Work Systems Analysis Report

Table of Contents
Acknowledgements i
Executive Summary
Introduction ii
Barriers that hinder Dunbar Insurance’s performance ii
Requirements iii
Key metrics iii
Recommendations iii
Understanding the Business and Work System
Introducing Dunbar Insurance 1
Work system and business practices 1
Scope statement 2
Project baseline and Baseline Management Plan 2
Work System Issues and Requirements 3
Identified Alternatives
Alternatives considered 5
Three considerations 6
Evaluating Alternatives
Evaluation summary 7
Recommendations and Implementation
Recommendations 9
Constraints 9
Implementation 10
Appendices
Appendix Guide 11

ALTA Consulting | Dunbar Insurance i
Acknowledgements
ALTA Consulting wishes to acknowledge the input and expert advice imparted by the
Dunbar Insurance branch in the development of this work system project. This
opportunity has prompted an important perspective into gaining valuable system
analysis experience within a local company such as Buntain Insurance.
The Dunbar Insurance advisory group consisted of:
 Ms. Stephanie Demmers, Manager of Insurance Services, Insurance
Brokerage; Dunbar Insurance branch
 Ms. Lauren Telford, Front-line insurance agent/broker; Dunbar Insurance
branch
Members of the advisory group provided guidance at the start of the project and input
on the final recommendations, with support throughout the work system analysis.
ALTA Consulting would also like to recognize the support from the knowledgeable
Professor Carson Woo and his never-ending dedication to Information Systems
Analysis and Design, along with the encouragement and guidance to the four girls who
sit on the right side of HA 343’s lecture hall.

ALTA Consulting | Dunbar Insurance ii
Executive
Summary
Introduction
The Buntain Insurance Group prides itself on being one of the most esteemed names for
insurance services in the neighbourhood of Kitsilano. Providing a wide array of policy coverage
in insurance products, Buntain Insurance is known to be family-oriented, and client driven – a
reason why its services are highly regarded at all four of its branches. To strengthen their reach
to clients, Buntain Insurance relatively recently acquired a young and growing brokerage,
Dunbar Insurance, which will be the focus of ALTA Consulting’s work system analysis project.
Barriers that hinder Dunbar Insurance’s performance
Incompatible Systems
Only three of the four branches are linked together using the same insurance software system,
The Agency Manager (TAM), while Dunbar Insurance uses the PowerBroker software. Though
the other three branches have centralized databases that can be accessed across the
branches, Dunbar Insurance has a separate database that is only accessible to their own
brokerage. This is inefficient for both clients and brokerage employees, as clients are under the
assumption that they can access their policies and pay their premiums at all Buntain Insurance
branches.
Scattered Information
Looking at the environmental level of Buntain Insurance brokerages, scattered information
results from the incompatible systems in TAM and PowerBroker, which prevent the different
branches from accessing the same information. For Dunbar Insurance in particular, the current
system used for preserving client records maintains multiple copies of a client policy. For

ALTA Consulting | Dunbar Insurance iii
example, an endorsement to a client’s policy resides in a separate record, rather than existing
as a component of one consolidated client file. Given the wide array of insurance products, the
different policies and services mean that the integrity of these policies are integral to the client
and the coverage they receive from Dunbar Insurance.
Less Experienced Brokers
As the newest acquisition with respect to the more experienced Buntain Insurance brokerages,
the brokers at Dunbar Insurance are relatively younger and less experienced. While employee
training is given, the combination of PowerBroker’s perplexing user interface and the scattered
information across branches poses a threat to the productivity and consistence at the Dunbar
branch.
Requirements
In determining the appropriate requirements to evaluate the alternatives and recommendations
made, functional and non-functional business requirements were discussed and researched
with input from the Dunbar Insurance advisory group. These requirements were also realistically
approached, by taking constraints and limitations into account. Ultimately, both functional and
non-functional requirements emphasized the end-goal: to have reliable, accurate information
sharing that would reduce confusion for both brokers and clients of Dunbar Insurance.
Key metrics
To evaluate the alternate resolutions of maintaining the status quo, and working through change
management to TAM or SigXP, another insurance software, there were three key metrics used:
the system’s capacity for integration, the system’s ease of use, and support given by the
software vendor throughout implementation. Each category was weighted accordingly and
determined the recommendation and implementation plan for Dunbar Insurance’s work system
as a whole.
Recommendations
Following the evaluation criteria, change management to TAM with the addition of employee
training would be the most feasible change for Dunbar Insurance. Executing the TAM system at
Dunbar Insurance would enlist a hybrid implementation of both the ‘big-bang’ and ‘phased’
approach. Further training and continued monitoring and support would also be realized, in
order to create a smooth transition from PowerBroker to TAM for the younger branch as a
whole.

ALTA Consulting | Dunbar Insurance 1
Understanding the
Business
Work System
Introducing Dunbar Insurance
One of four insurance brokerage branches owned and managed by the Buntain
Insurance Group, Dunbar Insurance Agency Ltd. is the newest addition to the Buntain
family situated in the Dunbar neighbourhood. Other offices are located in the Point Grey,
South Granville and Shaughnessy areas, and are becoming one of the go-to insurance
broker agencies in Vancouver West.
Though Dunbar Insurance is managed by the Buntain family and other trusted
individuals, the family-oriented organization has a reputation for providing excellent
customer service, while delivering professional support from over a dozen insurance
companies to its clients. In keeping with tradition, in-house managers at Buntain
brokerages are appointed through seniority, rather than external hiring. Dunbar
Insurance follows the same policy, yet it has a more youthful corporate culture of
younger, less-established brokers.
Work system and business practices
While the other three Buntain brokerages have already conducted change management
for the TAM management system, Dunbar Insurance currently uses PowerBroker, an
insurance software solution that relies on Zycomp Systems Ltd. to provide service and
support. PowerBroker is a solution catered to brokerages for its database practicality in
coordinating customer and policy information, in addition to the ability to integrate new
functions into the software application. Though customers do not use the work system,

they benefit and are supported by PowerBroker through the basic effectiveness of the
system, into which some insurance companies upload their updates on policies directly.
The main business process triggered is from the client’s request for an insurance quote
from the broker, and subsequently, an applicable coverage plan [see Appendix 3 for
detailed model]. While the work system already includes basic policy eligibility
requirements – known as ‘single limits’ – there are also unique circumstances in which
the broker must interact with insurance companies to explore a customized insurance
request – defined as ‘special limits’. Should the customer purchase coverage from the
list of suitable insurance plans from the broker, the broker then enters transaction data
into both the brokerage database and the corresponding insurance company’s system,
allowing verification of the policy before issuing it to the customer.
However, there is no access between the Dunbar Insurance database and other Buntain
locations due to the incompatibility of the two systems in TAM and PowerBroker –
therefore, customer information is not effectively centralized in a way where brokers can
access information and customers can enter any Buntain brokerage for insurance
requests.
Scope statement
Justification
Dunbar insurance is currently not able to satisfy customers’ expectations to access their
personal and policy information at any branch that they go to under the Buntain
Insurance Group.
Description & Deliverables
ALTA will consult stakeholders on which brokerage management system will best suit
and improve their current business processes by gathering requirements from the
employees, analyzing their current operations and evaluating different alternative
solutions through gap analysis in order to make a recommendation that is both
operationally and financially feasible for Dunbar Insurance.
Project baseline and Baseline Management Plan
Please refer to Appendix 7.
Comment [TN1]: Is the client’s request a
business process that is triggered? Or is it
the thing that DOES the triggering of the
business process of providing an applicable
coverage plan?

Work System Issues
and Requirements
There were three major issues identified within Dunbar Insurance’s current work system and
insurance software. The first is the incompatibility of Dunbar Insurance’s software,
PowerBroker, and Buntain Insurance’s centralized use of TAM. Second is the scattered
information that results in redundancies like multiple records for a single client. Lastly, Dunbar’s
less experienced brokers are susceptible to more errors and require additional assistance in
core work practices – that is, discerning the appropriate procedures for specific policy types.
The problem of incompatible systems between Dunbar Insurance and the rest of the
Buntain Insurance offices means that customers who realize the family-oriented nature of the
business cannot access their information at all branches. Also, the issue of scattered
information results in multiple records for each client, and thus, redundancies in the data. The
current PowerBroker system creates a tunnel effect when in a customer’s policy, that requires
unnecessary steps to then access another policy belonging to the customer. Lastly, the young
nature of Dunbar Insurance means that the less experienced brokers are more susceptible to
errors.
In solving these issues, a number of business requirements must be addressed.
Functionally, access to Buntain’s centralized database, and vice versa, is necessary. The
software used must also allow appropriate access control for individual brokers to access their
personal to-do lists and works scheduled. Additionally, the ability to distinguish between
payment methods – agency or direct bills – must be available for all of a customer’s policies,
individually. As well, a number of automatic functions are necessary: automatic saving and

uploading of policy versions, automatic archives, automatic periodic statement processing (that
lists all policies a particular companies up for renewal, for example), and automatic Accounts
Receivable status updates. Also, the software must have the ability to set policy reminders and
abeyances to schedule work. Lastly, brokers must be licenced appropriately for different
policies, or refer to manager.
Some non-functional requirements are security and insurance company integration, which
enables insurance companies to automatically update the brokerage’s system with premiums
and limit updates that they calculate. Also, another non-functional requirement to be considered
is file extraction, which allows brokers to produce any documents for a client, and codification of
accounts and products to streamline work. Finally, the software should provide a form of word
integration that extracts portions of a policy that are automatically filled into consistent checklists
or letters for clients.
A table list of the functional and non-functional requirements can be found in Appendix 8.

Identified
Alternatives
Alternatives Considered
For Dunbar Insurance, three alternative solutions were considered: maintaining the status quo
with Power Broker, changing the system to TAM, and changing the system to SigXP. While
there were many other insurance software products available in the market, we narrowed down
to these three options based on primary research (speaking with the company’s management)
and secondary research (online research on features and reviews of products).
In our analysis, we used the following criteria to evaluate and compare the alternatives:
integration, ease of use, and support. Integration abilities with the other Buntain Insurance’s
branch’s systems help address the first key issue. The second and third criteria can filter
alternatives that will help reduce client record redundancies and errors. For a graphical
summary of the alternative evaluation, please refer to Appendix 9.
While there were other factors considered, such as financial and operational feasibility, they
were deemed less critical to solving the three key issues, and therefore were discarded. For
example, financial feasibility is not a critical consideration as all of the systems fall within the
$15,000 one-time expenditure and $1,000 annual fee cap that was set by the management.
Similarly, operational feasibility is not strong distinguishing criteria because all three alternatives
need to be executed similarly with staggered and continuous training and monitoring process at
a level where the productivity during work hours would not be impacted. While this criterion was
not used to decide which alternative was the best, it was later considered when we were
planning out the implementation plan.

Three considerations
Status quo – staying with PowerBroker, adding further training
Currently, Dunbar Insurance’s software is PowerBroker. It provides unlimited database for all
customers, performs daily backups of policy information, and is partially customizable. While it
claims to be integrative, it is proving to be complex, difficult to navigate, and prone to human
error. The human inaccuracies are becoming more prominently problematic as Dunbar
Insurance employees are mostly young and inexperienced brokers.
If Dunbar Insurance chooses to stay with this software, it will have to reform its human capital to
either re-train the pre-existing staff more intensively or seek out for more qualified staff to
navigate the challenging system.
Change management to The Agency Manager (TAM)
TAM is a brokerage management software that is most widely used in the insurance industry.
Additionally, TAM has already been integrated by the other branches of Buntain Insurance.
Made by Applied Systems Inc., the software enables customer service representatives to
quickly and efficiently dispatch brokerage business. TAM boasts its abilities to improve
productivity, integrate with third-party software, and customize features. Most importantly, it
receives the love of many brokerage companies due to its easy-to-train user interface and
navigation.
Change management to SigXP
SigXP is an insurance broker management system that combines customer relationship
management (CRM) and electronic data interchange (EDI) functionalities. It runs on a SQL
platform and allows for document management, paperless solutions, customizable security
functions and automated policy issuances categorized by assigning policy numbers.
Specifically, it is trusted by insurance companies, such as Wawanesa Insurance and
Economical Insurance, because of its secure real-time update abilities. While this system has
strong merits in security and up-to-date information, it only runs on Windows operating systems
and will require completely new training for the brokers as well.

Evaluating
Alternatives
E
Evaluation summary
Status Quo TAM SigXP
Integration No Yes No
Ease of Use Low High Med-High
Support Low High Medium
Status quo
PowerBroker is not compatible with the other branches’ systems. Also, the user experience is
infamous for its inability to switch between policies or clients fluidly and its clustered user
interface. Lastly, Zycomp Systems Limited – the service provider – offers limited hours of
operations and does not provide any training or live support.
TAM: The Agency Manager
TAM is currently being used by the other branches as well, which makes it feasible and much
easier for Dunbar Insurance to consolidate and link its database with the central system. The
user interface of TAM is clean and minimalist, which makes it very easy for even younger and
less experienced brokers to navigate (Appendix 4). Additionally, it is known for its simplified
codifying process, which makes the user experience pleasant from the perspectives of both the
database manager and the brokers. Finally, TAM rates High for Support as TAM’s customer
reviews suggest that the provider has the “best support group” (Appendix 5); it has 24/7 call
line, online webinars, as well as in-person training sessions that are available in Vancouver
upon request.

SigXP
Currently, SigXP is not compatible with the TAM system. Similar to TAM, SigXP has a much
cleaner and simpler layout than Power Broker. It rates slightly below for Ease of Use as it still
has room for improvement in its codifying process. Lastly, SigXP also provides the same client
support services as TAM with the exclusion of the in-person trainings. Additionally, if Dunbar
Insurance were to change its operating system, it would have to change its insurance software
once again as SigXP only offers support with the Windows OS.

Recommendations
and Implementation
Recommendations
In our evaluation summary, TAM emerged as the best alternative compared to the status quo
and SigXP options. TAM is the only software that will allow Dunbar Insurance to integrate with
the rest of Buntain Insurance, and has higher vendor support and ease of use than either of the
other alternatives. An additional benefit is that TAM’s automated workflows and intuitive user
interface will enable increased productivity from the employees at the Dunbar branch. Thus, we
recommend that Dunbar Insurance change its system from PowerBroker to TAM, and that
management supplement the software change with both technical and functional training. We
recommend that these changes occur through a hybrid implementation, to be discussed below.
Constraints
The following constraints were considered in constructing the implementation plan to ensure
that it is both financially and operationally feasible.
Financial
The management has set a $15,000 budget for the one-time capital expenditure on a software
purchase, and a $1,000 limit for any annual, recurring subscription fees. The costs of the TAM
system fall within these financial constraints.

Top Management
In order for the system change to be successful, it must have the full support of top
management. Top management must take ownership of the project and show their support by
announcing the change to employees well in advance of the actual implementation, answering
any questions raised by employees, and being flexible during the entire change process should
any new circumstances arise.
Human Resources
A system change of this scale necessitates employee training; however, employees cannot be
expected to dedicate their time beyond their regular work hours for the purpose of company
training.
Time and Location
Due to the nature of insurance data, client records and all files in the existing database cannot
be moved in segmented portions. The actual data transition must happen at one time and on a
Sunday, when the office is closed, to minimize disruption to productivity. In addition, the vendor
must offer training in Vancouver.
Implementation
We recommend that Dunbar Insurance undertake the system change through a hybrid
implementation combining both big bang and phased methods. The implementation is big bang
such that the data transition occurs at one time during the installation. The phased component is
that the legacy PowerBroker system will not be discontinued immediately after TAM has been
installed, in case of any significant problems with the new system. The system will be kept for
three months following the installation as a precautionary measure until the end of the insurance
fiscal year in June, and all new data entry henceforth shall occur on the new system.
After TAM has been installed, management should monitor acceptance by taking feedback from
the employees who use it, as well as from clients to discern any significant changes in the
quality of service they experience. During this period, management should also consult all
available support resources provided by the vendor should the need arise.
Training
Employees will undergo an intensive training workshop provided by a TAM employee, at the
Dunbar office. Following that, employees will shadow other employees at Buntain Insurance
branches who already use TAM to familiarize themselves with the system. The shadowing will
occur with a couple employees on rotation during work hours, so that operations can continue
with minimal disruption. Both the workshop and the shadowing will occur in the weeks leading
up to the installation, to ensure that employees are ready to use the system as soon as it is
installed at the Dunbar branch.
In addition to technical training, employees must also be trained in general work practices at the
office. Top management will conduct this training during a one-time workshop, in order to teach
employees the essentials of insurance and to improve their current areas of weakness. Topics
to cover will include the correct procedures for different types of claim, as well as different types
of limits. If deemed necessary, management should hold regular meetings with staff for the
express purpose of confirming employees’ understanding of the work practices.
An implementation timeline can be found in Appendix 10.

Appendices
Appendix Guide
Appendix 1: CATWOE Diagram 12
Appendix 2: BPMN Model: Broker-Client Process 13
Appendix 3: Rich Picture Diagram 14
Appendix 4: TAM 15
Appendix 5: SigXP 16
Appendix 6: Risks and Mitigation 17
Appendix 7: Project Baseline and Baseline Management Plan 18
Appendix 8: Work System Requirements 19
Appendix 9: Alternatives Evaluation 20
Appendix 10: Implementation Timeline 21

Appendix 1: CATWOE
Clients
Internal Users:
 Brokers - would be able to work more efficiently and accurately
 Managers - better work would mean better branch performance
External Users:
 Customers - benefit from quality of service (e.g. phone wait time, info
redundancy)
 Insurance Companies - need to extract customer and policy from the system,
so would benefit from accuracy of information and ease of access
Actors
Brokers - use the system while interacting with customers
Manager - small branch, so manager participates as well
Transformation
Customer details & information  consolidated customer record
Claims & Renewals  policies
Worldview
The belief that the brokerage will perform work more efficiently and accurately,
thereby fostering customer goodwill and improving their bottom line.
Owner
The Buntain family (owners)
Trusted officials
Environmental Constraints
Financial resources
Staff adaptability
Legal compliance

Appendix 2: BPMN Model – Broker-Client Process

Appendix 3: Rich Picture Diagram

Appendix 4: TAM
User Interface
User Reviews

Appendix 5: SigXP
User Interface

Appendix 6: Risks and Mitigation
RISK MITIGATION CONTINGENCY
Employees do not fully
understand the system
Implement feedback system from
employees and customers
Increase training frequency1
Customers are dissatisfied
after switching to new system
Notify customers of change, set
expectation of initial delay, and
emphasize customer satisfaction
during training
Provide temporary incentive (eg.
discount, additional services) to
retain customers
2
Data transfers from Power
Broker to TAM is erroneous
Ensure that current database is
cleaned up before transferring
data and that TAM sends
someone with ample technical
expertise
Ensure that Power Broker is still
available for a few months after
the conversion
3

Appendix 7: Project Baseline and Baseline
Management Plan
Baseline Baseline Management Plans
 Requirements gathered are not
sufficient to allow for thorough
and accurate analysis of the work
system
 Always communicate with the
stakeholders to confirm accuracy and
direction of analysis before moving onto
the next step
 Before gathering together to form a final
analysis, do individual work to ensure
that all aspects are covered
 Scope creep (going beyond
scope)
 At the end of every activity, review and
refer back to the scope defined in the
beginning of project
 Document all work and activity to ensure
traceability

Appendix 8: Work System Requirements

Appendix 9: Alternative Evaluation
Legend:
= Not compatible
= Fully compatible

Appendix 10: Implementation Timeline

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