eoTek Core Systems Gain
Adaptability,
Speed and Reliability
with the Amzi! Logic Server Nexstar's
services make every aspect of home financing simple and efficient. Key to these
services is an on-demand Web application that allows their customers, such as
bank loan officers, to find the best mortgage for a client. This application is
a product of Nexstar's Evergreen, Colorado subsidiary, eoTek.
Pricing a
KeyPricing is obviously the critical factor. It is also a highly variable
factor. The pricing modules were originally implemented with about 5000 lines
of Java code, working with associated database files. The Java code was complex
because the dynamic interdependence of the factors and rules is difficult to express
with a procedural language. It worked, which was all well and good, except
it constantly needed to be updated to reflect changing pricing factors and rules. Each
change in the business of mortgage pricing required programmers to tinker with
the delicately intertwined Java code and database files. The changes were difficult
to implement, error-prone, and involved a long quality assurance (QA) test cycle. More
Adaptable Solution NeededLooking for an easier to maintain, less error
prone solution, that would give them the flexibility to provide the most reliable,
up-to-date, mortgage services, eoTek turned to the Amzi! Logic Server. The
factors could be expressed as logical assertions of facts; the rules as logical
relationships between factors. The tricky procedural code that navigated a path
through the rules could be eliminated. Quick Development In
less than two months, they replaced 18 database tables with files of logical
assertions, and the 5000 lines of Java code with 500 lines of logical relationships
(Why so few? They eliminated all of the code relating to database access and flow
of control between the interconnected rules.)
High ReliabilityThe
resulting logic-base was virtually error free, having only one percent
of the bugs encountered with the Java version. (Why so few errors? The coding
of the rules as logic is much clearer, and there's simply less code to go wrong.)  It
is very easy to maintain. Facts are simply changed. Rules are simply changed.
The pricing logic-base is tested as a modular component, and the QA cycle dramatically
shortened.
Fast Integrated PerformanceIt is fast. Logic-bases
are compiled into compact executable modules. The response time for the logic-base
component is an insignificant portion of a transaction. It is an integral
part of the full application. The main Java application code uses the Amzi! Logic
Server application program interface (LSAPI) to access the logic-base. Ongoing
DevelopmentBased on the success of pricing, eoTek has implemented logic-base
solutions for other critical aspects of their application. Underwriting, scheduling
of decision-making tasks, state and local variability are all implemented as logic-bases.
Success FactorseoTek's success comes from strong management support,
good development and test procedures, sharp programmers, all working with Amzi!'s
solid commercial logic-base product and excellent support and training. 
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