The OpenQuote team are proud to announce the release of OpenQuote Version 1.0, the open source solution for the insurance industry.

For those who are new to OpenQuote, the system itself is fairly simple to describe:

OpenQuote is designed to web enable your insurance product quotations.  Whether you are an insurer or a broker, whether selling direct or via an agent, OpenQuote can help you.

Version 1.0 marks a major milestone for the project, being the first full stable release; clearly demonstrating how quickly the system's development is progressing.  The release also shows how effective open source projects are at delivering functionality that the users actually required, collaboration with CityNet, successful brokers based in the heart of London’s insurance district, has not only helped focus and deliver this release, but is also helping to shape future releases.  OpenQuote is providing key functionality that can really benefit the business.

OpenQuote 1.0 Key Features

Online Quotations - For each product OpenQuote takes the proposer through a product (aka scheme) specific process of preparing a quotation:

• The proposer fills in an on-line proposal form;
• A rules driven rating and referral process is run, and the premium is presented;
• Quotation documents may be generated (as a PDF);
• Payment schedules may be calculated, and;
• Payment information collected.
• Proposers may save quotations and return at a later time to accept a quote.
• Notification emails are sent to the broker (or product owner) informing them of each quotation offered, accepted and referred. These emails include all the information the broker might need in order to progress the business.
• On a low specification PC acting as an OpenQuote server, the system can be expected to support 2000 quotes per hour.

Product Development - OpenQuote has a flexible and powerful approach to defining products or schemes:

• Products are built and tested entirely on-line. This includes the questions to be asked during the proposal, the rating and referral rules, payment rules, tax rules, screens and document layouts.
• Product hierarchies allow one product to inherit some, or all, of its features (questions, rules, documents and screens) from another product.
• There is no limit to the depth of the product hierarchy.
• A full history product changes is kept.
• Product development is "Zero-turnaround", in other words any change to screens, rating rules, documents etc. is immediately available for testing. There is no build step.
• Products can be moved easily into production. There is no need to stop and start servers or undertake complex deployment processes.

OpenQuote 1.0 Technology

In technology terms, OpenQuote is a Java Enterprise Edition application. It has been built on a technology stack which the OpenQuote team believe represents best-of-breed Open Source technologies; these including JBoss (application server), Alfresco (content management), Drools (rules engine), Hibernate (data persistence) and MySQL (database).

Internally, the system is made up of 4 layers: core, commercial, insurance, and OpenQuote itself. Each level extends its predecessor adding domain specific services and models. The system as a whole is highly service oriented in order to provide clear partitioning between functional areas; this improves ease of development and improves the likelihood of reuse.

Cost of Ownership

OpenQuote is an open source product, this means the OpenQuote user can chose how they manage the running costs.  The software itself is free, however it will need to be hosted on a suitable server and the insurance products requiring on-line quotations will need to be configured in OpenQuote.  These tasks can be done in-house (by the user) so costs are internalised, or a third party can be used to provide assistance in these areas. 

If a company has the technical expertise and time to support OpenQuote in-house, then they may feel that is the route to take.  With free community support available from the OpenQuote website this is a really viable option.

If a company feels they do not have the expertise or time available to support the running of OpenQuote themselves, Applied Industrial Logic - the creators of OpenQuote - offer commercial support services, including hosting and product development.  Full pricing details can be found on their support page.

What next for OpenQuote?

Development continues to move the system forward, with many new features and functionality planned for both versions 1.1 (currently in development) and version 2.0 (currently in planning).  Version 1.1 of OpenQuote builds on the current release by improving the existing feature set, whilst Version 2.0 will deliver more sophisticated broker communication functionality as well as more comprehensive document suite, including policy schedule and bordereau production.

Useful Links:

OpenQuote Project Home Page

Applied Industrial Logic Support

Applied Industrial Logic can be contacted by email at contact@appliedindustriallogic.com or by filling in a form on our contacts page.