Data Mart OLAP System for Auto Insurance Market Analysis

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Solution Overview

Problem

Current market performance analysis systems are inefficient, requiring users to submit multiple ad-hoc requests to IT professionals for detailed data, which is time-consuming and often yields poorly integrated data, making it difficult to generate summary and detailed reports for product design and pricing decisions, especially in the auto insurance industry.

Innovation Solution

The implementation of data mart and online analytical processing (OLAP) technology allows users to quickly generate market performance analysis reports with summary and detailed information without programming skills, using data cubes and report templates for dynamic data exploration, optimized for the auto insurance industry, enabling integration of various data sources and business metrics.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Loss of information

If users submit ad-hoc requests to IT professionals for detailed market performance data, then they can obtain specific business intelligence, but the process becomes time-consuming and requires multiple separate requests

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvemarket performance data completenessVSAvoidreport generation time
Core Design Contradiction:
Loss of informationVSLoss of time

Solution Approach 1:

The patent pre-integrates data from multiple unconnected databases into a unified data warehouse before users need the information. IT professionals perform the complex data integration work in advance, organizing data from marketing, underwriting, and claims databases into a ready-to-query structure. This eliminates the need for users to submit multiple ad-hoc requests and allows them to generate reports independently using pre-integrated data.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #10Preliminary action

Solution Approach 2:

The patent introduces a data warehouse as an intermediary layer between the unconnected operational databases and the users. This intermediary pre-processes and integrates data from multiple sources, making it easily accessible to users without requiring them to query multiple databases separately. The data warehouse acts as a mediator that transforms complex multi-database queries into simple, unified data access operations.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #24Intermediary (Mediator)

2Loss of information

If users query multiple separate databases for integrated market performance information, then they can obtain comprehensive data, but the data integration quality deteriorates

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvedata integration qualityVSAvoiddata source connectivity
Core Design Contradiction:
Loss of informationVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The patent merges multiple unconnected databases with different file formats into a single unified data warehouse. Instead of querying separate marketing, underwriting, and claims databases independently, the system combines all these data sources into one integrated repository. This merging ensures consistent data integration quality while reducing the complexity of managing multiple database connections and transformations.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #5Merging (Combining)

3Quantity of substance

If detailed data is retrieved from multiple databases, then comprehensive market analysis is possible, but the data volume becomes difficult to review and analyze

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvedata volumeVSAvoiddata review difficulty
Core Design Contradiction:
Quantity of substanceVSEase of operation

Solution Approach 1:

The patent extracts and presents only the specific market performance metrics that users need for analysis, rather than dumping all available raw data. The system allows users to query the integrated data warehouse for specific measures such as market share, growth rates, or product performance metrics. This extraction approach provides comprehensive analytical capability while keeping the presented data volume manageable and easy to review.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #2Taking out (Extraction)

4Measurement precision

If users need specific programming skills and IT professional knowledge to generate market performance reports, then accurate data retrieval is possible, but the ease of operation deteriorates

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvedata retrieval accuracyVSAvoiduser accessibility
Core Design Contradiction:
Measurement precisionVSEase of operation

Solution Approach 1:

The patent enables users to generate their own market performance reports without requiring IT professional assistance or programming skills. By providing a user-friendly interface that queries the pre-integrated data warehouse, users can independently retrieve accurate market performance data. The system shifts from a model where users must submit ad-hoc requests to IT professionals to a self-service model where users directly access integrated data through simplified query mechanisms.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #25Self-service

Data Source

PatentUS8731972B1Method and system for market performance analysis
Publication Date: 2014.05.20 UNITED SERVICES AUTOMOBILE ASSOCIATION (USAA)
  • US8731972B1 patent drawing
  • US8731972B1 patent drawing
  • US8731972B1 patent drawing

AI summary

Methods and systems are disclosed for allowing a user to quickly and easily generate market performance analysis reports. The methods and systems use data mart and on-line analytical processing (OLAP) technology to provide users with summary and detailed information without requiring the user to have specific programming skills. In one implementation, the methods and systems may provide a data mart optimized for the auto insurance industry. Such a data mart may contain data pertaining to auto insurance policies, vehicles, operators, coverage, and incident. Data cubes may be used to organize the data in the data mart according to one or more dimensions. Corresponding perspectives may be constructed to allow the user to access the data in the data cubes. Report templates provide a starting point from which the user may modify for dynamic data exploration or dive deeper into the data “on the fly.”