Case Study:

VMBG

1 June 2006

In Germany, the employers' liability insurance associations (ELIAs) have a long tradition. Since 1884, they have been responsible for statutory casualty insurance in all industrial sectors. Every German company is a member of its respective ELIA, providing all employees and trainees with insurance for industrial injury, travel accidents, and occupational illnesses.

The Vereinigung der Metall-Berufsgenossenschaften (VMBG) is the parent organisation of all metalwork ELIAs. The VMBG is in charge of five ELIAs that together have approximately 135,000 companies with 3.9m employees. The extent of cooperation within VMBG is unparalleled in other industries. An example of this was the formation of the unified IT department Vereinigte IT-Abteilung (VITA) in 2002, which was a milestone toward harmonising processes and organisational structures. VITA's IT manager, Michael Heyder says: "We aimed at aligning our IT closer with those requirements all VMBG members have in common. That's why we founded a unified department spanning over all member organisations."

Before VITA came into being, the VMBG's IT landscape was mostly disorganised. Mainframes from various manufacturers had their own operating systems. Servers ran Unix derivatives as well as several versions of the Microsoft Windows Server 2003 operating system. On the client side, one could find almost any Microsoft desktop system, including the Microsoft Windows 95 operating system.

VITA's answer to this challenge was a consolidation project that will lead to an annual savings of approximately 15 per cent. As a first project step, Heyder greatly reduced the number of mainframes.

Another key element of consolidation was the decision to unify all operating systems. Windows Server 2003 is now the only server operating system. All clients are run on the Windows XP operating system. Heyder says: "The argument that companies or public organisations can achieve major cost advantages through Linux is not plausible."

Currently, around 3,200 VMBG employees send or receive e-mails and manage schedules using Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 communication and collaboration server, as well as the Microsoft Office Outlook 2003 messaging and collaboration client. Lotus Notes has been replaced. Thanks to Active Directory, all user information is now centrally managed.

As all applications look and feel the same, training costs have dropped. Heyder says: "Wherever possible, we favour standard software. We develop applications on our own only if the market does not offer an appropriate solution. This is the case for most of the task-specific administrative processes which require our unique know-how."

Administrative applications assist diverse departments in processing benefit claims, member management, membership fees, and on-the-job safety.

Most of these applications were developed between 1989 and 2000 on a host basis and lead managed by VMBG member Berufsgenossenschaft Metall S?d (BGMS). All these host-based applications are now due to be migrated step by step to Microsoft .NET-connected software. The hosted database system ADABAS from Software AG, Germany, will remain in use for the next few years. In the meantime, ENTIRE X from Software AG together with Web services provides linkage between Microsoft .NET applications and mainframe databases.

Membership management, requiring the attention of around 150 VMBG staff, has been the first major migration step to Microsoft .NET. The complete benefits claim and insurance processing for travel accidents, industrial injuries, and occupational illnesses will take place during the course of this year. Then, more than 2,000 employees at approximately 20 administrative offices will be able to take advantage of this new Microsoft-based groundwork.

"We are now able to efficiently develop ourselves business-critical applications that perfectly meet our process requirements and are scalable and sustainable," says Heyder. "Our clear process orientation and the software's in-depth integration have enabled us to cut IT budgets while improving our services at the same time."

Accident notifications no longer require copious paperwork. Microsoft BizTalk Server 2004 receives all the information and conducts the intelligent communication with the central database.

The .NET-based prevention application is the next system scheduled to go live. Accident prevention officials will then be able to find the amount of accidents per company on their PCs. Getting in touch with the responsible company's security representative takes just a few mouse clicks. Arranging the time and date for an investigation is done using Exchange Server 2003 while Microsoft MapPoint .NET, a component of MapPoint Web Service, assists in route planning. A central two-level help desk assures the productivity of these features.