New Framework from Sparx Systems and Insurance Frameworks to Speed up Business and Technology Processes in Insurance Industry

CRESWICK, AUSTRALIA--(Marketwired - Aug. 27, 2013) - In an age where unrelenting competition is forcing insurance companies into perpetually re-inventing themselves, a new management tool is reducing costs while speeding up the planning, designing, and managing of organizations, processes and technology. The outcome is a sector more responsive to the constantly emerging needs created by constantly changing markets.

The new tool, a combination of Enterprise Business Framework (or Capability Map) and modeling software, was developed by two well-established global companies - both specializing in tools and techniques used in enterprise architecture.

The two partner organizations are Sparx Systems - whose software modeling tools are used around the globe by more than a quarter-million corporate planners, business analysts and software developers - and Insurance Frameworks, an international company providing a business knowledge suite developed from its considerable experience working globally with more than 100 insurance companies.

Sparx and Insurance Frameworks have worked together to provide insurance companies with business frameworks that already incorporate baseline business activities characteristic of the insurance industry. These templates are known to enterprise architects as capability maps, reference models or enterprise business frameworks. Insurance Frameworks' offers these business resources under the name Panorama 360.

This insurance enterprise business framework, originally a 400-page paper document, has now been converted into a digital format compatible with Sparx' flagship visual-modeling software, Enterprise Architect.

The Sparx Systems' software enables corporate planners and enterprise architects to customize the insurance-industry reference model to reflect the specific features of a specific company. That customized digital model is then further modified to be used as a tool to plan, design, develop and manage organizations, processes and technology.

Insurance Frameworks CEO Pierre Gagne said that using the insurance business framework gives the company's development team a significant head start on any project. "They don't need to re-invent the wheel - the basic insurance-sector functional and informational components are already in place," he said. "That speeds up the planning cycle, reduces costs and provides a pre-tested foundation for the entire planning, development and management processes."

The Sparx software automatically tracks changes to the plan in real time, and allows the entire model to be shared by collaborators and team members located anywhere in the world. Some projects using Sparx software have over a thousand team members with simultaneous access to the shared repository - a feat unmatched by competing toolsets.

Sparx Systems' large worldwide installed base means its software is already being used by many insurance companies around the globe, and loading the Insurance Frameworks' business framework is fast, taking just minutes.

For those insurance companies not already using Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect, industry analysts and trade reviewers almost universally praise its affordable price point <http://www.sparxsystems.com/buy>. It is unlikely that any modern insurance company would find it a burden to equip its entire planning and architecture team with Sparx' tools.

About Sparx Systems

Sparx Systems is a global software company specializing in high performance visual modeling tools for planning, designing and constructing software-intensive corporate systems. Sparx tools are used by systems designers, corporate planners, business analysts, enterprise architects, standards developers and software engineers.

Sparx modeling software is widely used in finance, defense, government, aerospace, automotive engineering, geospatial (GIS), entertainment, health, smart grid, aviation, retail and telecommunications. Over 80 per cent of Fortune 100 companies have licensed Sparx' flagship modeling tool Enterprise Architect. In the past decade the Sparx user-base has grown from 30,000 to more than 300,000 individuals worldwide. Sparx tools are based on the Unified Modeling Language (UML), an open standard developed by the Object Management Group (OMG), where Sparx Systems is a Contributing member. Sparx Enterprise Architect provides robust support for team-wide collaboration, and can scale up from single-user deployment to teams with dozens or even hundreds of collaborators - including remote collaborators. Sparx software is price competitive even when deployed across the entire development team.

Sparx Systems has won five consecutive SD Times Top 100 awards and two Readers Choice Merit Awards from Visual Studio Magazine and Jolt. Now at version 10, Enterprise Architect is available directly from Sparx or - bundled with expert support and comprehensive training services - from a network of more than 300 technology partners active in North America, Europe, Australia, India, China, Japan, southeast Asia and Latin America. Sparx' Enterprise Architect modeling tool was launched globally in 2000, and has enjoyed more than 15 years continuous development and growth.

Insurance Frameworks

Insurance Frameworks is the global provider of possibly the most extensive set of enterprise business architecture framework, capability map, business reference models and methodologies for the insurance and wealth management industry called Panorama 360.

Our mission is to share this knowledge with all types of financial industry organizations including consulting and technology providers so they can plan, design, develop and manage organizations, processes and technology.

Panorama 360, a business knowledge suite encompassing all lines of business in the insurance and wealth management industry was developed from working globally with more than 100 insurance companies over a period of almost three decades. The objective is to make this extensive knowledge available to all financial industry organizations so they can plan, design, develop and manage organizations, business processes and technology in a more efficient and effective manner.

For more information about Panorama 360 plus training and coaching services, go to www.InsuranceFrameworks.com.