Bank of Montreal - Financial Services Group Website

1) Background:

Financing Services Group

The Financing Services Group is the administrative organization for Corporate Banking within the Bank of Montreal. This group must interpret the legal documentation for deals with corporate clients into the lending software, maintain the integrity of the information through the duration of the deal and monitor the flow of funds.

Corporate Lending Software

The complexity of corporate loans requires sophisticated lending software that must, among other things,

a) record each lender’s share in complex syndicated loans;

b) monitor information relating to borrower risk factors;

c) calculate and distribute fees for transactions according to each lender’s share;

d) determine lending and fee rates based on variable conditions; and

e) maintain accounting records for daily internal, monthly government and quarterly shareholder reports.

The System: LS2

The lending software used for corporate banking is LS2. Developed by an American bank in conjunction with a computer systems designer, the Bank of Montreal purchased this system and became a developing partner with a consortium of American banks.

The Issues

a) Although the system was designed for banks in the U.S., the Bank of Montreal has operations in Canada and the U.S. Each country has different reporting bodies, requirements and procedures.

b) As a developing partner, additions, improvements and changes to the lending system were incorporated after implementation. Users had to be kept informed of these changes in functionality.

c) LS2 was developed for a particular operating system (OS2); however, the Bank of Montreal uses a different operating system (NT). Although LS2 was modified for NT, not all of the NT functionality is available: for example, most screen sizes cannot be modified, nor can screens be minimized; and LS2 is operational with only specific screen resolution settings.

2) Previous State:

Initially, users were given a two-week training session using LS2. Either workshop facilitators or users were flown to a central site. Users were given a printed workbook and emailed updates regarding changes in procedure, additions to functionality and new portfolios added to the system.

3) Rationale:

An intranet-based Electronic Performance Support (EPS) was decided upon for the following reasons:

4) User Profile:

Members of the Financing Servicing Group come from a wide range of backgrounds, from experienced employees with high school diplomas who have advanced to their current positions, to recent MBA graduates.

5) Solution:

The EPS Financing Services Group website was developed with three major sections: Headlines, Learning and Performance Support.

a) The Headlines (Figure 1) are a central source of communication for the Financing Services Group that

– link users directly to the locations within the Performance Support material where new developments have been incorporated into best practices.

Figure 1. Homepage for the Financing Services Group website. The Headlines notify users of new developments.

b) The Learning component is designed to orient new users to the Financing Services Group and the lending system (LS2), as well as familiarize them with using the Financing Services Group website as a performance support tool.

c) The Performance Support component is based around the lending system (LS2), but incorporates ancillary processes and software systems that must be used in conjunction with the central lending system. For example, the Entity Administration Tool (EAT) is an application that is used to enter all customers into LS2.

6) Performance Support Design

The EPS is designed to be accessible and flexible.

a) Accessible – information that users require is easy to access at the moment users needs it.

b) Flexible – information is available at various levels to accommodate the user’s experience; and

There are two central components to the Performance Support System: i) Workflows; and ii) LS2 User Guide to Best Practices

i) Workflows

Although users can search for the information they require, all processes have been organized under a Workflow section (Figure 2).

Figure 2. The Workflow index. Users can access the scenario that corresponds with the task they must complete.

Figure 3 Process and Procedures for a Workflow scenario. When users click on a component of the Process in the workflow, the Procedures appear in the right frame, and the Process remains in the left frame.

ii) LS2 User Guide to Best Practices

After clicking on the Guide button from the procedures, users are taken directly to the related page within the LS2 User Guide to Best Practices (Figure 4). As well as containing the business information that helps users interpret the data they must enter into the lending system and current best practices associated with each procedure, the User Guide allows users to access various levels of performance support material depending upon their experience and requirements, including Tutorials, Commentary, background information and Corporate Policy.

Figure 4. LS2 User Guide within the Workflow. Clicking on the Guide button in the Procedures brings up the related page within the User Guide. Clicking on the links within the User Guide will access other performance support material. All information appears in the right frame while the Process remains in the left frame.

Tutorials

If users lack the experience to use the procedures, they can access a tutorial for each process from the User Guide. Users can follow the step-by-step tutorial, or they can work through interactive screens, which replicate the functionality of the software application (LS2).

• Ancillary Applications

Commentary Section

Users can also access the Commentary section, which contains specific information entered by users. Commentary captures users’ experience involving exceptional or extenuating circumstances.

• Posting Commentary

Background Info. and Policy

There are links within the User Guide that take users directly to background papers and Corporate Policy that contain the rationale behind procedures and business guidelines.

When accessed through the Workflow section, all of the elements within the User Guide appear in the right frame, while the original workflow Process for each scenario remains in the left frame, so that users can return to this process at any time.

LS2 User Guide to Best Practices Index

The User Guide and many of the performance support elements within it can be accessed directly from the homepage of the Financing Services Group website or from the handy Best Practices drop-down menu at the top of the screen (Figure 1). The design of the index (Figure 5) to the User Guide has been modeled on the LS2 application – which uses "tabs" – making navigation familiar and intuitive.

Figure 5. Index for the LS2 User Guide to Best Practices. Its design is modeled on LS2’s use of "tabs".

7) Results:

Contacts

Submitted by:
Learning Solutions
Institute for Learning
Bank of Montreal
Bob Megens, Project Manager
3550 Pharmacy Ave.
Scarborough, Ontario
Canada M1W 3Z3
(416) 490-4376
bob.megens@bmo.com