Member Avatar for dandixon

Hi Just wondering if someone could give me an idea of the best way around this problem. Ive been asked to come up with a solution for a site a little like the confused insurance comparison website. Basically i have a range of products that i need many companies to qoute for without having direct access to their database. My initial thoughts are the customer will logon > enter the details and click qoute > this will then search the database for the matching companies that i have created before hand and then email these companies the required fields that need to be qouted (the customer will recieve a message saying check back in 1hour etc). The company will logon to the website, input the reference code and the qoute which will store back into the qoute db.

Customers will then be able to check back after the alloted time to check what qoutes have come through.

I dont think i explained this very well but if someone does understand then that would be great

Regards
Dan

  • 2 Contributors
  • 4 Replies
  • 116 Views
  • 2 Days Discussion Span
  • Latest Post Latest Post by dandixon

Dani AI

Generated

A practical, low-risk path is to combine a simple partner portal plus a structured integration option so you can launch quickly and let partners automate later. As pointed out, structured data makes automation reliable; for your situation (companies unwilling to expose DBs) provide two clear paths: a secure web portal where companies paste or enter quote data, and an API/webhook (JSON over HTTPS) that partners can call when they are ready.

A tiny example of the structured request body to offer partners and for your own sandbox testing:

{
  "request_id": "8a7f3b2c",
  "product": "motor_insurance",
  "customer": { "first_name": "Jane", "last_name": "Doe" },
  "fields": { "postcode": "AB12CD", "value": 15000 }
}

Suggested core tables (start minimal, extend later):

CREATE TABLE quote_requests (
  id INT AUTO_INCREMENT PRIMARY KEY,
  request_uuid CHAR(36) NOT NULL,
  product VARCHAR(50),
  payload JSON,
  status ENUM('pending','expired','complete') DEFAULT 'pending',
  created_at DATETIME DEFAULT CURRENT_TIMESTAMP
);

CREATE TABLE quotes (
  id INT AUTO_INCREMENT PRIMARY KEY,
  request_id INT NOT NULL,
  company_id INT NOT NULL,
  amount DECIMAL(10,2),
  payload JSON,
  created_at DATETIME DEFAULT CURRENT_TIMESTAMP
);

Practical notes and cautions: issue a single unique reference (UUID or short token) per customer request and include it in all emails/links. Require HTTPS and a per-company API key in headers for automated endpoints; log every incoming submission for audit. Provide a one-click email link that opens the partner portal with the request pre-filled for non-integrated partners, and accept CSV uploads as a fallback. Avoid brittle email-parsing unless you implement robust inbound parsing and validation. Start with manual partner onboarding and a sandbox API to reduce support load, then iterate toward full automation.

Recommended Answers

All 4 Replies

Member Avatar for rch1231

If depends on the companies you are querying but look into XML coding. It lets you send a mini data file with assigned fields that can be returned with additional fields that can then be imported to a database.

http://www.w3schools.com/xml/default.asp

Member Avatar for dandixon

im not into javavscript much so i think i might find this difficult, is this the only way

Member Avatar for rch1231

It's not java but a simple text file that can be a one record file used to transmit regular blocks of records. It can be this simple:

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<note>
    <to>Tove</to>
    <from>Jani</from>
    <heading>Reminder</heading>
    <body>Don't forget me this weekend!</body>
</note>

And I bet you will find the companies you are dealing with are already familiar or have a standard format for you to send data in. It gives you and them the ability to automate the process of getting the quote information.

Member Avatar for dandixon

Thanks for this, i understand what you mean now but the companies im dealing with are certainly not going to have databases that are accessible or xml but i think i may have cracked it, im going to try it out tonite

thanks for your help

Be a part of the DaniWeb community

We're a friendly, industry-focused community of developers, IT pros, digital marketers, and technology enthusiasts meeting, networking, learning, and sharing knowledge.