Case Studies

Computer Room Fire Sparks Centurion into Action at Valley Bank & Trust

Client Profile
Institution: Valley Bank & Trust
Address: 30 N. 4th Avenue, Brighton, CO 80601
Telephone: (303) 659-5450
Web site: www.valleybankandtrust.com
Vice President/Cashier: Cricket Kobza
Bank Assets: $156 million
Date Founded: 1971
Locations: 10
Employees: 128
Jack Henry & Associates Software Solutions:
   CIF 20/20™ core processing
   NetTeller Online Banking™
   NetTeller Cash Management™
   PassPort™ ATM

March 19, 1999. The day is emblazoned upon the minds of employees at Valley Bank & Trust. It was in the dark hours of the early morning that an electrical fire ripped through the bank's computer room, destroying everything in its path. The AS/400, proof machines, network equipment, printers, copiers, and fax machines all were melted.

But this story has a happy ending. While the episode was a traumatic one, it did not devastate the Colorado financial institution. In fact, eighty percent of the bank's customers were not even aware that the fire had occurred, as there was no interruption in service.

Bank Plans Ahead with Centurion
Valley Bank & Trust had prepared with a business recovery plan. Critical to that recovery was the role of Jack Henry's Centurion™ Disaster Recovery Division. "We saw our relationship with Centurion as an insurance policy," says Cricket Kobza, Vice President/Cashier at Valley Bank & Trust. "They know the Jack Henry software and, unlike many vendors, support the AS/400."

So a relationship was forged in 1997, and Centurion contracted to handle the bank's processing at one of its recovery centers, should a disaster occur.

Valley Bank & Trust began a regimen of annual testing at Centurion's Englewood, Colorado recovery center, or "hot site." Because the bank uses a third party vendor for item processing, the only testing involved Jack Henry's 20/20 core solution on the AS/400. Results were consistently successful. Therefore, when Kobza's phone rang at 1:30 a.m., that fateful spring morning, Valley Bank & Trust was ready.

"We didn't lose any customer data, nor did we lose any customers as a result of the fire. Centurion made the recovery process seamless and transparent to our customers."
          Cricket Kobza
          Vice President/Cashier
          Valley Bank & Trust

Centurion Takes Over
Once the initial commotion had dissipated, Kobza contacted Centurion to report the disaster. The fact that it was 4:00 a.m. was not a concern. The disaster recovery vendor is on call 24/7 to handle such catastrophic situations.

The Centurion representative walked Kobza through the steps to be taken and the recovery procedure was set in motion. Backup tapes containing all the bank's systems and customer data were taken from storage at a branch office and put on a plane to Springfield, Missouri. The recovery would be performed at Centurion's Monett facility, as the AS/400 at Englewood was testing for Y2K.

Centurion restored from those tapes and re-ran that Thursday night's processing to ensure everything balanced. By the time Kobza and her team arrived in Monett on Sunday morning, they were ready to run Friday's business.

Recovering from Third Party Processors
Centurion was likewise prepared to work with the third party item-processing vendor, as Jack Henry had written the necessary program at the time of the bank's conversion to 20/20. Now, a dialup line was established to transmit a file between Monett and the third party processor.

Check processing files were downloaded and run, along with the night's processing. Reports were balanced and hard copies sent to branches to conduct business on Monday. The branches then ran off of paper trial balances. If information was needed, they called the Monett office for account or customer information.

It was four days, however, before correct posting information was delivered via the bank's ATM system. At the time of the fire, Valley Bank & Trust was not yet on PassPort, Jack Henry's ATM solution. Consequently, ATM processing had not been previously tested at the Centurion recovery center. After the March 19th disaster, some of the transactions double-posted, while others did not post at all.

Centurion stepped in to rectify the situation, working closely with programmers from the outside ATM processing vendor. Centurion rewrote a program, which reversed all the double coded entries so it would not have to be done manually. "Centurion worked very well with other vendors, doing whatever it took to get us back up and running," asserts Kobza.

Meanwhile, back at the bank...
Three days following the fire, the Valley Bank & Trust's main office had two computers linked to Monett through a Hyperterm connection. Employees could then conduct business such as inputting new accounts or loans and pulling up account information.

Other functions were handled manually, faxing data regarding insufficient funds and the like to Monett where they were processed on the Centurion system. Once the night processing was completed in Monett, everything was boxed up and flown from Springfield to Denver, so that reports were delayed by only one day.

"Our Centurion representative worked diligently from 8:00 in the morning, until sometimes 4:00 or 5:00 the following morning. Technical support was excellent." ­ Cricket Kobza

The Centurion Expertise
A delay in replacing the AS/400 at Valley Bank & Trust kept Kobza in Monett for two weeks, running the bank's processing from the Centurion site. The Monett facility was well equipped with showers and beds to accommodate Kobza and her team. Most importantly, Centurion was equipped with a knowledgeable staff. "Our Centurion representative worked diligently from 8:00 in the morning, until sometimes 4:00 or 5:00 the following morning," recounts Kobza. "Technical support was excellent."

According to Kobza, "It is essential for banks to contract with a vendor for recovery center service. Reciprocal agreements between institutions to process work for one another in the event of a disaster are not feasible. The nightly processing load for two banks is simply too great."

Centurion easily handled the processing requirements of Valley Bank & Trust so that the day-to-day business of banking could move forward smoothly. "We didn't lose any customer data, nor did we lose any customers as a result of the fire," Kobza reports. "Centurion made the recovery process seamless and transparent to our customers."

Valley Bank & Trust has recently turned to Centurion once again for its expertise. The Jack Henry disaster recovery division is now engaged with the bank to revise its business recovery plan to meet FDIC requirements. Indeed, Centurion has proved to be an asset the bank can't do without.

By Marsha Cansler