The system works by comparing the Motor Insurance Database with the DVLA's vehicle database.

It forms the bedrock of the Continuous Insurance Enforcement initiative, a collaboration between the DVLA, the Department for Transport and MIB to reduce the number of vehicles being driven on UK roads without insurance. It was prompted by the 2004 Greenaway Report, which identified that UK had the highest incidence of uninsured drivers in Western Europe.

David Hancock, director of enforcement at the DVLA, told Computerworld UK sister title that the system was "not simple to design" because it "required a significant amount of planning especially around data protection regulation".

Alongside the development of the comparison engine, there was also "additional work on the enforcement case work system", Hancock said.

The system was developed with IBM consultants. To link the insurance and vehicle databases IBM started by analysing the "big data" on vehicles registered with the DVLA and data on insured vehicles from the Motor Insurance Database.