Re: Insurance data models...any tips on good starting point?

On Jul 10, 8:03 pm, aai_jj <jjohn..._at_grafikchaos.com> wrote:
> We have a client that has the typical online quote generator but is
> looking to revamp that process and tie it in with other services he
> can sell to other insurance clients. The application is still in its
> infancy but could have the potential of blowing up in our face if we
> don't plan accordingly.
>
> The old website used a fairly simple RDB with a lot of array
> manipulation done by the developers, but we'd like to make it a little
> more object-oriented, maybe even consider an EAV modeling approach to
> allow for the growth.

The apparent flexibility of EAV is at the cost of simply horrible query complexity. The result won't be maintainable, and the benefits of allowing support of low structured data is illusive (like an oasis in the sahara. It'll disappear when you actually get there.) Much better to do a thorough schema design beforehand, and if change is needed then update the structures as need be, instead of using RM as some sort of filesystem housing an entity-attribute model.

>
> Are there any insurance data models out there to start from or is
> anybody willing to share their experience on similar projects?
>
> Any thoughts or direction would be greatly appreciated.
>
> Thanks.
Received on Thu Jul 10 2008 - 23:12:08 CEST