Stillwater National Bank, Stillwater, Oklahoma

From Conversions to Loan Growth, Foxtrot Does It All

Like most other financial institutions that have seen a Foxtrot demonstration, Stillwater National Bank has high hopes for the efficiencies that can be created in the operation of the bank. Foxtrot has been used in various data conversions at the bank including a conversion last year of the CIF from non-parsed to parsed and conversions of product types on accounts and mass maintenance projects. Additionally, it is used daily in the Accounting area to upload general ledger batches and batch transaction entries to CBS.

Uploading Maintenance Items to CBS

The bank’s biggest project for Foxtrot is the uploading of data which has been gathered using a process builder software that allows us to build forms to gather the data in databases. These forms are available to bank staff through the bank’s Intranet. While the uploading portion of the project is still in its beginning stages, we have been uploading general ledger batches and batch transaction entries for several months.

Our goal is to use this process to gather and upload as much maintenance data as possible. The efficiencies to be created will involve reduction in process time for forms formerly couriered from outlying branches to our data center from several days to a few minutes since data is presented electronically from the branches. Also, the forms can search our current customer database to find accounts, CIF keys, and SSN’s/TIN’s which insures that correct existing account and customer data is presented with the maintenance items, thus reducing the errors that come from incorrectly completed maintenance requests. Other efficiencies will be reduction in data input errors and ability to grow the bank while keeping staffing close to its current levels.

Rembrandt to Fiserv CBS Platform Interface

In the summer of 2002, I had heard that Enablesoft was working with two other CBS banks to build an interface between Bankers Systems’ Rembrandt loan documentation platform and the Fiserv CBS loan system. Bank staff was familiar with Foxtrot as we had been using it for several years to do mass maintenance to accounts, as well as other odd jobs. Stillwater National was looking for a way to increase efficiencies. We wanted to keep up with our loan growth while not increasing staff in the operations area and felt that the Foxtrot Platform Interface was the answer. I contacted Enablesoft and within a couple of months we were signed up and working on the project. Our plan was to roll out the interface in 6 to 8 months.

However, the best of plans can fail. Due to issues on our side and Enablesoft’s side, the project did not move forward as planned and was even scrapped for 18 months. But in the fall of 2004, Enablesoft asked me if I was ready to re-visit this project. They had revised the interface and felt that it was ready and I said yes”.

We started on the project again and Enablesoft made great strides in setting up the interface to work in the manner that we wanted. We tested the interface for a couple of months until we were sure that we and it were both ready. In May, 2005 we began using the Foxtrot Platform Interface in our live environment to load loans from Rembrandt to the CBS loan system.

Our average upload is about 20 loans a day. That may not seem like very many loans, but often we have several million dollar loans with multiple guarantors. Having the interface add 20 guarantors to our customer information records and tie them to the loan is very helpful. We also manually input loans from our mortgage documentation system (which is not Rembrandt) so having at least one automated import system is very useful. We chose to manually disburse the loans and add collateral records and user fields.

Shortly after the Foxtrot Platform Interface went live, two staff members left the department (one planned, one unplanned). One of those staff members was the note input specialist. And of course, it was now June and vacations were upon us. Having the Foxtrot Platform Interface now became a blessing, as staff that had not input loans in several years were now called upon to do so.

We have now been using the Foxtrot Platform Interface for 6 months and can’t remember what it was like before we had it. Having the FPI also made it very easy to train new staff on loan input. I am certain that we will be able to keep up with loan growth without adding additional staff, a $20,000 to $24,000 per year savings. Enablesoft personnel were very helpful during the whole process of building and testing the interface. I can still depend on the Enablesoft support staff to answer my emails and questions quickly. Bank staff is very aware of the power of Foxtrot and has several plans in the works to maximize our usage.

About Stillwater National Bank

Stillwater National Bank and Trust Company (SNB) is a subsidiary of Southwest Bancorp, Inc., a twobank holding company. Founded in 1894, SNB is headquartered in Stillwater, OK and currently has assets of approximately $2 billion with offices in Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas.

SNB offers commercial and consumer lending, deposit, investment services, specialized cash management, consulting and other financial services.

NB also offers specialized consulting services that are delivered through affiliates that are subsidiaries of Southwest Bancorp, Inc.:

• Business Consulting Group - provides strategic planning, process analysis and assessment, as well as ongoing implementation assistance to businesses in a number of industries.
  
• Healthcare Strategic Support Inc. - a healthcare consulting company whose expertise helps healthcare organizations increase profitability, streamline complex business processes, improve patient satisfaction and exceed expectations for growth and performance.

Downloads:

• Stillwater National Bank (PDF)

See All Case Studies

For assistance choosing products and services that are right for you, call us at 1-800-660-3556, or visit our Contact EnableSoft page.