IT Strategic Planning and Major Project Implementation

Situation

Scotia Dealer Advantage Inc. (formerly Travelers Leasing Corporation) is the leader in sub-prime auto financing in Canada. Scotia Dealer Advantage Inc. (SDA) used web-based applications linking them to dealerships across Canada to drive phenomenal growth. Continued growth had substantially outgrown their technology platforms and IT capabilities. SDA’s aggressive plans to increase credit application handling, collections processing and access to new markets required an increasingly complex information management structure. SDA needed help in assessing their business requirements and current technology gaps in order to develop an appropriate IT strategy.

Business Challenge

SDA had unsuccessfully sought a variety of resources to help understand and bridge their technology gaps prior to finding KLR. While SDA understood their need for a number of new systems, it was unclear how these could be successfully implemented given their extremely tight timelines, fast-moving environment and limited resources.

Solution

KLR was able to quickly understand the broad business and technology issues, and subsequently undertook a comprehensive technology and systems review. A ‘transitional’ IT function was designed, with a view to passing back to Scotia Dealer Advantage a secure and viable steady state for the future. KLR’s proposed solution was adopted. KLR worked closely with SDA to build a lean and responsive IT department able to facilitate all business and technical systems enhancements, while building the structures and disciplines necessary for future success.

Results

In a short four months, under KLR’s project leadership, SDA was able to maximize internal skills and knowledge to implement a mission critical application. The project was an outsourced, web-based ‘middleware’ solution to consolidate and standardize all Internet credit applications. This system provided credit intelligence, scoring, and adjudication; with interfaces to external portals, credit bureaus and internal accounting systems. KLR also managed several other important projects including requirements analysis and vendor selection for a new Collections System, development of a comprehensive Data Warehouse to enable real-time credit and management information reporting, development of an Intranet site and management of a complete infrastructure upgrade. IT Governance was also enhanced with a comprehensive change control process for internal and third party system changes; formal project approvals; project steering committee; and an industry-standard project management and delivery lifecycle plan.

KLR’s commitment to Scotia Dealer Advantage continues with the management of several initiatives including the collections system implementation, data warehouse self serve reports adoption, and ongoing enhancements to the middleware system.

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