Visual*RE takes the proven base of the RSG server-based system and re-engineers it for the Microsoft Windows client/server environment. We feel that this architecture gives RSG flexibility in the following areas:
Hardware flexibility
Because the Applications are broken into many layers that can be distributed across the network. This takes advantage of network resources allowing other computers to share the load.
Technological flexibility
Visual Re will be able to plug into different databases and front ends. Visual Re will provide access to databases such as D3 and Oracle and also allow Users to Interface with the application via Internet Browsers.
Reusability
Objects provide the capability for a piece of business logic to be used over again for different applications.
The Product Architecture section provides a brief overview of the architecture used in the development of this system. A detailed explanation is available in a Visual*RE white paper. Contact RSG for a copy of this white paper.
Visual Re © is a complete Treaty Reinsurance system whose technical architecture is based on Microsoft Windows DNA. (Distributed Network Application Architecture). The base of DNA is the Component Object Model (COM). COM is a language independent object model that is a standard interface for components and applications to communicate. Distributed COM (DCOM) extends COM across machine boundaries. RSG (Re Systems Group) uses MTS (Microsoft Transaction Server which uses DCOM as its communication mechanism) to distribute its objects around the network.
Microsoft uses DNA to implement an n-tier development model. This model divides the application into multiple layers. (Presentation, Business, Data access layer) . The Presentation layer is responsible for user interface presentation (UI) and navigation. The Business layer is the encapsulation of business rules into business objects. The Business Layer can be sub-divided into 2 layers: UI (User Interface) centric business objects and data centric business objects, which control access to data from a database. The final layer is the Database layer that is responsible for data storage and data access.
RSG uses industry leader Rational Rose to model objects and their relationships using the Unified Modeling Language (UML). This product allows round trip engineering that allows the application and the model to stay in sync.
We feel that this architecture gives RSG flexibility in the following areas:
Reusability: Objects provide the capability for a piece of business logic to be used over again for different applications.
Hardware flexibility: Because the Applications are broken into many layers that can be distributed across the network. This takes advantage of network resources allowing other computers to share the load.
Technological flexibility: Visual Re will be able to plug into different databases and front ends. Visual Re will provide access to databases such as Oracle and also allow Users to Interface with the application via Internet Browsers.