Business Intelligence Creates Faster, More Stable Management Reporting

Rabobank, a leading banking institution in the Netherlands, used WebFOCUS to cut reporting time in half.

WebFOCUS Helps Rabobank Halve Reporting Time for Staff and Clients

Rabobank Nederland Betalen and Sparen (NBS) is an international provider of financial services such as retail banking, wholesale banking, and asset management. In 2004, after working with Information Builders for several years, Rabobank NBS chose the company's WebFOCUS business intelligence (BI) platform as its management reporting solution. The results of this strategic alliance convinced the bank that WebFOCUS was the correct choice, and Rabobank NBS continues to use WebFOCUS successfully today.

WebFOCUS As a Standard BI Tool

"After our initial evaluation, we decided to make WebFOCUS the standard business intelligence tool at Staf Betalen and Sparen, and encourage its use as much as possible," says Jos Hermans, manager of MIS at Staf Betalen and Sparen. "It appeared that WebFOCUS was the best tool for gathering information from the different environments that existed at Rabobank.

"And, because we standardized on a single information management platform from Information Builders, it remains relatively easy to implement changes whenever needed. Changes in reporting requirements and information access needs are inevitable in an organization like Rabobank Nederland."

WebFOCUS is a comprehensive, fully integrated, enterprise-scale solution that delivers powerful and feature-rich, yet intuitive business intelligence across an entire organization, enabling timely, accurate reporting at the executive, analytical, and operational levels. With WebFOCUS, any data, in any enterprise source (including documents and other unstructured formats), is made readily available, accessible, and meaningful to any user, in any location.

Information Access at Staf Betalen and Sparen

Internal Rabobank NBS staff, as well as external clientele, require various types of information. According to Hermans, these groups may be trying to answer questions about the number of transactions processed at an ATM on a specific day, the number of deposits made, or the number of deposit transfers processed.

Rabobank's MIS department can supply information to its internal staff and clients as HTML, in Excel spreadsheets, or as PDFs. Requested information can be included in a table or in a graphical report. "Our files do not include any customer details," Hermans admits. "The most recognizable data element is the account number, which makes the information more distinguishable.

"Additionally, product information is provided to the organization's process and line managers. They ensure the payment traffic flows are managed efficiently, and that all processed transactions are recharged to the independent local banks. They don't require very extensive and complex reporting functionality. What they really need is a tool that is simple to use and reliable."

Satisfying Internal and External Reporting Requests

Other departments within the Rabobank organization also send regular requests to the MIS team for management reports. "When we are responding to these requests, we are able to connect all production systems to one another, but this would result in a huge network of mutual links," Hermans states. "So, the information is first delivered centrally to the MIS department to avoid confusion. Once all needed data is in a single location, we then ensure that it is sent to the right place. We have been working this way for a few years, much to our satisfaction."

Eventually, MIS will also provide information to external parties. "This may include disclosure data for the tax authorities, information relating to BIS II legislation, or mandatory monthly reports required by the Dutch National Bank," says Hermans. "WebFOCUS also provides an overview of outstanding loans, balances, profit and loss position, risks, and more. The Staf Betalen and Sparen MIS team then delivers the information to Control Rabobank Group. All data from across Rabobank can be collected here, consolidated, and sent to any external party as a whole."

From Push to Pull

In the past, information was usually distributed to users throughout the organization using a push mechanism. But the introduction of WebFOCUS has largely changed this to more of a pull approach. "Of course, some fixed reports are just scheduled, such as monthly overviews. On the other hand, the use of the pull mechanism is clearly on the rise. A simple ad hoc request can usually be solved within one day. If someone is submitting a similar request over and over again, we will discuss this matter with them. Perhaps adding a button to our MIS Web site, which will allow them to simply refresh the data in the report, will help them easily find the answers they need.

"If a report request becomes even bigger than usual, and more resources are required, we will turn it into a major project," he continues. "Over the last few years, the time to deliver these types of extensive management reports has been reduced from 90 days to half of that, approximately 45 days on average. And, here at Rabobank, we think short time-to-market is very important when it comes to information. The time between the submission of the request and the delivery of the related report must be as brief as possible. This was an important reason for us to invest in WebFOCUS."

What the Future Holds

The ten employees within the MIS team are working on a stoplight reporting tool based on WebFOCUS. They are also considering what the best way is to use WebFOCUS to prepare Staf Betalen and Sparen for the Single Euro Payment Area (SEPA).

As these new projects are in progress, Jos Hermans looks ahead to the future. "While mainly figures were required in the past, I notice a gradual development of a new tendency to represent information graphically, at a higher aggregation level," he concludes. "In that regard, WebFOCUS has been the right choice for us."

Rabobank isn't the only financial services firm to benefit from the power and scalability of the WebFOCUS business intelligence platform. Leading banks, brokerage houses, investment firms, and other institutions use WebFOCUS and iWay Software to address globalization issues, gain market share by identifying and leveraging new sales opportunities, detect and deter fraudulent activity like money laundering and identity theft, improve risk management, facilitate compliance with industry regulations, and much more.