX, and UNIX on NCR and UNISYS systems.
FormMaker prefers to consider themselves a "software factory" and are best
prepared to have corporations such as Digital be a reseller of their
software. They currently have OEM agreements with NCR and UNISYS where
these companies sell the FormMaker software as their own. They also
indicated that they have a project underway with IBM to develop software
for the MVS/CICS system. In fact they claimed IBM has given (loaned?) them
nearly $2M worth of systems to develop this software.
Liberty with their current interest in IBM AIX RT PCs has additionally
requested that FormMaker port their UNIX software to the AIX system which I
believe is a Berkley implementation of UNIX as is Digital's Ultrix. It was
just recently that FormMaker ported the merge and print software to VMS
which to date has been used in 2 large accounts, namely Chicago Title and
Trust and the U.S. Postal Service. FormMaker currently has a MicroVAX II
for all Digital development. Although interested, they currently have no
agreements with Digital formal or otherwise.
Although they prefer the OEM approach they will work directly with large
corporations if they can focus support to a single point in a corporation's
IS organization where the IS organization would support their own company,
essentially a train the trainers approach. This is all primarily due to the
limited resources they have.
FormMaker, as a small company, appear to be hungry for new market channels
and seem willing to "tailor" their products. With a few modifications the
FormMaker product set could be well suited to addressing the forms
automation needs of Digital's customer base such as Liberty Mutual.
The following 5 sections defines how the FormMaker Software system
addresses the 5 categories of system requirements outlined earlier:
1. Forms Creation
The creation workstation is of the WYSIWYG design and is based on the IBM
PC/PS2 with MS-DOS and a graphics board. When designing forms, the user can
see the lines, fonts, and scanned images such as a company logo exactly as
the printed form will appear. The system supports either the standard PC
monitor or a large monitor that allows the user to display the full 8.5 X
11 page on the screen at one time. The system uses either a mouse,
digitizing tablet or keyboard to position the cursor and make editing menu
selections.
After designing the form the workstation allows the user to define all the
fields on the form. These are the locations on the form that will later be
filled in during the assembly and merge process. When the form is complete
and the fields have been designed, the user "compiles" the form. This
program reads the form file and generates two types of files. First the
form image itself is processed into the format appropriate for the
destination print device such as a postscript or LN03 native file. The
second file type is the file that is used to "map" the fields of variable
data into the form image. These two files are then used together later in
the final assembly process to merge the form image with the variable data
before printing.
2. Forms Management/Distribution
This is the one area where FormMaker is weak. FormMaker does not have the
forms management component on any of the platforms they currently support.
Today this would be limited to a file transfer of the form from the
workstation to a VAX on the network, then a file transfer from that VAX to
the remote VAXs on the network, assuming the remote print merge system was
a VAX.
FormMaker is currently developing the forms management (also known as
destination management) software for the IBM MVS CICS system. At this point
they have completed the functional specification stage which with the
appropriate funding could be used for another platform such as VAX/VMS as
well. It appears that developing this software on the VMS platform would
not be as complex as on other vendor's platforms due to the strengths in
Digital's database and networking environments.
3. Variable Data Input
The format accepted for the variable data is a header followed by the ASCII
text that are the actual fields of variable data separated by carriage
return line feed. The header can simply contain the name of the form that
the variable data is to be merged with or can specify a variety of
information such as:
o The number of parts to the form
o The names of the parts of the multi-part form
o The number of copies of the form to print
4. Final Assembly
This component of the FormMaker system is called the Print Merge software.
The Print Merge program as stated earlier runs on MS-DOS, VMS, and UNIX.
This software performs the following:
1. Receives the variable data
2. Retrieves the specified form
3. Merges the form and variable data into a single image
4. Prints the assembled form.
Unlike EFS which stores the forms in a library at the remote site,
FormMaker stores the forms in a directory made known to the Print Merge
software. This difference appears to be due to the fact that because EFS
has the forms management software they use the libraries as a method of
remotely managing the forms at the remote sites from a central site.
Because FormMaker does not have forms (destination) management software yet
the libraries were not necessary.
The MS-DOS version of the FormMaker Print Merge software emulates an IBM
3287 printer to the IBM host systems via SNA. This allows existing IBM
print programs to make use of the forms automation system without change.
The VMS version uses a different approach as it runs continuously looking
for variable data in the form of an ASCII file in a specific VMS directory.
When a file appears in the directory it is processed as variable data.
Liberty currently feels that the feature of using files instead of a print
stream with the VMS Print Merge software could prove to be a serious
limitation. They indicated that many programs exist today that generate
print streams and that creating files would require changes to many
existing programs.
FormMaker agreed that this was an important feature and stated they could
make those modifications if and when they were necessary. We recommended a
VMS print symbiont as a possible approach. We also stated that this would
make distributing the application easier as using Digital's Distributed
Queuing Service and DECnet/SNA VMS Printer Emulator, application programs
on either the IBM or Digital systems could print to the Print Merge systems
wherever they were on the DECnet network.
5. Printing
FormMaker claims that they support many laser printers ranging from a small
desktop device to the Xerox 9700. Standard print queues are used on the VAX
and therefore many exiting devices are supported including:
o Digital LN03 (native mode)
o Digital LN03R (postscript)
o Xerox 4045, 2700, 9700
FormMaker unlike EFS does not use a PC with an image processing board to
pre-process the forms before sending them to the printer. FormMaker's
approach to increase performance is to preload frequently used forms into
the printer's memory.
APPENDIX A - SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS
___________________________________________________________________________
The following section contains the detailed requirements for the forms
automation system at Liberty Mutual. There are 2 sections to this appendix.
The first section is the minimum functionality that would have to be
delivered at initial installation/implementation of the system. This is the
minimum functionality required for any proposed solution. The second
section contains long term requirements that will be needed after the pilot
application is implemented and/or application volumes have sufficiently
increased to dictate the need. Long term in this case is probably 6 - 12
months.
I. MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS
1. Forms Creation
o The device used to create the forms must be a WYSIWYG Forms Creation
workstation/editor using a mouse or digitizing tablet and high resolution
monitor capable of displaying a full 8.5 X 11 page.
o WYSIWYG workstation does not have to be VAX-based. PC or Apple MAC is OK.
o Initially the system will only require 1 creation workstation.
o Easy to use (Minimal training) as workstation operation will not be a
full time job.
o Form creation should allow:
- Text, multiple fonts and font sizes
- Horizontal and vertical lines and boxes of varying widths
- Graphical images limited to company logo and approval signature
o Workstation should allow creator/designer to define the variable data
fields (length, font, size).
2. Forms Management/Distribution
o Bi-directional transfer of forms between WYSIWYG workstation and VAX
o Transfer forms from central VAX to VAX system at remote site
o Manage library of blank forms locally on VAX at remote site
- Add, delete, change, list forms in library
o This software must be VAX/VMS based.
o The communications component of this software must use DECnet.
3. Variable Data Input
o Data transferred as a print stream from Digital or IBM MVS/IMS systems
o Print stream to contain minimal header information and variable data
in the form of concatenated fields of variable data. Header would
minimally contain name of form from library to merge variable data with.
4. Final Assembly
o Receipt of print stream should trigger assembly process.
o Variable data should be merged with blank form specified in print stream
header.
o Ability to specify sorting/collating sequences by form or form type so
that multiple page forms are collated and sorted before they are printed.
For example, the first page of a form might contain the variable data,
the second and third page might be terms and conditions and the
fourth page might contain variable data. When the form is printed the
pages should come out sorted in order. If several copies of this
multi-part form were requested they would come out collated as well as
sorted.
o This software must be VAX/VMS based.
5. Printing
o Assembled forms will be sent to VMS print queues.
o System should not require specialized devices or printers.
o Support for a range of laser printer sizes.
o Laser printer should except printing from other applications (other than
forms process, such as WPS, publishing, etc.)
o Printer can be dedicated when print volume is high.
II. LONG TERM REQUIREMENTS
1. Forms Creation
o Multiple form creation stations. Creation systems available as a resource
company-wide as many as 250+ locations.
o Revisions to a form can be made by field/remote office.
2. Forms Management
o Manage remote libraries from a central site providing the central site
the ability to manage all remote sites as if they were local.
- Adding, deleting, changing, listing forms in remote libraries
from a central corporate site
o The management process should be both automatic and selective. For
example, assume there are 5 remote locations. Sites 2, 4, and 5 have form
X in their library. If a user at a creation station in corporate changes
form X, the management system would automatically only selectively update
the libraries at remote locations 2, 4, and 5.
o This software must be VAX/VMS based.
o The communications component of this software must use DECnet.
APPENDIX B - VENDOR COMPARISON
___________________________________________________________________________
This section is intended to share our observations as to the pros and cons
of each of the vendors and their solutions. In doing so it was our intent
to provide some direct means of comparison for evaluating the vendors
offerings.
I. ELECTRONIC FORMS SYSTEMS
PROS:
- Most comprehensive solution
- Appear to have most experience with forms automation
- Largest forms automation company
o Resources
o Stability?
CONS:
- All IBM based
- Mixed messages on interest in developing DEC based solution
- Long/complex development effort to "port" to VAX
- Currently require a PC at every printer
- No experience with Digital or it's systems
II. FORMMAKER SOFTWARE INC.
PROS:
- Assembly/merge software available on VAX/VMS
o Uses standard VMS print queues
- Flexible as a small company
o Interested in partnerships
o Willing to modify/enhance products
- Uses industry standard laser printers
- Does not require a PC at every printer
- Writes all software in C for portablility
CONS:
- No forms/destination management software currently
- Small company
o Limited resources
o Longevity?
III. DATALOGICS INC.
PROS:
- Large apparently stabile company
- Longstanding relationship with Digital
- Extensive knowledge of Digital and it's systems
o 70 VMS developers
- Can use some existing software modules as project foundation
- Experience in building distributed publishing solutions
o Experience with building "destination management" like
systems using DECnet and RDB/Oracle
- Would like to build this product
CONS:
- Development time to deliver solution
- Current lack of experience with forms automation compared to EFS and
FormMaker
- Will have to find a company to provide WYSIWYG workstation for forms
creation
**** THIS DOCUMENT IS FOR INTERNAL USE ONLY ****
|
| 47.12 | Win @ AEtna's Office of the Chairman | FOOZLE::BAKER | | Mon Dec 19 1988 12:46 | 70 |
| The following memo, which has had wide circulation and positive comment
within Digital will be of interest to all readers of insurance VAXnotes.
I N T E R O F F I C E M E M O R A N D U M
Date: 30-Nov-1988 07:51pm EST
From: MARY MURPHY @HTF
MURPHY.MARY AT A1 at CTOAVX at WAO
Dept:
Tel No: DTN 325-1869
TO: VICKI ROCH@OGO
TO: KAREN MENNA@OGO
Subject: Thanks!
Hi!
I wanted to personally thank you for your roles in assisting the AEtna
team in successfully selling AEtna's Office of the Chairman on Digital
and ALL-IN-1/SES. Up until the last day we continued to compete
against IBM and Novell. (I was fortunate enough to have the customer
share their evaluation criteria with me, and while we were more
expensive (despite allowances), I was able to justify the difference by
expanding the criteria into functionality Novell could not deliver.
By the end of the pilot, the President's staff and the MIS people
really wanted Digital to win.)
Mr. Compton is the proud new owner of a MV3400 as of Wednesday,
November 23rd. His staff is thrilled.
This morning, Mr. David Chew (Vice President of Corporate Planning)
officially announced the start up of the Corporate Planning Pilot to
his staff of 53 senior managers, and stated his support of the decision
to choose Digital's VAX and ALL-IN-1 for the pilot. This project is
the "offspring" of the OOC Pilot, and is equally strategic for Digital.
We hope that this second opportunity will eventually evolve to
enterprise-wide executive information systems based upon Digital's VAX,
ALL-IN-1, and EPIC Information or other software. We could then
leverage this infrastructure to win new strategic opportunities in all
divisions and international operations. (At minimum, it will probably
be deployed to the four divisional presidents.)
The Office of the Chairman and Corporate Planning may not look like
large opportunities on paper. (They're not mega-million dollar deals,
such as my ISA Project win in the Commercial Insurance Division of
AEtna last year.) However, their impact in terms of account control,
ability to influence future sales throughout the AEtna, and increase
the insurance industry's interest in Digital are priceless.
You should be very proud of the contribution you made to this important
sale. We considered your involvement key to establishing credibility
with Mr. Compton's staff. It also helped the local team's morale.
(This was a very stressful assignment with no room for error.) It made
us feel good that you thought enough of the opportunity and what it
would mean to Digital to make multiple trips to Hartford, and to work
with us as part of the team.
Dagmar Egerton (Software Services) and I appreciated all of your help.
We hope we can return the favor some day. Take care.
|
| 47.13 | OVERSEAS WINS | FOOZLE::BAKER | | Mon Jan 23 1989 19:57 | 65 |
| FURTHER SUCCESS STORIES
SUCCESS STORY FROM FRANCE
The good news continues.
We start the year with a report from France:
We are pleased to announce that AGF - the French Insurance Group - has ordered
1500 licences for WPS-PLUS/VMS and RDb. AGF will be using WPS-PLUS on
microVAX 2000s running in branch offices, and be used for all documents and
forms sent to their customers.
This is a win for Digital over WordPerfect and Ingres.
Eric Billiaert, OIS marketing manager for France says that AGF users chose
WPS-Plus in preference to WordPerfect/VMS, because WPS-PLUS Gold Key system is
easier to use than the "control shift PF3" style of Word Perfect. Overall the
Digital system was considered more user friendly.
Mindshare was also won over WordPerfect, where Digital were first to install
WPS-Plus on several VAXes.
Additionally, WPS-Plus was tailored from 6 to 3 MB on disk (deleting surplus
files) allowing each branch to install it.
The AGF order is the result of an 8 month sales project, including testing,
benchmarking and tailoring.
DEFECTIONS FROM IBM
DALLAS--So how goes IBM's push to get users of its nonstrategic 8100 midrange
system to migrate to one of its SAA-approved platforms--the AS/400 or the
9370?
Not so well, if you believe a recent comprehensive report authored by former
IBMer, now consultant, Brian R. Blackmarr of Dallas. Blackmarr, who estimates
the value of replacing the 15,000 installed 8100s at $1.8 billion, says before
IBM started shipping the AS/400, over 70% of 8100s were being replaced by
non-IBM hardware, DEC's VAX being the big winner. Since the AS/400, Blackmarr
estimates, about half of the 8100 users upgrading are going non-IBM.
Defections are heaviest at financial and insurance concerns, such as American
Express and Aetna, where the 8100 was most widely used. Blackmarr says many
users are choosing the VAX site's superior functionality. DEC has been
actively courting 8100 users, and has gone so far as to offer software that
translates 8100 DPCX files to the VAX file structure.
IRISH GO WITH DEC
DUBLIN--When the Irish Futures and Options Exchange goes live early next year,
it will be the latest to use a DEC-based package--called Automated Trading
Systems (ATS/2)--from the International Commodities Clearing House (ICCH) in
London. Based on an earlier product that now runs in the London and New
Zealand exchanges, ATS/2 will also be used to support the Barcelona futures
exchange in Spain, which is due to be set up later in the year.
|
| 47.14 | Voice Response @ BC/BS of NJ | FOOZLE::BAKER | | Mon Feb 13 1989 09:21 | 26 |
| SUCCESS WITH BCBS AND VOICE RESPONSE
The following is a brief description of the solution and the sale of a
DECtalk MicroVAX to Blue Cross and Blue Shield of New Jersey (BCBSNJ).
It is installed in their Provider Services department. This group is
responsible for supporting hospitals, doctors, pharmacies,... which
receive payments from BCBSNJ.
The DECtalk system has 16 telephone lines and is connected through an SNA
Gateway to two IBM mainframe for CICS application access.
Providers call the DECtalk to receive Enrollment and Claim status. It
translates their telephone queries into CICS requests and then translates
the responses over the phone.
It is enormously successful. The original goal was for the DECtalk system
to handly 25% of the incoming calls. It is currently handling approximately
50% of the incoming calls.
The sales was created as "turnkey" solution. Digital Software Services
provided a Fixed Price project which was completed on time. We proposed a
complete solution with Application Software, Hardware and Services.
|
| 47.15 | AEtna Executive Support System | CTOAVX::MURPHY | | Wed Mar 08 1989 20:44 | 37 |
|
CLIENT: AEtna Life Insurance Company
DEPT.: International Insurance Division
SALES REP.: Mary Murphy, DTN 325-1869
SWS REP.: Dagmar Egerton, DTN 325-1931
APPLICATION: Executive Support System for Critical Success Factor
Monitoring
MOTIVATION: International Insurance Division was experiencing poor
profitability compared to other divisions. AEtna's President mandated
that operations be brought under control very quickly. An Executive
Support System was recommended to improve senior management's ability
to monitor the subsidiaries' performance in meeting critical success
factors.
SALES OBSTACLES: Heavy competition from IBM/Comshare. Customer
bias toward Comshare.
SOLUTION: The team leveraged the fact that AEtna's President recently
purchased a VAX and ALL-IN-1 to open the customer's mind to a VAX
platform decision. The team then educated the customer about Digital's
Compound Document Architecture (for developing monthly reports which
require integrated text, graphics, and data) and Execucom's Executive
Edge product which will be compatible with CDA. We explained the
benefits of CDA in an ESS environment and sold the customer on CDA.
Unfortunately, time was short and the customer did not have time
to give Execucom a fair evaluation. The customer ended up buying
Comshare on a VAX. The customer has committed to evaluate Execucom
for a different Executive Information System opportunity.
RESULT: Sold International Insurance Division Senior Management a
MV3500 with ALL-IN-1 and Comshare. CDA to be added in future.
|
| 47.16 | AEtna's ISA Project (Commercial Insurance) | CTOAVX::MURPHY | | Wed Mar 08 1989 21:26 | 84 |
|
CLIENT: AEtna Commercial Insurance Division
SALES: Mary Murphy, DTN 325-1869
SWS: Steve Judd, DTN 255-5218
APPLICATION:
Information Systems Architecture (ISA) Project.
This project is one of the most strategic projects AEtna's Commercial
Insurance Division is currently working on. Consequently, it is
not referenceable.
ISA is a uniform functional and data structure replacement of existing
systems (most of which are IBM Mainframe-based). The implication
of this is that all new application systems (production and
non-production) will be built to interoperate with this new Information
Management Infrastructure.
The purpose of the project is to improve access to information by
the people who need it. This ivolves complete restructuring of
hundreds of Mainframe-based systems with incompatible data bases.
ISA will use a four tiered architecture with DECnet as it's
infrastructure. Relational Technologies Inc.'s INGRES is the data
base software being used, and was benchmarked against IBM's DB2.
We competed against IBM's DB2 and TERADATA. TERADATA was eliminated
early on due to cost considerations and the fact that they could
not support distributed processing. Rdb/VMS was eliminated due
to customer biases. (Wanted a data base which was "portable" across
multi-vendor platforms. INGRES runs on VMS and MVS. After the
customer made this decision in favor of INGRES, they dropped support
for some of their IBM versions. No real security in "portability.")
The data base architecture is as follows:
LEVEL 1: Data Acquisition and Transaction Processing
(IBM Mainframe-based or Large VAXCluster)
LEVEL 2: Detailed History & Reporting (Premium, Loss, Expense,
etc.)(100-300 Gigabytes, approximately)(Large VAXCluster)
LEVEL 3: Summarized History & Decision Support & Reports
(User Accessible Data, Distributed VAX System in the
Home Office or Field Offices)(20 Gigabytes each)
LEVEL 4: User Controlled Information
(Generally IBM PC-clone based or worstations.)
The requirement is to keep a running ten year history. Physical
design is scheduled for completion in May of 1989.
MOTIVATION: Inability to access information across product lines
and incompatible data bases to meet new applications' requirements,
and to provided critical marketing and decision support information
to management.
SALES OBSTACLES: Customer was biased toward DB2. Tried to give
Digital a different benchmark script than IBM. Sales brought
differences to Chief Information Officer's attention, and ran biased
and unbiased benchmarks to prove a point.
SOLUTION: Successfully convinced customer that large VAXCluster and
disk farm could provide superior performance to single large mainframe
if the application was designed to take advantage of the hardware
architecture. Sold to Chief Information Officer and key internal
sale person (a Director). Also sold application development
management. Main obstacle was Data Base Administration (IBM bigots)
The Digital solution was mandated.
RESULT: Approximately $5M has been booked to date in product, and
about $1.5M in services. Including Consulting. The addition of
approximately 2 more VAX 63XX's have been projected for this FY89,
and approximately 250GB of disk. (FY89 Product sales for this project
are estimated at $2.6M, with consulting (PSS) sales of $150K).
Development has not been completed. Consequently, Field Office
VAX Systems are not currently on order yet. (The best is yet to
come.)
|
| 47.17 | Notes on recent wins | FOOZLE::BAKER | | Sun Mar 12 1989 11:05 | 384 |
|
********************************************************************************
THIS MEMO IS FROM CHUCK SHIELDS
COMPANY CONFIDENTIAL - DO NOT DISTRIBUTE
********************************************************************************
I N T E R O F F I C E M E M O R A N D U M
Date: 7-Mar-1989 10:17am EDT From: Charles Shields @CEO
SHIELDS.CHARLES AT A1 at AUNTB at ATO
Dept: SALES
Tel No: 803-251-6424
INSURANCE INDUSTRY WINS
ACCOUNT PROFILE
3/7/89
Accompanying this document are four profiles of wins in the Insurance Industry.
Their purpose is to provide other account teams with information on how and
where DIGITAL has been successful in this market place.
Please forward comments on contents, format, and the value of this type
information to Elaine Snow @ UFO. Your response will be used to determine
whether or not the program is continued.
Relative to the use of these profiles please adhere to the following:
* Do not contact the account directly
* Do not release the profiles directly to your account as some contain
proprietary information
* Direct inquiries to Elaine Snow rather that contacting the account
teams directly
The above are intended as a safeguard for the accounts profiled and should
be considered in the context of how you would want the information treated
if it were your account.
*******************************************************************************
COMPANY CONFIDENTIAL - DO NOT DISTRIBUTE
*******************************************************************************
Subject: BLUE CROSS/BLUE SHIELD AUDIT
COMPANY: BLUE CROSS BLUE SHIELD OF MINNESOTA
SIZE: 1 Million + members
LOB: Group Health
PRODUCER: Company sales team and independent agents.
APPLICATION: Executive Decision support Data Base and retrieval
BUSINES The MIS Group had been receiving pressure to develop an
FACTORS: executive decision support function to evaluate product
profitability and performance.
They had just upgraded their IBM mainframe and the IBM
solution of a 9370 with DB2 was not nearly as cost
effective as the Digital proposal.
In addition, the Digital account team gained the
confidence of the IMS management and agreed to act as a
consultant in the selection of the 4GL access method.
While performing this function, they furthered their
credibility by not "pushing" a Digital solution only.
As it turned out, focus was selected as the query
language but Digital got the hardware and services.
The key point is the account team learned the client's
business and proposed solutions and didn't just push
hardware as the competition had done.
COMPONENTS: The solution consisted of the following components to
construct a complete executive decision support package:
- 6210
- SNA Gateway
- SA 600 (1/2 Capacity)
- CDD Plus
- RDB
- Focus
- 3 Months consulting for Data Base Decision
DIGITAL SUCCESS
FACTORS: In addition to scalability for future growth and cost
effectiveness, Digital brought a solution to the table.
They understood the MIS managements desire for a single
point of contact and the requirement to create an
End-User computing application. MIS did not want a
solution they had to administer but rather give the
End-User access to the information.
The Digital account team was able to do this in a low
risk, cost effective manner.
BUYER: In this case, MIS was the buyer with the User being the
recommender for the Query language.
SALES SUPPORT: 1 Full time Software Services RDB specialist,
part-time software services networking specialist
4 RGL specialists
COMPETITION: IBM proposed a 9370 with DB2 and their version of SQL.
COST
JUSTIFICATION: After spending money on the mainframe upgrade, the
Digital cost of ownership was clearly less than IBM's.
Subject: CORROON & BLACK
*******************************************************************************
COMPANY CONFIDENTIAL - DO NOT DISTRIBUTE
*******************************************************************************
COMPANY: Corroon & Black
SIZE:
LOB: Corroon & Black is one of the World's largest full services
insurance intermediaries. The corporation is divided into
four operating groups, each with its own President. The
Brokerage Services Group, the Benefits & Specialty Sales
Group, the Reinsurance group and the Underwriters Management
Group.
SYSTEM
APPLICATION: The Benefits and Specialty Sales Group licensed the Dyer
Wells and Associates Fastrak VS System for its third party
administration business. The system provides billing and
collection functions for groups/individuals and processes
medical, dental and disability claims.
BUSINES The prior Apex (Texas) software system was manually driven and
FACTORS: limited the ability to grow the business.
SYSTE The primary components are a group administration, module for
COMPONENTS: billing and administration claims processing modules.
Available functions within those components are:
ADMINISTRATION/BILLING CLAIMS
Rating Group plan definitions (leverage rules)
Certificate text creation Provider eligibility
Producer information (Commission) Claims History
General Ledger interface Tooth History (Dental)
Billing History Duplicate Checking
Payment Processing Diary
A/R open Continual aggregate accumulation
Invoicing General Ledger X-RGF
Renewals PPO Affiliation
DIGITAL SUCCESS
FACTORS: In-house Development required: The development effort in this
case was more conversion and modification than pure
development. Corroon & Black worked with Dyer Wells and
Associates to convert their product from a WANG platform
to Digital. At the same time, they modified the package to
accommodate the third party administration (TPA) environment
within which Corroon & Black operates. This TPA environment
ranges from full benefit administration (membership, claims
and billing processing) to claims processing only.
Distributive processing and scaleable design: Based on the
organizational structure of Corroon & Black (4 Distinct
Operating Units in multiple locations) they required both the
distributive and scaleable capabilities of a Digital Platform.
Specifically, claims processing occurs at two locations.
The bulk of the work is performed at the Nashville location
with a second site in L.A. Jointly, the two operations process
claims for 50 associations and 10 employer trusts which total
in excess of fifty-thousand insureds. During peak periods
processing is off-loaded from Nashville to L.A. (This is both
a factor of volume and labor market.)
This variation in computing requirements by location could only
be satisfied by a Digital platform.
SALES SUPPORT: Because the core package is a Dyer Wells and Associates
product, support will vary by the skill set of the DWA
account team. A reasonable expectations is a full time
software person and part time technical resource.
BUYER: In a typical Insurance Company environment, the senior
officer responsible for claims and the IS officer will be
the decision makers or senior recommenders. Final approval
for a purchase of this size will be generally go to the Board
of Directors. Need assessment can be gained by identifying
a large group customer of the company and discussing service
levels to find areas for improvement. Evaluations will usually
be done by a committee of user and DP staff. Identifying this
committee and their "Hot Buttons" should be done as soon as
possible.
At Corroon & Black, the Corporate I.S. office is also a member
of the Corp. Board of Directors. He is very much a Digital
supporter. The entire corporations runs on Digital clusters.
COMPETITION: ASA, McDonell/Douglas, Erisco and others offer competitive
mainframe solutions. The DWA Sales team is best equipped to
handle countering these competitors.
COST
JUSTIFICATION: For Corroon & Black, the cost justification was measured in
terms of expanded capacity to add business and productivity
gains. Other areas for cost benefit analysis are reduced
claims pay-out from enhanced coordination of benefits, better
utilization review and improved retention through better
service. The customer has also stated that their total Digital
installation was done giving needed functionality at
approximately 50% of what an IBM installation mainframe would
have cost.
Subject: HIG (PLIC)
*******************************************************************************
COMPANY CONFIDENTIAL - DO NOT DISTRIBUTE
*******************************************************************************
COMPANY: HARTFORD INSURANCE GROUP
Personal Lines Insurance Center (PLIC)
SIZE: Number 9 in the US
LOB: All lines.
PRODUCERS: Distribution channels vary by LOB - This application is for
personal lines; AARP sponsored.
BUSINESS
FACTORS: The American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) contracts
with a carrier to underwrite insurance to their membership.
The contract comes up for renewal every five years and a key
decision criteria is customer service levels.
The Hartford's prior vendor (Wang) which supported the customer service
area with a canned letter system, could not keep up with
anticipated growth. Specifically, Wang's capability in cluster
technology could not be expanded rapidly or easily to support
Hartford's business plan.
To put this growth in perspective, as well as the importance
of the AARP business, the Hartford built a customer service
center in Southington, CT. specifically for telemarketing and
servicing AARP.
SYSTEM
COMPONENTS: The canned letter system currently generates over 600 standard
letters a day plus special composition letters. These letters
are printed on Xerox 9700 laser printers or LNO3 laser printers.
The canned letter software was written by a Digital Software
specialist utilizing RDB, WPS+, Basic, Datatrieve and COBOL.
The existing Wang documents were converted using Digital's EDGE-
Wang product.
The hardware involved is an 8530, HSC50, (4) RA81 Drives and
approximately 50 VT 220's.
As noted earlier, All-In-One is utilized for phone listings
and the credit card validation utilizes 2780/3789 to IBM.
In addition, a local area Vaxcluster has been installed for
Interleaf Publishing. It is expected this will be utilized
for marketing literature, training manuals and application
forms.
DIGITAL SUCCESS
FACTORS: The key factors for this application were scalability and
distributive capability due to expected growth. As additional centers
are built, the ability to add processing capabilities of varying
size will be critical to maintain the required customer
satisfaction levels.
SALES SUPPORT: A sales support specialist was required to convert and
enhance the existing programs. In addition, that individual
re-trained existing Hartford personnel on use of the new
system. The specialist was in place for approximately 6 months.
BUYER: This was a joint DP and User sale. It should be noted that
Digital is an authorized vendor at the Hartford which
implies Corporate sponsorship.
COMPETITORS: Both Wang and IBM bid on this business.
Subject: ARKWRIGHT
*******************************************************************************
COMPANY CONFIDENTIAL - DO NOT DISTRIBUTE
*******************************************************************************
COMPANY: ARKWRIGHT MUTUAL
SIZE: 600 MILLION
LOB: Property/Casualty: Commercial lines (Larger Risks)
PRODUCERS: Direct sales force supported by Thirty-three offices in the
U.S. and Canada.
APPLICATION: Networking and integration.
BUSINESS
FACTORS: Arkwright was a prime candidate for Digital's strategy of
"Integrating the Enterprise". They had multiple networking
solutions throughout their thirty-three offices, multiple
hardware vendors and an eXtremely service sensitive product.
Specifically, they had IBM mainframe applications for their core
business functions, Wang Word Processing and a mixed desk top
stations, each with its own networking approach.
With information access being key to the customer service,
this disjointed approach was causing a customer service problem.
This was particularly true when the client's operation spanned
multiple Arkwright branch offices.
In addition to customer service problems, this lack of integration
was causing internal operations problems relative to Arkwright
Risk Management capability. Risk Management is an information
intensive offering and is a multiple state environment. It
requires complete data access between supporting branches.
Inability to gain this access electronically, caused delays in
risk reduction recommendations, which resulted in real dollar
losses.
SYSTEM
COMPONENTS: The Arkwright sales team convinced the company management that a
single networking approach to include: SNA access,
PC Integration, Wang conversion support, and consistent
development tools were critical to their future.
The result was a local area network in each branch, supported by
a Vax servicer, installation of VMS services for MS DOS, SNA
Gateway to the mainframe, in addition to other services and
development offerings.
DIGITAL SUCCESS
FACTORS: Distributive processing: Arkwright's thirty-three offices in
North America presented an obvious need for distributive
capability. This was true in the standard sense of communication
back to the Home Office, but even more so for "Joint Case"
processing between offices.
Technical integration: With a 4381 in the Data Center, System 38
in the branches, Wang word Processing and other PC's, the need for
integrations was critical. It should be noted, IBM was given nine
months to provide a solutions, but was not successful.
SALES SUPPORT: The Sales effort requires one full time software services
account manager plus other part time support. This was
necessitated by the 90 day pilot for which a "mini network"
was installed to prove Digital's capability.
BUYER: Technical Group
COMPETITION: At Arkwright, the competition was Wang and IBM.
|
| 47.18 | Account Summary Information | FOOZLE::BAKER | | Tue May 30 1989 08:49 | 488 |
| The following audits sumarize activity at the Phoenix,Aetna and Hartford
Insurance Group.
*******************************************************************************
THIS MEMO IS FROM CHUCK SHIELDS
COMPANY CONFIDENTIAL - DO NOT DISTRIBUTE
*******************************************************************************
Accompanying this document are profiles of wins in the Insurance Industry.
Their purpose is to provide other account teams with information on how and
where DIGITAL has been successful in this market place.
Please forward comments on contents, format, and the value of this type
information to Elaine Snow @ UFO. Your response will be used to determine
whether or not the program is continued.
Relative to the use of these profiles please adhere to the following:
* Do not contact the account directly
* Do not release the profiles directly to your account as some contain
proprietary information
* Direct inquiries to Elaine Snow rather that contacting the account
teams directly
The above are intended as a safeguard for the accounts profiled and should
be considered in the context of how you would want the information treated
if it were your account.
PHOENIX MUTUAL
******************************************************************************
COMPANY CONFIDENTIAL - DO NOT DISTRIBUTE
*******************************************************************************
COMPANY: PHOENIX MUTUAL
HARTFORD CONN.
SIZE: 1.4 Billion in direct written premiums.
LOB: 65% Life - 20% Health - 15% P/C and other
PRODUCERS: Independent agents, brokers, PPGA's (Personal Producing
General Agents)
SYSTEM
APPLICATION: EDGE, a work in process controller coupled with
new business processing of life insurance applications.
BUSINESS
FACTORS: Phoenix wanted to reduce turn around on applications
for life insurance from weeks to days.
Their marketplace is very competitive and requires
product differentiation. Service is the one way
to accomplish differentiation and retain their agents
and brokers, and automation was the only way to attain high
service levels, in a cost efficient manner.
SYSTEM
COMPONENTS: The system/solution manages the work flow from the point of
receipt of the insurance application from the producer to
upload of policy information to the mainframe.
EDGE consists of over 139 individual modules or agents.
The key functional areas follow.
APP DATA ENTRY This component allows for the on-line data capture, editing
& VALIDATION and validation. Information from various forms using for a
life insurance application are entered by a user, with
rudimentary (non-insurance) data editing occurring as the
information is entered. Various validation procedures, such
as agent licensing and product validation are then executed
automatically and any problems which are detected are reported
back to the user, so that corrective action can be taken as
early as possible within the new business processing.
REQ LIST (Requirements listing) -
Artificial intelligence code analyzes the application and
determines the external data required for underwriting (i.e.
Doctors reports, blood work, X-Rays etc.). External data
requests are generated and pended. The system monitors pending
requests and generates second requests and management aging
reports. Because of the modular nature of the system and its
table-driven design, the criteria for requesting the external
data easily updated. This is of major importance to the end
user since it allows for immediate response to a changing
business environment. For example, the ability to add AIDS
testing to the medical requirements was added for 'High Risk'
applications within one work day.
P U F (Pre-underwriting Filter) - Once all the external responses are
received, the filter reviews the results. It makes a
preliminary recommendation or requests an underwriter's
review.
Once again, the modular design allows for rapid customization
of the decision modules. It also allows for porting to other
lines of business or accommodating unique company
practices within the individual life environment.
CASE
PRESENTATION Once the information is assembled and the application is
complete, it is presented to the Underwriter for review (with
the system's recommendation). At that time, the Underwriter
can accept the recommendation (reject or buy on to the Risk)
or request additional information he or she feels is relative.
If the latter course is taken, the system will once again
manage the pending requirements.
ISSUE
SYSTEM FEED: Once the Underwriter makes a decision and all licensing,
issue amendments and title requirements are satisfied, a
flat file to upload to the mainframe is created. Future
enhancements will allow for relational data base feeds.
DIGITAL SUCCESS
FACTORS: 1. In house development required: There were no packages on
the market which would meet the users needs.
2. Software intensive: As previously stated, service
via improved technology was the only way to differentiate
Phoenix's product in an effective manner.
3. Technological integration: The "solution" needed to
operate within the existing environment, which included
an IBM mainframe for batch processing. It also needed
to communicate with external data sources utilizing
varied technologies.
4. Distributed/Scaleable Design: The solution needs to
be run in part or in total at various sized branches.
The capabilities of the Branch dictate how many and which
system functions they could perform. The system then has to
be capable of being configured to fit the Branch.
5. Front End Processing: The solution was intended to bring
service to the point of contact with the producer. It
had to manage the work flow for Phoenix Mutual up to
the transfer of the application policy to the mainframe.
6. Digital's flexible business arrangement: unlike the
competition, Digital was willing to perform the Pilot
without extensive contract requirements. Although this
was risky, it differentiated Digital from the competitor.
7. Digital's development tools; The software/hardware tools
chosen to implement the system supported Phoenix's
requests to make the system, flexible, adaptable, quicker
to develop and allow users to actually develop software.
RALLY and TEAMDATA provided this environment, while the
use of VAXstations for the developers allowed the members
to simultaneously work on several issues, and in several
environments (VMS and IBM mainframe systems). All members
of the teams believe that these tools greatly increased
their productivity and are easy to use.
SALES SUPPORT As this is primarily a service offering, one to two full time
software people are required to support the sales effort.
BUYER The Chief Underwriting officer is the recommender and the
Senior Executive staff makes the decisions.
COMPETITION: There are A I vendors who claim to have competitive
products, among them, syntelligence. However, none of the
existing products have either the connectability or
scaleability of EDGE; Wang and Filenet are also "pitching"
WIP Products.
COST
JUSTIFICATION: 1. Cost reduction through management of external data
request (Phoenix believes they will save in excess of
1 Million Dollars annually by control of external Data
requests).
2. Improved retention of producers through improved service to
producers.
3. Time reduction in insurance application processing.
4. Removal of redundant processing, because of current
isolated and non-automated processing.
5. Placement of more policies, because of time reduction,
gathering correct information once up-front and early
notification to the agents of the exact issues which they
must work to get the case through the system.
SELLING POINTS: 1. The system's modularity lends to customization. In fact,
the core product will always require 30% - 70%
customization because each company has its own work flow and
decision criteria. In reality, the system is a services
offering.
2. The components can be deployed as a complete system or
separated to integrate into existing environments.
3. The system can be deployed with one or all components
selectively by location. For example, data capture could be
provided in some offices, while data capture and
underwriting could be in other offices.
OTHER POSSIBLE
MARKETS:
Although the pilot was developed for the life company, its
modular design and table drive nature provide an architecture
easily transferred to other lines of business. Personal lines
and property and casualty would be a good market. In general,
any site where external information is needed for decision
support and where paper is shuffled is a good target.
It should be noted that EDGE will not be available for general
release until late 1989. However,simply selling the concept
and getting a decision made could take this long, so the delayed
release should not be a problem. The time to start discussing
the "work-in-process" concept is now!
AETNA
******************************************************************************
COMPANY CONFIDENTIAL - DO NOT DISTRIBUTE
******************************************************************************
COMPANY: AETNA, HARTFORD, CONN.
SIZE: 25 Billion +
LOB: All lines
PRODUCERS: Independent agents, brokers
SYSTEM
APPLICATION: ADAM, a portfolio manager utilized by all of Aetna's
operating units.
BUSINESS
FACTORS: Trading is becoming a 24 hour a day, 7 days a week process.
Aetna currently runs two trading shifts which begin at 5 AM for
the foreign markets and end at 7 PM with the close of the
Chicago market. The existing platform, and available software
could not accommodate this operation.
SYSTEM
COMPONENTS: When fully implemented, ADAM will be utilized by all the
AETNA operating units (C.I.D., P.F.S.D, Corporate) for the
management of 80 billion dollars in assets. The key system
functional areas follow:
TRADING
The trading system is designed to provide the trading desk with
a real time inventory of holdings and of trading activity to
support the trading process. It also provides the traders with
notification of events requiring their review.
Specifically, the system is capable of:
o Multi-characteristic Inventory review (i.e. holdings by
issue, by portfolios, by issuer, by sector or by industry.)
o Trade History Analysis by trader, trade date, broker or
trade status.
o Analytical support for trade evaluation ("what if" modeling).
o Transaction processing for trading and associated issue
maintenance.
RECORD KEEPING
The Record Keeping Systems is responsible for:
o Maintenance of all financial values and investment
data through on-line and batch trading and accounting
transactions.
o Monitoring and control of data and balances of daily
transaction activities.
o Client and regulatory reporting.
o Real-time access to investment information in support
of trading and accounting functions.
o Schedule D preparation.
o Valuation of client portfolios.
o Ledger maintenance of all investment financial data
including all statutory, GAAP and tax/financial values.
MANAGEMENT INFO/ DECISION SUPPORT
Adam provides the investment professional with a tool kit
to access data on a predescribed or ad hoc basis for decision
support.
Analysis support includes portfolio characteristics, cash flow
projections, commitment monitoring, trade history analysis,
exposure analysis and earning analysis.
DIGITAL SUCCESS
FACTORS: 1. In-house development requirements: none of the predominant
packages (Prism or Oscar) met AETNA's needs. For this
reason, they formed a joint venture with Arthur Andersen and
Digital to build a package. The final re-marketing
arrangements for this venture are not yet complete but it is
expected AA will drive from marketing.
2. Software Intensive: with the complexity of the financial
instruments in today's market, the sophistication of the
software needed to be far superior to existing applications.
It also needed to be less labor intensive to free up the
traders from 'clerical' functions allowing them to perform
as trading professionals.
3. Technical integration: ADAM currently interfaces with the
corporate IBM data base and IBM-based general ledger
package. ADAM also interfaces to existing IBM PCVs in
the trading area.
4. Distributed scaleable design: AETNA's operating units
vary in size. ADAM is to be implemented separately in
each unit and therefore needs to accommodate differing
hardware configurations and capacities.
SALES SUPPORT: Two software people full time. One to support the direct
sales activity and one to prepare the proposal.
BUYER: An applications sale of this kind requires both the involvement
of the End-user and Data Processing. The ultimate End-user is
typically the CFO or an officer on his staff assigned the
portfolio responsibility.
One note relative to AETNA, data processing's resistance in a
non-IBM solution was somewhat diminished. They had tried and
failed with in-house development twice and existing IBM based
packages could not support the global real time requirements.
COMPETITION: ISA's Oscars and its replacement are the predominant
competitors. Oscars has reached its technological limit
for enhancements and its replacement, Prism, is still vapor
ware.
HARTFORD INSURANCE GROUP (LIFE DIVISION)
******************************************************************************
COMPANY CONFIDENTIAL - DO NOT DISTRIBUTE
*******************************************************************************
COMPANY: Hartford Insurance Group (Life Division)
SIZE: 3 Billion
LOB: Group Life/Health, Individual Pension
PRODUCERS: Independent Agents, Captive Agents.
APPLICATIONS: Group Information Processing and Reporting systems, (GIPR)
developed to address the overall automation of the group
business and replace all the existing Hartford Group systems.
BUSINESS
FACTORS: The Hartford's Group system environment included several
disjuncted/stand-alone products operating with Wang, IBM and
HP Equipment. As with the case of most insurance automation,
the systems evolved over time and did not communicate or
share data.
To relieve the maintenance burden and improve the product
delivery capabilities of the company the Hartford made the
decision to rewrite the Group Systems on a common platform.
COMPONENTS: GIPR was designed around a common data model developed by the
Hartford for their Life business. With the data model in place,
workstations for the various disciplines were/are being
developed. Those workstations support the sales, administration
underwriting and actuarial professionals.
When completed, the workstations will run 39 individual
systems utilizing the Oracle data base.
The functions by work station follow:
SALES - Sales tracking by branch
Proposal Preparation.
O.A.
Customer service support.
UNDERWRITING - Case Tracking
Rating
Field bulletins (Via Video Text)
ADMINISTRATIVE- Billing
Collection
Commission Processing
Case management
Contract issuance
ACTUARIAL - Reinsurance Management
Financial reporting
Product development
Experience reporting/pricing
DIGITAL SUCCESS
FACTORS: In-house development was required. As was previously
stated, the existing environment was composed of
multiple systems from multiple vendors totally separate
from each other. No single vendor of hardware or software
could provide a complete solution. Additionally, no
vendor could tie the pieces together until the
development effort was complete.
System integration design: Because not all of the other
products could or would be replaced initially, it was
necessary to find a vendor that could integrate the
environment. Digital was able to demonstrate to the
Hartford our abilities to accomplish this objective.
Distributive and scaleable design: The workstations are
to be rolled out to twenty offices. Since there is no
experience on a single platform with integrated systems,
there was no way to validate configuration requirements.
Rather than be constrained by an architecture which was
driven by size, the Hartford chose Digital, which could
be configured up or down by office needs.
SALES SUPPORT: During the sales cycle, 20 to 50% of a network specialist's
time was required,as were two software people with experience
in Oracle, All-in-one and workstation design.
On an on-going basis, one sales support person and 20% of
a business analyst and 20 % of a networking specialist are
required. These people are critical to the account to provide
answers on how to apply the technology to the development
effort.
BUYER: High level end-user such as VP of Operations.
COMPETITION: As would be expected, the other hardware vendors are bidding
on the project. It should be noted Digital got the business
because we provided solutions and help in applying technology
versus just selling hardware.
From a software standpoint, the chief competitors are
development tool vendors.
COST
JUSTIFICATION: This effort was justified on the basis of strategic position
versus tactical short term pay back.
|
| 47.19 | Prudential Assurance (APL) | FOOZLE::BAKER | | Fri Jun 02 1989 14:47 | 121 |
| The following is a write up on the Win of Digital APL over STSC APL at
Prudential Assurance. It clearly demonstrates that Digitals recent APL
product is competitive in the marketplace.
Customer: The Prudential Assurance Company Limited
Department: Life and Pension Systems Development
Sales Rep: Cedric Buddo 519-746-5427
SIRS Rep: Brian Cochrane 519-746-5427
Application: APL offload of mainframe
PRUDENTIAL'S NEED:
To move non-production applications off the IBM 3090-200E (now
Amdahl 5890-400E) to an integrated distributed computing platform.
Examples of applications they plan to move are:
1) Actuary (APL)
2) Decision Support (Strategm)
3) Development
4) Office Automation
These applications are not cost effective to run on the M/F.
Prudential's second phase of implementing the distributed environment
will be to move production to the branches and departments
who use the data and applications. To achieve these objectives they
need: scalability, integration and good communication.
THE OPPORTUNITY:
Prudential evaluated IBM and Digital's distributed computing in a five
week pilot using STSC's APL. STSC's claim of portability across IBM,
VAX, UNIX and PCs appealed to senior management. The old vendor
independence story!
Prudential was faced with their third APL conversion with IBM. They
wanted to select an environment which would protect them from future
costly conversions.
DIGITAL's PRIMARY OBJECTIVE:
To win the distributed environment pilot evaluation in order to gain
a beach head at Prudential.
HOW WE WON:
Prior to the pilot we set, in conjunction with Prudential, the criteria
for the pilot and a schedule for the completion.
We met and demonstrated every criteria on time.
IBM could not meet the criteria and continuously missed the schedule.
IBM was also engaging Amdahl for the mainframe upgrade. A call to your
local Amdahl rep to compare notes certainly doesn't hurt in these
situations.
DIGITAL'S SECONDARY OBJECTIVE:
To convert the STSC APL decision to VAX APL, so as to ensure that we
maintain our beach head and account control.
HOW WE WON:
We convinced the users and technical evaluators to recommend to senior
management that VAX APL was superior to STSC APL for the following
reasons:
1) STSC is not integrated with VMS, it is at best a poor unix port to
VMS.
2) STSC does not run in batch mode, VAX APL does.
3) STSC is not binary compatible across IBM's product lines, VAX,
UNIX, and PCs. It looks the same but that is where the similarity
ends. We gave them integration and compatibility across the VAX
line.
4) STSC uses their own file structure (from the unix port), VAX APL
uses good old RMS, Rdb, or DBMS.
5) STSC would have created a stovepipe application on VAX, VAX APL
is integrated with VMS and DIGITAL's layered products.
6) There is a complete technical report available to support these and
other claims but these were enough to convince senior management to
overturn their STSC decision.
WHAT WE WON:
6310,SA600, TU81, Channel Gateway, Decnet network, VAX/APL, IBM
interconnect
software and SWS.
$900,000 CERTS
The 6310 will grow as the conversion progresses
COMMENTS:
Winning the APL has helped leverage additional business at Prudential and
has established DIGITAL's credibility not only as a hardware vendor but
as a quality software supplier.
|
| 47.20 | Enterprise Consulting Win @ BCBS | FOOZLE::BAKER | | Wed Jun 14 1989 19:27 | 54 |
|
ENTERPRISE CONSULTING INSURES SUCCESS FOR THE OHIO VALLEY DISTRICT AND BLUE
CROSS OF INDIANA
Cross-district cooperation and enterprise consulting by Software
Services recently led to a strategic, $2M sale to Blue Cross of
Indiana (BCI), the nation's 10th largest health insurer and 14th
largest Blue Cross plan. A potential roll-out to up to 14 BCI
subsidiaries over the next three years, along with a wide area
network, could bring an additional $25M in revenue to Digital.
Additionally, this sale represents a turning point in BCI
computing.
About two years ago BCI decided that to remain successful they
needed to diversify. As part of this new direction they formed a
holding company, The Associated Group, and acquired various
institutions, including an investment banking firm, a life
insurance company and a managed health care provider (HMO).
BCI's next business goal was to decentralize and separate into
12-15 smaller distribution and administration companies. They
needed to move from a mainframe computing environment into
distributed processing to support this goal. As a first step,
they purchased $1.8M in hardware and a CMP package from DISCorp
for a prototype claims processing application. A one-year SWS
resident helped them to quickly absorb the VAX technology into
their environment and established credibility for a Digital
platform.
To progress into a distributed environment, BCI needed to plan
for an enterprise network. While they were confident of
Digital's technological capabilities, they were not sure that we
really understand the insurance business. Sales Account Manager
Howard Aughinbaugh turned to the Insurance Industry Field Team
for help in overcoming the credibility gap. Based on their
recommendation, he solicited support from Unit Manager John Smith
of the East Ohio District, who provided him with the services of
Pre-sales Support Consultant Dave Gobey. For the past three
months Dave has brought his combined industry and technical
background to meetings with the highest-level BCI and TAG
executives. Dave was able to provide the necessary overall
concepts and apply our technology to develop an enterprise-wide
networking and automation plan. Convincing the customer that we
understand both the insurance industry and BCI's specific needs
proved the pivotal point in our winning this business.
For more information about this sale, contact Sales Account
Manager Howard Aughinbaugh at DTN 443-3221, SWS Unit Manager John
Smith at DTN 434-2237, or Consultant Dave Gobey at DTN 434-2286.
|
| 47.21 | Another win at Aetna | FOOZLE::BAKER | | Fri Jul 28 1989 07:57 | 43 |
| Aetna Corporate Planning Win (from Dan Socci)
The Aetna team didn't stop with the EBD Enterprise Services win in June - last
week we secured a VAX decision for the Aetna Corporate Planning project.
The Corporate Planning system was the basis for the corporate visit held in
December for Aetna President Ron Compton and Corporate Planning VP David Chew.
This system will be used for executive information and decision support by the
Corporate Planning organization and is an extension of the All-In-1
implementation in the Office of the Chairman.
The initial order was for two 6300 systems and SWS support with a total value
of $1M. Highlights of this win:
Modeling activity will shift from the IBM mainframe and Stratagem to
VAX and Comshare.
Three significant decisions were made for DEC - use of All-In-1 for
this very visible and strategic implementation, executive information
will be done on VAX and Comshare, modeling will also be done using
VAX and Comshare.
First major project signed off by John Loewenberg, new Sr VP of
Corporate Information Systems.
Designated a mission critical project by Aetna President
Ron Compton.
This system is planned for expansion to each of Aetna's operating
divisions.
The implementation of this system adds further momentum to our effort
to establish corporate-wide DECnet and the use of Digital products
for a mail backbone.
This win was built upon the successful sale and implementation of VAX and
All-In-1 to the Office of the Chairman. It involved a six month pilot for an
extremely demanding organization. Congratulations are in order to Mary Murphy
and Mike LaFrancis for their commitment to success and ability to take this
strategic and challenging project to closure.
|
| 47.22 | Consolidated Group Win | FOOZLE::BAKER | | Fri Jul 28 1989 13:30 | 46 |
|
EXTRACT OF MEMO FROM DEBBI RIVET - WIN AT CONSOLIDATED GROUP INC
I'd like to take the time to personally thank each and everyone of you
for your support and effort during the 10 month sales cycle at
Consolidated Group Inc.
As the result of everyone's combined efforts, we were successful in
closing a $2.2 Million deal by the end of FY89. Dedicated teamwork
pays off and I think this win is a super example of such teamwork.
Some of the highlights of this sale are outlined below:
1) $2.2 Million dollar sale which includes a VAX 6330 Single Node
Cluster, $50 K of Educational Services, $568 K of SW Consulting, and
$158 K of Network Consulting/Implementation.
2) Insurance Industry competitive win against an IBM/ASA solution.
3) The sale lays a strong foundation for Digital to pursue other
opportunities within the account since Digital/SBPA won CGI's "Mission
Critical" application of Administration & Claims Processing.
4) First System Integrated Solution sale for the Suburban District.
(Digital sold an integrated solution of both hardware and a third
party software package from SBPA)
5) Performed a very successful RTE benchmark on the SBPA application
which proved to be very instrumental in securing the sale, while
IBM/ASA refused to do a benchmark.
6) Coopers and Lybrand "preferred and recommended" the DEC/SBPA
solution to CGI.
7) The commitment of both a Digital Senior level executive and
district management to the success of CGI and SBPA provided us a
strong competitive advantage over IBM.
|
| 47.23 | | BAHTAT::ROBERTSON | | Mon May 14 1990 06:36 | 3 |
|
|
| 47.24 | JACKSON NATIONAL UNDERWRITING WIN | FOOZLE::BAKER | | Wed May 30 1990 13:46 | 41 |
|
EXTRACT FROM E-MAIL FROM DAN GLISKY
Early this afternoon we received our purchase orders for the Jackson National
Life Insurance Company underwriting project. The contract is valued at 2.5
million dollars and includes the following: 700k hardware, 670k wide area
network contract, 1.1 million dollar software development contract.
In this contract, Digital will be developing an underwriting system which
will be specific to Jackson National. It will integrate with the Regional
Office Management System (ROMS) which Digital developed for JNL over the past
two fiscal years and which is now deployed in 16 locations nationwide. Over
the past three fiscal years, we have done over 8 million dollars worth of
business with this account.
JNL is the 7th largest life insurance company in the United States and has
100 billion dollars of in force policy premiums at the present time. They
expect to double the number of regional offices which they currently have
over the next two years. A.M. Best, the insurance company rating service,
awarded Jackson National an A+ (superior) rating for financial stability.
On November 25th, 1986 JNL became a subsidiary of Prudential, U.K. and we
have worked with our U.K. counterparts to put in place a multinational
discount agreement for the entire company. JNL is part of Prudential,
U.K.'s International Division and represents over 60% of all International
Divisions premium in 1989. Prudential, U.K. ranks among the worlds ten
largest insurers.
We are very excited about our most recent win and with the long term
prospects within this growing account. If either of you would like to visit
the account or learn more about the details, please do not hesitate to
contact either Terra Fox (JNL account manager) or myself.
Best regards,
-Dan
|