CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.0     Introduction

An insurance company is a company that offers insurances policy either by selling directly to an individual or through another source such as an employee’s benefit plan. An insurance company is usually comprised of multiple insurance agents. An insurance company can specialize in one type of insurance, such as life insurance, health insurance, auto insurance or offer multiple types of insurance.

Insurance is an important area of the business service industry. The insurance industry is one of the largest revenue generators and is the fifth industry sector in the centre. The project is based on implementing advanced computer based system for insurance company that shows the rates offered by different insurance agencies. The main types of insurance dealt in this project are home insurance, auto insurance, farm insurance, and health insurance. Depending upon the user information, real time quotes are generated from different companies [1].

Insurance is the equitable transfer of the risk of a loss, from one entity to another in exchange for payment. It is a form of risk management primarily used to hedge against the risk of a contingent, uncertain loss. An insurer, or insurance carrier, is a company selling the insurance, the insured, or policy holder, is the person or entity buying the insurance policy. The amount to be charged for a certain amount of insurance coverage is called the “Premium”. Risk management, the practice of appraising and controlling risk, has evolved as a discrete yield of study and practice [2].

The transaction involves the insured assuming a guaranteed and known relatively promise to compensate (indemnify) the insured in case of a financial (personal) loss. The insured reviews a contract called the insurance policy, which detects the conditions and circumstances under which the insured will be financially compensated. Insurance involves posting funds from many entities (known as exposures) to pay for the losses that some may incur. The insured entities are therefore protected from risk for a fee; with the fee being dependent upon the frequency and severity of event occurring. In order to be insurable, the risk insured against must meet certain characteristics in order to be in insurable risk.

To properly manage insurance, there is need for the utilization of computerized applications to aid in the capturing, easy updating and retrieval of insurance information of registered customers. This will aid the effective management of insurance companies. It is in view of the need for a computer-based system to manage insurance information that necessitated this research work.

1.1 Statement of the Problem

After making research about this project, the following problems were found:

1. This method has resulted to consistent time wasting in the transaction process.
2. There is lack of effective data storage mechanism.

• With the manual system, it is difficult for the management to regularly update insurance records.

1.2     Aim and Objectives of Study

The aim of the research is to design and implement a computer-based insurance services record management system. The following are the objectives of the study:

1. To design an efficient and reliable computer based system for documentation of insurance activities.
2. To implement a system that will enable insurance services to easily manage insurance records.

• To create a database application that will facilitate the easy storage, updating and retrieval of needed information.

1.3 Scope of the Study

This study covers Computer-based insurance services record management system a case study of lead way insurance, Uyo. It covers the implementation of a database application to manage insurance records.

1.4     Significance of the Project

This study is significant in the following ways.

1. It will provide the case study with an effective system to manage insurance records.
2. It will aid the easy keeping and retrieval of insurance information of clients

• It will help promote the activities of insurance services.

1. It will save time of the activities of insurance officials
2. It will further serve as research materials for both academic researchers and other organization.

1.5 Organization of the Research

The organization of this research includes:

1. The first chapter covers the introduction, statement of problem, aim and objectives of the study, organization of research and definition of terms.
2. Chapter two centralizes on the review of related literatures as made available by other researchers and authors.
3. Chapter three is concerned with the system analysis and design which includes: Analysis of the Existing System, Analysis of the Proposed System and system design.
4. And also Chapter four consists of system implementation and documentation which are system design, diagram, choice of program language, analysis of modules, programming environment, hardware/software requirement and implementation.
5. Chapter five contains summary, conclusion, constraint of the study and recommendations.

1.6     Definition of terms

Company: A voluntary association formed and organized to carry on a business. Types of companies include sole proprietorship, partnership, limited.

Premium – The price of insurance protection for a specified risk for a specified period of time.

Premium Balances – Premiums and agents’ balances in course of collection; premiums, agents’ balances and installments booked but deferred and not yet due; bills receivable, taken for premiums and accrued retrospective premiums.

Premium Earned – The amount of the premium that has been paid for in advance that has been “earned” by virtue of the fact that time has passed without claim. A three-year policy that has been paid in advance and is one year old would have only partly earned the premium.

Insurance: A promise of compensation for specific potential future losses in exchange for a periodic payment. Insurance is designed to protect human lives.

Broker – Insurance salesperson that searches the marketplace in the interest of clients, not insurance companies.

Broker-Agent – Independent insurance salesperson who represents particular insurers but also might function as a broker by searching the entire insurance market to place an applicant’s coverage to maximize protection and minimize cost. This person is licensed as an agent and a broker.

Claim – A demand made by the insured, or the insured’s beneficiary, for payment of the benefits as provided by the policy.

Grace Period – The length of time (usually 31 days) after a premium is due and unpaid during which the policy, including all riders, remains in force. If a premium is paid during the grace period, the premium is considered to have been paid on time. In Universal Life policies, it typically provides for coverage to remain in force for 60 days following the date cash value becomes insufficient to support the payment of monthly insurance costs.