People often confuse Information Technology with Information Management. Information Technology is the hardware, software, and the set of services that support the information superhighways, the electronic data bits going around and around.
In technical jargon, “Information Management (IM) is the collection and management of information from one or more sources and the distribution of that information to one or more audiences. This sometimes involves those who have a stake in, or a right to that information. Management means the organization of and control over the structure, processing and delivery of information.”
Put in simple terms, Information Management is just getting the right information to the right people when they need it. And this is the area where TSG excels.
Information – What You Know and When You Know It Makes All The Difference
Our main focus at TSG is to help you create the plan to steer the data bits to the right people. Who needs what information? What critical process does it relate to? How does the information need to be presented?
These are the management related questions; questions often not addressed by small organizations that are only staffed to deal with the technology side of the equation.
Your deployed Information technology infrastructure should be driven by your business information management needs. Information management needs are, in turn, driven directly by the needs of the critical business processes. For example, loan underwriting, audit issue corrections, and sales and marketing management each have specific information requirements.
TSG guides you through the process of architecting an Information Management Strategy tailored to your business strategy needs. This 4-hour this process identifies your critical processes, the critical information needed by each process, and identifies the technology required to support the delivery of this information where and when it is needed.
How to Conquer the Chaos of Task Tracking and Management
In most industry sectors that we have worked with, community banking for example, we have witnessed difficulties in tracking critical tasks in important business processes.
Very often we find staff and managers struggling to track key task due dates and completion status in Microsoft Excel, which performs very poorly in this role.
We have addressed this management challenge with a software solution, TrakPointe™, that provides full control over task management related to any process, including a full range of alert functionality. TrakPointe™ is a web browser-based application that integrates completely with Microsoft Outlook and SharePoint.
TrakPointe™ requires virtually no training, can be deployed within two weeks, and is implemented with no annual contract. Visit the TrakPointe™ website for a demonstration and full list of available modules.
How Can I Best Share Our Performance Information? Consider a Dashboard?
Business performance information is most valuable when it is shared by management and the staff doing the work. Being able to quickly view how the organization is performing in key areas helps everyone focus on the important tasks and outcomes.
While financial performance is a metric for banks, there are other important metrics that drive this financial performance, such as the number and volume of loans in the pipeline, the cycle time for credit underwriting and approval, the effectiveness of the deposit gathering process.
Similar operations and back office process metrics, such as remote deposit capture, audit exception correction, and contracts management, provide important insights into customer service levels and internal efficiency.
Simple visual dashboards make critical information instantly available and highlight issues needing attention. The TrakPointe™ Loan Review System Risk Dashboard below shows at a glance the percentage of credit files reviewed during the current year, the number of loans in compliance with their covenants, and the percentage of loans made outside of the bank’s trade area.
Figure 1.
Combined Dashboard: Loan Review System Status and Credit
Risk
Dashboards can be configured to
display any type of bank performance information. The
dashboard can be made available to all staff or data
elements can be controlled by permissions.
There are numerous dashboard software
applications, including a Microsoft SharePoint solution
if you have implemented SharePoint in your bank , and TSG
can help you to evaluate your dashboard needs, and select
and implement the solution for your organization.
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