It can be a challenge to maintain in-house Jack Henry™ Symitar® expertise. Core Consulting, launched in 2021, has been helpful to numerous credit unions who were able to gain significant efficiencies by putting into action clear, strategic recommendations. Building on the popular Efficiency Consults, Funded Consults go further by focusing on specific areas that credit unions wish to explore in detail.
“We filled all Efficiency Consult slots in 2022 and are already actively scheduling Funded Consults for 2023,” said Jen Berry, Vice President of Core Conversions & Consulting. “Credit unions who are thinking about taking advantage of core consulting to determine what else is possible and to learn how to maximize their core investment shouldn’t delay in scheduling their spot. Now is a perfect time for them to budget ahead and reserve their spot on the calendar.”
Types of Funded Consultations
With Funded Consultations, credit unions are invited to envision what is possible. Below are some examples of funded consultations that credit unions can pursue. However, a tailored consultation can also be done to align with your credit union’s unique needs.
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General Ledger Evaluation with Branch Accounting Focus
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With a General Ledger (GL) evaluation, together we will review your current chart of accounts, financial statements, GL translation, distribution tables, and batch postings. Using this information, we will provide recommendations for effective reporting. We also review GL account access and accounts payable to gain new efficiencies and to ensure GL postings are clear and precise within each batch job.
- Clean up chart of accounts
- Review GLs against translation table
- Review accruals
- Analyze fixed assets and prepaids
- Complete accounts payable efficiency analysis
- Make GL posting recommendations
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Transfers In & Out
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In this review of your transfer records—including share, loan, IRS, and EFT/payroll transfers—we will analyze all current transfer records and the values contained within each field, as well as complete a review of current exceptions that occur. Our team also will review all related jobs to ensure proper, valuable reports are being created to meet your needs.
- Analysis of all transfer types
- Review batch jobs that run transfers
- Review of all reports (Journal, Exception, Notice of Transfer, Set Transfer, Expiration Journal) and provide analysis of exceptions
- Provide data cleanup recommendations
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Data Permissions and Security Review
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Your data is only as secure as your permissions are within your staff and consoles. This deep-dive review will include reviewing your console, user, and security group setup, as well as reviewing field FM controls and process controls when it comes to accessing accounts or functional areas. Your security and file maintenance journals will also be reviewed to provide the best output possible to ease research in file maintenance and security overrides.
- Analyze all RB.SECURITY.PRIV permissions at user, group, and console levels
- Recommend field restriction possibilities to ensure fields aren’t erroneously changed
- Review print control access permissions
- Discuss restricted permissions within the account records
- Review password settings, override settings, and security reports
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Assessment of Your ACH Process
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Maximizing the member experience and ensuring proper balancing and reconciliation is our goal when reviewing your ACH posting jobs. In this consult, we take a deep dive into your current ACH process, including posting, exceptions, and origination. We also will analyze your lookups and EFT records to ensure the accuracy of each posting.
- Review ACH and origination posting jobs
- Provide updated balancing template for reconciliation of ACH clearing GL
- Review ACH exceptions process
- Shadow staff in processing exception items
- Offer recommendations for efficiencies in posting and reviewing items
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Report Analysis (Core vs. Easy Writer)
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Many reports are available within the core and some may be duplicates of your own reports created through Easy Writer. In this consultation, we will go through each of your Easy Writer reports and provide feedback on core reports that will help you achieve your goals with suggestions for prompts that can be tailored to your needs. We also will explore any manual processes that could be automated.
- Review core reports against Easy Writer reports
- Reduce duplicate reporting and identify missing reports that are needed
- Review core reports run during goodnight process
- Identify Easy Writer reports that can be automated
- Add reporting functionalities and efficiencies
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Ins and Outs of Loan and Membership Processing
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The application process has many moving parts. Reviewing your membership and loan application process to ensure efficiency in creating records and ensuring you have the reports you need for quality control and beyond will be our focus during this consultation. This will include reviewing functionalities within Synergy for document auditing. Together, we will review the workflows, screen definitions, field controls, and your booking process, as well as custom fields and tracking records, to help maintain member data hygiene.
- Discuss current application processes and procedures
- Review application defaults, workflows, and spec file parameters
- Identify changes to make workflows more efficient
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Fee Maximization Review
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Ensuring maximization of your credit union’s income possibilities and ensuring the proper reporting of fees are the key goals of this consultation. We will review your current fee schedule and ensure that your jobs and parameters reflect correct fees and posting accuracy while cleanly providing related reports. We will also offer recommendations on different fee types that could allow for greater income.
- Review current fee structure, reports, and postings
- Compare fee schedule with batch jobs and parameters (ACH, draft, ATM, dormancy, late charge, etc.)
- Review exception reports for inconsistencies
- Review jobs and parameters outside of fee schedule
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Account Cross-Sell Assessment
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Your product and service penetration are as good as your sales culture. To maximize your sales, we will review your current setup to identify any possibilities to enhance your account cross-sell opportunities while allowing for proper reporting and tracking.
- Review current account cross-sell procedures
- Review products/services offered, and criteria set for each
- Review reports to view member profitability and cross-selling efforts
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Annual Data Cleanup
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Data hygiene is an ongoing process to ensure all your data files are accurate and current. While completing ongoing updates as they occur is beneficial, we recommend setting aside dedicated time each year to complete a formal database cleanup. Synergent consulting experts can perform the heavy lifting by analyzing your database, sharing output, and assisting you with a full systematic cleanup.
- Review reports, accounts, postings, vendors, and processes
- Verify account codes and settings
- Cleanup dormant or inaccurate accounts
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Project Management Consultation
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Do you have strategic goals, projects, or implementations you cannot get to? Do you need an extension of your staff to help your team achieve goals on time and within budget? Synergent’s expertise can help you manage progress with a true project plan and set expectations to achieve your goals.
- Create project plan, including complete timeline and resource allocation
- Host project meetings on a frequency that meets the needs of the credit union and any vendors involved
- Provide guidance and expertise to ensure successful completion
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Key Benefits
- Trusted Symitar Expertise: Work with a familiar subject matter expert to learn, understand,
and adopt the latest core features, functionalities, and add-ons. - Strategic Credit Union Growth: Improve performance in operations, management, revenue, and growth strategy. Increase loans and shares while gaining both short- and long-term efficiencies.
- Reduced Friction: Identify how to most efficiently use current products and determine which add-ons can best complement the technology stack in place at your credit union.
- Multiple Consult Areas: Whether a global Efficiency Consult, a detailed Deep Dive Consult, or otherwise, offering multiple consult areas ensures your credit union gets the right assistance, in the right areas, at the right time.
- Holistic Approach: Core consulting takes a 360-view at how the core integrates with existing or new products and services.
Learn More
“Synergent’s provision of hosted Jack Henry™ Symitar® core processing isn’t limited only to the product itself,” explained Berry. “Our team of experts is here to holistically help credit unions as consultants, a single source for core expertise and recommendations. Our goal is to help credit unions improve performance in operations, management, revenue, and growth strategy.”
To learn more about core consulting, or to schedule your consult, please contact Jennifer Berry, Vice President of Core Conversions and Consulting, at jberry@synergentcorp.com.
