The most important part of any Credit Union’s I.T system is their member data. If the information a Credit Union holds on its members is inaccurate or missing, it can lead to inaccurate assumptions and financial consequences for members and Credit Unions alike. Bad transfers can lead to an inability to provide your members with the services they need, and many breaches of data regulation snowball into much larger legal and compliance issues, which can result in lending restrictions, fines, sanctions by the Central Bank, and sometimes even the closure of a branch. Issues like these generate a lack of confidence in the specific Credit Union, and even the movement, that may never be fully recovered.
If you’re currently running the Octagon system in your Credit Union, you’ll know that change is just around the corner. Whilst the system is still functional, it doesn’t offer online and mobile functionality that will make your Credit Union more attractive to potential members.
In the last three years, 487,447 Credit Union members have had their data transferred from Octagon to a new system – that’s a huge amount of data, and it’s important that it all reaches its destination safely and securely.
When you do decide on a system to transfer to, making sure your data migration is a seamless and stress free as possible is the most important aspect of making the move. There are two options for how you go about this: using reports to take information across, or a complete transfer of the data from point A to point B.
Some IT providers choose to transfer your members’ data from the Octagon system to a new system using reports. This means relying on print outs generated by Octagon and manually adding all the information that these reports leave out to your new system.
It tends to be the easier option for some IT providers, and this means in the short term, their initial charges can be less expensive.
The nature of transferring data through reports means that the information that comes from this method is not just incomplete, but also liable to be effected by human error.
Not all of your original data will be transferred due to the limitations of Octagon’s reporting system, which leads to inaccuracies and gaps in member information. You also won’t be able to verify your calculations, as data isn’t recalculated within the new system, just copied from your old system, costing you time and money when you have to plug the gaps in the information before you reopen.
These kinds of issues can cause a lot of problems for your Credit Union, including:
What’s the impact of using reports?
In the long run, reports tend to lead to a lot more issues than their original cost efficiency is worth. Using them to move your data can lead to bad transfers, and impact almost all areas of your Credit Union:
Transferring your data field by field means in a more accurate migration across systems. The only supplier to be able to do this is Wellington IT, as their transfers from Octagon are overseen by ex-Octagon staff. All calculated fields such as interest due, interest received, arrears etc are recalculated and compared to the Octagon system to ensure accuracy and to validate any discrepancies. A trial run is undertaken usually a month before you go live and data in octagon is compared to what is, this allows the customers to run comparison reports from both systems.
Transferring data in this way means that you can be sure all the information you need has been taken across accurately. It gives auditors, your board, and your compliance departments the time they need to make sure your new system and the data held within it meets the standards set by the Central Bank. This means that when your system goes live, you know you can open your doors on time, and provide your members with all the services they need.
Traditionally, due to the detailed project plans that needed to be put in place, this method took a little longer than transferring through reports. Now however, especially with Octagon sites, there’s very little time difference between transfer methods.
This method can seem a little more expensive at first, and it’s often hard to communicate to reluctant boards that a little more input initially will mean less expenditure in the long run on correcting mistakes and training staff. In the 12 months following the data transfer, the time taken for staff to key in this information manually will cost at least 3 times as more. Credit Unions who opt for a process which enables them to transfer data field by field can be assured that 100% data accuracy. The time previously spent by staff to manually key in information and the cost savings from not doing so, can now be used to focus on improving member services to grow.
Migrating data field by field means you can be sure the information you need is exactly where you need it. Staff don’t need to painstakingly enter missing information piece by piece, which frees up their time to help your members make full use of everything your new system can offer.
At first glance, taking your data across to a new system through reports may seem like an easier and cheaper option. However, due to the compliance and regulatory issues, as well as the danger of human error that comes with report migration, when it comes to ensuring the best for your Credit Union and your members, field by field data transfer is the only way to go.