Approaches to Data Design, Engineering, and Development

This study guide is for the IDMA 203 course in the IDMA Associate Insurance Data Manager (AIDM) designation program.

Demonstrate how data management, data architecture, systems development, and digital business fit together within the insurance industry. Explain how strong data practices help organizations improve decision-making, support digital transformation, protect data quality, and build information systems that address business needs. Explore the modern drivers behind data design and engineering, the relationship between business and IT, and the frameworks needed for successful business-IT collaboration. Become adept at explaining and assessing the digital information systems architecture, including its essential components of data warehouses, data lakes, data lakehouses, data mesh, and more. Know how data modeling, analytics, cloud and hybrid data environments, ETL, and information preparation all contribute to an information-centric culture. Appreciate the challenges that data managers face, including changing requirements, conflicting software development methodologies (Agile vs Waterfall), unreliable legacy systems, imprecise definitions, and the herculean data integration efforts required to deliver meaningful information instead of disconnected data.

Whether you are an actuary, a claims professional, business analyst, or almost any of the other key functions, knowledge of data management can help you do your job better and help you prepare, understand, and protect the raw material-the data-so critical to your organization.

IDMA courses, workshops, and forums are highly recommended for a broad audience including new hires, IT and data modeling professionals who want to broaden their knowledge of the business side of insurance data management, anyone who manages and governs data in the industry (statistical, or management information data), and anyone who needs to use or communicate good quality data/information - from actuaries to underwriters, and claims and analytics professionals.

Students who complete the four IDMA-developed courses and successfully pass the examinations are awarded an Associate Insurance Data Manager (AIDM) designation. The IDMA courses may be taken in any order; there are no prerequisites. However, the courses are numbered to indicate a recommended sequence.

For details on the designation requirements, please refer to the IDMA Website at www.IDMA.org.