Best Practices For Upgrading Your Core Banking Solution

Best Practices For Upgrading Your Core Banking Solution

A core banking upgrade is no easy task to deal with, and bankers sometimes liken these system migrations to open heart surgeries. This clearly indicates how tough these upgrades can end up being, and how critical a smooth migration is to the regular operations of the bank. One simple mistake can end up costing way more than expected, so the shift needs to be handled with care.

In order to smoothen the process and get things done without too many complications, there are certain practices that can be followed. Here they are:

• Perform Data Quality Check and Data Cleansing before the migration. You must cleanse the data in the old system itself, so the newly imported data into the incoming system is of high quality and largely free of inconsistencies. UCIC (Unique Customer Identification Code) is an important initiative to be undertaken by bank to understand its true customer base as well follows regulations.
• Prepare a schedule of work and adhere to it. This is what will dictate everything within the update program. Migrating your CBS involves processes that are very complex & lengthy. If you don’t stick to a schedule and just try to do things step by step in an unorganized manner, you’ll lose time and probably over shoot your entire budget. With a well-budgeted plan, everything will be smoother. Sticking to a schedule will also help you make better decisions. If you set up a schedule and have everything planned out, things will simply go smoother. If, for example, you do not respect your schedule and you try to get a second opinion on something, or you feel the need for extra meetings and conference calls, you can end up losing one, two, three weeks in the process. Of course, some decisions might not be perfect and can leave flaws behind, but they can be managed faster and cheaper than if you try to get to a perfect decision after analyzing every possible outcome. Remember that what really comes out of your pocket is the cost of people working on the project, and every extra day they work is another day of money floating away.
• Create a body of experts/champions from different departments to arbitrate contrasting opinions and viewpoints. This elite body should have ranking members from every possible department and should meet at least twice a month to settle any disputes or take final overriding calls on any uncertainties. The experience this body brings to the table is crucial in ensuring that the project stays on track. These members know how to conduct conflict resolution and from a top-down view are in a better position to truly outline the best way forward.
• Don’t try to multitask. You have a schedule according to which the entire procedure is mapped out, so go step by step. Start off with baby steps and build up momentum in order to get things done one at a time within the pre-set schedule, instead of trying to plough through. Rushing it all will only bring up complications and bugs instead of facilitating the process, and will probably set you back and cause delays anyway.
• Split up broad tasks into smaller subtasks. As simple as it sounds, it’s not something that tends to be done naturally. A modular approach to implementation greatly enhances the smooth functioning of each process flow. You can implement, put it into practice, get feedback, make changes and redeploy smaller modules much quicker, and move on to the next.
• Conduct comprehensive UATs (User Acceptance Testing). Have some end users practice the new system before a public release. These users will discover things that are suboptimal, things that could be working in a different, more efficient way, and so on.

We hope these pointers help you when you go ahead with replacing your existing Core Banking Solution with a new one. As a provider of Core Banking Solutions, we’re aware of the concerns the various stakeholders to the implementation process have, and take great care to minimize those.

If you’re looking to change your current CBS, do get in touch with us to find out if we can help.

Also Read

• Finctaft Core Banking Solution