Method and apparatus for performing collective validation of credential information
View Patent ↗An embodiment of the invention comprises a method and apparatus for performing collective validation of credential information. The invention has applicability in industries that require sales agents or those related to the distribution of a certain product to be credentialed (e.g., licensed and/or appointed) when selling certain products (e.g., life insurance, etc . . . ). For example, in order to sell some financial instruments sales representatives must meet state and/or federal licensing requirements. Embodiments of the invention provide a way to ensure that sales representatives operate within any regulatory constraints put in place by government or any other organization. Companies may, for instance, utilize embodiments of the invention to ensure that sales representatives operate within a set of defined constraints. One aspect of the invention provides a method for validating sales agents' credentials while processing the sales transaction data to determine commission amounts. The system is configured to perform such transaction processing in an efficient manner that minimizes the amount of computational resources required to determine whether a sales agent has valid credential at the time of a particular sale and is therefore entitled to compensation (e.g., a commission) for the sale.
1. In a computer system, a method for collectively performing validation of credential information of one or more product distributors associated with one or more product distribution transactions, the method comprising:
obtaining a set of available credential information of each of the one or more product distributors associated with the one or more product distribution transactions;
storing the set of credential information in the computer system, wherein the credential information is stored in a form that can be processed by the computer system;
loading from at least one data source a set of credential validation rule data;
obtaining the one or more product distribution transactions associated with the one or more product distributors; and
processing in the computer system the one or more product distribution transactions and the credential validation rule data to validate the obtained one or more product distribution transactions associated with the one or more product distributors in accordance with predetermined validation criteria to determine if the one or more transactions can be used for compensating one or more product distributors, to validate the obtained credential information of one or more product distributors associated with one or more transactions to determine whether the one or more product distributors meet eligibility requirements for compensation associated with each of the obtained product distribution transactions for the one or more product distributors, and to generate results data representing at least any validated transactions and determined-eligible product distributors; and
generating compensation data from the results data for each of the one or more product distributers to be compensated for the one or more product distribution transactions.
2. The method of claim 1 wherein said obtaining said set of available credential information further comprises denormalizing data from a plurality of database tables.
3. The method of claim 1 wherein said loading from at least one data source said set of credential validation rule data further comprises loading said set of rule data from a standard format data file.
4. The method of claim 3 wherein said loading said set of rule data from standard format data file further comprises parsing data from a file having an Extensible Markup Language (XML) format.
5. The method of claim 1 wherein processing in the computer system the rule data further comprises:
determining a set of rules associated with said collective group by using a set of preconditions to filter among a plurality of rules, said rule data comprising at least one test having an associated type;
partitioning said set of rules based on said type of said at least one test associated with said set of rules;
preparing said collective group wherein said collective group comprises tests associated with said test type; and
determining for said set of rule data whether said at least one test associated with said set of rules are valid.
6. The method of claim 5 wherein the set of preconditions comprises at least one member of the group comprising:
a product class precondition;
a jurisdiction precondition; and
an end date precondition.
7. The method in claim 1 wherein the compensation data represents an amount of compensation for each of the one or more product distributers to be compensated for the one or more product distribution transactions, the method further comprising:
computing the amount of compensation for each of the one or more product distributors to be compensated.
8. The method of claim 7 wherein compensation comprises a commission.
9. The method of claim 1 further comprising:
obtaining the set of available credential information for at least one of the distributors from two or more tables;
denormalizing said set of available credential information from said two or more tables into a denormalized database table;
wherein the rule data comprises a set of test conditions data from at least one data source; and
processing in the computer system the rule data comprises applying a credential test by querying said denormalized table with said set of test conditions data.
10. The method of claim 1 wherein said obtaining a set of available credential information further comprises using database connections.
11. The method of claim 9 wherein said denormalizing said set of credential information further comprises creating one or more database tables.
12. The method of claim 9 wherein said denormalizing said set of credential information further comprises joining at least two database tables into at least one database table.
13. The method of claim 1 further comprising:
obtaining the rule data from a data file.
14. The method of claim 3 wherein said data file further comprises a data file having an Extensible Markup Language (XML) format.
15. The method of claim 9 further comprising:
defining the rule data.
16. The method of claim 15 further comprising storing said rule data into a database table.
17. The method of claim 9 wherein said applying a credential test further comprises joining said set of test conditions data with said denormalized database table.
18. The method of claim 1 wherein product distribution transactions comprise data related to sales of a product.
19. The method of claim 1 wherein the one or more product distributors comprise one or more members of the group consisting of sales agents, sales representatives, supervisors of the sales agents, and supervisors of the sales representatives.
20. The method of claim 1 wherein:
the rule data comprises credential information identifying regulatory constraints for each of the obtained sales transactions placed on at least one of the one or more distributors associated with said obtained sales transaction; and
processing in the computer system the rule data to validate the obtained credential information comprises determining if said credential information obtained sales transactions placed on at least one of the one or more distributors conforms to said regulatory constraints.
21. The method of claim 1 wherein predetermined validation criteria comprises at least one member of the group consisting of:
required educational credits;
required licenses;
required level of liability coverage;
license renewal requirements;
background check; and
residency rules.
22. The method of claim 1 processing in the computer system the rule data further comprises processing the rule data for multiple product distribution transactions comprises batch processing the rule data for multiple product distribution transactions for batches of product distribution transactions.