The Modeler's Workbench

The Workbench is a software platform for developing asset / liability models of the sort commonly used by actuaries.  Such models are used for financial projections, risk management, valuation of liabilities, and more. 

The Workbench is unique in several ways when compared to the most well-known enterprise asset / liability modeling platforms.  The Workbench:

• Is an open-code platform giving complete flexibility to define any insurance contract (or other financial contract) you can imagine.  You are not restricted to an existing list of product templates.
• Builds stand-alone models using the C# language and Microsoft .NET.  This means that:
  • You don't need the Workbench to run your model after it is developed.
  • Small models developed using the Workbench can be migrated to Visual Studio for further development as they grow.  The advantage of starting with the Workbench instead of Visual Studio is that the Workbench will auto-generate most of the code for you and provides libraries to handle the user interface and most background tasks (assumptions, actuarial tables, investment simulation, accounting records, and report writing).
• Records financial results using a realistic double-entry accounting process (debits and credits), and gives you complete flexibility to define your own chart of accounts and your own reports.
• Can carry out cashflow-based valuations of liabilities on future valuation dates.  Cashflow-based valuations are required in the US for some life insurance liabilities under VM-20, and are also required under International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) and other accounting frameworks.  Carrying out such valuations on projected future dates requires inner-loop or "model-within-a-model" capability, something not all enterprise platforms are designed to do.

Here at Blufftop the Workbench has been used to build models that illustrate future financial results of insurers under varying financial conditions using financial reporting rules proposed by the IFRS, FASB, and insurance regulators in the US and abroad.  That kind of work demands a degree of flexibility not generally found in larger enterprise modeling systems.

 

Downloads

A free evaluation copy can be downloaded below.  This is for the commercial version that was previously made available.

Evaluation copy (free)

If you wish to discuss use of a full version, let us know using the email link at the top of this page.

If you don't wish to download a full copy, you can learn a great deal from reading the User Guide.  Click here to download the User Guide (PDF).

The User Guide includes a wealth of background including a complete walk-through for developing your first model using the Workbench.