Out with the Old, in with the New
1990; American Bankers Association; Volume: 82; Issue: 3 Linguagem: Inglês
ISSN
0194-5947
Autores Tópico(s)Cloud Computing and Resource Management
ResumoOut with the old, in with the new When a bank purchases a new computer, some major events have to take place: its procedures will change because of the new technology and operating system; it needs to upgrade its application software to operate on the new hardware; and the data processing department must transfer all its files to the new machine. Minimizing the business disruptions inherent in this transition is important, as an increasing number of banks with in-house computers are graduating to more powerful machines. Take the example of Union Bank & Trust Co., a $119 million-assets bank in Greensburg, Ind. Since 1984, the bank had been processing its work on an IBM System/36 computer using Citicorp's Comprehensive Banking System (CBS) software. But banking is an industry of continual change, and banking software and hardware change along with it. Glenn Raver, vice-president and cashier at the bank, says that when Citicorp began phasing out its support of System/36 machines in 1986 to support IBM's newest technology, Union Bank decided to shop for a bigger machine that would allow the bank to keep the software it was using. Raver was about to purchase an IBM System/38 until he heard IBM was introducing a new machine. In June 1988, IBM announced it was producing the AS/400, a new mid-range computer that would replace its System/36 and/38 machines. Union Bank immediately placed an order; IBM delivered the machine in September and the system went live in March of 1989. Do's and don'ts. After IBM's service engineer installed the machine, the data processing department began its orientation. Training commenced for three data processing operators, their manager (who was also the bank's programmer), and Raver. group switched on IBM's training aide, Discovery Education, a menu-driven educational package which the bank purchased with the hardware to facilitate training. The package not only explains the AS/400 concept, but gives users hands-on training. The package is divided into 60 modules tackling a wide variety of topics. Each lesson takes from 10 to 40 minutes to complete. Raver required every employee in the operations department to master all 60 training topics. For its part, Citicorp assured the bank that the conversion process would not be intimidating. We tell our customers the migration to the IBM AS/400 is a non-event, says Tom Huber, a software expert responsible for client service and sales for CBS. Since the bank was being upgraded to a different version of the same software, screen changes were minimal. This migration did not require a lot of user training that is normally part of a new installation, adds Huber. Raver confirms that the software changes were so minor that the conversion was almost transparent to bank end-users - tellers, loan officers, and customer service representatives. It took five days for the bank to switch entirely from the System/36 to the AS/400. …
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