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Cedacri S.p.A., based in Collecchio near Parma, is the largest independent data center for the financial services industry in Italy and currently supports more than 70 banks with its service portfolio.
In 2009, Cedacri S.p.A. decided to expand its service offering to its customers in the area of financial controlling by involving a third party standard software. The goal was to provide customers with a web-based platform offering a state-of-the-art controlling solution. On account of zeb's contacts in Italy, Cedacri S.p.A. became aware of the range of services offered by zeb. In the autumn of 2009, a project was set up with zeb with the objective of implementing a controlling platform at Cedacri S.p.A. by the end of 2010 based on zeb.control and to gradually roll out this solution to customers of Cedacri S.p.A. Specifically, the following modules from the zeb.control family were implemented:
Beyond the specific project, Cedacri S.p.A. and zeb formed a partnership to develop and distribute zeb.control in the Italian market with the objective to tailor zeb.control to the specific requirements of the Italian banking market and win more customers.
With the start of the project in September 2009, a specification phase with Cedacri S.p.A., zeb and two pilot banks (the Südtiroler Sparkasse AG in Bozen and the banking group Banco di Desio e della Brianza in Milan) was performed. In this phase the functional content of the solution to be implemented was clarified. In particular, the project team checked the existing controlling solution at Cedacri S.p.A. and the specific requirements of the Italian banks for a controlling solution. As a result, the project deliverables were expanded to include further individual custom functionalities tailored to the Italian market, e.g., individual standard reporting, Italian language in all applications, reconciliation between controlling and accounting, IFRS segment reporting, implementation of a corporate perspective. Based on these results, a joint project team of Cedacri and zeb employees conceptualised, implemented and tested the specified controlling solution on the basis of zeb.control according to the client’s precise requirements. In parallel, the development department of zeb in Münster upgraded zeb.control to support the new functionalities. Particular care was needed to manage the complex data landscape at Cedacri S.p.A. with its 43 different delivery systems and to develop a quality-assured database for the new controlling solution. With zeb.control, a comprehensive data-management process to ensure data quality and to support continuous improvement in data quality was installed. As a provider of IT services, it is important for Cedacri S.p.A. to operate and develop the controlling solution independently after completing the project. Therefore, a know-how transfer to Cedacri S.p.A. staff was set up. This consisted on the one hand of trainings for Cedracri S.p.A staff on the functional and technical zeb.control architecture and on the other hand of the practice of continuous cooperation between Cedacri S.p.A. and zeb during the project. On this basis, Cedacri S.p.A. already began independently developing additional applications for daily branch management and marketing support on the zeb.control platform within.
These functionalities were fully integrated with the zeb.control standard modules on the web. In January 2011, the new controlling solution from Cedacri S.p.A. went live with the first pilot bank. This success was only possible due to the intensive collaboration of Cedacri S.p.A., zeb and the pilot banks during the implementation phase.
With the successful project implementation, achieved by combining the controlling and solution-based expertise of zeb with the country-specific know-how of Cedacri S.p.A. and the pilot banks, the partners could realise a high-performance bank controlling platform for Italian banks. Given the flexibility of zeb.control, further requirements can be integrated into the solution and the controlling application landscape can be developed dynamically. The project participants are convinced that the implemented solution is of interest to other Italian banks and represents a successful launch of the joint partnership in the Italian market.
