QUESTIONS WE ARE ASKED FIRST

Verstand Consulting Ltd provides independent Sopra Banking Software (SBS) configuration for UK building societies, drawing on over a decade of hands-on experience gained both inside societies and with financial software developers. Work covers set-up review, product build and parameter design across the core savings and mortgage estate.

Not necessarily, but most mid-sized societies find their change teams are already committed. We supplement an in-house team on MSO work — requirements, decisioning and workflow configuration, and testing support — rather than replacing it. We have experience on the vendor side, from implementing and integrating MSO into client back office systems, as well as from a client side.

Yes. Migration is the point at which configuration knowledge and data knowledge both become necessary, and most societies find they are strong in one and stretched in the other. We support target-state design, data mapping and build, reconciliation, and testing through to cutover — including SaaS transitions.

Principally UK building societies with £0.5bn to £3bn in total assets: large enough to run a complex platform estate, small enough that the change function is a handful of people rather than a department. Smaller societies and software vendors are also supported where the work fits.

A review of the existing application configuration and the data within it, conducted with the teams who use the system daily. It produces documented findings, a prioritised list of configuration changes, and an assessment of which requirements the platform can already meet without development.

We mostly work with Sopra Banking Software (SBS), the Mortgage & Sales Originations (MSO) platform — now part of Finova, previously an Iress product — and Phoebus. We will also work with other back office systems, along with Oracle and SQL databases and reporting layers that surround them.

Either as a fixed-scope piece of work or as day-rate business analysis support across the life of a project. Scope and cost are agreed in writing before work begins.

Both. Requirements gathering and design workshops are often more productive on-site with the teams involved; configuration, documentation and testing support are usually delivered remotely.

A scoping conversation can usually be held within a week of enquiry. Availability for delivery is confirmed at that point, along with a written scope and cost.