Mettle gains competitive edge with 3fifteen solution

3fifteen, the Microsoft applications solutions division in the Dimension Data SA Group, has developed a streamlined finance application process for the vehicle finance division of Mettle Limited, the niche financing house owned by empowerment powerhouse HCI Ltd. Mettle can now process huge volumes of finance applications within seconds, giving it the ability to compete on equal terms with the major vehicle finance houses owned by SA's four major banks.

This solution was developed and implemented within three months and has given Mettle a competitive edge in the vehicle finance industry. Previously, Mettle's entire finance application process was manual and paper based, and was not conducive to processing large volumes of applications fast and effectively.

The initial requirement was for the solution to handle a throughput of approximately 500 applications per day, growing to three thousand per day over an 18-month period.

Gavin Jones, CEO of the Mettle vehicle finance initiative says that large volumes of vehicle finance applications are received from origination partners on a daily basis. "In order to comply with our various Service Level Agreements, we need to respond with an approved, declined, or referred application within 15 minutes. I am please to report that we are in fact now giving such responses within seconds. The automation of the application process is critical to meet this requirement."

Jones points out that Mettle required a solution that allowed specific business rules to be defined and applied to the application process. "The solution had to be highly adaptable - we needed to update the criteria that applications were measured on in a very flexible and dynamic way."

"There was no way that Mettle could process large volumes of applications without automating the process. The critical requirement was that the solution had to be flexible enough to 'grow' with the business unit, as new procedures and policies were defined," says 3fifteen account manager Leanne Oeschger.

Trek to the summit

00Days

:

00Hrs

:

00Min

:

00Sec

3fifteen's Business Process Automation solution comprises a Web application using a Microsoft SQL data store to maintain and view business information about applications for motor vehicle financing. Additionally, Microsoft BizTalk Server provides integration technology that links Mettle and its trading partners and information providers such as the Credit Bureaus.

"BizTalk Server consists of receive and send adapters, receive and send pipelines, orchestrations, the BizTalk Server message box, and the business rules engine. These components allow remotely located vehicle finance originators to provide motor vehicle finance application information to Mettle using the integration components of BizTalk Server. Mettle then queries the creditworthiness of each application, including credit bureau information, and then sends responses back to the relevant originator," explains Oeschger.

"Over the long term, Mettle has the flexibility to add and update new business rules to the solution as the business grows. Most importantly, they can now focus on increasing volume throughput by acquiring new business," she adds.

3fifteen's solution provides Mettle with the flexibility to create and add new business rules, allowing the solution to grow with their business. There are also significant cost savings through the rules that are applied to applications, as they determine, for example, whether or not applications should be submitted for credit checking. Finally, the solution allows Mettle to focus on its core business of growing vehicle financing market share rather than back office administration.