According to CU*Answers, the new NSF/ANR dashboard is “an excellent and timely addition considering the current climate (with Reg. E and increased interest in the collection of this income).”  The CUSO continues to say that the dashboard gives CEOs a full picture of the NSF and Courtesy Pay income credit-union wide for an entire year, giving CEOs the ability to understand their big picture income and to identify members who are generating it in a whole new way.

Features of the new dashboard include:

• The ability to view full transaction counts by month, and then toggle to see income by month or channel
• Associated graphs then show the data according to counts or income (amount)
• Calculates ongoing averages throughout the year and highlights measured deviations for researching surges and drops in activity
• Gives quick access to the members affected by the fees by number of transactions and month to month identify members needing education
• Allows users to drill down for the members who are doing the most and being most affected by credit union policies and their usage

The NSF/ANR dashboard was first introduced during CEO Strategies Week in November, 2009, hosted in Grand Rapids, which was attended by 195 credit union professionals.  Candid discussion allowed CU*BASE users to analyze NSF/ANR facts, income effects, and impending regulatory changes, and also compare existing CU*BASE tools available to determine future needs.   The CUSO went on to state that the collaboration process for the creation of this dashboard is a perfect example of how credit unions benefit by partnering with a 100% credit union-owned CUSO for DP needs.

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According to CU*Answers, this warning message will only appear when transactions are performed using the call center-style phone operator product, and not when done in teller processing.  The addition of expanded Transaction Origin Codes allows CU*BASE to differentiate the phone transfers that apply to Reg. D.

CU*Answers continued to say that a real-time counter has been added that will advance incrementally each time a phone transfer is made, and CU*BASE will display the count on the screen with each applicable transfer.  With this enhancement, CU*Answers has urged clients to review and possibly refine related policies for handling Reg. D warning messages and provide staff with any additional training as needed.

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According to CU*Answers, the Gender Generator effectively reduces the number of individual memberships without gender associated with them with an estimated 75% accuracy rate or better.  When the new tool is run, it quickly and efficiently brings a membership database up to date by comparing with a list of over 11,000 names.  For those names that are gender ambiguous (“Chris”, or “Pat”, for example), credit unions can decide with what gender to flood the memberships – or leave them unchanged.  Once the Generator is run, credit union staff can then work the membership as needed with the accompanying reports that are created with the use of the tool.

The CUSO continues to say that updating gender designations will be useful when relying on Relationship Analysis and other fingertip data mining tools that reside in the ‘Know Your Member” Menu.

For more information on this tool and other new features that come with the CU*BASE 10.0 Software Release, access: http://www.cuanswers.com/client_release_summaries.php.

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These additions include:

• Proc Code Lookup Now Available – Next to the Proc Code field on the Teller screen, there is now a Proc Code lookup to help credit union staff find those less frequently used Process Codes right when needed.
• Access to Phone Operator Directly from Within Main Teller Posting – Phone Operator can now be accessed from the Main Teller Posting screen with a keystroke.  The new F18-Phone Operator function can be used to see if a check has cleared, to place a stop payment, and more.
• Calculate Cash Back – A new, blue “Calculate Cash Back” button makes it more obvious how to calculate cash back for a member.
• Toggle Nicknames button – A new nickname button now toggles between the standard account name and the member’s chosen nickname for the account.
• Click for Procedures button – Just as on the Inquiry and Phone Operator screens, the new red Procedures button is available to list the procedures for Membership Designation, instead of the previous less-noticeable light bulb graphic.
• Member Name Now in Larger Font – Again, as on the Inquiry and Phone Operator screens, the name is more prominent, and if there is a designation on the account, this will appear in smaller font below.

For more information on these changes, and other upgrades included in the 10.0 Release access, http://www.cuanswers.com/client_release_summaries.php.

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According to CU*Answers, when activated, the indicator turns the Verify ID button from a red button that says “No ID on File” to a blue button that says “Verify My ID.”  The placement of this colorful button is in the top right of the screen to the left panel and will assist staff since that is where the eye naturally looks when viewing a screen.  The CUSO continues to state that to assist employees with remembering to check the new box when opening or updating a membership, a reminder message can be added into the workflow prompting them to collect a photo ID and check the box.

The new Verified Member designation is also reinforced with a reminder tip at the bottom of the window that pressing enter confirms verification of member identity and comments.  The Comments window, accessed before entering Phone Operator and Inquiry, has also been streamlined for a cleaner look, which allows for more comments.

For more information on these new features, or to view the last 10+ years of CU*BASE Software Upgrades, access:  http://www.cuanswers.com/client_release_summaries.php.

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According to the CUSO, this release includes a huge revamp of several frequently used screens, which leverage the larger screen size changes made during the 2008-2009 GOLD upgrades.  Some of the updated features include:

• Verify ID Button Indicator – The Verify My ID button now indicates whether the Photo ID checkbox is checked.  Regardless of the text and color, clicking this button will retrieve a photo ID if one is scanned.
• Tiered Services are Clearer and More Prominent – The Tiered Service scoring has been moved up on the page to the area previously occupied by the Verify My ID button.
• Graphical Representation of Gender Field – Credit union staff will now be able to instantly tell if this membership is an individual membership or an organizational account with the new graphical representations and associated colors.  The purple silhouette of a person’s head will appear for an individual membership (a girl for a female gender and a boy for a male gender); while three heads will indicate that the account is marked as an organizational membership.  If the field for the gender contains an O, meaning unknown, a question mark will appear in the middle of a red silhouette.
• Member Name Now in Larger Font – The name is now larger and easier to read, and the DBA label, if available, remains below the member name and is in the standard font to create an easy separation of the two pieces of information.
• Driver’s License Number Clearly Posted – The driver’s license is now posted in the left column just about the newly designed Verify My ID button and below the relocated mother’s maiden name.  This number is subject to Privacy controls so that part of the number may be masked.
• Quick Access to AFT, ACH and Savings Deposit Box Screens – New blue Go! buttons above the AFT, ACH and BOX indicators give you quick access to Inquiry versions of the Automated Funds Transfer/Check Funds Transfer screen, the ACH Distribution screen, and the Safety Deposit Box screen.
• Click for Procedures button – A new red Procedures button is now available in the upper left hand corner of the screen, which by selecting will take the user to the Procedures screen for the Membership Designation.

For more information on these changes, and other upgrades included in the 10.0 Release access, http://www.cuanswers.com/client_release_summaries.php.

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The Collection Roundtable will be held at CU*Answers headquarters, April 29, 2010 from 9:30am to 12:00pm.  The agenda states that it will consist of an open forum on collections laws, internal procedures, and CU*BASE processes.  The invitation continues to state that this event provides a “perfect opportunity to ask questions, get answers, share opinions, and have your voices heard.”

For information or registration, access http://cuanswers.com/education/syllabi/?course=SE.51

Jerry Collins, Operations Manager for the Collections department says “We’ve had really good success with this event in the past.  In a time of economic turmoil, this free event provides the perfect opportunity for peers to gather, ask questions, and share opinions about certain key issues and challenges specific to credit union collection departments.”  He continues, “This is the third session in our quarterly roundtable series, and with each session we’ve witnessed attendance grow exponentially.”

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According to the CUSO, a good project spec requires the ability to imagine and clearly explain big-picture, high level overview of the project, and get down to the nitty-gritty details that define how the software will behave and what the end-use experience will be.  Contest rules require that specs be submitted in a Microsoft Word formatted document, and include a thorough big-picture introduction suitable to be adapted for the Release Summary when the project is implemented, as well as include mockups of all related screens with explanations and illustrations of the specific changes to be made.  Detail and structure guidelines have been provided on their website, as well as sample programming instruction, techniques for making screen mockups, templates and more.

Suggested project ideas include creating an on-demand process for members opting into a CU’s ski-a-pay program, a configuration and work process to handle common wire transfers, integrating a Savings Bond Redemption flow into teller processing, and others.  The CUSO also recommends submitting an original idea, but reminds contestants to follow the posted rules and propose a project with enough complexity to warrant at least 7 pages of content.

This contest was announced in an email blast to CU*Answers clients late last week, with the headline “Another Chance to Win $$ for your Credit Union”.  The CUSO is also concurrently running their 3^rd Annual Video Contest, which awards $1,500 to the credit union that provides the best video contest concept conveying the theme: “Your Credit Union is Everywhere”.

According to Dawn Moore, VP Writing Team/Product Design for CU*Answers, “I’m really looking forward to discovering some untapped talent somewhere in the network.  At the very least, I’m hoping the contest will provide some insight into the software design process, which can be as time-consuming and complex (and expensive) as the development work itself.”

For more information on this contest, go to: http://www.cuanswers.com/spec-contest/

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According to Ed Gvazdinskas, President/CEO of Heartland, the decision to upgrade to CU*BASE was approved by the Board of Directors in October, after more than two years of studying, reviewing and analyzing several different data processing vendors.  “CU*Answers aligned best with Heartland CU in a number of ways.  First and foremost is their unique business model.  Being credit union-owned with a board of directors consisting of client/owner credit union CEOs was very appealing,” states Gvazdinskas.

According to the CUSO, much of its success stems from its CUSO model.  Credit unions walk hand-in-hand with CU*Answers for software enhancements (which are provided free to CU*BASE clients), and its pricing strategy demonstrates that credit-union models charge when they have to, and not just because they can.  CU*Answers has also recently released its 2010 Pricing, and is waiving the COLA increase for the third year in a row.

“CU*Answers’ cooperative infrastructure mirrors that of credit unions and their track record of service and client retention speaks volumes to their service commitment,” he continues.  “Everyone we encountered in the CU*Answers organization impressed us and treated us as if we were their only credit union client.  CU*Answers CEO, Randy Karnes is one of the most impressive and knowledgeable individuals I have met in all my years of being in the credit union industry.  Randy knows the CU*BASE system inside and out and his commitment to fairness and doing what is right for his credit unions and his CUSO is reflected in each and every CU*Answers employee we encountered in our many demos, meetings and site visits.  CU*Answers definitely possesses all of the core values we expect in a business partner and we are extremely excited to become a CU*BASE user is May 2010.”

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According to the CUSO, this booklet contains a cross-reference of some key CU*BASE features and services, showing whether or not they are being used by other credit union partners.  The Peer Analysis is organized by credit union member size, so you can easily compare a credit union’s usage of CU*BASE features with other credit unions of similar size.  CU*Answers advises that a regular review of the Peer Analysis categories will help remind credit union CEOs of CU*BASE features they may have been waiting to implement, and possibly give the motivation to start.

New items added for the 2010 Peer Analysis include:

• 5300 Call Report Tools
• Due Diligence Monitoring Flag
• Privacy 2010 Controls
• Dividend Donations
• Red Flag Address Warning
• Tiered Service Analysis Tool

And much more!

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According to the CUSO, the addition of these reports as a menu option eliminates the need to design special queries to access the data in security files.  The first of the reports, the Employee Security Audit Report lists several different employee security settings, including: Profile and Special Security (update special security), Account Security (update account security), and Employee Menu Security (menu security).  The second option is a shorter Menu Security Audit Report, which includes a quick summary of menu option security, and lists each selected menu showing which employee has access to it.  This report is used for a quick review when doing audits on who has access to a particular menu and which options they have access to.

This enhancement will be available credit unions beginning November 15^th.

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When changes are made to a member’s name, email address, home phone or mailing address, CU*BASE records these changes for a rolling 30 days.  If configured, warning messages are presented to both the member and the credit union employee.  Before credit union employees enter selected screens (such as Teller, Inquiry, and Phone Operator), they will receive a warning message nothing how many changes have been made to these items in the last 30 days (this number is configurable based upon credit union preference).  Members will also receive notification of the change in the form of a secure home banking message in It’s Me 247.  If the change is to a member’s email address, the member will also receive an email notification to both the new and old email address, unless the old address was marked as a wrong address.

Each time a change is made to the member personal information, a Tracker entry is made on the Audit Tracker that records the old and new values.  The Member Tracker system in CU*BASE is a helpful and easy-to-use tool to help credit union staff keep on top of important requests and issues.  Tracker records can contain reminders to contact a member, follow-up on payments due, schedule and appointment and more.  These records remain attached to a member’s account until manually purged; therefore serve as excellent documentation about an issue for future reference.  For this reason, Trackers are used to document member activity related to compliance.  Each time a compliance related event such as an OFAC scan, FIDM scan occurs, the CU*BASE system automatically adds a conversation to the member’s audit tracker – these ongoing conversations are recorded, and at a later date can be reviewed as a record of activity on the account.

The addition of this tool is one of many that CU*Answers, the CUSO providing CU*BASE, has implemented in the last year to enable credit unions to remain compliant with increasing regulations.

“Our goal at CU*Answers is to provide the tools necessary for our credit unions to succeed.  In 2008 we made a promise to our credit unions that by utilizing CU*BASE, they will have the lowest cost of compliance in the industry,” says Jim Vilker –VP of Professional Services, and Manager of Audit Link.  “As a 100% credit union-owned CUSO we are naturally tuned in to the wants and needs of our clients, because ultimately, their success is our success.  This commitment is evident, and proves that it pays to partner with a data processor owned by its users.”

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CU*Answers will roll out its newest enhancements and features with the CU*BASE 9.4 Release, available to online credit unions November 15^th, 2009.  This release changes the way the new Teller Holds Configuration works to better incorporate the Electronic Deposit Holds (EDH) and Member in Good Standing features so that credit unions can now give their “good” members the same “good deal” at the teller line as they do at the ATM.  New teller-related settings have been added to the Electronic Holds configuration and an existing override flag has been removed from Teller Check Holds configuration.

According to the CUSO, the configuration for Electronic Holds Configuration for outside checks is slightly different than the settings for ATM deposits because tellers enter multiple checks, rather than a full batch as is done at the ATM.  Electronic hold configuration for checks allows credit unions to now determine holds based on a tolerance amount; those checks below the tolerance level will not be held, while checks above the tolerance amount will be held according to the configuration.  The configuration also allows you to select whether this configuration will be used to set holds on the outside checks screen.   Members with codes not configured for teller use will default back to the teller check hold configuration.

CU*Answers offers Release Training to its clients, and posts recorded sessions online at http://ondemand.cuanswers.com.

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A new Effective-Dated Account Adjustments tool is one of the CU*BASE 9.4 enhancements being made available to credit unions as early as November 15^th.  This tool can be used to post a transaction to a member’s account and have the system automatically calculate the adjustment to interest or dividends according to a member’s account and have the system automatically calculate the adjustment to interest or dividends according to the effective date of the adjustment.  Basically, it adjusts simple, common types of transactions with a notation in transaction history indicating the effective date.

The CUSO is careful to note that this is not back-dating.  CU*BASE does not insert the transaction using a prior date, as if it had been posted then, it simply calculates the net effect on interest and dividends, then posts a transaction today that brings the account in line.  The tool currently supports Average Daily Balance savings/checking and 365-day interest loans.

CU*Answers continues to say that it has already begun plans to move forward and add more functionality to this tool, specifically adding the ability to effective-date on savings accounts with the simple-daily dividend calculation type, as well as the average daily balance interest calculation type that is used for online credit cards.

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Of the recommendations made by CU*Answers, credit unions are urged to become very familiar with the “Smart Operator” menu option included in CU*BASE.  The menu provides information on daily tasks CU*Answers operators are performing on behalf of the credit unions and will assist in providing auditors with proof of timing of the posting of the files and return of specific items.

The scope of the audit did not include the audit requirements as indicated within Appendix Eight – Section 8.3 – Audit Requirements for Originating Depository Financial Institutions as the Company does not perform originations for corporate businesses.  The CUSO is careful to note that compliance with requirements of this section would be the responsibility of the member credit union.

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