Abstract
Supervisory banking institutions are often daunted by the volume and complexity of the data received on a regular basis from filer banks. Chief technology officers and data strategists face challenges as they strive to implement a technology that could facilitate the data collection and processing to produce secure, timely and reliable information for decision making purpose. Technology selection might be a concern for adopting government agencies, but the methodology of developing and implementing technologies could present a bigger challenge. This is due to the fact that government agencies may not adapt easily to new technologies in a timely fashion or accommodate further developments to their current systems while operating under strict budget. To strengthen its bank supervisory role and develop its bank examination applications, the FDIC decided to adopt The Rational Unified Process System Methodology, known as the RUP®. The chapter examines how the FDIC followed the RUP® to develop an existing bank examination tool application to support its risk assessment process.
TopBackground
Organizations can select from a variety of software development methodologies. A software development methodology defines the process, documentation and techniques that could support the system developers to create and implement a new information technology system (Avison & Fitzgerald, 2006). One of the most notable methodologies in software implementation and development is the Rational Unified Process (RUP®). RUP is an agile process framework that has been created by Phillippe, Kruchten, Ivar Jacobsen and others at Rational Corporation and used in many software implementation projects (Jacobson, I. Christenson, M., Jonsson, P. & Overgaard, G., 1990; Kroll & Kruchten, 2003). The agility component of RUP® framework provides a detailed description of the process requirements which are needed for an agile methodology, often characteristics by its adaptive, straightforward, incremental, and cooperative features (Callahan, 2006). In addition, it is a software engineering process framework that could be used as a best practice for supporting software development projects. The structured approach of RUP® allows system developers to assign tasks and create milestones for deliverables based on predicable schedule and budget (IBM, 2006).
Key Terms in this Chapter
Agile: A group of software development methods based on iterative and incremental development, where requirements and solutions are created through collaboration of cross-functional teams.
Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council (FFIEC): It is a formal inter-agency government body that create principles, standards and report forms for the federal examination of financial institutions by the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the National Credit Union Administration, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC): It is an independent government agency of the U.S. government that protects customer’s deposits in insured banks and depository institutions.
Stakeholder: A representative group of people and organizations that share a common interest in the organization. In the FDIC context, stakeholders include clients, employees, vendors, banks, and regulators.
Rational Unified Process (RUP): A comprehensive and standard process framework that provides best practices for software implementation and development to support project management.
Examination Tool Suite (ETS): It is a primary examination tool used by the FDIC’s Division of Risk Management Supervision to produce the FDIC’s Report of Examination.
System Development Life Cycle (SDLC): A comprehensive iterative methodology that drives the implementation of new systems through planning, requirement analysis, designing, building, implementing, testing and maintenance.