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Database Replication a Plus in More Ways Than One:
RMIS Technique Offers Efficiency, Access to More Users

by Roseanne White

Generating risk management reports used to be more time-consuming and costly for Jamesport Associates, a risk management group for real estate owners in the United States and Canada.

Jamesport's computer system network previously accommodated only three users simultaneously. If any of the other five users needed to generate part of a report, they had two options: wait until someone else signed off the network or work with data on a disk at a PC workstation separate from the network. When work was saved to a disk, the user had to later convert the data on the disk to enter it into the database.

Then, in the fall of 1995, Rochester, N.Y.-based Jamesport began the process of upgrading its risk management information system software for database replication. Because Jamesport already had two servers, no new hardware was needed.

Now, all eight users can access the network simultaneously, with the database split between two servers. Each server is dedicated to users handling different claim functions, and each allows a user to conduct both data entry and analysis and reporting. The main database is updated as data is entered, and replication occurs twice daily.

When an executive needs a report, "we can provide it to them in a very short time,'' said Barbara Gogoll, Jamesport's risk manager. "The data is there, it's current, we're able to manipulate it.''

The database replication approach was presented to Ms. Gogoll by the group's RMIS vendor, Blackburn Group Inc. of Rochester. Jamesport has used Blackburn's RiskPro system since 1991.

Database replication has increased the simplicity and accuracy of managing the risk management group's self-insurance program. "It's easy to see what you have at any particular moment,'' Ms. Gogoll said. The risk management group also handles claims administration and loss prevention, among other tasks.

The cost for the software and database replication was about $50,000, Ms. Gogoll said. While it's difficult to estimate the cost savings that result from using the database replication approach, the reduction in errors and lost information and the increased speed probably save $50,000 annually, she said.

Database replication involves copying a database and synchronizing the copies. From that point, changes to the main database are distributed to, or reflected in, all other replicas of the database at predetermined intervals. All data or just selected information can be replicated, depending upon a risk management department's needs.

Other RMIS vendors, consultants and risk managers also are finding advantages to this approach.

"Replication server technology is becoming easier to use, more automated and more prevalent in (computer network) operating environments,'' said Mark Dorn, president of DORN Technology Group Inc., an RMIS vendor based in Livonia, Mich.

Several different hardware and software configurations can be used for database replication. Mr. Dorn said a typical arrangement for a risk management department would be to have one server, called the OLTP server, dedicated to the PC workstations of those employees processing transactions online and a second server, called the decision support server, dedicated to the PC workstations of those performing analytical or reporting functions (see story, page 15). Specified data would be marked for replication and distributed at predetermined intervals -- depending upon the department's needs -- from the OLTP server to the decision support server.

The intervals for replication generally can be programmed into the database. Such a setup can maximize the performance of both groups of system users, because the volume is "less likely to clog the communication pathway,'' Mr. Dorn said.

Additionally, this arrangement helps build the foundation for taking advantage of online analytical processing technology being incorporated into some databases, such as Microsoft's SQL Server 7.0, according to Mr. Dorn. This technology would allow risk managers to go beyond just sorting data for reports; it would enable them to "drill down'' into the data in different ways to generate three-dimensional models for analysis, he said. For example, with OLAP technology risk managers could build financial models showing a variety of policy and retention levels.

Database replication also can be used to transmit data between a corporate headquarters and regional offices around the globe, or between one local office and another, explained Robert J. Blackburn, managing principal of Blackburn Group. A local area network, or LAN, in a corporate headquarters could connect to a wide area network, or WAN, to which regional office servers, personal computers or LANs are linked. The data would then be distributed from the WAN to the corporate LAN at intervals that meet the company's needs.

Such a design gives risk managers a solution to the problem of sharing data and software updates with all company locations, Mr. Blackburn said.

Perhaps the most significant benefit of replication is load balancing. The data is split between two server systems in order to separate transaction processing from analytical functions so that the system doesn't slow from the traffic burden. Otherwise, said Mr. Dorn, "You could have one person doing heavy-duty reporting and analysis slowing up 20 people doing data entry.''

The load-balancing function is increasingly important, he said, as risk managers now want to integrate human resources data, accounting data and other information into their systems.

When data is split between server systems, then users also can limit who has access to each server, he said.

Another key advantage is pure risk management -- you have a duplicate database to rely on if something happens to one copy, said Mr. Blackburn. "It really is a fail-safe means of saving and keeping data with a high degree of integrity and certainty.''

David P. Duden, national RMIS practice leader in Hartford, Conn., for Deloitte & Touche L.L.P., cited another reason for database replication.

Additional quality audits could be done on a replicated database without having to run them on the transactional database, particularly if a greater history were kept on the replicated database.

The technology needed for database replication boils down to having a network operating system such as Windows NT that can accommodate multiple users simultaneously, as well as the applications software and the databases, Mr. Dorn said. Then users must determine whether communication between the servers can be done through an external physical connection, such as a wire, or through a system of hubs and routers in the network, he said.

Experts say risk managers must take a close look at their departments and companies in determining whether database replication will be effective.

Mr. Dorn says database replication is appropriate for companies with more than 20 computer system users and an annual claims volume of 20,000 or more.

The size or organization of a company may make replication suitable, said Fred Greifenstein, senior vp-software development at risk management consultant EQE International in Oakland, Calif. In a decentralized organizational structure, or a structure in which geographic areas have significant autonomy, replication may be a smart approach.

Risk managers must make their needs known and then make decisions in the context of the company's information technology strategy, Mr. Greifenstein said.

Other factors may indicate that database replication is not the right approach. "We'd steer a client away from replication if there were a large number of record updates'' at a large number of sites and data consistency were paramount, Mr. Blackburn said, using overnight delivery companies as an example. Such companies may want to work in real time with one database in which all sources are updated immediately as new data is entered, he said.

Mr. Blackburn said database replication is best used if you have a LAN with 15 to 25 users and regional offices worldwide that may total five to 10 LANs connected to WANs.

But not everyone is sold on the database replication concept.

"The percentage of people we see doing this is still a small percentage,'' said Patrick O'Neill, vp/sales manager in Atlanta for Risk Management Technologies, a division of J&H Marsh & McLennan Inc.

Although more clients are talking about replication, they are the largest clients that must share data with dozens of operations, Mr. O'Neill said.

Those clients are interested in maintaining server speed with a high volume of users and enhancing security by being able to distribute to other users only the data they need, he said.

David J. Undis, managing director of Risk Management Technologies, said some of the reasons for database replication, such as load balancing and access issues, are no longer concerns as companies move to more powerful systems in order to make more data accessible via the Internet.

Rather than database replication, clients are interested in data warehousing and freeing themselves of hardware concerns by outsourcing system performance and maintenance issues to their RMIS vendors, said Messrs. Undis and O'Neill. Data warehousing involves consolidating into one repository data from different databases in order to facilitate analysis.

RMIS vendors can respond to risk managers' demand to incorporate more types of information, such as human resources and accounting data, into their databases by making the RMIS systems able to handle duplicate data from other corporate systems, or by enabling the RMIS system to communicate with other corporate systems. "It makes more sense to integrate these systems rather than duplicate them,'' he said. "It's a better business strategy.''

The first step for risk managers interested in the database replication approach is to draft a plan that indicates what types of reports are desired and what types of online procedures are being performed, Mr. Dorn said. Risk managers also must determine the frequency of replication that meets their needs.

Risk managers must decide whom the risk management department wants to serve and by whom the risk management department needs to be served, said Mr. Blackburn.

Replicating everything may not be practical, said Deloitte & Touche's Mr. Duden. Some companies replicate only key financial figures, rather than all notes in a claim file, he said.

To ensure that replication helps avoid bottlenecks to the greatest possible extent, the database must be organized in accord with usage patterns, so that certain transactions won't tie up a large portion of the database, advises Jonathan Marin, a New York-based independent computer consultant to corporate senior management, who specializes in Year 2000-related problems.

Several factors can determine the cost of database replication, including whether the client has an RMIS system and the appropriate hardware in place.

The price of hardware has been dramatically reduced, Mr. Dorn said. He estimates the initial cost to set up a system, including the hardware, software and consulting services, to be between $20,000 and $60,000.

Mr. Duden of Deloitte & Touche estimates that for a small database, the initial cost can be $2,000 to $3,000; for large companies, between $50,000 and $70,000.

Database replication can be a much less expensive alternative to the load balancing problem than, for example, trying to increase system responsiveness by buying more powerful central processing units, said Mr. Marin.

"At a certain point,'' Mr. Dorn said, implementing replication "becomes less expensive than disrupting 20 people'' by high-traffic volumes on the system.

"This architecture is what we think the future looks like for risk management,'' he said.