Application Modernisation Business as Usual

The Challenge

The accounting department was struggling to maintain credit reporting and management of risk. A main work flow run by the department brings various streams of account information together. This summary allows the business to review its overall credit risk position along with highlighting areas requiring attention from credit exposure on a day-to-day basis.

A change to the business entity reporting then made the existing application unusable, requiring either extensive manual work arounds or the use of our application modernisation framework. The department were aiming for consistent, high quality, month on month reporting of credit risk and accounts.

The Solution

We began with an initial review of the technology in place, which highlighted the obvious problems with the current out-of-support system. In this case, a system with Microsoft Access at its core, supplemented by a collection of Excel worksheets and manual data manipulation. Following the discovery phase, a set of recommendations were discussed with the client and a project was initiated. It was very clear from the outset that while this solution was critical, it was still only a single element in a large set of business processes. A cost-effective option with a focus on simple lightweight technologies was needed.

The proposed solution included the deployment of an Azure based service, driven by a bespoke Web Application. This modernisation allows tight integration with our client’s system for data feeds, user access controls and authentication. As it is a cloud solution it also inherently supports scaling, redundancy, and reliability for no extra effort. Working closely with key individuals in the client department we could create a technology change which had minimal impact on business process. The client’s key goals – consistent, high quality, accounts – were achieved by removing the reliance on a stale, unsuitable database which needed an ever-increasing collection of manual interventions. This technology upgrade project was deployed into the business with minimal impact on their day-to-day operation at a cost that was accepted as appropriate to the improvement delivered.

The Results

Since project completion the client has been seen improved data quality, reliability, and quality of reports. Having confidence in not only their accounts, but the systems producing them, gives this client a lower risk when making all their business decisions. We now have a continual dialogue and are part of the client’s business growth. Single projects like this one need to be successful in their own right, but also help as part of a larger strategy and ongoing IT service.

Contact us to find out more.