Madison Associates LLC

Each time clients import data from their core system they will want to reconcile totals in Madison to totals in the core. Madison helps this process in two ways.

First, if loans in the import file could not be imported, Madison provides a list of each loan, collateral or borrower that could not be imported along with the reason why it was not imported so that user can easily identify and correct import errors. When that step is done, totals in Madison should be the same as totals in the core.

Second, but that may not always be the case. The import file may not have included a loan or two that should have been in the file. Or some loans that should have been marked as paid off may not have been marked. Issues such as this give rise to reconciliation differences.

To assist in identifying the source of the difference it is useful to present lists and subtotals of loans in Madison that match similar lists and subtotals in the core. For example, most core systems have groupings of loan types that may be called class codes, minors, or other terms that signify a very granular grouping of loans. Madison often has these values in the loan category field so that reports can be grouped by loan category and then the subtotals compared to comparable subtotals in the core to discover the source of the difference. Since there is often a much small number of loans in these grouping it is much easier to identify the source of the difference.

While an important reason for the acquisition of a commercial loan system is the need for better risk management analytics, the impact on productivity should not be overlooked.

With commercial lending, many hands will touch a loan from origination through closing and on to portfolio administration and risk management. In many cases, each set of hands looks at a loan from its own perspective associated with its business function. The information that each set of users wants to see about a loan will be different and the work or analysis that they perform will differ.

Consequently it is not uncommon for each set of hands to rekey information about the loan into a Word document or Excel spreadsheet or Access database. Each time the same information is rekeyed, efficiency is lost.

And when one set of users wants to see information that has been assembled by another user or group of users, the information is requested often by email or a voice mail, with hours or days lost as one person finds time to pass on information to another person. Time lost further reduces efficiency.

The ability to provide effective reporting is diminished when little information resides in a central database so the time is devoted to pulling together information from many sources to support reporting requirements and portfolio risk management analysis.

Operating with information in a central, shared database can have a significant positive impact on productivity. Information can be accessed more quickly, reports prepared more efficiently, and risk management analysis performed that could not have been performed if data were scattered throughout the organization. Productivity can be further improved by metrics that display the time required to complete each step in the lending process and productivity measures such volume per person.

Saving and Sharing Documents

Windows Navigation – Find it Fast!

Overview: Here are a couple of hints about windows navigation features that can help with the Madison System or any other Windows based system.

Finding an Item in a Long List

If you are presented with a long list of items, such as a list of loans and want to find one loan, you can depress the �Control� key and the �f � key at the same time which will open a �Find� dialog box. You can type into it what you are looking for, say a loan number, and then click �Next�. The next item with that number will be highlighted on your screen.

Selecting Items from a Multiple Pick Drop Down List

There are two type of drop down lists. One allows you to select only one item from the list; this note is not about that kind of list. The other type allows you to select multiple items from the lists. To do so you can depress the control key and then put your mouse on an item to be selected and do a left click on your mouse. With the control key still depressed, put the cursor on the next item and left click again. Continue with the Control key depressed and selecting all the items you want.

If the list is long, you may need to scroll down the list to see all items in the window that displays the list items. To do so, use the scroll bar that is usually on the right side of the display box that contains the list of items. Don�t use the up and down arrows to move down the list.