Many organisations use a questionnaire which can be automated through the use of spreadsheets or data capture programs. These are subsequently consolidated at group level so that a near complete picture of the organisation can be seen at a strategic level. The same principle can be applied to claims and policies. The most important element in these systems is to attach every exposure, policy and claim to a part of the organisation. In this way risk control performance can be monitored and the total cost of risk can be allocated back to that part of the organisation.
Today there is no time to duplicate information.
Data entry should be done once and once only. RMIS should extract as much data from existing sources as possible. Exposures can be extracted and derived from electronic databases already in use within a company. Property exposures can be extracted to a certain extent from property management systems. Most risk management systems have a property module but rekeying can be eliminated by using data transfer or interfacing to the current property management system.