Agile Testing and Deployment Case Study: A Regional Bank
The client was a regional bank that was integrating and consolidating their systems for wholesale banking operations across the region. This large-scale systems consolidation required rigorous testing and deployment processes.
Challenges
The key challenge was to ensure the complex integrated wholesale banking platform met all requirements and functioned as expected before deployment.
Sciente Value/Services
Sciente worked closely with the bank’s team to assist with agile testing, user acceptance testing (UAT), and deployment activities for the consolidated wholesale banking platform.
Sciente’s testers collaborated closely with the UAT Team Lead to ensure a clear understanding of requirements and scope. They performed comprehensive end-to-end testing while maintaining a full grasp of the business requirements and functional specifications.
To enable efficient automated testing, Sciente leveraged the TOSCA tool – a software testing solution that allowed them to design test cases and automate end-to-end testing processes. Using TOSCA’s capabilities, they could thoroughly validate the integrated systems.
Outcome and Benefits
Throughout the complex integration and consolidation project, Sciente’s testing expertise helped ensure the regional bank’s new wholesale banking platform met all requirements and functioned as expected before deployment. Our agile testing approach and the use of automated testing tools enabled high quality implementation while maintaining execution velocity.
By partnering with Sciente, the regional bank benefited from independent testing resources and advanced tool utilization. This facilitated a successful migration to their consolidated wholesale banking platform with confidence in the integrated systems’ end-to-end reliability.
Streamlining Regulatory Reporting through enhancing Data management and automation
The client was a well-established bank seeking to improve its regulatory reporting processes. The goal was to enhance efficiency and effectiveness in meeting regulatory requirements.
Challenges
The challenges faced were associated with data quality issues that impact reporting accuracy and also some key pain points faced by report owners.
Sciente Value/Services
Sciente worked closely with the bank to automate the some 40+ regulatory reports by enhancing the existing Reporting Framework Tool to streamline the process. By automating these reports, the bank can significantly reduce manual effort, minimize errors, and improve the speed and accuracy of report generation. This also directly address the pain points experienced by report owners, such as time-consuming report preparation, data inconsistencies, and inefficiencies in meeting regulatory deadlines.
Sciente also worked on the development of custom-built reporting and data lineage tools designed to be scalable across the entire organization. These tools will provide a centralized platform for managing regulatory reporting needs and tracking data lineage, ensuring full transparency and traceability of how data flows from source systems to the final reports. The scalability of these tools allows them to be expanded beyond the initial scope, ensuring that they can support the growing needs of the entire bank as regulatory requirements evolve.
This resulted in automation of metadata management and data lineage for some 100+ regulatory reports. By automating the tracking of metadata and lineage, the bank can ensure that all regulatory reports are fully traceable, with a clear understanding of where the data comes from, how it is transformed, and how it is used. This will enhance data governance, improve auditability, and help the bank maintain regulatory compliance more efficiently.
Outcome and Benefits
Overall, these solutions aim to automate and standardize regulatory reporting processes, improve data quality and transparency, and create a scalable, efficient infrastructure that supports the bank’s regulatory obligations both now and in the future.
Testing and QA Services: Banking Operations, Risk, and Finance Teams
The client was a well-established bank whom Sciente collaborated with the Finance, Risk, and Banking Operations teams to provide specialized Test Management, User Acceptance Testing (UAT), and Quality Assurance (QA) services.
Challenges
Key challenge was understanding the complex financial processes, including finance, accounting, and risk management systems, which required deep domain knowledge. Additionally, after aggressive acquisitions, integrating different banking systems and ensuring smooth interaction between them was a critical task that demanded extensive testing. Meeting strict regulatory compliance standards added further complexity, as every system had to be thoroughly tested to ensure it met financial regulations.
Sciente Value/Services
Sciente overcame these challenges with strong expertise and effective teamwork, ensuring smooth system integration and compliance.
With a good understanding of the finance and accounting domain, regulatory reporting, and various risks (e.g., credit, market, liquidity, ALM), Sciente was able to effectively support the UAT process.
Following a series of acquisitions, the bank faced the challenge of integrating various banking operations and systems, which required thorough testing before deployment. This integration was crucial to ensure that all processes, applications, and systems worked harmoniously together while meeting the bank’s business objectives and adhering to strict regulatory requirements.
Sciente’s team provided essential functional expertise and testing support throughout the integration process. By working closely with the bank’s Finance, Risk, and Banking Operations teams, they ensured that the new systems aligned with both operational needs and compliance standards. Sciente conducted extensive User Acceptance Testing (UAT) to confirm that the applications were secure, fully functional, and compliant with industry regulations. This careful testing process helped uncover and resolve issues before the systems went live, minimizing potential risks and ensuring a smooth, disruption-free roll-out.
Outcome and Benefits
This thorough testing process allowed the bank to identify and address any issues before the systems went live, reducing potential risks and ensuring a seamless, uninterrupted roll-out. With Sciente’s testing expertise, the bank was able to successfully integrate its operations, ensuring both business continuity and full regulatory compliance throughout the process.
Hire-Train-Deploy Services
A reputable banking client, Sciente provided Hire-Train-Deploy services to build a robust and resilient production support operation. With a focus on ensuring 24×7 availability, our team was deployed across three shifts, offering continuous monitoring and rapid issue resolution. The process, completed within 6 weeks, involved recruiting, training, and deploying skilled professionals to manage the bank’s critical systems, ensuring optimal performance and minimal downtime. This tailored approach strengthened the bank’s operational efficiency and provided sustainable support for its corporate banking applications.
Challenges
One of the primary challenges was forming a team of skilled professionals willing to work in a shift-based environment, particularly for 24×7 support. Shift work can be less appealing to some, requiring extra effort to highlight the benefits of working in such a setup, such as career growth opportunities and competitive compensation.
The technology talent market is highly competitive, with many companies vying for the same skilled professionals. The exuberant demand for tech talent made it difficult to secure qualified candidates within the required timeline, especially for contract-based role. Overcoming this required creative sourcing strategies and offering attractive incentives to draw in the best talent.
Sciente Value/Services
Our Hire-Train-Deploy (HTD) services are designed to build and maintain a high-performing production support team for mission-critical applications in corporate banking. The service follows a structured approach, ensuring that the right talent is recruited, trained, and deployed within a defined timeline to meet operational needs.
Hire – We begin by sourcing and recruiting skilled professionals who meet the basic technical requirements for supporting the bank’s corporate banking applications. This process includes targeted strategies to attract talent with the required skills and experience for shift-based roles, ensuring the team is capable of handling the bank’s complex IT needs in a 24×7 environment.
Train – Once the professionals are selected, they undergo training as per the required skills required by the bank. The professionals will then be assessed on these skills and will be required to pass at a certain proficiency level before they are be deployed. The goal is to ensure that all team members are well-prepared to manage and support production systems from day one.
Deploy – After completing the training, the trained professionals are deployed into the bank’s production support environment. They are organized into a three-shift structure to provide round-the-clock support, ensuring continuous monitoring, issue resolution, and system optimization. Our team is integrated seamlessly into the bank’s operations, delivering reliable, efficient, and proactive support.
Through this approach, our Hire-Train-Deploy service helps build a sustainable, resilient, and scalable production support operation for corporate banking applications, ensuring minimal downtime and high performance across all systems. The ramp-up of the team took six weeks.
Outcome and Benefits
The Hire-Train-Deploy service offers numerous benefits to corporate banking production support operations. By quickly ramping up, training, and deploying skilled professionals within a 6-week timeline, the bank gains access to a ready, shift-based team that ensures 24×7 monitoring and support. This minimizes system downtime and ensures that critical banking applications are always operational. The tailored training program ensures that professionals are ready with some skills required by bank’s specific systems and operational needs, leading to a faster onboarding process and higher performance from day one.
Additionally, the Hire-Train-Deploy model provides scalability and flexibility in the midst of difficult talent market. This service also enhances productivity by offloading support tasks from internal teams, enabling the bank to focus on innovation and growth. With a dedicated, trained support team in place, the bank can mitigate risks and ensure the seamless operation of its mission-critical systems.
Advanced Analytics and AI/ML Services: AML/CFT
Our banking client uses advanced analytics and machine learning AML/CFT (Anti-Money Laundering / Countering the Financing of Terrorism) to enhance the bank’s ability to detect and prevent financial crimes.
The project aims to support the core engines for Business-As-Usual (BAU) activities while developing new systems for enhanced compliance monitoring. The primary focus is to optimize compliance surveillance systems and machine learning models to improve the detection of suspicious activities related to AMl/CFT. The project also includes providing data analytics for AML operations to offer insights that support business decision-making.
Challenges
Our client looks to continuously adapt their surveillance systems and machine learning models to combat evolving financial crimes. This is to keep abreast and enhance detection capabilities, reduce false positives, and improve overall compliance. Our client seeks to strengthen their AML/CFT defenses, mitigate risks, and enhance their ability to detect and respond to emerging threats.
Sciente Value/Services
Sciente provided business technology services to enhance the bank’s compliance capabilities. Our services included compliance surveillance system optimization. We conducted data analytics on AML/CFT operations, offering valuable insights to support informed business decision-making and regulatory compliance.
Additionally, we worked on optimizing machine learning models to improve detection accuracy, reduce false positives, and enhance overall system performance. Our team also worked closely with business units to analyze and resolve compliance system issues, towards seamless operations.
With the implementation of real-time monitoring and automated reporting tools, we streamlined compliance workflows and enhanced decision-making through data visualization. Furthermore, our involvement in different projects provided ongoing support for compliance systems, ensuring they remained adaptable to changing regulations and evolving threats. These services collectively enabled the bank to strengthen its compliance efforts, mitigate risks, and improve operational efficiency.
Outcome and Benefits
The services provided enhanced the bank’s compliance monitoring by optimizing surveillance systems and machine learning models, leading to better detection of suspicious activities and better adherence to AML/CFT regulations. Real-time data analytics and automated reporting further streamlined operations, reducing manual effort and enabling the bank to make quicker, data-driven decisions.
Additionally, continuous system optimization ensured the bank could quickly adapt to evolving regulations and changing financial crime threats. By improving risk management capabilities, the bank was able to proactively identify potential risks and take necessary actions to mitigate them, strengthening overall compliance and operational efficiency.
Business Analysis & Project Management: Transactional Banking
Our Transactional banking client engages us to complement their team to support IT systems for managing their cash, payments, and trade operations.
Challenges
Some challenges faced in managing IT systems critical to their cash, payments, and trade operations. The complexity of integrating multiple interconnected systems in cash management, payment processing, and trade finance activities. Additionally, evolving regulatory requirements, such as AML and KYC compliance, necessitated frequent updates and system enhancements to stay aligned with industry standards.
Data consolidation and reporting with diverse sources making it challenging to provide real-time insights and ensure accurate trade and payment reconciliations. Cybersecurity risks safeguarding sensitive financial data became critical amid increasing threats.
Limited internal resources and expertise to address system enhancements, optimize workflows, and ensure seamless operations.
Sciente Value/Services
Sciente services in business analysis and project management for the following areas to complement the bank:
- Cash Management covering liquidity management, multi-currency, real-time balance reporting, receivables management, and payment processing and liquidity tools such as cash pooling and zero-balancing optimize fund utilization.
- Trade Finance covering both domestic and international trade, such as letters of credit, documentary collections, trade loans, guarantees, bonds, and supply chain finance options like invoice factoring to enhance liquidity.
- Payments and Collections which include payments and collections through electronic fund transfers, corporate card services for expense management, and automation of recurring payments via direct debit or standing orders.
- Online Digital Solutions, online banking platforms, mobile apps and APIs that seamlessly integrate banking services with corporate ERP systems for streamlined operations.
- FX and Cross-Border Payments
- Compliance and Risk Management
- Reporting and Analytics covers transaction reports, cash flow analysis, and customizable real-time dashboards for tracking liquidity, payments, and trade transactions to enable informed decision-making.
Outcome and Benefits
Business Analysis and Project Management services for transactional banking enhance operational efficiency, optimize workflows, and compliance with regulatory requirements.
Effective management of resources and timelines ensures the project execution.
Application Management Services: Financial Markets
Sciente worked with a global bank for their front to back office systems for financial markets. The application management services covers trading and risk management to compliance and settlement.
Challenges
The challenges in managing Front Office (FO) to Back Office (BO) systems in financial markets stem from the niche business understanding required for various financial products and the specialized systems used for trading, risk management, and settlement.
Business understanding coupled with the underlying technology for products such as derivatives, equities, and fixed income securities, each with unique processes and regulations can be challenging.
Besides, managing the integration between FO, MO, and BO systems requires in-depth knowledge of market structures, trade life cycles, and risk management practices. The specialized technology platforms used in trading, risk management, real-time data analytics, and compliance monitoring demand both technical expertise and a deep understanding of the financial market’s intricate workflows.
Sciente Value/Services
Sciente partnered the bank with our application management services, with our business technology understanding for financial market systems, our team worked closely with the bank’s team to manage Front Office (FO), Middle Office (MO), and Back Office (BO) applications using Agile and DevOps practices.
Jointly, continuously improve and optimize financial systems for real-time trade execution, risk management, and settlement. This approach ensures flexibility, adaptability, and alignment with business needs and regulatory requirements, helping financial institutions enhance their efficiency. Our skilled professionals in niche trading and risk management platform lends the business and technology expertise required to run the operations.
With DevOps, we streamline the integration, testing, and delivery of updates across trading, risk, and settlement platforms. This allows for faster deployment, quicker issue resolution, and improved system performance, minimizing downtime. Continuous monitoring and automation ensure that systems are always operational and compliant with market demands.
Overall, our services improve collaboration, efficiency, and agility, ensuring financial institutions stay competitive and compliant.
Outcome and Benefits
The bank was able to leverage a diverse team of professionals with expertise in various niche trading and risk management systems, supporting the seamless integration and management of Front Office (FO) to Back Office (BO) operations.
By utilizing professionals with deep domain knowledge in trading, risk management, and compliance, the bank enhanced its operational capabilities, reduced risks, and improved overall performance across its financial systems.
Through the application of Agile and DevOps practices, the joint team ensured continuous improvement, faster deployment of updates, and optimized system performance.