Planning the changeover of information systems to accept other foreign currencies is not just a matter of dealing with the practical issues and consequences. For the National Bank there will be strategy level issues that warrant attention, issues that will fundamentally affect the way the enterprise conducts its affairs. Changes in the business environment, such as the automation of the foreign currencies, can change the functionality that is expected from information systems. In this document discussion of the strategy level issues is confined to a brief description of how they may influence the preparation of the information systems. The strategic considerations should be taken into account before modifying those systems for the use of these currencies.

This changeover is often compared to the year 2000 problem, probably because both are related to information systems. Systems that use dates, directly or indirectly, can be affected by the year 2000 problem. This means that hardware and software that is not used to process financial information can still be affected by the year 2000 problem.

Since the National Bank's financial information system also uses dates, they must be reviewed for problems associated with both the changeovers: the foreign currencies and the year 2000. We encourage the National Bank to combine preparation for both issues in order to avoid modifying the same information system twice. However, ISM (a subsidiary of IBM Canada) is the company that is responsible for maintaining and managing the National Bank's infrastructure. Therefore, ISM would be already addressing the Year 2000 problem.

There are good reasons for managing the subsequent phases of the projects separately, because:

a. Both projects are fundamentally different. The year 2000 problem is largely a technical problem in information systems. Whereas the proposed changeover requires additional functionality in information systems, and also affects the bank in other areas

b. The combined project could be of unprecedented size and complexity, and may become difficult to manage

c. Deadlines for our project and year 2000 projects are different (a delay in this IT project should not lead to a delay in the year 2000 fix).

In planning for the foreign currencies changeover, the firm needs to address the following five aspects that are essential for a successful changeover:

1. Define the scope and nature of the changeover problem - Describing the existing systems and determining the quality of those systems is extremely important for determining the changeover strategy.
2. Determine priorities and strategy - In setting priorities the importance of the information systems and their complexity must both be taken into account. Furthermore, enterprises need to decide which changeover strategy is most appropriate - a 'big bang' changeover, a gradual changeover, or implementation of new information systems.
3. Dependency on third party software - Enterprises that rely on third party software have little control over the functionality, timing, quality, and price of the new software. Therefore, they must reduce the associated risks to acceptable levels.
4. Technical preparation deals with the functional and technical problems related to the system changeover. Solutions to some of these problems will be suggested, however, their effectiveness will largely depend on the particular business environment of the enterprise and the way existing information systems are implemented.

All National Bank branches are inter-linked through their information system and they must decide together how and when these systems are changed over to the new system.

Many financial information systems store the same information more than once. Conversion of historical data requires that all instances of the same data are converted in exactly the same way, otherwise unpredictable results and errors may occur. It is impossible to design a utility that can automatically convert the ledger to accept all foreign currencies. Therefore, the preferred option will often be to rebuild the ledger, rather than trying to convert the existing manual ledger electronically.

As an active social and economic force for the past 140 years, the National Bank of Canada is today the sixth largest chartered bank in Canada with assets of $69 billion. The National Bank's head offices are located in Montreal and its Canadian network boasts 642 branches. In all, more than 16,600 employees are responsible for the tradition of excellence that has come to characterize National Bank of Canada.

The National Bank is also active on the international scene (United States, Europe, Asia and Latin America), pursuing its mission of providing the highest quality products and services to a diversified clientele that includes individuals and companies both large and small.

On the road to becoming the dynamic financial institution it is today, the National Bank has taken a series of important steps. The following is a brief overview of the landmark dates in our past.

Converting the system to accepting foreign currencies will have a profound impact on the way the National Bank operates. It will be one of the most important changes in the economic environment of the bank in the next few years. The changeover also has a number of practical consequences for the day-to-day operations of the enterprise. One of those practical consequences is that information systems need to be ready for the use of major foreign currencies. Many people would agree that it is important to be well prepared and that careful planning is essential.

The scope of the system is to focus on the exchange bureau of one specific branch of the National Bank. Only subsequently to proving its effectiveness will we be employing a bank-wide implementation. Inclusion of the parent departments will be essential to cement the effectiveness of the newly proposed business process. As far as the international department and the Center are concerned, these major units will be playing a crucial role in the new system. A direct consequence of implementing our proposed system will be the attenuation of human error. The result of which will be an overall decrease in costs.

One of the strengths of the already established infrastructure is the requirement of minimal inputs into the system. Inputs of human resource training will not be a major consideration. We will be investing time and money into upgrading the present software to improve user friendliness. As a result of the user friendliness of the new system there should be a reduction in human error, and a marked decrease in operating costs due to the overall improvement in system efficiency.

In the proposed system, error detection is diverted away from the Center and will be residing in the new software. Presently, the National Bank outsources its information needs to a consulting group (ISM). Through ISM we will be able to implement our proposed user-friendly system.

The exchange bureau of the national bank is divided into three separate subsystems as follows:

1. International subsystem:

It accept the raw market rate and processes it into a revised rate sheet which takes into account the spread (buffer zone between the selling and buying rates). In addition to this a US buy/sell rate is also generated and updated into the system.

2. Exchange Bureau subsystem:

This process accepts the revised rate sheet and uses it to interact with the clients when conducting buy/sell transactions. It also generates a report, which is sent to the next process, the Center.

3. Center subsystem:

The first sub-process is to administer rates. This process accepts the raw rate from the Reuters system (which provides the market rates), and then generates a revised rate sheet. It then funnels it the revised rate sheet to the next sub-process, ROUTE THE RATE. This is done in parallel to outputting the US buy/rate to the exchange bureau and an overall buy/sell rate is also directed to the exchange bureau. The US buy/sell rate is then updated to the archive. The second sub-process ROUTE THE RATE funnels the rate sheets to their respective bureaus. The rate sheet is then archived.

Administer rates is subdivided into three sub-processes. CALCULATE SPREAD accepts the raw market rate generating a revised rate sheet, which includes the spread, and funneling it to the ROUTE THE RATE sub-process. It also generates a foreign buy/sell rate outputted to the GENERATE FOREIGN RATE SHEET sub-process. It then generates an overall buy/sell rate, which is generated and funneled to the ADJUST THE RATE sub-processes. It then generates a US buy/sell rate, which is outputted to respected exchange bureaus. Finally, the US buy/sell rate is updated. The next sub-process in ADMINISTER THE RATE is GENERATE FOREIGN RATE SHEET. This sub-process outputs a rate sheet to ROUTE THE FOREIGN RATE sub-process, which in turn is directed to the exchange bureaus and at the same time is archived. The next sub-process is ADJUST THE RATE. This process takes the overall buy/sell rate and outputs an adjusted foreign buy/sell rate and an adjusted US buy/sell rate each outputted to the exchange bureaus.

There are five sub-processes in the Exchange Bureau subsystem. INITIATE DAILY OPERATIONS AND PROCEDURES sub-process accepts a transaction report from the Center and is immediately archived. The foreign ledger info and the US ledger info are read from their respective archives and compared to yesterday’s transaction report generated by the Center. SERVING US CLIENTS receives US buy/sell rate from the International department and this sub-process interacts with US clients exchanging currency and generating a receipt for the US client. Tangible items are archived as well as the ledger entries. The next sub-process is BALANCING US FUNDS. This sub-process accepts US tangible item and US ledger totals that results in US balanced report and tangible item that is funneled to the Center. The next sub-process is SERVING FOREIGN CLIENTS. This process interacts with the Foreign Clients by exchanging foreign currency and receipts. Additionally, a foreign rate sheet is inputted into the SERVING FOREIGN CLIENT sub-process. Following this, the foreign ledger entry and tangible item are archived. Finally, BALANCING FOREIGN FUNDS reads from the foreign ledger, a total, and it tallies up all tangible items and generates a foreign balanced report and its tangible items and sent to the Center.

The first of the two sub-processes in the INITIATE DAILY OPERATIONS AND PROCEDURES is COMPARING BALANCES. This process reads foreign ledger info, reads US ledger info and accepts the transaction report from the Center that gets archived. It generates unbalanced results which are outputted to the ADJUST UNBALANCED FUNDS sub-process. In turn, a US adjusted ledger is stored and an adjusted report is archived along with the foreign adjusted ledger that is updated. In SERVING US CLIENTS, two sub-processes are evident. Firstly, the REGISTER US BUYING TRANSACTION sub-process accepts a US buy/sell rate from International. In then interacts with US clients where it accepts US currency and exchanges it for Canadian currency with a receipt. The generated US tangible item is archived and the US ledger entry is updated. The next sub-processes is REGISTER US SELLING TRANSACTION which also accepts the US buy/sell rate from International and also interacts with the US clients. It accepts Canadian currency and generates US currency with a receipt. In addition, the US tangible item is archived and the US ledger is updated. There are two sub-processes in the US BALANCING TRANSACTION. The first sub-process compares the US ledger and tangible items and the generation of US balanced report and tangible item is directed to the Center.

The REGISTER FOREIGN BUYING TRANSACTION accepts a foreign rate sheet from International. It also interacts with foreign clients by accepting foreign currency and exchanging for Canadian currency with receipt. The REGISTER FOREIGN SELLING TRANSACTION also accepts foreign rate sheet from International and at the same time it interacts with foreign clients in a reversed processed from its buying counterpart. This time accepting Canadian currency and generating foreign currency and receipt. The foreign tangible and ledger are archived and updated respectively. Finally, the last set of processes in the Exchange Bureaus sub-processing features the COMPARE FOREIGN LEDGER TO TANGIBLE ITEMS sub-process. It reads in foreign tangible items and foreign ledger and compares them whereupon a foreign balanced results is generated and outputted to the GENERATE FOREIGN BALANCING REPORT. This terminates with a generated foreign balanced report and tangible item being given to the center.

The CHECKING REPORT sub-process accepts US and foreign balanced report and tangible item from the Exchange Bureau. The deliverables from this process are documented summary report. Furthermore, the US and foreign tangible items are archived as well as the documented summary reports. The second sub-process is ROUTING REPORTS, which funnels the routed transaction report to the respective exchange bureaus.

Two pairs of sub-processes, the first of which is VERIFIES REPORTS AND TANGIBLE ITEMS, accepts US, foreign and tangible items from the exchange bureau. A resulting confirmed transaction is fed into DOCUMENTED RESULTS sub-process. This sub-process generates a document summary report. Furthermore, a documented summary report is archived. After accepting a documented summary report, the GENERATE TRANSACTION REPORT sub-process produces a generated transaction report. This report is routed via the TRANSMIT/ROUTE REPORT sub-process outputting a routed transaction report to the Exchange Bureaus.

The system modification eliminates the use of the rate sheet data store since the system was streamlined to incorporate the buy/sell rate in the terminal in addition to the US buy/sell rate. Therefore, the only generated output of the International sub-system process is an overall buy/sell rate which incorporates the US and foreign rates.

Keeping efficiency in mind, two sub-processes resulted from the streamlining. The CALCULATE SPREAD sub-process accepts a raw rate from the Reuters system and an updated buy/sell rate is stored. Following this is the generation of a consolidated buy/sell rate which is fed into the ADJUST THE RATE sub-process. Furthermore, an overall buy/sell rate is fed to all exchange bureaus within the system. ADJUST THE RATE sends an overall adjusted buy/sell rate to all the exchange bureaus.

In the proposed system, the current system has been further streamline by eliminating redundant processes that were unique to handling US and foreign transactions.

The streamlining can be seen in further detail at this level. Where the system handles all the currencies in the same manner thus, eliminating both redundant processes and manual processes.

Although the changes are not obvious, the radical changes implemented in the previous sub-systems, there will exist less dependency on the Center. This is a direct result to the fact that the processes have been arranged in an efficient manner.

Although, throughput is relatively high it is achieved through inefficient means. For example, the processes of routing foreign currency rate sheets (refer to the Appendix) are routed manually when compared to the automated US system. Once again when dealing with foreign currencies, the entries into the ledger are registered manually as opposed to being automatically updated, as is the case for the US system. In some cases, throughput can become unmanageably low due to the fact that during market swings the foreign exchange officer is needlessly forced to communicate with International.

Response time is relatively slow when considering market volatility for foreign currencies. Due to the fact that the rate sheets have to be painstakingly routed to the branches. In general, the handling of foreign currency does not match the pace when considering the fast-paced industry that exists.

Another response time problem is epitomized by the lack of the handling of transfers between exchange bureau branches.

A consolidation of processes would eliminate redundant processes and as a result the level of efficiency is improved. The constraints evident in the current system will be significantly reduced thus enabling the exchange bureau to maintain or convert fewer resources while maintaining its throughput and with concomitant increases in efficiency. An example of such consolidation of processes is demonstrated in the proposed DFD in the Appendix. A ledger is created to handle all US and foreign transactions where each corresponding currency is handled by its appointed sub ledger.

The setting up of a terminal for the administrative user will enable these users to react to market changes and take advantage of market opportunities or serving as a buffer of market swings and rates. The process of inventory replenishment at the exchange bureau level would have the effect of increasing response time by permitting International to monitor inventory level at each exchange bureau branch.

Output information is generated in an untimely manner. More specifically, the manner in which International routes the rate to the exchange bureau is still consider primitive by industry standards.

Data is not captured in time to be useful. This is directly correlated with the untimeliness of the output information generated by International.

Data is stored redundantly across the departments, in filing cabinets, in storage rooms, microfiche, program files. This redundancy leads to inaccurate information, since it is difficult to keep track of daily changes and keep files up to date.

The exchange bureau use of the traditional file processing system leads to program-data dependency and limited data sharing.

The Banque Nationale has an up-and-running database where documented reports and items are microfiched and electronically stored. An opportunity presents itself for all departments since all of them should have access to this database.

In the event where a depletion of inventory is experienced, International must order additional liquid funds from Bank of America to fulfill the inventory demand

Extra effort must go into diagnosing and solving problems with the consequent loss in time.

Time costs incurred due to the needless time spent in communicating with International

Efforts are diverted from the intended tasks. For example, the service to the client is sacrificed.

By monitoring all exchange bureau branches’ inventory level, this enables International to conduct internal transfers and use Bank of America is a last resort. Therefore, preempting the costs associated with doing business with Bank of America.

By instilling error detection methods in the system the consequent need for error detection is attenuated.

By giving the user at International the opportunity to automatically update the foreign rates if and when those volatile times occur. The consequence of this automation will have the effect of being transparent to the user.

By creating a more graphical, user-friendly screen with intelligent and helpful pop-ups, the users will be able to process more error-free transaction.

In the course of conducting daily operations, excessive effort is required. This is due to the fact that both administrative users and end-users have to deal with system constraints. The combination of manual and computerized processes often leads to untimely information.

The software programs are no longer adequate for the foreign exchange division’s processing needs. The application was conceived for the purpose of satisfying the needs of regular banking transactions.

By automating processes (rate sheet, ledger transaction) unique to the foreign exchange division, this will eliminate inefficient manual task for the end-user.

The application should be customized to the individual business need of the foreign exchange officer. Thus, the system would provide the user with updated rates, the capability of prompting the user in the event of error detection, and the functions of automatic updating of ledgers

Also, the system does not tolerate exceptional situations. The system constrains the administrative user to assign foreign rates according to different demographic characteristics. An example of this would be, certain geographic region boast fewer competitors, in that, the current system constrains International to assign a markup rate.

Lastly, the current system is not capable of adapting to market volatility.

An ideal system would adopt a GUI interface that in turn would facilitate the usability and the learning process. A more flexible system will be able to deal with changing user requirements. The ideal system would allow for faster learning by new users. In addition to this, system administrators would have an opportunity to react to volatile market rates.

Feasibility Analysis

The evaluation of each candidate is properly accounted for through the use of three types of analysis. These analysis techniques include: The Candidate system matrix, the feasibility matrix, and the Cost analysis matrix.

Through the use of the Candidate system matrix, the characteristics of each alternative reflects different building blocks to any information system, more specifically, technology, interface, data, process and geography.

By using the feasibility analysis the weight that the client attributes to the operational, technical, economic and scheduling feasibility can be displayed.

The main goal of any financial institution is to generate profit. Therefore, the inclusion of a cost analysis report is essential. Developmental and maintenance along with a projected annual operating cost is roughly summarized.

Each of the above mentioned matrices were used to evaluate the three candidate alternative for the National Bank. For details of each matrix refer to Appendix G.

The PIECES framework enabled us to identify problems that exist in the Foreign Exchange division of the National Bank. Problems identified are the following: redundant processes, lack of error detection in the system, and system constraints that do not permit the division to compete effectively. The users expect to implement a system that would allow them to solve their current problems and permit them to prosper in the Foreign Exchange market. Three alternatives are presented in response to this framework. Two of the solutions focus on change; however, the National Bank is a large corporation and may not be ready for such changes. Therefore, the effects of continuing with their present status is necessary.

Whatever path the National Bank chooses to follow it must not forget that it has remained profitable with its current Foreign Exchange system since the creation of this division 10 years ago. New alternatives may not be appropriate for the bank especially since these options require that the owners and users be prepared for such changes. Thus, before any system is implemented, the firm must be positive towards learning and performing in a different manner.

In recent years the Foreign Exchange division of the National Bank has experienced tremendous growth. This growth brought along change or some form of evolution in the information needs of the division. To gain a competitive edge, the firm needs to develop a system that will generate timely, accurate information efficiently. Most of their problems stem from the traditional file processing system that was initially designed for administering regular banking transactions. A solid and reliable infrastructure already exists. The management and maintenance needs of the present system have been outsourced to ISM, a subsidiary of IBM Canada. By upgrading the present system's application (in-house), we are eliminating inefficient processes and errors while addressing the individual needs that are unique to the Foreign Exchange division.

Rather than building or upgrading the present software system in-house, as specified in CANDIDATE 2, we may go out and purchase an existing standardized banking application. This option would fulfill the needs of the Foreign Exchange division, just like the CANDIDATE 2 option would. Purchasing a standardized banking application would help the Foreign Exchange division gain a competitive edge while being able to handle a great volume of transactions efficiently and accurately. This option will also take advantage of the existing infrastructure.

1. It's an actual working application that has been tested and approved to meet most of the demands and needs that exist in the Foreign Exchange division.

1. Applications are never really tailored to meet the individual needs and demands unique to the organization in question.
2. Customization process may become too lengthy. Testing and implementation can become time consuming.
3. Additional funds may be required to cover the cost of customization. Therefore, it is more likely to go over budget.
4. Retraining end-users would be required since the new application will not retain any familiar characteristics to the old; it is a completely new system.

After having explored the different alternatives, we have come to the conclusion that Candidate 2 best fits with the overall analysis. By taking advantage of the ISM collaboration, it will be certain that the system will possess the necessary characteristics of an efficiently running system. Also, the fact that the National Bank's information needs have been outsourced, they are in a better position to provide a system with full functionality. ISM is capable of offering special "foreign currency" modules that can be incorporated into the system to extend the functionality of the bank's standard software packages. This means that the financial information system performs the conversion for the user via the upgraded software package. Modifying existing software requires planning, time, and testing, and is not without costs. Furthermore, the users will not need much further training in using the new features of the financial information system. In this case, there is a decreased risk of clerical errors (such as the mixing up of the currency units and typing mistakes). The "foreign currency complient" software would be more reliable than the previous release of the software. Nevertheless, the firm should allow itself sufficient time to evaluate the new version of the software and time to develop alternative possibilities in case serious problems surface. Finally, ISM's experience in the financial industry has made them well aware of the constraints in the current system. Therefore, making them the ideal candidate in this project's undertaking.

The project addresses the strategic aspects of the foreign currency system changeover that is important to National Bank. Secondly, a definition of the scope of changeover issues in information systems is presented, and a comparison is made with the year 2000 problem. The section concludes with an analysis of critical success factors.

The following terms will be used with the meanings as defined:

• Information systems - The combination of software and hardware that is used by an enterprise for recording, processing and storing information

• Hardware - The actual physical computer equipment that is used

• Software - The application software that actually deals with the financial information

• Financial information system - Information system that deals with financial information such as invoices, payments, accounts, etc.

• Historical financial information - The term historical financial information is used to indicate all financial information that has been recorded in a financial information system prior to the introduction of the new system. Such financial information can relate to past, present, or future transactions (payments received, accounts receivable, and orders placed), assets and liabilities (inventory levels and mortgages), or financial information on others than the enterprise itself (a bank's creditworthiness files on borrowers). Storing financial information is necessary in order to account for the past, manage the present, and plan for the future.

• General ledger - The general ledger is a financial information system that is used for bookkeeping. It is used to record the assets, liabilities, income and expenses of an enterprise. A subledger is an information system that records transactions in detail. Usually subledgers are linked to the general ledger, which records only part of the details or a summary of the details.

The bank also needs to consider the quality, structure, and organization of its IT environment when planning for the introduction of the proposed system. In many cases the existing IT infrastructure of banks is far from perfect, for example:

a. Enterprise A has acquired several other enterprises over the past ten years. Consequently, many different information systems are in use that perform more or less the same tasks. Preparing for such a changeover could mean that this enterprise has to make similar modifications to, for example, five or six information systems that perform the same tasks. Such a duplication of efforts can be both inefficient and expensive;

b. Enterprise B has been using an information system for the past 15 years. As a result of the changing business environment and new functionality demands by users, the system is now becoming obsolete. Normally, the system would be used for an additional four or five years before replacement. However, the prospect of a potentially expensive upgrade to deal with the changeover might be reason to opt for an early replacement.

These examples show that a modification of all existing information systems may well not be an automatic choice as the most attractive changeover strategy. In both examples there is an underlying need to improve the IT environment; the system changeover (in combination with the year 2000 problem) may trigger banks to make more fundamental changes in their IT environments.

These scenarios are certainly not meant as an exhaustive list of possible strategic considerations, which may be fundamental to the future of the bank. However, it is clear that strategic considerations should be taken into account when modifying the present information systems for the incorporation of other foreign currencies.

a. Scope of changeover

To prepare an information systems for the introduction of the proposed system it is important to establish which information systems by the changes. The basic rule is that:

From a practical and organizational point of view it may be convenient to deal with the foreign currencies and the year 2000 problem at the same time. However, there is a fundamental distinction between the two:

1. Solving the year 2000 problems means ensuring that the information systems will continue to do what they always did, that is calculate the dates correctly. This makes the year 2000 problem largely a technical problem that needs technical solutions. The users of the information systems must be involved in the process of identifying the potential problems. Furthermore, management support for year 2000 projects is important to ensure that these projects receive sufficient attention from the users and that the business consequences of non-compliance are properly understood. However, most of the actual work on remedying the year 2000 problem will have to be done by the information technology (IT) department of the enterprise

 

2. Solving the system changeover issues will in many cases mean that functionality must be added to the financial information systems. Adding functionality means that the users must be heavily involved in firstly identifying problem areas and then in finding the solutions for these problems. It also requires management to take decisions on the functionality to be added, because these decisions will affect the daily operations of the enterprise during the transitional period. Therefore, the National Bank's inefficiencies are not primarily IT problems.

b. Scope and nature

Before starting the actual work on planning the changeover, the firm must have a good overview of its financial information systems. This step is rather technical because it requires the enterprise to do the following:

• Make a list of information systems that deal with financial information. Increasingly enterprises are discovering that they use more information systems than they previously realized. Often branches of larger enterprises have implemented information systems that provide functionality beyond that of the standard software used by the enterprise. Many systems, ranging from cash registers to spreadsheets, are often conveniently forgotten when discussing information systems. Underestimating the number of systems that need to be changed can cause enormous problems once the changeover strategy has been determined.

• Document technical details as to the way information systems are implemented:

1. are programmed using utilities no longer used by the enterprise,
2. are programmed in a spreadsheet,
3. that use a unique data format,
4. that are poorly documented, and
5. that are programmed by an employee who has left the company, may be particularly difficult to modify.

• Determine dependencies between systems. Dependencies through links or interfaces determine to a large extent whether a gradual approach towards the changeover is feasible. It is important to realize that not all dependencies are internal (within the enterprise), but that external dependencies (for example with customers or suppliers) might exist as well. Additionally, dependencies between systems greatly increase the complexity of the changeover problems.

Conducting a systems inventory has clear commonalities with the approach taken in dealing with the year 2000 problem and if tackled in this light the synergies can be exploited to help reduce overall costs and efforts.

Introducing new information systems or modifying existing ones is not a routine process in most enterprises. This in combination with the proposed system changeover, which by definition is not routine, leads to certain risks for which the bank needs to be prepared:

• Testing new systems - Changes in the information systems should be adequately tested before these systems are put into operation.

• Data conversion - Sufficient controls should be in place to avoid fraudulent insertion, modification, or deletion of financial information during the conversion of data files. Substantial risks exist, especially, where end users need to revise and correct the data files manually.

• Suspense or clearing accounts - A well known procedure for dealing with exceptional or unsettled transactions and differences is to put them in a suspense or clearing account by giving them a special code. The risk exists that the conversion will give rise to a substantial number of these "suspense" or "clearing" items. These items need to be analyzed and resolved in time to ensure that no irregularities have occurred, particularly where users tend for convenience to classify other differences as conversion differences in the new system.

• Unusual transactions - Many users rely on their experience to recognize and investigate unusual amounts and transactions. After the system conversion it will take some time before they regain these skills.

• Access privileges - Some users (administrative users) may need additional access rights to the information systems in order to resolve changeover differences. Granting too much access rights to a single user could expose the enterprise to risks.