Staying Relevant MeansStaying Profitable

Best Prac�ces for a successful Temenos T24 Transact Upgrade

Perspective

Summary

To ensure that banks continue to get maximum value from

their T24 implementations, Temenos regularly releases

upgrades and new versions that offer new modules as well as

enhanced features, spending 20% of their revenue on research

and development. However, banks are wary of changing their

existing implementation and understandably so, because it

could mean additional costs, reallocation of resources (both

skills and technology) and possible business disruption. So

should banks continue to work with their existing versions and

play safe, or should they maximize that part of their IT budget

which deals with new functionalities and take advantage of the

latest enhancements delivered with each release?

In this paper we look at the new features that Temenos

introduces, and the challenges that could come with an

upgrade. We will also discuss T24 Transact upgrade best

practices and a detailed upgrade methodology that will help

banks protect their T24 investment without incurring high costs

or disruptions.

'If it’s not broken, don’t fix it’, is a wisdom that doesn’t work for any industry but especially for banks.

Several core banking systems no longer meet current technical standards and market needs.

Moreover, by adding multiple extensions over the years their IT environments have become so

complex and expensive, that they hamper digitalization and growth. The result? Inefficient,

sluggish and obsolete core banking systems. Increased competition and strict regulations make it

impossible for banks to continue relying on legacy systems from the past century.

Temenos T24 (or Temenos Transact) offers banks and financial institutions the best core banking

transformation software. Temenos T24 has all the necessary tools a bank needs to manage front

and back end of banking operations. T24's flexibility enables banks to launch new products quickly

and efficiently.

Introduction

Continuous Improvement with Temenos

Temenos invests a lot of revenue and time into its core banking portfolio and focuses a lot on

research and development in order to continue introducing product enhancements, new features

and to keep pace with emerging regulations and customer needs. They release a new version of

T24 every year, called a generally available release, with newer functionality to keep up with the

growing demands of the market. Each release, numbered as T24 R12, R14 and so on (with the latest

version being R19) is compatible with previous one, enabling clients to plan an upgrade strategy

and take advantage of a growing system functionality.

Temenos does not modify the product for each bank, and provides only one version of the source

code to maintain continuous enhancement of Temenos T24 and ensure availability to all existing

clients. Each new release includes important enhancements to the functionality of the system,

which could range from new modules being introduced, new functionalities and/or bug fixes in

existing modules etc., change in technology platforms, regulatory requirements and so on.

Temenos always shares details of the updates made in each new release and clearly details all the

amendments and additions performed, so that their customers can plan accordingly.

A Brief Look at Temenos Upgrades

Temenos has introduced several changes in the product, business as well as the framework side.

Here’s a quick look at the latest changes we can see in latest T24 versions:

NewModules

There are several new modules that have been introduced including:

o Temenos Insight for deep analysis and high quality reports

o Temenos Payment to support seamless, high performance payment

solutions. The new version cloud-native and cloud-agnostic

o Temenos User Experience Platform (UXP) which is an excellent

module to support both mobile and Internet banking from a single

platform. It allows banks to design once and cover mobile apps, web

and branch experiences.

Change inplatform

o There is a shift in the technology platform from TAFC to TAFJ, where

the latter in a runtime Java version that makes Temenos

implementations easier to maintain for the customers, and reduces

dependency on Temenos for post-implementation maintenance.

o The Interaction Frameworks have been enhanced and are heavily

used by Temenos new Infinity offering or to integrate with external

digital solution

Temenos has introduced a new feature called Arrangement

Architecture, which helps retail banks develop powerful products. They

can create reusable components and combine them to create new

products that can be rolled out faster. Product launches are also easier

because banks can define product hierarchies with product groups

and families.

More support for retail banking

$

Temenos has introduced a new feature called Arrangement

Architecture, which helps retail banks develop powerful products. They

can create reusable components and combine them to create new

products that can be rolled out faster. Product launches are also easier

because banks can define product hierarchies with product groups

and families.

Types of Upgrades

• As-Is upgrades – Some banks don’t want an overhaul or too many changes because of the

possible disruption to business and operations. They prefer to move their data and systems as

is with minimal changes. The downside is that they can miss out on any local customizations

and benefits from new functionalities and core features.

• TAFC to TAFJ – Moving from a C runtime environment to a Java web environment will support

better integration with upstream and downstream systems and applications, and will help apps

respond better.

• Module migration – Migrating from one Temenos module to another, or adding a new module

to the existing Temenos implementation

• Database migration – This is a vital upgrade because a bank’s, or any organization’s data is its

true asset. In Temenos implementations happens during version upgrade or when the

architecture is changing.

• Desktop to browser migration - Existing customers want to move from desktop to browsers

to ensure they stay future ready

Customer Challenges During Upgrades

While the new features and product enhancements being introduced are targeted at helping

banks further improve their core banking, most customers end up facing a lot of issues while

implementing these changes, in terms of UX and architecture, user adoption and overall

enterprise adaptation to these changes. They have to train internal teams and drive user adoption.

More importantly, they need to alter their existing technical landscape which translates into huge

costs as well as a lot of disruption in terms of business and customer transactions. Implementing

each feature, module or enhancement takes a lot of time and prolongs the time to market thus

impacting a bank’s competitiveness.

While the new features and product enhancements being introduced are targeted at helping

banks further improve their core banking, most customers end up facing a lot of issues while

implementing these changes, in terms of UX and architecture, user adoption and overall

enterprise adaptation to these changes. They have to train internal teams and drive user adoption.

More importantly, they need to alter their existing technical landscape which translates into huge

costs as well as a lot of disruption in terms of business and customer transactions. Implementing

each feature, module or enhancement takes a lot of time and prolongs the time to market thus

impacting a bank’s competitiveness.

Cost

Adding new modules or complete version upgrades in Temenos are not cheap, making it a

deterrent for even large banks who fear they will need to spend way too much into keeping the

implementation current over the years. However, they do not take into account the high cost of

maintaining the older versions of Temenos. When the opportunity cost of maintaining legacy

technologies outweighs the actual cost of upgrading to newer versions, it’s time to move.

Adaptability

It is obvious that users will be comfortable with the existing software because they are familiar

with it and know what to expect. Adapting to a new version could mean re-learning the software,

understanding new features, finding shortcuts etc. Legacy versions of Temenos are still in use by

other information systems or users, who could be unaware of the planned upgrade and will resist

change. Though users always prefer an as-is state, it’s important to help them understand the

advantages of upgrading to newer versions. They can then be trained on the new features.

Integration

For banks, even a few hours of interrupted operations could mean extremely unhappy customers

and a possible business impact of hundreds of thousands of dollars. Unfortunately, there is some

amount of business disruption during a Temenos upgrade though there is no loss of current or

historical data lost nor any impact on functionalities.

The re-coding nightmare

The huge challenge and deterrent for banks is that they fear that each Temenos version upgrade

will require re-coding of the entire implementation. The good news is that Temenos upgrades are

easy to implement and don’t require any coding by the bank except the local routines to make it

compatible to the latest release.

In addition to this there are several regulatory and compliance challenges. However, incorporating

these updates is essential and requires accelerators for implementation. Banks thus need a

reasonable and reliable methodology to avoid these problems. So what best practices can be

implemented as part of the upgrade strategy?

Let’s take a more detailed look at these challenges:

Eliminate Hurdles

and Bottlenecks

The ideal Temenos upgrade strategy should be simple, time bound, easy to execute, and should begin with evaluating the need to upgrade. It should be able to identify and remove potential bottlenecks all throughout the upgrade process, as well as after completion.

Here’s a Syncordis upgrade methodology:

Pre-upgrade analysis

Begin with identifying the bank’s overall structure and the key areas for consideration, resource

and budget planning and allocation, goal definition and the process detailing how these goals will

be met. You should also chart out the process design for the monitoring and control of the project

budget and the initial upgrade of T24 environment for analysis purposes.

In this stage you conduct an analysis of all the existing T24 modules being used, update the

parameters of the T24 system and detail the scope of the new release. This will ensure that even

after the upgrade the basis functions and features continue to work in the same manner as the

older version.

Upgrade

Core upgrade

Managing local customizations

Temenos T24 typically allows its customers to introduce their own local customizations specific to

their banking processes. As a result, most banks using Temenos have custom features built locally

by them, and these can easily be lost if not carried forward to the new T24 release. This step would

involve identify the gap between the local customizations and the new T24 release.

Temenos T24 upgrade comes with Temenos Standard Upgrade Process Package.

Interface modification

This step involves mapping external interfaces with the T24 implementation and checking for

non-conformities and faults. If there are too many faults found post analysis, then different

options for changing the interface will need to be evaluated.

Syncordis, a Luxembourg based LTI Company, delivers high-quality end-to-end

implementation and system integration projects with an exclusive focus on Temenos

banking software such as Temenos Infinity, Temenos Transact, Temenos Fund

Administration, Temenos Infinity Wealth and Temenos DataSource. Syncordis is also the

first PSF company that is fully dedicated to Temenos services with capabilities to support

all Temenos software suites. With 12 offices across the globe, 500+ experts and

complementary services like regulated SaaS and production support, Syncordis enables

its international clients to master their digital transformation. This makes Syncordis one of

the one-stop service partners for Temenos clients worldwide. For more information please

visit www.syncordisconsulting.com

Upgrade testing strategy

This will include both system integration testing and user acceptance testing and will ensure that

all changes and new features have been tested to the same standard and in line with the same

principles. Adhering to strict testing parameters and standards will ensure that the bank’s

business and operational requirements are being met.

Go-live

Once all upgrades and changes have been identified, the costs and risks associated have been

managed, it’s time to go live and execute the upgrade process.

Post-upgrade support

Banks need to be sure that after the upgrade all business systems and operations are performing

smoothly and uninterrupted. Their vendor must give complete support, onsite if required to

identify and rectify any possible issues resulting from the upgrade.

Conclusion

Banks continue being under pressure to improve performance and customer responsiveness

while controlling costs. Temenos helps banks smoothly digitize their core banking processes,

while negotiating regulatory demands and staying agile, reducing TCO and improving scalability

through regular releases. Equally important is the need to evolve with Temenos and benefit from

their continuous deployment principle. T24 upgrades help banks optimize application efficiency

and reduce dependency on local customization. These upgrades not only address functional gaps

but also introduce new features that help reduce the roll-out time for bank’s new business

products. They need an experienced and pure-play Temenos vendor that can simplify the

upgrade process making sure it’s cost effective and non-disruptive, and can be completed quickly

with minimal disruptions.

info@Lntinfotech.com

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Company helping more than 420 clients succeed in a converging world. With operations

in 32 countries, we go the extra mile for our clients and accelerate their digital

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