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Case Study: Envision Financial – Redfrog Application Development

Envision Financial is among Canada's largest credit unions, with $3.0 billion in assets under administration, nearly 100,000 member-owners and nearly 800 employees. There are 18 branches and 19 insurance offices throughout B.C., with two additional branches scheduled to open in 2007.

Envision Financial has been providing British Columbians with locally-responsive decision making, exceptional service and innovative products for over 60 year and has been named one of the 50 Best Employers in Canada five years running.

Background & Business Requirements

Dedicated to innovation, Envision decided to focus its energies on the creation of a new and unique mortgage product – one that wasn’t offered by any other credit union or bank in Canada. After conducting extensive research into the target market demographics, Envision was able to build a detailed, comprehensive business case for a highly, marketable product they named REDFROG.

Unlike competitive mortgage offerings that are based on daily interest, Redfrog would offer clients a revolutionary, all-inclusive account that would let the mortgage holder manage his or her mortgage like a line of credit. Money could be deposited in the Redfrog account and drawn out when needed. The longer the money remained unspent, the less interest would be owed and the more money, saved. At the end of the month, daily interest charges would be added up and the total amount debited from the Redfrog account. Ultimately, the typical mortgage holder would save thousands of dollars in interest and live mortgage-free sooner.

Annex was selected from more than 20 companies invited to participate in the competitive tender process which was seeking a qualified firm to assist with the development and implementation of this revolutionary new product.

The Annex Way – Delivering Results

Annex conducted more than a dozen workshops with the client in order to prepare detailed business requirements and to lead the design of the new on-line mortgage product.

Then a 10-member team was assembled to develop the n-tier distributed system using Microsoft's .NET Framework.

Over the course of 15 months, Annex professionals dedicated themselves to the creation of a superior deliverable. Following the tenets of the Rational Unified Process (RUP) for .NET development methodology, and working with a number of third parties (banking system vendor, web design team, marketing group, banking statement outsourcer), Annex delivered the entire Redfrog application including a complete, complex interface to Envision’s core banking system.

The end product not only satisfied the client but also the rigours of both an architecture audit and strict financial systems security audit. Prior to a wider roll-out, pilot projects were conducted in specific target markets before the product was released to the general public.

After an extensive media campaign launched the Redfrog product to the general public, Annex continued to provide on-call support for the product following implementation. Eventually, Annex trained Envision IT staff and successfully transitioned all product support to in-house resources. The transition to client-based support was smooth and seamless.

Another Satisfied Customer

Annex was selected through a competitive RFP process. Their approach was one of partnership – they did not feel or act like a supplier. They worried about the same issues we did and proactively brought recommended solutions in order to solve problems. Their staff was professional and engaged. I would be pleased to work with Annex again and would not hesitate to recommend them.

Though benefits were numerous, Envision is most reassured by the fact that Redfrog is the most successful product ever developed by their credit union. It reached its 5-year goal for number of mortgages in only 16 months. It has over-achieved on all of its profitability targets and is so successful that Envision spent its entire marketing budget for the fiscal year on this one product alone.

The product was also a finalist for the Technology of the Year award for CIO’s Association of Canada. It was a finalist for Credit Union Central of BC’s Innovation Award and was nominated for both the Canadian Award for Innovation and Excellence in Financial Services as well as the North American Award for Innovation and Excellence in Financial Services.

For more information about Redfrog, visit www.redfrog.ca