Client
Our client is a small business that works as an intermediary between insurance companies and their corporate customers that provide their employees with various insurance coverages: medical, life, dental, etc. The client is responsible for calculations of insurance expenses and preparation of invoices.
Challenge
The client carried out all the calculations in Excel, using vast, complicated formulae to ensure accurate billing in accordance with insurance plan, staff updates, and other factors. Such a solution didn’t offer the desired level of automation, was complicated to use, and had very limited scalability.
The client wanted to transform the predominantly manual services to a self-billing software product that he could sell directly to employees across the USA, widening his customer base exponentially.
Lightpoint team was tasked to develop a web-based self-billing platform that would automate invoicing as well as offer an intuitive interface for smooth onboarding.
Project Description
Let’s review how the self-billing platform works step by step.
Step 1: Filling the details for each insurance plan
To start working with the platform, the user need to fill in a form for each insurance plan: specify its details (policy number and terms, coverage limits and details, premium value, exclusions, renewal terms, and so on), stakeholders' contacts that are to receive invoice, data to be specified in the invoice, etc.
Step 2: Data cleansing and import
The user uploads XML files from the HRIS system, which are encrypted via PGP encryption and contains the insurance-related data of the employees. SFTP technology, secure storage, and data encryption are used to protect sensitive information. The self-billing platform deciphers the data and initiates data cleansing, which means identifying any mistakes or abnormalities in the dataset to ensure its accuracy and quality.
Step 3: Import check
As the data is validated, the platform performs calculations automatically, providing outcomes to the user as a set of visualized reports. The reports reflect major values and changes for each insurance plan per employee, new employees enrolled, terminated enrollments, enrollment alterations, premium values, etc. The user needs to check these reports and correct some values if needed.
Step 4: Invoice generation and autosending
When the calculations get approved by the user, the platform generates invoices, and automatically sends them to all stakeholders (insurance agencies, accountants and HRs from the employer’s side, etc). Two options of invoicing is available:
- General invoice – implies the same invoice for all stakeholders.
- Specific invoice – implies the specific invoices for different departments or offices (if the employer's company has multiple locations).
As you can see, the self-billing platform that we developed automates monthly invoice calculation, generation, and sending, ensuring accurate outcomes and reducing time-consuming, manual effort.
Key Features
Automated self-billing for corporate insurance policyholders.
Automatic invoice sending to both insurance carrier and employer sides.
Customization of invoices for different offices and stakeholders.
Input data cleansing for accurate outcomes.
Sensitive data encryption and safe EDI transfer.
Intuitive, easy-to-learn user interface.
Team Composition & Project Duration
The Lightpoint team worked on this project for 10 months, and included:
1 Project Manager
1 Tech Lead
1 Front-end developer
1 Back-end developer
1 QA Engineer
1 UX Designer
Major Tech Stack
ASP.NET, Angular, AzureSQL, Azure Hosting, Azure Repo – GIT, Azure pipelines, Azure boards, Azure S3, Azure AppInsights, log4net.
Results
The self-billing software we developed allows the client to automate complicated, time-consuming calculations of corporate insurance invoices and get a scalable, user-friendly web product to sell over the United States. This, in turn, transformed the client from a service provider to a product owner, allowing him to scale the business, attract investors, and potentially multiply revenue.
