Client Success Stories

COCC Delivers Daily Automated Eliminations for The Washington Trust Company

As Washington Trust grew its market share and customer base, the need for a sophisticated accounting system became abundantly clear.

“I knew that Oracle Financials was the right product for our bank,” said Maria Janes, Vice President and Controller for The Washington Trust Company. “But I also knew that adapting Oracle to the needs of a community bank with a complex corporate structure was going to be tough. Then we met COCC.”

COCC impressed Washington Trust with the features of its ASP version of Oracle Financials as well as the cost savings in implementation and software acquisition. “COCC’s experience with Oracle Financials, the considerable savings in installation, and overall knowledge of the system convinced us that outsourcing was the right way to go,” said Ms. Janes.

But Ms. Janes had a request that no other vendor could accommodate: a daily automated elimination process. “I had resolved that I would not endure the challenge of an accounting system conversion without the benefit of automated eliminations on a daily basis!” said Janes.

COCC’s Oracle team went to work on Washington Trust’s request and developed a proposal that covered everything the bank wanted in daily eliminations. “Oracle’s ‘out of the box’ product did not have a solution,” Ms. Janes recalled. “And here was a company in Avon, Connecticut that understood the problem, knew how to solve it, and worked with us to deliver everything they promised.”

Washington Trust converted to COCC’s Oracle Financials in November, 2006, and validated the new eliminations process by

loading 18 months of history and comparing COCC’s consolidated reports to the bank’s historical reports. Ms. Janes said the COCC solution worked perfectly.

COCC estimates that an in-house installation of Oracle Financials at Washington Trust would have taken more than six months to accomplish and cost in excess of $200,000 when consultants and database administrators’ time were considered. COCC’s implementation of Oracle Financials saved Washington Trust substantial costs and time. The new solution was up and running within three months.

COCC’s implementation also reduces ongoing expenses since the company manages version upgrades and confers with the bank on the changes before they appear on Washington Trust’s desktops. “If we have questions, we can ask COCC’s bank accounting specialists who know the system inside and out,” said Ms. Janes.

“Since the conversion, we have been able to focus on what we should be focused on – financial accounting, rather than the mechanical process of consolidating our subsidiaries,” she said. “We save about six hours each month performing and verifying the consolidation process. Because we now have consolidated results on a daily basis, we can resolve issues on the spot. Oracle is a terrific time-saver.”

Ms. Janes added that the reporting and direct access to the General Ledger via Excel are very powerful features, and perfect for her next projects which include completing the month-end management reporting package within hours of receiving the final COCC consolidation report. “We’re almost there,” she said. “And this is just the beginning!”