Client:
CEMEA Division of Global Financial Services Company
Problem:
Each quarter, some 1,500 banks were required to submit a return of various transaction and product data. Our client had a six person revenue audit team which would then audit the returns and, on completion of the audit, the banks would be charged fees totalling over $25m based on values they declared. The audit process was both cumbersome and costly as spot checks had to be undertaken on banks in Russia, Middle East and Africa. The audit adjustments invariably arose from items that could have been detected at the point of entry if the data had been validated and reconciled prior to submission. The existing web-based data collection site had been built in 2001 and, apart from needing a complete visual refresh, could not handle several of the more recently introduced products. These were having to be processed manually using spreadsheets submitted by the banks.
Solution:
stpsolutions was initially engaged for an eight week assignment to undertake the requirements analysis involving all of the stakeholders - the data was not just used for revenue purposes but also by marketing and product development to identify usage trends in the various sub-regions. Following formal adoption of the Requirements Specification, stpsolutions was again engaged to prepare the functional and technical specifications; to design the layout, look and feel of the new web-site; to design the business rules required to incorporate the required level of validation and automated reconciliation; to act as SME to the offshore developers; to define the testing strategy, design the test cases and oversee the acceptance testing; and finally, to provide level 3 technical support during the first 3 months of live operations.
Outcome:
- The new system was deployed and used by some 1,500 banks and received much acclaim from users.
- The audit time was substantially reduced, the audit adjustments virtually eradicated and subsequently the audit team was reduced by 50%.
- Previous under-reporting of transactions and products was much reduced by the built in validation and reconciliation rules. One particular bank that had not appreciated that a particular category of transaction had to be reported, paid an additional $80K in fees for the quarter, just as a result of the automated reconciliation process.