Case Studies

Financial Institutions Inc. and Centurion Team Up to Maximize Disaster Recovery

Client Profile
Institution: Financial Institutions, Inc.
Address: 220 Liberty St., Warsaw, New York 14569
Telephone: (716) 786-1100
Web site: www.fiiwarsaw.com
Data Processing Manager: Dave Shiel
Bank Assets: $2 billion
Date Founded: 1931
Banks Owned: 5
Employees: 800
Jack Henry & Associates Software Solutions:
   Silverlake System® core processing
   Streamline Platform Automation™
   ImageMAX™ Check Imaging
   NetTeller Online Banking™
   NetTeller Cash Management™
   NetTeller Bill Pay™
   Silhouette Document Imaging™
   Passport™ ATM and Transaction Processing Software
   PinPoint Report Retrieval™
   Centurion Disaster Recovery™

A financial institution disaster scenario can appear in many forms. By their very nature, catastrophic events are almost always unexpected. For Financial Institutions, Inc. (FII), however, the element of the unknown has been removed from the recovery equation - thanks to a partnership with Jack Henry & Associates' Centurion Disaster Recovery™ Division.

State-of-the-art technology and personalized customer service define FII, created in 1931 to facilitate the management of three New York banks. Today, the $2 billion, five-bank holding company utilizes technology to fortify itself against disaster.

Centurion Demonstrates Recovery Expertise
It was in 2001 that FII turned to Centurion to handle annual testing. "Jack Henry is our software vendor," says Dave Shiel, Data Processing Manager at FII. "It made sense to go with the recovery services group that knows our bank."

Centurion's knowledge proved to be invaluable as FII prepared for its first test at the Jack Henry group's recovery center in Angola, Indiana. "Preplanning prevented any unknowns from coming up," explains Shiel. "Centurion was very thorough in its documentation, telling us what they needed and when. We followed the instructions given and had no problem meeting the necessary criteria."

Shiel and his team created the required tapes and reports and sent them to the Angola site. Centurion reloaded the bank's system onto the AS/400 and set up POD transactions on the sorter prior to Shiel's arrival. Networking issues had been discussed ahead of time and IP addresses sent to Centurion in order to link the bank through an ISDN line.

Testing Meets FII Objectives
Shiel and one other individual from FII arrived at the recovery center at 3:00 one afternoon and the test was completed by 1:00 p.m. the following day. Including prep time spent by Centurion personnel before the test was actually performed, Shiel estimates the entire process took 12 to 14 hours.

He outlines FII expectations. "Our goal was to run a day-end process for one of our banks, the accounts payable process for all five banks, and to get NetTeller, the ATMs, report printing and PC communications up and running at our remote branch location. We accomplished all that we set out to do."

FII is also working with a third party vendor to run a disaster site in Buffalo, New York for the bank's network. Because the site was not yet operational at the time of the first Centurion test, ATM communications required a special ISDN line to Angola. Centurion set up the required line and properly configured the necessary routers. "Centurion's communications expertise was excellent," notes Shiel.

"Our goal was to run a day-end process for one of our banks, the accounts payable process for all five banks, and to get NetTeller, the ATMs, report printing and PC communications up and running at our remote branch location. We accomplished all that we set out to do."
          Dave Shiel
          Data Processing Manager
          Financial Institutions, Inc.

Future Testing
Shiel plans to expand testing next year by simulating an actual disaster. Rather than sending tapes and data to the Centurion site ahead of time, the FII disaster recovery team will bring everything required at the time of testing. Tapes will be loaded and the sorter set up upon arrival for a more realistic scenario. Shiel plans to set aside two days for the more complete test, which will also include imaging.

Since the network hot site in Buffalo will be running at that time, Centurion has already been a part of multiple meetings to help establish lines and communication requirements. Shiel is pleased with the ease at which the Jack Henry group has collaborated with the third party network recovery vendor. "Centurion has been very proactive in making sure that our disaster recovery process works well."

"Centurion personnel were well prepared, very attentive and met all of our needs." - Dave Shiel

Prepared for Anything
Shiel is confident that it does work well. "If we were to go through a crash situation right now, I have no doubt we would have our systems up and running again in less than 24 hours - and that includes drive time to the recovery site."

Centurion proved itself through unsurpassed support and product knowledge. "Centurion personnel were well prepared, very attentive and met all of our needs," asserts Shiel.

He also notes that the testing procedure ran without the typical "snafus" one normally expects to encounter. "The greatest advantage the Centurion staff brought us was their knowledge of the software's internal code. Every time something hiccupped in a run, they knew exactly where to look and how to fix it."

Shiel concludes, "I strongly commend Centurion's efforts. They were excellent to work with."

By Marsha Cansler