The Development Bank of South Africa (DBSA) and Clarity Business Architects have collaborated successfully to develop an IT blueprint to support the DBSA`s initiative to become more dynamic in its funding and to respond quickly to change.
The Development Bank of South Africa (DBSA) has transformed itself to become the principal funder of development projects in South Africa, and a major contributor to projects in the SADC region. In the bank`s 1997/98 financial year, the DBSA`s activities have resulted in the direct contribution of more than R2 billion to the GDP, the creation of more than 20 000 sustainable jobs, and the emergence of new contractors and a higher quality of management among its clients. This year the bank`s contribution to the GDP will exceed an estimated R3 billion, and an additional 34 000 sustainable jobs will be created.
The success of the DBSA depends on the on-going streamlining of its business processes to ensure rapid and tailor-made responses to specific clients and situations. The bank aims to devolve a greater degree of authority to business units and allow them to decide on operational strategy and policy to identify new investment opportunities. Faster approval of loans means that projects can get underway with minimum delay.
From an IT perspective, this presented the DBSA with enormous challenges. The IT systems that had existed since before the DBSA`s transformation process had begun, were wholly inadequate to support the new structures. "Users were becoming dissatisfied with the existing systems, information was incomplete, and reporting was inadequate," says the DBSA`s IT specialist Alta Theron. "Duplication was an enormous problem, and there was no systems development strategy."
Clarity Business Architects was contracted to provide a framework upon which the bank could base its new information architecture, and made several recommendations:
Identify and prioritise the most important applications needed for development Model and redevelop key business processes Adapt applications and applications architecture to support the business Define and develop a structured management information system Invest in a knowledge management initiative.
Clarity MD, Kevin MacKenzie stresses that the success of the bank`s long-term strategy will lie in its adaptive strength. "External and internal environments are complex and dynamic entities, and the bank`s ability to adapt to exploit these environments will determine its long term competitiveness.
"Historically, DBSA`s IT transformation was not synchronised with its business transformation," says MacKenzie. Clarity was appointed by DBSA to devise a plan to kickstart the bank`s IT development strategy, and to provide a roadmap to bring the bank`s IT operational infrastructure in line with its business objectives."
An enterprise information architecture audit was undertaken to create a stable view of what the bank actually did, irrespective of how it was structured and what applications and information systems it was using. The insight gained from this view, says MacKenzie, was used to understand business function and business process duplication and inefficiencies, as well as ascertain a non-redundant, bank-wide data architecture. By coupling data and business functions, the bank was able to understand its "natural" information systems boundaries and scope, and how best to manage these information systems from an application perspective.
"By establishing this we could then address critical issues in IT systems development, namely a development roadmap, application integration, and an architecture that would ensure that the bank`s technology would keep pace with changes in its business."
"We were operating on two levels," says Theron. "At the operational level we had to redevelop our core information systems, and at a strategic level we had to identify the long term needs of the bank. The architecture addressed these long-term needs."
A cohesive, integrated applications portfolio was developed to support the core operational business of the bank - to manage and administer all development projects, including disbursements and loans. The existing human resources system was replaced, the HR and payroll modules were integrated, and the financial management and reporting infrastructure was upgraded. This was completed within a space of 14 months.
The insight gained from this architectural approach has been a major catalyst for current business implementation programmes. Apart from the success of the information systems development project itself, Theron says that the project helped to gain recognition for the IT division as a business partner. "People were more sensitive to the problems IT faced, and recognised the importance of their own involvement in the development process. There was also a major change in the perception of the role IT could play in improving business practices and streamlining operations." The next step will be to develop operational systems to support the devolution of decision-making power to business units efficiently. "Ideally, a business model should be developed in conjunction with senior management and business executives in an organisation, and the operational requirements follow from that," explains MacKenzie. "In the case of the DBSA, there was an urgent need for redeveloped information systems to support operations, which in turn exposed the need for a strategic IT architecture."
"The blueprint developed for the bank will allow flexible operations to be devised that can respond speedily to planned and unplanned strategic change. The organisational architecture must support the strategy, no matter how often or how quickly it may change."
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