Illustration Framework in 2004

1
Illustration Framework in 2004

• Single user application engine compiled once for
  web and desktop deployment.
• C MFC based desktop executable and UI.
• ASP.NET web application UI (C).
• Mix of .NET (C) and MFC (C) web hosting
  services and components. Application engine
  replicated at runtime one instance per user
  session.

2
Manulife Web Proof of Concept
3
Overall Architectural Changes Part 1

• .NET mixed mode assembly (C).
• Currently the application engine is compiled as
  a .NET assembly, yet not all functionality has
  been converted to managed code. This will happen
  over time.
• Multi-user, thread-safe. Support for multiple
  open proposals.
• A single instance of the application can support
  as many users as permitted by the hardware
  configuration.

4
Overall Architectural Changes Part 2

• Single entry for desktop and web
• Loaded directly into the host process or the
  ASP.NET host process when deployed as a web
  application.
• Hosting the application engine inside the
  ASP.NET keeps the entire request pipeline
  in-process resulting in a significant performance
  boost where this deployment type is feasible.

5
Overall Architectural Changes Part 3

• Session recovery from catastrophic failure.
• Session state is serialized to a binary format
  and stored outside the application engine after
  each request. Storage medium can include MSMQ,
  SQL, disk files.
• Application requests for a given session can be
  spread to multiple servers (clustering)
• Session state previously saved can be loaded
  into the application engine with each request, so
  any server can process a given request. Servers
  could fail or be taken offline for maintenance
  without bringing down the application.

6
Overall Architectural Changes Part 4

• Significant increase in throughput for a given
  number of concurrent users
• Fully optimized ASP.NET and application request
  pipeline. POC - 1.5x increase in RPS with the
  recovery feature turned on.
• Significant reduction in the per-session memory
  footprint.
• POC 2/3 reduction in memory footprint, able to
  achieve even better results with dynamic memory
  allocation for a production application.

7
Overall Architectural Changes Result

• The Illustration Framework used to produce
  essentially single user desktop application
  engines that could form the back-end of web
  applications when replicated by the host
  components.
• It now produces multi-user, multi threaded
  applications that can be form the back-end for
  both web and desktop applications in optimal
  conditions. The desktop application is a subset
  of the web application it is accessed by only
  one user at a time.

8
Everything XML

• Web service for standardized ACORD XMLife data
  exchange with our partners.
• Application settings and parameters that used to
  be set in the source code or stored in multiple
  formats are now accessible at runtime via XML
  configuration files.
• Plan code databases for Inforce applications are
  generated from XML schemas.
• Saved proposals available in ACORD XMLife format.

9
Desktop .NET

• Application UI executable
• 100 .NET managed code (C).
• Full Windows XP visual styles support.
• Modern look and feel (Office 2003, VS 2003, VS
  2005).
• New input controls.
• Multiple open proposals.

10
On tap for 2006

• Keep moving towards a fully managed .NET code
  base.
• Adopt Visual Studio 2005 and the .NET Framework
  2.0 for web and desktop development.
• Adapt our tools and projects to take full
  advantage of the upcoming Windows Vista.
• Complete the move to a fully parameterized
  illustration framework.
• Attain Microsoft Certified Partner status.