I announced at the Office Developers Conference 2008 the release of the Loan Origination Reference Architecture version 2. Like the previous version, this reference architecture shows architects and developers how to bridge OBA technologies with transactional service oriented systems such as BizTalk.

The Loan Origination Reference Architecture shows how to build architectures that unify people, process and technology through familiar Office 2007 user interfaces. It includes an architecture framework for lending with an Office Business Application based scenario and BizTalk “MISMO” Accelerator for the loan origination process in banking. OBAs are an emerging class of business applications that connect existing line-of-business (LOB) systems with the people that use them every day through the familiar user interface of Microsoft Office, bridging the gap between how business process systems work, and how people work. OR-LOS will help customers simplify document management, increase integrated workflow, improve efficiency and ultimately lower time-to-market offering for faster turn-around and reduced cost.

Solutions that leverage the OR-LOS have the following benefits:

• Empowers Business Users to make informed lending decisions
• Using familiar Office tools for common business tasks (e.g., Outlook or Excel)
• Provided with a extensible lending platform that will reduce the development cycle
• Lending technology consolidation strategies can be derived
• Interoperable Lending Platform through BizTalk MISMO Accelerator
• Rich collaboration platform

Summary of Additions

• New Instant Messaging OCS Integration for Broker and Loan Processor collaboration
• A new set of five Excel based Mortgage Calculators
• More Content Management
• Real-World Patterns for ECM
• 2 New Business Intelligence Reports
• New 1003 FannieMae v.3.2 based InfoPath form
• InfoPath Quick Registration Enhancements including:
• Enhance Look and Feel
• Surfacing Workflow Steps
• MLS Integration using the RETS standard for an S+S example.
• Add Data Elements to conform to the industry standard 1003 Form
• New OpenXML Document Generation of Loan Documents Includes an example of generation of the Good Faith Estimate

Last month Gartner releases whitepaper entitled “Banks Must Redesign Their Lending Architecture”. The guidance is very similar to the guidance in the Loan Origination Reference Architecture.

Be sure to check it out.

Links for downloads of the source code will be made available soon.