The Motor Vehicle Reporting system (MVR) is one of the largest modules in an association management system consisting of more than two-dozen modules.  The MVR system enables member agencies to retrieve an individual's driving history from any department of motor vehicles in the United States.

Project Objectives
1) Create a profitable, easy-to-use service for members allowing them to retrieve information quickly and inexpensively.  (The Internet is not yet a viable method because several states forbid this for security and privacy reasons.)
2) Create a highly automated system.  The benefits of this are minimal staff requirements and 24-hour availability to the member users.
3) Permit automated and non-automated agencies to process MVR’s with minimal involvement required from our staff.  (When the MVR system was originally written in only about 50% of the insurance agencies in Ohio had automated.)
4) Create a billing system able to provide comprehensive information in a flexible format to meet the requirements of the various agencies that use the system and adjust the price of each MVR according to a scale of quantity discounts.

Approach
We obtained a leased line to the Ohio BMV (Bureau of Motor Vehicles) computer and a Black Box 3270 protocol converter to directly transmit the data.  We connected to several large data services (such as Equifax/ChoicePoint) using standard dial-up lines for the other forty-nine states.  We developed software to communicate with the Ohio BMV and ChoicePoint.  The instant mode processes the request immediately and returns the MVR within one to three minutes. All of this was designed to run without intervention from our staff. The next segment was to write the MVR ordering software to be used by automated agencies.   This software was originally written on FoxPro for DOS and converted to 

VFP later.  A third party communication package called CommTools handled the error checking communication protocols. The third step was to write software that controlled a voice-response-system allowing non-automated agents to order MVRs using their telephone’s touch-tone keypad.  The accounts receivable system was the final phase.

Tools & Software
The entire system is written in Visual FoxPro using some third-party tools where appropriate.  CommTools and the protocol converter handle all of the communications protocols.  Visual Voice controls the voice-response hardware.  Faxes are sent through a Fujitsu fax-modem that converts ASCII text into a fax protocol. 

This entire system is running on four PCs, each with Windows 95 and the data is housed on a server running Windows NT 4.0.  The network is controlled by Windows using 10 base-T.  Though each PC controls at least eight communication ports (using a Rocket Card communication card) and ranges from a Pentium 90 to a Pentium 133, the system is very stable.  Each PC usually runs for one to two months between re-boots.

Obstacles & Challenges
The most difficult challenge was to successfully install the software at approximately five hundred businesses throughout the state.  Smaller agencies whose staffs are less computer literate would call with problems that we resolved for them.

Result
This MVR system has processed over two million MVRs since coming on line, providing over $700,000 in additional profit for the association.  The MVR system in its present form can handle at least four times this amount of MVRs; and, if required, system capacity can be expanded by adding more PCs and communication ports without any software changes being necessary.