Prudential regulator streamlines document processing

A key regulator in the financial services industry, APRA stores over 300,000 corporate customer records including multimedia such as photographs and DVDs. Alphawest was chosen to implement the system, which is expected to be completed late in 2005, after an -in-depth evaluation process" performed by the regulator.

According to Michael dal Maso, Solutions Alliances Manager, Information and Integration Practice for Alphawest, the software will provide APRA with "greater access and faster retrieval of information, ultimately providing a more efficient service to staff, management and APRA's regulated entities".

Speaking with ZDNet Australia   this afternoon, dal Maso highlighted the fact that APRA as an organisation is in a growth period in line with a dynamic domestic financial services industry. According to dal Maso, this has led APRA towards a need to standardise on enterprise-wide records management, with a focus on paper elimination, electronic capture of data and workflow monitoring. Every type of document that one could possibly find within an organisation will need to be tracked by the new EDMS.

When asked about any potential issues relating to training, dal Maso pointed to the new EDMS's almost transparent integration with existing office software such as Microsoft's Office suite and Lotus Notes. TRIM Context was chosen due to its reputation as well as its growing status as a "defacto standard in government," said dal Maso. In addition Tower has recently become known for its notable wins in large government organisations with North America and Europe. Dal Maso mentioned the justice and police systems in Ireland as one example of Tower's success.

As APRA is regularly involved in legal proceedings related to the management of financial services businesses, records management would be particularly important to the organisation. Perhaps it is suitable then, that Tower's web site for TRIM Context states that the software "provides protect and support in litigation, including risk management associated with discovery".

More information about the deal is due to be released in the next several days.