Saskatoon Credit Union applauds CGI's help in converting to Ovation
“Saskatoon Credit Union is pleased that it chose to partner with CGI on the conversion to the Ovation Banking System and as Facilities Manager for the system over the next five years.”
Kurt Holfeuer, Vice President, Technology, Saskatoon Credit Union
The Client
Saskatoon Credit Union (SCU) provides innovative financial services that fulfill the economic and social needs of its members and the community. SCU is built on a co-operative structure, where every member has the right to participate in determining its future.
As a leading financial institution and a significant community builder, SCU is economically committed to Saskatoon . Its contribution to a strong market makes a better environment in which to do business more profitably.
With this in mind, Saskatoon Credit Union began investigating for a replacement banking system product to provide greater flexibility with enhanced features while maintaining cost effectiveness.
The Challenge
Saskatoon Credit Union had discussions with various credit union institutions to obtain information with relation to individual proprietary banking systems. After careful scrutiny, Ovation was the banking system of choice. CGI was selected as the systems integrator because of its extensive service history to financial institutions and local credit unions across Canada and vast experience in providing application support and facilities management services to other Ovation clients within the region.
Ovation 5.0 provides all system components required for an integrated retail banking system. Open client/server architecture, online transaction processing (OLTP), customer relationship management (CRM), and 3rd party applications combine to form a comprehensive, retail banking solution.
“CGI Regina has considerable experience implementing and supporting banking systems, especially for credit unions, and came highly recommended by other credit unions with experience in this area,” stated Kurt Holfeuer, Saskatoon Credit Union's Vice President, Technology.
Overall, CGI was responsible for the installation, configuration and conversion of the client's financial data from its former banking service provider. This included the installation of hardware, software and network components to support this process for the lifespan of the project as well as long-term application development and support in conjunction with facilities management services.
CGI also provided project management and financial business analyst expertise to define the structure, process and procedures that contributed to the successful transition.
The main technical challenge facing the project was the integration of various third party software components into the existing banking product within the project timeline.
One of the main business challenges was the need to accelerate the transfer of Ovation business knowledge to the Saskatoon Credit Union project resources, in the day-to-day operation of the new product.
To ensure that Saskatoon 's employees quickly gained expertise and confidence in using the new system, SCU contracted six experienced Ovation users from Conexus Credit Union for this purpose. A Train-the-Trainer focus was established, and SCU was on its way.
The Strategy
CGI's project team included professionals with extensive experience in providing technical solutions to financial systems. In fact, many of the CGI people assigned to this project had worked together on similar conversions. This allowed them to promote individual strengths, while working as a true team. They fully understood their objective and knew they were capable of achieving their goal. When assistance was required, their mandate was simply to get the ‘right' person to do the job.
The Technology
- Ovation interfacing with client data residing on an SQL server database
- Compaq server hardware running Microsoft Windows 2000
- Gateway interfaces utilizing VB, VBscript and Java development, processing/transmitting data for Loans Origination Systems (LOS), Point of Sale (POS), Shared Cash, Electronic Transaction Services, Internet banking, IVR, Bill payments, Pre-authorized payments, cash settlement, statements and many more.
The Results
CGI delivered the hardware, network and physical environment to support a full scale banking system. This included the necessary certifications, security reviews and site specifications. Saskatoon Credit Union now has a full function banking system to accommodate and enhance the needs of the financial business user along with application enhancements to improve functionality and service. It also facilitates and maintains secure gateways and interfaces to third party vendors that are necessary part of business processes in the financial services industry. CGI's background for commitment to the client, along with the desire to succeed, allowed the team to successfully complete the project mandate with astounding success.
“Saskatoon Credit Union is pleased that it chose to partner with CGI on the conversion to the Ovation Banking System and as Facilities Manager for the system over the next five years,” concluded Mr. Holfeuer. “Obviously we made the appropriate choice, as we achieved our conversion objectives under budget and on time. I attribute this to CGI's project management discipline and skills, combined with a highly competent, committed team of technical resources. Also gratifying was the positive working relationship established between our two teams, which has been carried forward into our operational relationship, post conversion. I have no hesitation recommending CGI as a partner for other organizations who are embarking on a similar journey."
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