IEG is an efficient alternative to traditional information gathering processes. With IEG, information is gathered interactively by displaying a script of questions that a user can provide answers to. Questions are only displayed if they are consistent with the user's previous answers so that the user is only required to provide answers relevant to his or her needs and situation. This creates a user-friendly environment that can be effectively implemented for a range of processes including client information intake, benefit assessment triage, online eligibility assessment, etc.
In contrast to traditional information gathering processes, IEG cuts down on the organization's administrative work by creating the potential for several routes through the same question script. This eliminates the necessity to develop many scripts for gathering information from different types of users.
A further advantage of IEG is the flexibility of its implementation and the range of its potential users. The IEG runtime environment can be set up for access from any UIM page. This means that IEG can be accessed directly from an organization application or remotely by an online user.
The two main components of IEG are the Engine and the Player. IEG scripts are defined in XML and the Engine interprets the script definitions at runtime and evaluates the answers supplied by the user to determine the flow of execution. The Engine determines which pages should be displayed to the user and how many times they should be displayed. The Player presents the pages, questions and other controls to the user. IEG also builds on other elements of the Cúram Application Suite such as the Datastore (DS) and the Resource Store (RS).