Arc Solutions was engaged by Kingdom Bank, a niche lender, to project-manage the implementation of the Newton Facilities Management Limited (NFML) savings and loan system. This Newcastle Building Society managed service replaced an ageing in house system, whereby Kingdom Bank sought to secure additional functionality at a competitive cost, and future-proof themselves against regulatory change.
Simon made optimal use of existing staff seconded to the project, by providing them with training and mentoring in testing and project duties. This upskilled employees and made them ready for future software releases and implementations. In addition, Arc Solutions were able to provide a flexible level of test resource at critical parts of the project. This kept the project resource costs to a minimum.
Simon added value to the test process by carrying out quality assurance checks of test scripts and results, as well as writing some of the more complex scripts. Regular reports to the Executive Directors reassured them of project progress. All this kept costs to a minimum and ensured the directors were in possession of the facts they needed to retain overall control.
New interfaces were tested and deployed for nominal ledger and banking system connections. As with any interface, unforeseen issues arose and were resolved by hard work from all teams. The nominal ledger interface was supplied by the legacy system provider, which required close co-ordination with NFML and the client’s Finance department.
Throughout the project, close control of deliverables, plans, issues and resources was essential. Simon managed these and to a large degree enabled the Executive Directors to maintain their focus on the business. Regular steering and project meetings were used to decide key issues.
Working closely with the NFML project manager, the project was guided to completion but not without issues. Unidentified Gaps and new requirements taxed both teams and led to some unexpected delays: for example, late delivery of key software for statements required re-planning of testing and implementation. Despite this the re-planned dates were secured.
Kingdom Bank went live with the NFML system in August 2009, are building on the benefits of the additional functionality and look forward to deploying other modules soon. The system has proved stable and much more efficient than its predecessor.
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