South African development house, nVisionIT, has won a R2 million contract to totally re-write SASFIN`s legacy debtors finance system, saving the financial services and banking group some R8 million into the bargain.
The development, which SASFIN took a year to scope after spending more than 18 months looking for a suitable packaged solution, is expected to give the group a significant competitive advantage in the acquisition and management of debtor books and other risk management activities.
Total development and implementation is scheduled to take six months at a total cost of under R2 million. Packaged solutions of equivalent functionality cost between R10 million and R12 million, according to Peter Oeschger, Chief Information Officer, SASFIN, which is one of only two independent banks left in SA.
"It`s going to give us a huge competitive advantage once fully implemented in terms of turnaround times gained from real-time processing, increased control and by eliminating duplication of work through integration into the Great Plains core financial system, for example," he says.
"We`ve been able to leverage our 50 years` experience in the business to design a system precisely to our needs. In fact, an international consultant has rated the scoped system as the best he has seen in this field."
This high rating is attributed to the fact that SASFIN not only leveraged its in-house expertise, but also recruited outside industry and vendor specialists to help scope an optimum solution.
"We invested heavily - about R1 million - in the scoping exercise. It took a year to complete because we wanted to make sure we got what we needed, not what someone else thought we should have. I believe we have created a totally unique and function-rich solution," says Oeschger.
In addition to providing improved risk analysis facilities, the new system aims to create a solution for SASFIN that provides an automated, real-time information flow between client and SASFIN and vice versa. The scalability and flexibility of the new system will allow for increase in transaction volumes and still accommodate changes in the business environment. The new environment will also include a risk engine that will have direct links into organisations such as credit bureaus - (ITC and Credit Africa), other banking institutions and the Deeds Office.
Integration into existing systems, such as the recently implemented CRM, document and workflow management system, Charisma, also developed by nVisionIT, will increase time saving through the elimination of duplicate data capture.
The new debtors system forms part of the bank`s standardisation move from in-house and disparate proprietary legacy systems to an integrated software environment using Microsoft Great Plains as its core financial application and leveraging the Microsoft .Net technology base.
The group, comprising 45 companies that provide focused solutions to private, commercial and corporate clients, has already implemented Great Plains eEnterprise financial suite as the core of its new integrated IT environment. This was also implemented by nVisionIT, which is a Microsoft Gold Certified Solution Partner that has received international acclaim for its Microsoft architected solutions and Great Plains integration expertise.
Development time is reduced substantially by leveraging its Great Plains solution of core financials. Development is being carried out using Microsoft .Net tools. nVisionIT, a proudly South African company, has won Microsoft`s national .Net Solution Award and was placed third internationally for the development of Charisma, which integrates with Great Plains and Microsoft Office.
"Using this approach means we will be able to develop a solution designed specifically for our needs, in a fraction of the time it would take to develop and implement ourselves and at a fifth of the cost of an equivalent packaged solution," says Oeschger, estimating that it would have taken two to three years to develop an equivalent system totally in-house.
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