Case Studies » Leading National Bank

Process analysis

Using process design and process reengineering to integrate a new platform and business acquisition

Every business process integration should begin with a thorough process inventory.

Looking to expand their commercial product portfolio and platform functionality, a large national bank acquired another financial institution. The acquired company used a cloud-based credit management platform that needed to be integrated with the parent company’s systems and operations. Additionally, due to an upcoming external audit by the CFPB, the acquired company would have to be able to demonstrate compliance to regulatory requirements; which as a comparatively small financial institution they have never had to do before. The acquired company needed extensive business process integration work—including process analysis, a process inventory, process design, a standardized procedures template, and process integration—and agents also needed to be prepared for their integration into the parent company’s business model.

Based upon our history with the parent company and our proven expertise delivering process analysis for the parent company, Celerity was asked to help the acquired company meet its 2020 associate documentation readiness and integration objectives per the parent company’s requirements. 

Services

Every business process integration should begin with a thorough process inventory.

Performing process analysis to identify processes and bring them into alignment

As the process analysis team was gathering documents to begin the engagement, they noticed the initial list of processes from the acquired company was not comprehensive. So, the team focused on the goal of identifying all agent processes associated with the platform first.

Using a combination of both industry knowledge and input from the acquired company’s operations SMEs, the team gained a strong understanding of the platform’s product lifecycle and created an initial process inventory. This inventory of agent processes was then mapped against and aligned to the corresponding parent company processes. This not only facilitated future risk and controls discussions, but also proactively identified operational gaps for integration. For example, when the Technology team developed platform enhancements to meet new, parent-company requirements, we were able to quickly identify the impact of these enhancements to Operations, and proactively develop new processes and procedures to prepare Operations for post-conversion. Ultimately, this process inventory became the roadmap for identifying, organizing, and developing the new and reengineered agent procedures.

With the process inventory now in place to manage and prioritize the backlog of documentation work, the team began the arduous task of creating the necessary agent procedures. To facilitate that, they developed a standardized procedure template to streamline the look and feel of the procedure deliverables.

After that, the procedure development was straightforward. However the sudden advent of COVID-19 in the midst of the project threw in a few communication roadblocks along the way. To ensure our timeline was met, we pivoted and conducted virtual side-by-side conversations and observations with the SMEs and agents to speed the process and complete the deliverables in time for our deadline. The results of our process analysis and subsequent process design were vetted and easily approved by the SMEs and leadership.

Achieving business process integration through process analysis and design

The team’s process analysis uncovered over 100 agent processes—processes that drive one or more agent procedures. In response, the team designed over 20 new processes and procedures to address operational gaps associated with integration of the platform into the parent company’s ecosystem. The team created standardized procedures for both formal and informal processes. Ultimately, over 160 agent procedure documents were developed.

Today, the platform is fully integrated and has documented procedures to support launch training and post-launch operations, as well as to meet regulatory compliance. Better yet, the project went off without a hitch in the context of massive disruption and chaos due to COVID-19. Thanks to the integration of this new organization and their technology, both the parent company and the acquired company are in a better place.