Johannesburg, 27 Aug 2008
PIC Solutions, the leading specialist credit risk solutions company in the EMEA region, invested over a year designing a "best practice" account origination system and turned to Bytes Systems Integration (SI) to assist with developing components of the software.
As part of the project, PIC Solutions called on Bytes SI to develop components of the AppSmart system for the company. The solution will expand PIC Solutions' innovative range of offerings, and will, with the use of the K2 blackpearl software, introduce a much sought-after workflow component to the solution.
While the solution was designed internally, PIC Solutions chose to outsource the development to Bytes SI as its own technical resources were fully utilised on other software projects. In this way, PIC Solutions was able to leverage off Bytes SI's expertise and proven track record, while minimising the time to market AppSmart.
"Bytes was able to develop workflow and BPM aspects into the custom-built solution, which enables financial service providers to build a risk profile on their customers much quicker, and which will in turn enable a faster turnaround to their customers," says Derek Zellie, operations manager for Bytes SI in the Western Cape.
Business, technology goals
"This project really yielded positive results for PIC Solutions, as our technology partner Bytes SI was able to provide a valuable contribution to the solution design and did so within deadline and on budget, while exceeding our expectations in many instances.
Due to the unavailability of our own technical resources we took the decision to outsource the development to Bytes SI, and were not only impressed with their grasp and interpretation of the design, but also their delivery focus and favourable rates," says Jaco Rossouw, project manager for PIC Solutions.
Bytes SI responded to the tender for the project, which would ultimately result in the development of components of the AppSmart system for PIC Solutions. AppSmart was developed with the ultimate goal of delivering a best practice account originations system for assessing credit applications for various financial products, based on risk criteria and human and system decision-making processes and rules. The AppSmart project commenced on 1 September 2007 and was completed on the 31 January 2008.
Solution
"The end product includes the latest business process management workflow solution in the form of K2 blackpearl. This is the first embedded K2 blackpearl solution in the country," says Zellie.
The newly developed AppSmart software has a Web interface for capturing data, a SQL server to store the data centrally and a K2 blackpearl workflow management system to manage the origination process. Additionally, it supports XML Web services for the workflow process to be assessed along the way, as well as .Net assemblies for delivering business logic and data access, and a .Net Windows-rich client for system configuration and applications processing.
The solution uses the latest technologies from Microsoft based on the .Net framework and also incorporates K2 blackpearl.
K2 blackpearl overview
In essence, K2 blackpearl is a business process management software tool that dynamically controls an organisation's workflow. It literally removes the manual processes involved in a business, managing previous manual intensive tasks and distributing it to the correct sources. K2 saves resources by improving productivity.
K2 blackpearl allows you to marry business processes, people, services, information and systems into a single application, resulting in a process-driven application. With K2, it's easy to create processes and applications because it offers simple tools and familiar environments that work off Microsoft applications using .Net 3.0 - it is also easy to modify them when a business needs changes implemented.
Conclusion
"PIC Solutions chose Bytes as its development partner because we were impressed with Bytes SI's technical capabilities and understanding of our requirements; in addition, its services came at an affordable rate. The project went off without a hitch and we look forward to working with Bytes again in the future," says Rossouw.
The AppSmart product is available from PIC Solutions throughout the entire African and Middle East region.
* Fast facts
Customer: PIC Solutions
Web site: www.picsolutions.com
Number of employees: Over 100 personnel
Country: South Africa
Industry: IT and Finance
Customer profile:
PIC Solutions is the leading specialist credit risk solutions company in the EMEA region. With offices in Cape Town, Dubai, Johannesburg, Manama and Nairobi, it delivers integrated analytics, consulting and software solutions to over 150 companies in 30+ countries. Its services are used by organisations worldwide to raise performance, drive strategies and enhance profitability.
Its specialist solutions include:
* Analytical applications
* Consulting solutions
* Fair Isaac partner
* Fraud management
* Outsourcing partnerships
* Predictive modelling
* Software services
* The Credit Academy
Software and services:
Products
* SQL Server 2005
* C#, ASP .Net & .Net framework 2.0
* MS Visual Studio 2005
* Web Service Software Factories
* K2 blackpearl Workflow Management System
Partners:
* Bytes Systems Integration
* Microsoft
* K2
Share