Harmonizing People | Process | Technology

CASE STUDY

Askari Bank adopts FLEXCUBE Core Banking

In 2008, Askari Bank embarked on an ambitious IT upgrade project. The cornerstone Customer
of the upgrade was a migration from their existing, in-house developed COBOL based Askari Bank Limited
Core Banking solution to Oracle FLEXCUBE, the world leader in Core Banking. This
shift was driven by the need to switch from a decentralized branch based solution to Industry
a centralized system with consistent product offerings and customer service levels Financial Services
across the entire bank. Askari Bank offers a full range of asset and liability financial
products and the Bank planned on migrating all operations to FLEXCUBE including Offering
Retail operations, Lending, Trade Finance etc. Oracle FLEXCUBE

Techlogix was engaged by Askari Bank to take primary responsibility for the FLEXCUBE
rollout. Since this was our first Core Banking implementation, the Techlogix team
engaged Oracle Financial Services Consulting to provide remote support in reviewing
the product requirements gathered by Techlogix and validating the product design.
After an intense 18 month effort, the first Branch went live in April 2010. The Bank
completed its full cutover of all 250+ branches to FLEXCUBE in 2012.

About the Client

Askari Bank is the eighth largest private bank in Pakistan with a branch network comprising 250+
branches, and a customer base of around 700,000, operating in the Corporate, Retail and Islamic
Banking sectors. The Bank is publicly listed and provides a full range of products to its customers.
 The Challenge The Solution
In investing in a world-class Banking platform, Askari Bank The project was initiated with a 20 person Techlogix team
sought a transformative advantage whereby the Bank could and a 15 person Askari team working together to achieve
compete both functionally and technically with national and the following:
international competitors. Thus, the full ROI for an invest-
ment of this nature would only be realized if Askari Bank was Identification of gaps in products and processes
able to utilize this solution to implement a next generation
Banking infrastructure.
Consolidation of the banks general ledgers and
products

The specific modules of FLEXCUBE selected for implementa- Design and Parameterization of the banks products
tion included: Data Migration Strategy and Conversion of branches
Design and Build of Interfaces to cater for the
Co-Existence of FLEXCUBE and the legacy system
Core
CASA (Current, Savings and Term Deposits) Design and Build of Interfaces to cater for Parallel
Run of FLEXCUBE and the legacy system in the
Limits and Collateral Management branches
Consumer Lending Interfacing with the banks legacy system, eight
Local Payments and Collections peripheral systems, national ATM network, SWIFT
Fixed Asset Management and a Teradata Data Warehouse
Retail Branch Identification, analysis and development of Regula-
Trade Finance (LCs & LGs) tory and Operational Reports
Bills and Collections Training for the Banks Core Team and End Users
Treasury: Testing Strategies, test cases and reconciliation tools
Money Markets (aimed at User Acceptance Testing, System Integra-
tion Testing, Mock data conversions, business
OTC Options simulations etc)
Foreign Exchange
Securities Additional steps taken to ensure success:
Islamic Banking
FLEXCUBE XML Interface (For interfacing with Channels Strict project management focused on rolling out
like ATM, Visa, PoS etc) the pilot branches in eighteen months

Apart from the complexity of implementing the functional Strong off site teams in Bangalore and Romania
supporting the onsite teams on a daily basis
modules (more than 400 banking products to be analyzed,
consolidated, configured and tested), the following imple- Strong project governance committees and
mentation challenges further complicated the overall processes in place
implementation: Regular communications via email, phone calls and
video conferences between the onsite and offsite
teams
Phased Module Roll Out (Retail and Corporate rolled
out in Phase 1 and Treasury and Islamic Banking rolled Focused ownership within the Bank and Techlogix
out in Phase 2) (Functional Lead, Technical Lead, Testing Lead, Data
Conversion Lead, Co-Existence Lead all reporting to
Phased Branch Roll Out (No big bang approach)
a single PM)
Co-existence infrastructure (functional and technical):
For two years, FLEXCUBE and UniBank (the Legacy
system) would be operating side by side Key Contributions: Turning challenges into strengths
Data Conversion: Data Cleansing, Enrichment in all The project was kicked off with some major risks
250+ branches, systematically rolling out groups of already in place:
branches over successive weekends
First implementation of FLEXCUBE in a Pakistani origin First partner led implementation of FLEXCUBE
bank (no experienced resources available in the globally
market) First global implementation of FLEXCUBEs fully
OFSS teams inability to travel to Pakistan (strong browser based version 10
onsite offsite model) First global implementation with no OFSS resources
available onsite

Implementing Oracles Universal Banking Solution (FLEXCUBE)

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Techlogix Case Study
 Foreknowledge of these challenges meant devising Benefits
practical mitigation steps for each one of them. A focus
on developing Techlogix resources instead on relying on In migrating to FLEXCUBE, the Bank now has:
external consultants was a key mitigation step. Extremely
focused and result oriented project management was A centralized view of all its customer relationships
another. Stringent Exit and Entry criteria for major phases Unified management of credit limits and exposures
/ activities was another. Finally, a transparent relationship Standardized and centrally managed product
with OFSS with detailed reviews of work outputs ensured offerings which are consistent across the Bank
that a highly experience offsite team was able to review
quality on an ongoing basis.
Access to ongoing improvements and enhancements
in Oracle FLEXCUBE
Complete conversion of all 250+ bank branches to
Key Contributions: Timely Delivery FLEXCUBE
Techlogix delivered the 10,000+ Man Days project
within the contracted timelines and on the agreed
upon quality parameters. This implementation is the
first Core Banking implementation in Pakistan to have
successfully completed all its major milestones within
time.

Key Contributions: No compromise on Quality

Techlogix supported around 6 months of User Accep-
tance Testing utilizing six thousand test scenarios to
cover all the modules and all possible functional and
technical scenarios.

Key Contributions: Repeated Successes before Go Live

Techlogix supported 3 months of Parallel Run in the
first pilot branch. The activity comprised reconciling
three month ends and a year end with the live legacy
system; eventually ending up in the bank gaining
extreme confidence on the quality of the configured
software.

Implementing Oracles Universal Banking Solution (FLEXCUBE)

03
Techlogix Case Study
 After a comprehensive selection process, Askari Bank chose FLEXCUBE UBS as
their core banking platform and selected Techlogix as the System Integrator to
implement the system within the Bank. Askari Banks ambitious plans of a
nationwide rollout of the new system across more than 225 branches requires
the System Integrator to have a strong ability to address all the challenges
encountered on such a long and complex project. This includes detailed func-
tional knowledge of core banking system, the ability to address the technical
track of its implementation (including channels integration and reporting),
having structured teams and leadership, and a strong governance of the project
to ensure timely delivery. We are pleased to note that Techlogix has been able
to meet all of these challenges of Core Banking implementation exceedingly
well and we are happy with their performance.

Having worked closely with the Techlogix team for over two years now, we are
satisfied that our goal of successful nationwide deployment of FLEXCUBE is on
track and is expected to be realized in the appropriate timeframes.

Javed Iqbal
Chief Information Officer
Askari Bank Ltd.

Financial Services
www.techlogix.com/financialServices

Techlogix implements a full range of solutions for the Financial Services industry
focusing on Commercial, Islamic and Microfinance Banks. Our implementation portfo-
lio includes FLEXCUBE Core Banking, Risk Management solutions, Compliance and
Anti-Money Laundering and Reporting and Data Warehousing. We also provide
Application Management Services for these solutions with both onsite and offsite
models. We also implement BPM and workflow solutions which automate and improve
operational processes within Banks.

Contact
For more information, contact [email protected]

About Techlogix
Techlogix is an IT Services, Consulting and Business Solutions company that helps its global clientele achieve
enterprise transformation by harmonizing people, process, and technology. Techlogix builds high performance
solutions using practice-specific delivery methodologies that utilize its globally distributed development
teams. Our people combine the spirit of engineering excellence with a strong commitment to end-to-end
customer experience. Techlogix employs approximately 300 people in 5 delivery centers worldwide.

Visit us online at www.techlogix.com

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