Consolidating two databases into one — the right way
Using design thinking and agile development, the solution to one typical business problem ends up solving so many more
The AML Compliance department at a small international bank was tasked with handling Suspicious Activity Reports (a.k.a. SARs, the most important reports of potentially illegal activity). Because SARs were filled out manually, the first challenge was to identify the specific customer named on each SAR and link the two together. But customer data and SAR data were in different databases with separate front ends, so users had to constantly switch between screens and copy data into temp documents. Without the authority or the budget to commission a full-scale solution, the department asked my team to create a small Access database that would combine extracts from the SAR database and the customer database in one place. Our product, SyNAPSE, delivered that functionality and streamlined the entire linking process.
User Story 1: An AML Compliance associate searches the SAR database and identifies SARs that are newly filed
- The associate logs into the SAR database
- The associate searches for all SARs relevant to their bank
- The associate opens each new SAR in a separate browser tab to review
User Story 2: An AML Compliance associate searches the customer database to find any bank customers listed on each SAR
(See details and SyNAPSE results)
- For each suspect on each SAR, the associate searches for the name listed on the SAR
- For each suspect on each SAR, the associate searches for the ID number listed on the SAR
- For each suspect on each SAR, the associate compares all information against the information for any potentially matching customers to find the correct individuals
User Story 3: An AML Compliance associate records matched customers in a temporary document
- For each matched customer on each SAR, the associate records the SAR number and the customer number, either in a Notepad document or on a piece of paper
User Story 4: An AML Compliance associate copies all of the information from the SAR into an Excel spreadsheet, one item at a time
This includes the SAR number, type, relevant dates and dollar amounts, suspect information, account information, and description.
User Story 5: An AML Compliance associate copies all of the information on each matched customer into an Excel spreadsheet, one item at a time
This includes the customer ID number, name, phone number, address, and account numbers.
SyNAPSE automatically imports and processes database extracts, reducing or eliminating the work in all of these stories
Instead of manually searching the database front ends, as in User Stories 1 and 2, the user simply pulls extracts from each system and uses the customized import functionality built into SyNAPSE. This can be done as often or as infrequently as desired. The product automatically eliminates already-imported records and processes the new data to identify the most likely potential matches. The user reviews these potential matches in a single screen that displays all of the key information and links customers to SARs with a single click, eliminating User Story 3. This user-generated data is stored in the database, which eliminates the repetitive and error-prone work in User Stories 4 and 5.
By thinking about the client’s need in terms of stories and tasks rather than data, the database we created had a much greater positive impact on their operations than they expected. By implementing the product on an agile basis, we were able to deliver the base expectation on-time and on-budget, then demonstrate the enormous value that could be generated by additional functionality.
