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VISION client stories:
Investment Banking
Client: Global Investment Bank
Project Duration: 12 months
Project Size: 570+ Days Effort
Title: Basic Risk System
In late April 2003, the Bank approached VISION for assistance. The Financial Services Authority had issued new regulatory reporting requirements. The Bank had approximately 6 weeks to address the requirement before their next audit in mid June 2003. All of the client's own IT resources were already fully deployed on other critical projects and could not be released in time to build a suitable application.
The Bank asked VISION to develop a solution to address the urgent requirement and to work directly with a number of business users (in trading, finance and compliance) to draw up the requirements for a longer-term strategic solution.
VISION accepted the challenge and mobilised a small 2-person team supported by a part-time project manager. The first step was to conduct a short DiA-style workshop.
The workshop established:
- The initial reporting requirements;
- That a tactical solution (semi-automated only) would be achievable in 6-weeks and would meet the necessary regulatory requirements;
- Outline requirements for a longer-term strategic solution that would be fully automated and allow business users enhanced control; and
- An intranet solution was the preferred choice with a range of different features for the various communities of users.
In parallel to the team starting work on building a tactical solution, a full project plan was drawn up and contracts agreed. A phased approach was adopted:
Phase 1: Manually controlled tactical/interim solution to meet urgent regulatory requirements.
Phase 2: Fully functional Intranet solution with automated feeds and overnight batch processing supporting the most common trade types and risk algorithms.
Phase 3: Additional functionality to cover additional trade types, risk algorithms and reporting requirements.
Phase 4: Features to support other miscellaneous functionality including the entry/editing of reference data.
The strategic solution was built using Microsoft's .NET framework (ASP.net and VB.net) with a Sybase database. Reports were produced using Crystal reports and Excel add-ins to allow data to be exported to Excel for further manipulation and formatting.
VISION undertook the following:
- Project management (reporting directly to one of the Bank's programme managers);
- Requirements capture and analysis (working directly with users in 3 business functions);
- Functional Requirements (in form of Use Cases and Screen mock-ups);
- Technical architecture and design (with regular internal reviews and with the Bank's appointed Technical Architect);
- Development, Unit Testing and System Testing (all completed remotely at VISION's development centre in Belfast; with regular internal reviews and also external reviews with the Bank's Technical Architect, Business Users and Programme Manager);
- Release Management;
- Systems Integration Testing (on-site in London);
- User Acceptance Testing (assisted users in scripting tests; supported users during test execution; and managed and tracked progress);
- User Documentation and Training;
- System Implementation Documents and other Technical Documentation; and
- Hand-over briefing with members of the Bank's maintenance and development teams.
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