Client Situation
Building on a previous engagement involving Planning, Budgeting & Forecasting (PBF) system selection for a prominent bank based in Bahrain, Cedar re-assisted the bank in realizing its long-term transformation strategy for Integrated Financial Reporting. This involved evaluating two vendors previously shortlisted through the initial selection process across 10 applications, including PBF, vital for Financial Analytical Reporting.
Cedar’s Approach
Cedar took a comprehensive approach, conducting a detailed analysis of the bank's strategic Financial Reporting System (FRS) requirements, considering aspects such as IT, business, functionality, and application. Cedar's support comprised of four key modules:
- Business Capability & Requirement Definition: Cedar performed a comprehensive evaluation of the bank's current and future financial reporting requirements, covering 10 critical application areas (ALM, Liquidity, Stress Testing, Capital Adequacy, IRRBB, etc.). This included detailed requirement analysis workshops with key stakeholders from various departments, such as Financial Planning, IT, Tax, Credit Risk, MIS, and Treasury, among others. The aim was to identify essential cross-functional requirements for the FRS selection process.
- RFP Design & Issuance: Cedar crafted and supported the issuance of a thorough Request for Proposal (RFP), encompassing functional, technical, commercial, and contractual prerequisites, to the two selected vendors offering FRS solutions.
- System Evaluation: Cedar organized an extensive in-person product walkthrough involving over 30 key stakeholders from the bank and the selected vendors, with a total session duration of ~37 hours. This comprehensive review encompassed all essential functional and technical capabilities. Cedar played a role in the vendor scoring process using a consensus scoring approach.
- Way Forward Recommendation: Utilizing Cedar's exclusive FTV evaluation framework, the team delivered a comprehensive assessment of the vendors' functional and technical capabilities and also conducted a detailed comparison of their contractual and commercial terms.
Outcome
Cedar efficiently completed the end-to-end program within ~9 weeks, garnering support from 8 different departments. Thanks to Cedar's involvement, the bank gained access to and explored Proof of Concepts (PoCs) for FRS through extensive site visits and calls with clients of various vendors in the region and Europe. Through this engagement, the bank was able to:
- Develop a comprehensive repository of over 520 functional and technical capabilities in this field.
- Compile a list of 194 demonstration requirements for conducting targeted product demos.
- Assess 2 selected suppliers and determine the most suitable vendor that aligns perfectly with their FRS implementation needs.
- Identify a vendor that not only offers a Unified Data Model but also provides a pre-configured, ready-to-deploy product, enabling an accelerated FRS implementation program.
In conclusion, Cedar's expert guidance assisted the bank to accelerate its long-term transformation journey with respect to FRS and PBF implementation.