Profiled:

Northern Rock

3 August 2007

Northern Rock is listed in the FT-SE 100 index of leading companies and is the largest financial institution based in the North East of England. Northern Rock is a specialised residential mortgage lending and savings bank, and offers a wide portfolio of products to meet changing customer needs. It operates a diverse distribution network consisting of around 80 branches, which include traditional branches, specialist mortgage branches, postal, telephone and Internet operations. A large proportion of its residential mortgage business is sourced through the UK financial intermediary market.

In response to a number of business factors including growth, cost reduction, better service and the desire to provide an improved, more efficient proposition for intermediaries, Northern Rock wanted to equip its intermediaries with an online mortgage point of sale and tracking system that would simplify and speed up the mortgage approval process, reduce the need for paper based applications and increase customer satisfaction. To do this, Northern Rock decided to introduce a new application to better leverage its intermediary channel - "Northern Rock Online" - the 'NRO' system.

To ensure optimum use, the system had to be robust, efficient, secure, offer high performance, and provide a first class user experience. Together with their IT partner, iMeta Technologies, Northern Rock designed a solution that would enable intermediaries to submit business directly to Northern Rock.

The technologies employed to deliver this solution revolved around the .NET Windows Smart Client, communicating with .NET SOAP Web Services. The main challenge lay in ensuring accurate and performance- oriented communication throughout all tiers of the architecture, but particularly with the clustered J2EE Application Servers and Oracle database server which in turn moved data to Northern Rock's core mortgage processing platform through MSMQ. The integrity of the data messages and the timely delivery and retrieval of those messages (some 5,000 per day) was and still is, paramount.

The initial project team size was 7 persons - 4 from iMeta and 3 from Northern Rock. This expanded in line with an increase in complexity and scope to an average of 20, not including senior management. The team was composed of a number of technical developers; several project managers, both technical and business-focused testers and several business analysts. Intra - team relationships and communication were key factors of success, especially in view of the geographical distance between the two parts of the teams. Northern Rock and iMeta worked hard at getting the processes right.

The project went into a pilot release phase then into full release. There have subsequently been an additional 10 phased releases and more are planned

The business rules underpinning the system allow intermediaries to follow their natural work patterns, i.e. the system does not force the user to follow a pre-defined process, with fast turnaround for an online Decision in Principle (DIP) potentially a matter of minutes

The design encourages maximum take-up of the application and, to date, approaching 90 per cent of Northern Rock's intermediary population have installed the application.

The software is a Microsoft .NET Smart Client application, which allows the users to work offline, fill out application forms, validate the quality of data entry, and track the progress of submitted cases. A sophisticated security model protects the client's data. A web-based administration portal allows Northern Rock to easily administer users, generate single-use passwords, and track auditing information.

The success of this system is highlighted by the fact that it is now Northern Rock's primary distribution channel for new business. The system enables Northern Rock to control costs and exchange high quality information in a timely manner, which ultimately benefits the consumer and its stakeholders including intermediaries, shareholders, and employees.

"Because of its comprehensive feature-set, in-built efficiencies and user- friendly interface, the solution provided by iMeta delivers clear value to our intermediaries, which ultimately filters through to our end customers," says Peter Atkinson, spokesperson for Northern Rock.