Product Lifecycle Management Software features

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Systems that manage the entire insurance product lifecycle from conception through design, approval, launch, ongoing maintenance, and eventual retirement.

We ask vendors to mark their product against our feature list. It is not available for all products and in some cases we have derived data from publicly available sources. The list of features follows. Vendors can add a further 10 key features of their own.

Deployment & Launch Management

Features supporting the seamless rollout of new or updated insurance products to production environments and across channels.

Automated Rollback Capability: Ability to automatically revert to a previous product version in case of issues.
Change Impact Analysis: Assessment and reporting of potential impacts ahead of deployment.
Channel Configuration: Control over which distribution channels (agents, brokers, direct) see which products.
Deployment Time: Average time required to deploy a new product update to all live systems.
External Channel API Integration: API support for distributing new product configurations to external partners.
Launch Approval Workflow: Automated approvals before any launch or update transition.
Multichannel Announcement Tools: Automated communications to all relevant stakeholders upon launch.
Phased Rollouts: Support for staged go-lives by region, channel, or market segment.
Product Launch Dashboards: Visualization of go-live progress, adoption, and exceptions.
Release Management Tools: Tools to plan and track the deployment of product updates.

Integration & Interoperability

Enables seamless connectivity with other internal and external systems (core policy, claims, CRM, billing, regulatory, analytics, etc.).

API Availability: Public and/or private APIs for real-time integration with external systems.
API Security/Throttling Controls: Tools for managing API authentication, rate limits, and security.
Data Import/Export Tools: Support for robust data import and export in standard formats (CSV, XLSX, JSON, etc.).
Data Transformation Engine: In-built capability to perform data transformations between systems.
Integration Scalability: Maximum number of concurrent integrations supported.
Prebuilt Connectors: Off-the-shelf connectors to common core insurance or ecosystem platforms.
Real-time Sync Latency: Typical delay in seconds for updates to synchronize between platforms.
Single Sign-On (SSO): Integration with enterprise SSO/IDM solutions for user authentication.
Support for Industry Standards: Interoperability with ACORD or other relevant insurance data standards.
Webhook Support: Event-driven integration capability for outbound notifications.

Ongoing Maintenance & Operations

Tools for efficiently handling updates, performance, and the overall operational health of in-force products.

Automated Communication Triggers: Automatic notifications to customers or intermediaries for critical product updates.
Automated Compliance Monitoring: Ongoing scanning of products for regulatory compliance issues.
Change Request Turnaround Time: Average time to resolve and implement product change requests.
Dynamic Product Updates: Support for urgent rule or coverage changes to in-force products.
Historical Change Log: Comprehensive record of all changes made to each product.
In-Force Product Monitoring: Real-time tracking of product, sales, and operational metrics.
Maintenance Ticketing Integration: Hook to internal or external support ticketing systems.
Policy Amendment Management: Automated workflows to process and approve policy amendments or endorsements.
Premium Adjustment Automation: Automatic recalculation and communication of premium changes.
Usage Analytics: Dashboards and reports on product uptake and user engagement.

Pricing & Rate Management

Support for actuarial calculations, rating factors, and market pricing of insurance products.

Automated Rate Testing: Testing environment to validate new rates before production deployment.
Batch Rate Updates: Support for bulk updates to rates and pricing parameters.
Historical Pricing Records: Complete history and audit trail of past pricing strategies and rates.
Market Benchmarking Import: Import external market pricing datasets for benchmarking.
Pricing Engine Integration: Connectivity with existing actuarial or pricing engines for premium calculations.
Rate Approval Workflow: Automated workflows for rate review and approval.
Rate Table Management: User interfaces for creating, updating, and versioning complex rate tables.
Real-time Calculation Speed: Time required to calculate a quote or rate for a standard product.
Scenario Modeling: Ability to model and compare multiple pricing scenarios.
Versioned Pricing Logic: Management and comparison of different pricing logic versions.

Product Creation & Ideation

Capabilities that facilitate capturing, refining, and iterating on new insurance product ideas, requirements, and business cases.

Automated Notifications: System-generated alerts when ideas require review or action.
Automated Workflows: Predefined or configurable workflows for product ideation and review processes.
Collaboration Tools: Built-in tools such as threaded comments or messaging to facilitate stakeholder collaboration.
Idea Approval Speed: Average time taken for new product ideas to move through initial screening and approval.
Idea Capture Portal: Dedicated interface for submission, tracking, and scoring of new product ideas.
Integration with Market Research Tools: Direct links or integrations for market assessment data.
Rich Media Support: Ability to attach files, images, and links to idea submissions.
Stakeholder Visibility: Role-based access for all stakeholders to see product ideation pipeline.
Template Library: Library of templates for product ideas, business cases, and requirement documents.
Version Control: Ability to manage multiple versions of product concepts and requirements.

Product Design & Configuration

Tools and features for defining insurance product parameters, coverage options, rules, and documentation.

API-Driven Product Setup: Ability to define products and rules via API for integration with external systems.
Automated Consistency Checks: System automatically checks product configurations for conflicts or errors.
Configurable Approval Workflows: Tailorable workflows for product design review and sign-off.
Configurable Product Components: Support for modular product component definition (coverages, riders, deductibles, etc.).
Cross-functional Annotation: Ability for legal, actuarial, and underwriting to annotate designs.
Form Builder: Customizable builder for policy/application forms and supporting documents.
Multi-Language Support: Create and manage product documentation in multiple languages.
Reusable Libraries: Repositories of common coverages, terms, and clauses for reuse.
Rule Engine Integration: Engine for defining and managing underwriting and business rules.
Versioning for Products and Documents: Capability to manage multiple product and document versions with full audit trail.

Product Retirement & Sunset Management

Supports systematic decommissioning of insurance products, including migration, communication, and regulatory steps.

Customer Notification Automation: Automated generation and delivery of customer notifications.
Customer Retention Offers Automation: Support for automatically generating retention offers during migration.
Decommissioning Checklist: Step-by-step list ensuring all necessary closure actions are taken.
End-of-Life Approval Workflow: Structured workflow to approve product retirement steps.
Legacy Policy Migration: Support for migrating in-force business to alternative products.
Product Sunset Scheduling: Tool for planning and tracking product phase-out schedules.
Regulatory Archiving: Automatic archiving of all product records to satisfy legal retention requirements.
Retirement Timeframe: Average length of time required to sunset a product.
Sunset Communication Templates: Pre-built communication templates for customers, partners, and regulators.
Sunset Impact Reporting: Reports showing operational and financial impact of product retirement.

Regulatory & Compliance Management

Functions supporting legal, regulatory, and compliance requirements for insurance products.

Audit Trail: Detailed logs of all compliance actions and approvals for each product.
Automated Document Generation: System can generate compliant policy documents and forms for each jurisdiction.
Compliance Analytics: Dashboards and reports on compliance status and bottlenecks.
Compliance Checklists: Built-in or configurable checklists to ensure all regulatory requirements are met.
Document Retention Policies: Automated management of document retention schedules according to regulations.
Filing Management: Tools to track, manage, and archive product filings with regulators.
Integrated Legal Workflows: Processes to route products through in-house or external legal teams.
Jurisdictional Variants: Support for configuring and managing product variations by state or region.
Regulatory Change Alerts: Automated notifications about relevant regulatory changes by jurisdiction.
Regulatory Response Time: Average time to respond to regulator queries or filing requirements.

Security, Data Management & Audit

Robust controls for securing data, managing access, auditing activity, and ensuring data privacy/compliance.

Activity Monitoring Dashboards: Dashboards to monitor security events and user activity.
Audit Reporting: Generation of formal audit reports and logs for compliance reviews.
Automated Data Backups: Scheduled or real-time backups of all core data.
Data Encryption (At Rest and In Transit): Encryption of sensitive data in both storage and during transmission.
Data Retention Controls: Configurable rules for how long data is stored or purged.
Full Audit Logging: Comprehensive recording of every significant user/system action.
GDPR & CCPA Compliance: Tools and processes supporting major privacy regulations.
Incident Response Automation: Automated notifications and workflows when security incidents are detected.
Role-Based Access Control: Granular permissions for controlling data and feature access.
User Access Review Tools: Periodic reporting and auditing of user access permissions.

Testing & Quality Assurance

Capabilities centering on validating new insurance products, rules, and functionality before launch.

Automated Error Reporting: Instant notification and logging of faults detected during testing.
Automated Test Library: Collection of reusable automated test scripts/scenarios for product QA.
Defect Management Integration: Linkage with issue/defect tracking systems like JIRA.
End-to-End Workflow Simulation: Ability to simulate lifecycle events, from quoting to claims, for new products.
Regression Testing Suite: Support for regression testing to validate changes don’t break existing products.
Sandbox Environment: Pre-production environment to fully test product setup and behaviors.
Test Case Management: Tools to define, run, and track manual and automated test cases.
Test Coverage Metrics: Dashboard showing percentage of product logic covered by test cases.
Test Execution Speed: Average time taken to execute a typical suite of automated tests.
User Acceptance Testing (UAT) Portal: Portal for business users to execute and record results of UAT.

User Experience & Accessibility

Ensures the system is easy to use, accessible, and supports a positive stakeholder experience.

Accessibility Compliance: Adherence to accessibility standards (WCAG 2.1, Section 508).
Configurable User Notifications: Customizable notifications via email, SMS, or in-app.
Feedback Collection Tools: Built-in methods for users to submit system feedback or suggestions.
Global Search Functionality: Ability for users to quickly search across all products, documents, and data.
Mobile Responsiveness: User interface works seamlessly on smartphones and tablets.
Multi-Language UI: System interface available in multiple languages.
Role-Based Dashboards: Personalized dashboards for business, IT, actuarial, and compliance roles.
Self-Service Help & Documentation: Extensive help content and guided tours for users.
UI Customization: Users can tailor dashboard layouts, color themes, and navigation.
User Training Time: Typical time for a new user to become proficient.

Features in Product Lifecycle Management Software

for Product Development