AWD: EVS
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AWD is one of the largest financial institutions in Europe. In 1997 AWD migrated two separately maintained legacy databases to a single real-time enterprise management solution based on the Objectivity/DB platform in order to lower processing costs and improve data integrity. EVS is the central administrative system for the AWD Central Service Office in Hanover. EVS is accessed from around 100 AWD offices throughout Germany.
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[edit] Objectivity Case History
[edit] Important
This information is an archive, so any use of the present sense in the text should be taken in the historical context, generally determinable from the Status section below.
[edit] Customer Information
- Customer: AWD GmbH
- Project: EVS
- Location: Hanover, Germany
- Territory: Europe
- Industry Verticals: Complex Financial
- Technologies: Workgroup Computing, Service Oriented Architecture, Web Services, Java
- Application Domain: Insurance
- Market Characterization: Monitoring, Analysis and Response Systems
- Number of developer licenses:
- Runtime license volume and type:
[edit] Status
- First Contact: 1996
- Lead came from: Micram (Distributor)
- Evaluation Start Date: 1996
- Evaluation Finish Date: 1996
- First Purchase Date: 1996
- Deployment Date: 1997
- Current Status: Deployed
- Can we talk about this customer and the product/project? Yes, we have Press Releases and it is mentioned in Webinars.
- Referenceable?: Yes.
[edit] Environment
- Hardware: Sun and Intel
- Operating System: Solaris and Windows
- Precision: 32 bit
- Development language: C++ at first, Java later.
- Compiler: Manufacturers
- Third Party vendor tools: BEA WebLogic
- Open Source tools:
2011 EVS core is written in C++ and current hardware Sun Sparc solaris 64bit, and runs Objy 9.4.1 32bit spark on the servers
There are also Windows clients running XP and some terminal server clients running on a Windows Server 2008 R2 Objy/DB 9.4.1 32bits windows clients, C++ Compiler VS2008, in future will move to VS2010 but not before 2012
They are considering a move to Solaris x86_64 platform due to cost of Sparc hardware and also the support for the Sparc Hardware from Oracle, and the support contract for the Sparc machines will expire in a couple of years.
AWD IT department has found a third party company who are able to provide support for the Sparc machines in the future, so there is now less urgency to move from the Sparc platform.
[edit] The Project/Product
[edit] Project Background
This document describes the features of the EVS back-office system that has been newly implemented at the AWD Germany since 1997. EVS replaces two old systems. The total data stock from these former systems was transferred; this means, with EVS, it is possible to access all transacted contracts online.
EVS is the central handling system at the AWD Central Service Office in Hanover. The entire re-quest volume for a given month is recorded in EVS; commissions are electronically imported at over 90%. EVS is accessible for all areas of the Central Service Office, thus representing the core application. The monthly commission accounting goes to over 3,000 commercial representatives, forming the end of this chain. The Objectivity/DB database was selected in 1995 in order to allow for consistent support of the object-oriented concepts, ranging from C++ all the way to the database. EVS comprises approxi-mately three million lines of source code that are used across platforms by Windows NT and Sun Solaris. EVS was developed over a period of three years.
The database schema comprises approximately 460 classes that were needed for modeling the business process. Approximately 580 million objects are currently administered in EVS.
As part of a new project, EVS is getting an additional interface; this interface will make the application also accessible for approximately 100 decentralized locations in Germany. It will replace the old stand-alone application in the offices, allowing access to the core system in Hanover. To this end, the core functions of EVS must be newly implemented in Java, and an application must be created for the BEA WebLogic application server. The communication of the BEA application to the old C++ kernel is then established via a Java/C++ middleware, whereby the continued use of the old business logic that is anchored in the database scheme will be possible. With the office application that is made available in this way, a distribution office can considerably shorten the turn-around times for a request, because said request does not need to be recorded a second time by the Central Service Office. Thanks to this expansion, AWD expects reduced turn-around times, lower processing costs and higher data quality, since the data are recorded only once directly at the source.
[edit] Project/Product Description
The core functions of EVS are divided into blocks comprising the following functions:
3.1 Employee Administration
- Administration of personal data
- Life partner
- Profession / education
- Contract / type of payment
- Career / commission
- Special commission / manual remuneration
- AWD Start-up assistance / linearization
- Sponsorship / education grant
- Office affiliation
- Documentation
- AWD CV
- Comments
3.2 Office Administration
- Master data administration
- Setting different hierarchies
- Assignment of specialists
- Determinations for different office types (office expense allowance)
3.3 Product Administration
- Commission-relevant product settings (values + ID)
- Deposition of product formulas
- Product calculations (index position)
- Request-relevant product settings
- Tax information for the electronic commission data import
- Product division in columns
- Setting rates
- Commission liabilities
- Versioning
- Setting a limit
- Representation of closed funds
3.4 Law
- Abstract of accounts
- Account overviews
3.5 Request / Contract
- Request administration
- Deposition of processes (follow-up processing, release reviews, request reviews)
- Setting distributions (commission split, specialists, sales companion, contact provider, advisor assistant, incorporation of different types of hierarchies, distribution options)
- Different types of sales
- Request-relevant commission bookings with different accounting keys
- Request-related lump-sum bookings
- Advance bookings, cancelations, restorations
- Correction possibilities for bookings
- Complaints, request information
- Booking history
- Versioning
3.6 Accounting
- Account administration for ledger records and auxiliary books, addition accounts
- Non-commission-related bookings
- Account statements
- Creation of transfer data media
- Interest calculation
- Loan administration
3.7 Partner Accounting (Incoming Payments)
- Partner accounting administration
- Different types of commissions
- Connection to individual commission bookings
- Interface with Navision
3.8 Commission Accounting
- Cover sheet with differentiated entry of commission in accordance with value added tax law, account description, liabilities
- Account balance forward projection
- Individual overview of non-commission-related bookings
- Individual overview of commission-related bookings with classification from which type of sale and hierarchy the commission originates
- Value added tax certificate
- Employee statistics
- Connection to archive system
- Sending of invoices, by mail or electronically
- Default of sortings for printed material generation
- Representation of work-flows for special programs (automatic generation of bookings)
- Generation of evaluations (accounting voucher, additions accounts etc.)
3.9 Distribution Controlling / Online Access of Commercial Representatives
- Web interface for direct access by commercial representatives
- Display of the pre-defined statistics regarding distribution controlling
- Defined access by commercial representatives to all employees, customers and contractual data
- Online representation of account statements and commission preview
AWD Germany is expanding its administrative enterprise system (EVS) built on the Objectivity/DB platform. AWD’s new initiative enables remote access to EVS from around 100 AWD offices throughout Germany. The premier independent financial services provider will replace an old independent stand-alone application therewith. This will lower processing costs and improve data integrity while reducing turn-around times.
Making a Great Thing Even Better EVS has been running on the Objectivity/DB platform for eight (8) years. As part of a new initiative, the newly created Web interface for the Objectivity/DB based EVS system enables the AWD offices with direct access to the workflow in the Central Service Office and is therefore speeding up the provisioning process. As a result AWD’s end-to-end financial operation will be highly automated. The Objectivity platform gives EVS the necessary flexibility and versatility to identify the right solutions according to criteria such as price, performance and risk.
Migrating from Legacy Databases In order to lower processing costs and improve data integrity AWD migrated in 1997 two separately maintained legacy databases to a single real-time enterprise management solution based on the Objectivity/DB platform. EVS is the central administrative system for the AWD Central Service Office in Hanover. By enabling remote access AWD will further enhance its recently consolidated e-business environment. New standardized practices at regional offices will significantly increase their information sharing and business efficiency. Objectivity Platform Scales and Manages Complex Data IEVS was developed over a period of three years and currently consists of approximately three million lines of source code that is used across multiple platforms, including Windows NT and Sun Solaris. The database schema initially consisted of 460 classes that were needed for modeling their business processes. Currently there are over a half billion objects being administered in EVS. The core functions of EVS will be implemented in Java and an application will be created for the BEA WebLogic server. Establishing communication between the BEA application and the previous C++ kernel via a Java/C++ layer will enable the continued use of the business logic that is encoded in the database.
Architecture Diagram
[edit] Buying Criteria
[edit] Business Priorities
Objectivity Saves Time, Resources and Money
“AWD is no different than many other companies today, doing more to control costs and increase business efficiencies,” states Walt Beisheim, director, business development for Objectivity. “However AWD realized Objectivity/DB accomplished their business goals for EVS and they are now making improvements in the way they share information.”
“AWD characterizes an important group of enterprise customers that we classify as Information Sharers,” according to Jay Jarrell president and CEO of Objectivity. The Objectivity platform enables these customers to increase their knowledge by providing real-time access to complicated inter-relationships found between data that is housed in disparate databases.”
[edit] Technical Priorities
- Scalability
- Performance
- Elimination of OR mapping layer.
[edit] Competitors/Alternatives
[edit] Why They Chose Objectivity
The Objectivity platform was selected for EVS because of its consistent support of object-oriented concepts, ranging from C++ all the way to the database. The Objectivity/DB platform enabled AWD to build a highly scalable enterprise application capable of supporting their requirement for real-time management of their complex inter-related financial services data.
[edit] Partners
- DEC
[edit] Collateral
- Press Releases: InsuranceNewsNet
- Flyers:
- White Papers:
- Case Study: AWD Case Study
- Other:
[edit] Contact Information
- Objectivity Rep:
- Customer Contact:
- Customer Phone:
- Customer Email:
- URL:
