Principal Selects SunGard

The Specialty Benefits Division of the Principal Financial Group (Des Moines; $215 billion in assets under management) has replaced its legacy policy administration system with SunGard's (Wayne, Pa.) iWORKS COMPASS application to help support the carrier's strategy for business growth and implement best practices to meet its service objectives.

"We chose SunGard because of the application's flexibility, its ability to handle both our group and voluntary business, and its ability to help us deliver products to market," says Doug Fick, chief information officer of the Specialty Benefits Division of the Principal Financial Group.

According to SunGard, COMPASS is a secure, component-based application that supports multiple currencies and languages. The system may be implemented on virtually any Intel, Unix or Linux server with a Web-based J2EE client interface. Workstations simply require an Internet connection, and all system components are supported by an Oracle data server, streamlining the enrollment, underwriting, billing and collections processes.

Implementation of the SunGard product began in February 2005. The Principal Financial Group went live with the system in group life and group disability in June 2006. Implementation plans are currently under way to move SunGard's Dental Product to the COMPASS application. --M.W.