Information System In Allied Bank

discipline corpse In consort chamfer confede estimate cant was the source shore to be established in Pakistan. It started egress in Lahore by the visit Australasia till before indep closingence in 1942 was renamed in every last(predicate)y Bank of Pakistan moderate in 1974 and then confederate Bank Limited in 2005. onlyy Bank was the first Muslim affirm to aroma been established in Pakistan.Established in December 1942 as the Australasia Bank in Lahore with a paid-up sh be capital of Rs. 0.12 million under the Chairmanship of Khawaja Bashir Bux, the Bank attracted coheres tantamount(predicate) to Rs. 0.431 million in its first eighteen months of business.Today, with its existence of over 60 years, the Bank has built itself a foundation with a strong equity, assets and deposit base. At the time, the Banks issue forth assets amounted to Rs. 0.572 million. Today, Allied Banks paid up Capital militia amount to Rs. 10.5 billion, deposits exceed Rs. 143 billion a nd total assets equal Rs. 170 billion. It offers ecumenical brinking services, while placing major emphasis on retail vernacularing. The Bank too has the largest net income of over 800 online furcatees in Pakistan and offers dissimilar technical schoolnology-based professionalducts and services to its diverse clientele. good dealTo become a dynamic and efficient bank providing integrated resultant roles and the first choice of bank for all customers.MissionTo supply high tech innovative solutions to meet customer requirementsTo create sustainable value with growth, competency and diversity for all game holdersTo provide a dispute work environment, and reward dedicated team membersTo play a proactive role in contri saveing towards the societyValuesIntegrity probity in serviceHigh performanceInnovation and growthAreas of bloodlineAllied bank is operating in all major cities of Pakistan. It has a network of 700 complicationes. info Systems at Allied Bank Limited nurture arrangings determination at ABL differ from segment to department and complete specifications of administrations intentd in guest sell Banking plane section go forth be mentioned in the later part of the report however, the IS practice sessiond in Allied bank serves the common purpose of express communication surrounded by all stake holders, updating of legal proceeding process on daily basis, provision of break up customer service, faster execution of selective info, easier access and communication to the central starting time and other branches countrywide etc. However, Allied Bank apply manual systems before 2002. The reasons for making the shift to automated teaching systems are summarized beneathThe privation for converting from manual to automated systemsPersonnel at Allied Bank are of the view that both manual and automated systems are effectual ways of message entry and transmission except manual entropy systems have current cons as compared to their counterpart the automated selective culture systems. manual of arms entropy systems are slow and tedious as compared to automated systems. Moreover, thither are much than chances of human error occurring in the usage of manual systems as compared to automated systems and this error removing is crucial to the efficient mathematical process of the Allied Bank. Moreover, manual entropy systems are less batten down and tampering with data is possible via their use and to minimize that risk Allied bank shifted to the use of automated Data systems in 2002. Moreover, Mr. Shahzad Shahid, Product Manager-Liabilities, was of the view that this change depart result in follow reduction in the long run. counsel tuition System use at ABLThe MIS used at Allied bank Limited is oracle Database 10g. Oracle Data base 10g has all in all transformed the outlook and operations of ABL. It has transformed the structure such that straightway ABLs IS does non consist of fragmented machi neries working individually to attain goals just now they now function as a fused collection of hordes, transshipment center devices, and systems to meet the changing treat needs of ABL. This resulted in dramatic damage reduction, overall efficiency and enhancement in the quality of customer service. It has as well reduced hardware be by efficient networking and amalgamating of functions performed by various legions and systems. Cost reduction besides took take because Oracle 10g eliminated the need for the purchases and upgrading of way softwares and tools and third party interventions as it was a complete circumspection solution in itself.Oracle 10g overly enabled Allied Bank Limited in efficient and wider data base storage, high and faster accessibility of data, faster performance, secure data transferring and cheaper application development. Salient features of Oracle 10g from which ABL is benefiting from are describe below in great detail1Oracle 10g served as a ver y attractive investment for Allied Bank Limited as it cut d have got significant costs of Allied Bank on hardware because Oracle 10g provide the technology of Oracle Real applications programme Clusters which enabled the creation of communication clusters via use of just 3-4 PCs which become more easier to hand out and run and are more efficient as compared to functioning of mend systems.Oracle 10g also enabled Allied Bank to cut down its costs on storage devices which prove to be a big cost for banks to store humongous amounts of daily transactions and data. However, this problem was solved by the use of Oracles automatic storage management which not only enabled the pooling of PCs however also enabled pooling of storage devices to the communication cluster as per required. This choice of assenting of storage devices to clusters made the data transformation, collection and storage cheaper, easier and efficient.Oracle 10g has enabled Allied bank to save on its database managemen t costs as its database arrangement is either completely automatic or much uncomplicated. This has enabled Allied bank to save its costs on the training of rising database managers.Oracle 10g has its own cluster administration softwares which monitor, manage the performance of clusters and at that military postfore eliminates the needs for spear carrier utility and program softwares. Oracle uses Oracle Enterprise Manager grid Control and Management Packs to monitor clusters performance efficiently.Oracle 10g uses GUI tools and utilities for change magnitude the power and efficiency of the clusters.Oracle 10g also introduces self-administration in the databases finished with(predicate) use of programs such as machinelike Storage Management, spontaneous Memory Management, Automatic Optimizer Statistics Collection, Automatic Workload Repository, Automatic Database Diagnostics Monitor, Automatic SQL Tuning, Segment Advisor, Automatic Workload Management, Automatic Disk-Based Backup and Recovery to meet the changing processing, data transforming and storing demands.Thus, Allied Bank has benefited greatly from its shift from Manual systems to the automated Oracle 10g system. The benefits reaped are unparalleled in terms of cost reduction, efficiency, data disseminating and last making. Allied Bank in addition to the use of Oracle 10g uses softwares such as Unibank, however it is planning to change its banking software from Unibank to Temenos t-24 in the mid(prenominal) of 2010.Shift from Unibank to Temenos T-24When Allied bank shifted to automated Information Systems in 2002, it started using softwares such as UNIBANK .This software held states to the management of all the chaos created by the use of manual systems.2Unibank was a branch centrical cash management software which held answers to the banking problems of the time thus it was called the core banking solution. Unibank gave faster and safe electronic access to banking transactions and function s. Unibank enabled Allied Bank toEvaluate the latest book of account of all account transactions taking place in the branchExchange culture with other departments of the branch such as finance and accountingMonitoring and management of deposits and withdrawals simultaneouslyElectronic transfer of data from one branch to anotherProvision of e-statements for the employees making their jobs easier.Secure data control and transfer.Electronic monitoring and management of employee payrollsNeed for Temenos T-24Although Unibank seemed to be the answer to all the banking problems at that time however due to changing scientific trends, higher uncertainty in the environment, shift towards centralized functioning and policies, Allied Bank has decided to shift from Unibank to Temenos T-24. The reason existence that, Unibank was branch centric software and due to this reason data could be lost or misplaced if server crashed at any particular branch. Moreover, considering the uncertain policy -making situation in Pakistan, there was high possibility of raids and fires and due to this the panic of data loss was eminent thus a shift is be planned and utilize from Unibank to Temenos T-24 as we speak. This shift leave alone be implemented in all the branches countrywide within a occlusion of 6 months.The reason for shifting to Temenos T-24 is that it is centralized software with the central server in Kashmir Road Branch in Lahore. This central server acts as a hub and daily transmissions are not only preserve in branches but in the central hub too, thus making the information more secure. Moreover, designated exploiter ids/passwords, bio-metric systems add to the security of information. All the transactions and operation take place in real time. Policies are designed at the central server in Lahore and are applicable to all the branches country wide thus making the operations uniform and consistent in all the branches.3Temenos T-24 in addition to providing all the fu nctions that Unibank provided, offers a more secure platform and wise and efficient data bases. Moreover, Temenos T-24 is partners with Microsoft and has adopted MS platform to make the functioning of the software more user-friendly and easy. Moreover, one of the reasons for adopting Temenos T24 by ABL is that its cost of possessor ship is very cheap as compared to the benefits it provides. Moreover, it uses established programs such as HTTP, XML so that functioning it not an entirely new experience but adds on to the previous knowledge of the employees.Moreover, it has an edge over Unibank as it eliminates the need for end-of-day banking and is a true 24/7 banking system, which heaves away bear down from the employees and enables employees and customers to access updated information at all times.Department Commercial and Retail BankingOverviewThe Commercial Retail Banking conclave (CRBG) offers a variety of asset and liability-based retail products to its customers. The Groups main focus has been on introducing various financing and investment products for its worthful clients, and contributing to the steady growth of the financial industry.CRBG consists of 4 geographic groups and is promote divided across 27 regions in Pakistan. Each region is trusty for providing a quality service to its own customer-base.In recent years, the Group has been working to find alternate ways to bank for customers, and has installed more automatic teller machines to its already strong and largest ATM network.The department offers the quest product and services to its customers mesh BankingOnline BankingProfit RatesATM intercommunicateUnclaimed DepositsDeposit historySMEAgricultureOther ServicesCorporate LeasingThe department has a total of 6000 employees all over Pakistan, the information fall down and the data transfer rate thus is very high and poses a great challenge for the Information System of the department to maintain and detainment it secure.Functional Hier archy of the DepartmentTechnical specificationsAllied Bank after its privatization has been followers a pro I.T policy. The switch from the manual system to a more automated Information System requires certain infrastructure (PCs, Softwares etc) and ABL in this regard didnt compromise on quality they have a contract with digital World Pakistan Pvt. Ltd. (DWP) to provide state of the art computers with the best softwares to run the M.I.S system.The CRBG dept of ABL has the following I.T infrastructure ironware SpecificationsPersonal computers-14 in total Consisting of 9 desktop PCs and 5 laptopsDesktop PCs Specs Intel Pentium 4 2.5ghz, 512MB RAM, 80 GB hard-diskLaptop PCs Specifications Intel dual incriminateing2 2Ghz, 2gb RAM, 160GB Hard-diskHP Printers3 in total 2 HP LaserJet 1010 obscure Printers,1 HP Desk-jet Black and white printerHP Digital ScannerIBM P5 Mainframe ServerSpecificationsFour 1.65GHz 64-bit POWER5 processorsL2 cache 1.9MB (2-way) 3.8MB (4-way)L3 cache 36MB ( 2-way) 72MB (4-way)32GB of 266MHz DDR1 fundTwo 10/100/1000 Ethernet portsOptional 2 Gigabit fictitious character Channel, 10 Gigabit Ethernet and 4x InfiniBand adaptersTwo USB, two HMC and two system portsSoftware Specifications operation SoftwareCRBG department Employees uses the following application softwaresMicrosoft Office 2007 2010McAfee Anti-Virus 2010Adobe ref 8System SoftwareThe departments computers were found to be using the following system softwaresOperating System Windows XP for Desk-top PCs and Windows Vista for the Laptops.Windows NT server for mainframe server.Core Banking SolutionThe software currently in use is UNIBANK, however T24 has been introduced in one branch in LAHORE.Query SoftwareABL employees generate queries through these softwares, for example if I want to view a customers demographics I will put in a query in the Discoverer watcher which will then seek the data from the Central DatabaseDiscoverer lulu It is just for viewing of data,Discoverer P LUS The queries here can nevertheless be edited and employees have limited access to this softwareNetwork TypeAllied bank is using the client/server network because the employees easily share the data and its cheaper than others and maintainable. All the data is saved in Central Database (CBS) and employees can easily access it. This type of computing system provides an easy access and efficient flow of data, which increase the functionality of organization.End-User and trainingIn this era of cut-throat competition and diminishing profit margins Banks are becoming more lean, service oriented and efficient. As mentioned before Banks in order to keep this trend of efficiency going upward are adopting new information systems and updating the existing ones however one barrier to this are the employees, there is already a shortage of computer literate people in Pakistan and for this reason when new softwares or In our case a new CORE BANKNG SOLUTION is introduced it requires rigorous t raining session to train the employees so that they are able to use the software.The effectiveness of core banking systems is directly related to the skills and knowledge of those operating them therefore training is an essential investment and not an expense. The training session have been divided into three stagesWhen we talk of the end user its the employees themselves here, they use the information available and make different queries wherefore as mentioned before currently the Core Banking Solution (CBS) namely Unibank is being change to Temenos and this requires that the support and operations staff be trained to use this CBS. For this reason different training sessions have been organized by the Bank and the Temenos technical team itself.Apart from this Temenos, to support the contracted BANKS, also provides the following courses to their employeesOpen facts of life CoursesBespoke suss outing coursesEnd User Training (EUT)Training consultancy for design and development of EUT courseseLearning and Computer Based Training (CBT)The Train the Trainer approachThe benefits of attending these training programs include dedicated premise and training equipment, and the added advantage of minimizing interruptions for the duration of training course.Information Intakes and run forCRBG has information flow daily from all over Pakistan, the department has the responsibility to in effect manage the liabilities of the Bank.The information accessible by this department through the Information system includesDaily Monitoring of DepositsThe deposits intakes and off takes during the dayMaintaining a stripped-down balance of fundsATM monitoringMonitoring the downtime of each ATMMonitoring which area has a consistent network/server issuesCustomer DemographicsABLs information system is linked to NADRAs system for verification of Customers IDsCRBG has access to all the information of its customers and employees as it is responsible for managing the liabilities sectionAcc ount Opening chip RateThe accounts opened each day along with their balancesEmployee Check in Check out timeThrough monitoring of this data employee efficiency can also be measured.Query Regarding an EmployeeEmployee RecordInformation FlowWe observe TRANSACTION PROCESSING SYSTEM functional in this department apart from the Office Automation Systems, all the activities and transactions done passim the chain of command in this department is recorded first at the Branch level then after EODs (End of Day) are Run all the data of that days transactions are transferred to the oracle CENTRAL DATABASE set(p) in ABL HEAD-QUARTERS LAHORE.Real-time Monitoring is being done of this information flow by the department, once the days information is saved in the ORACLE CENTRAL DATABASE in their respected fields and tables, it can be accessed through the DISCOVERER VIEWER/PLUS Software the next day by creating a query for it.Issues with the Information SystemTo function effectively as an interac ting, interrelated, and interdependent feeDatabase Administratorck tool for management and staff, MIS must be useable. The five elements of a useable MIS system are timeliness, accuracy, consistency, completeness, and relevance. The usefulness of MIS is hindered whenever one or more of these elements are compromised.The IS at Allied Bank, although effective to a great extent, has certain weaknesses as we found outFrom a branch centered approach, the bank has moved to a centralized system. Transactions at the branches, previously used to be stored and processed at the branches only. It was only at the day end, that all data and information was relayed to the head office. Now, however, this practice has changed. Branches only facilitate interactions with customers, whereas the information is directly send to the head office and is processed there in real time. The problem with this is the time lag that results subsequently. Data flow from the conduct of transaction to the head office , back to the point of transaction is a lengthy and hence a slower process.Also the security procedures inbuilt in the new software, Temenos, make processing slower. In the new IS, cash transactions taking place go from a Temenos account head to a buffer account and then to the customers account. Previously, the cash transactions were directly debited/ impute to the customer account. Buffer accounts created, although increase the overall security make the processing of data slower.Too much reliance on information systems also means that in the scenario when server crashes down, or gets hanged, banking transactions will be completely disrupted.Security Measures and BackupOne of the major concerns of organizations using information technology to carry out their business processes is how to secure the data against inseparable and external threats. With modern advancements, mitigating information security threats has become an ongoing battle. Viruses, worms, literary hack attacks, s pam, phishing, and instant messaging attacks are just some of the problems. Data bank faces risk of security breaches not only at the hands of customers and outsiders, but also from the employees working within the organization. on that pointfore it is highly crucial to figure security parameters to detect whatsoever threats there might be and also to ensure data safety.At Allied Bank, data security is the function that cannot be compromised at all. For this reason, the MIS department has taken stringent measures to ensure data security. The Corporate and Retail Department which deals primarily in confidential data of bank customers has taken numerous steps to avert security threats.Employees have individual Ids and passwords that they use to log-in to the system database. exclusively this does not mean that all the employees have same access to the data and information. There are proper hierarchy levels which implies that there are gatekeepers at each level, manage who access what data Password protection is there to prevent just everybody from viewing confidential data.Moreover, Allied Bank uses SSL certified encryption to secure its data channels. SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) is the standard security technology for establishing an encrypted link between a web server and a browser. This link ensures that all data passed between the web server and browsers remain private and integral. SSL is an industry standard and is used in the protection of online transactions with customers.Encryption of data exchanged by customers and the bank ensures that data security, even if breached on its way, will make decrypting and consciousness the data difficult.Anti-virus and anti-spam packages like McAfee Anti-Virus are also installed to secure data against viruses, spam, etc.There is also a Disaster Recovery System in place, in case of fire, raids, and other unforeseen and unexpected events. The backups are stored at both sulphurous and cold sites. The head office in Lahore is the hot site. It is the central database of Allied Bank where all the transactions taking place in the eight hundred or so branches are recorded and updated on a real time basis.The cold sites are at the twenty seven regional offices all over Pakistan. These cold sites are updated at appropriate intervals, on a weekly basis sometimes. In accordance with the State Bank of Pakistan regulation, data and information of three years is stored and maintained at these cold sites.Also, USBs are widely used as potable storage devices.Future PlansAllied bank is planning to flip the current Core Business Solution Uni Bank with Temenos.This transformation is in its phase I. The software is being tested in one branch near the dot Office in Lahore. This testing phase will end on June 30th.Training of employees is being conducted and pass on more sessions are in the pipelineAllied bank plans to introduce Temenos in 107 branches out of the whole network of 800 braches within six months. Implementation in further branches is still unplanned.Allied Bank has opened its branch in Kashmir and plans to issue its network and reach in the remote areas of the country.RecommendationsThe disaster recovery system at Allied Bank is inappropriate to bear the load of 800 branches. There is one common hot site of all the branches at the Head Office and cold sites at the regional offices, 27 in number. But we feel that these backups are too less, keeping the current security scenario in view where banks have even been raided and burned by mobs. Therefore the backups should be set up at places other than the bank branches.The training period for a batch of 50 people is three weeks on average. We feel that this is insufficient as the new banking system Temenos has far complex procedures as the user interface is not friendly.Proper temperature controls are needed for the server to operate efficiently. We feel that the current infrastructure is insufficient to support the system.Refer enceshttp//searchsecurity.techtarget.com/topics/0,295493,sid14_tax299811,00.htmlhttp//tldp.org/HOWTO/SSL-Certificates-HOWTO/x64.htmlhttp//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disaster_recoveryhttp//info.ssl.com/article.aspx?id=10241http//www.occ.treas.gov/ handbook/mis.pdfhttp//www.temenos.comhttp//www.abl.com.pkhttp//www.oracle.com