AZL

Valid helps AZL bring pension administration to the cloud

AZL is a large-scale pension administrator, which decided to outsource systems and services that are not part of its core business. When the in-house developed disbursement or excasso system - dating back to the 1990s - was in need of renewal, Valid was asked to contribute. The system also had to be brought to the cloud. An extensive job that was completed successfully despite great time pressure.

Context: it starts with a clear vision of IT

The pension system is in a state of flux. This requires a lot of flexibility and scalability in execution. Both business processes and supporting IT must be able to keep up with change. Reliability is one of the reasons clients choose AZL. Correct and efficient administration is an absolute must for good pension administration. This is what both clients and employees expect.

On the IT front, AZL chooses:

  • Modular infrastructure
  • Separating data and applications
  • Cloud-first
  • Outsourcing of non-core activities

"Our IT strategy is all about the core administration. The essence is that we have building blocks with which we can go in different directions." So says Edward Heijkers, Director of IT at AZL. "Our IT systems are designed to be flexible so that they can easily be adapted and meet future functional needs and requirements in view of the new pension system."

Separating functionality from data makes it much easier to outsource all or part of IT. The choice of cloud is weighty, in part because the Dutch Central Bank, as the regulator, has tough requirements.

AZL office building
Valid - business 2
Challenge: replace excasso system 100 percent correctly

AZL has decided to outsource systems and services that are not part of its core business. The gross/net calculation as part of pension payout, is one example. The existing excasso system had to be updated annually, in part because of changes in tax rates and tax laws. When the system was due for renewal, it made sense to outsource functionality and maintenance.

AZL chose Visma's external cloud-based excasso system after an extensive selection process. An internal project team then began preparing for implementation with Visma. "The excasso system is important for pension payments and value transfers, among other things. These are essential processes for AZL, but they are not part of our core business," Heijkers explains. "So we came to the conclusion that outsourcing was an excellent solution. The objective here was clear: a guaranteed 100 percent correct transition from the current situation to the new stable situation, supported by the new system."

Benefit of cooperation: project floated

Due to a change in project management within AZL, Ernst Heymans became involved in the project as Valid's external project manager. This service provider has a long-term relationship with AZL. The pension administrator uses IT services and project management from Valid. Upon taking over the project - four months before its intended delivery - Heymans quickly came to the conclusion that while a lot of work was being done, there were still too many steps to be completed on time.

Heijkers: "The message that it was better to postpone the migration was not what we had wanted to hear, but we quickly made the choice to follow the advice. We preferred to focus on accuracy and completeness rather than speed. Because of the open way of communicating and the thorough content coordination with Valid, we were confident that the project would still be successful."

Heymans drew up a plan to still bring the project to fruition. The five-phase plan consisted of:

A: Identify gaps and improve designs in the areas of process design, conversion strategy and conversion control, and interface design with Visma.

B: Improvement and expansion of already developed software for conversion and monitoring.

C: Conversion and Integration Testing.

D: Preparation for implementation.

E: Hypercare period after implementation.

"Because of the open manner of communication and thorough content coordination with Valid, we had every confidence in the migration."

Edward Heijkers Director of ICT AZL
Valid - female male workplace
Valid - woman man consultation workplace
Solution: tight project management

During the implementation of the five-phase plan, attention to all areas of project management was key. Keeping focus on the deadline, anticipating and continuously adjusting the schedule and budget were an absolute must. Together with AZL's Risk Management department, risk analysis and mitigating measures were drawn up, and continuous monitoring was carried out. The project manager and his team kept the internal and external organizations well informed.

Much time was spent in setting up and running the various tests. The conversion was done in completeness using a production file of all funds (over 196,000 participants).Speed was necessary because available was limited. The implementation roadmap consisted of over three thousand activities and checks, which were performed in a short period of time.

The result: implementation successful

The approach and outcomes were reviewed and approved by an independent auditor. The data migration was performed exactly within the time frame of the scheduled ten business days. Conversion issues were accurately tracked and resolved on a daily basis. Heymans: "The first pension payments with the new excasso system were of course crucial."

The new environment went live on time the 100 percent correct transition to the new excasso system was thus a reality. It produced no noticeable difference for the hundreds of thousands of pensioners, except for a small cosmetic change in the description on the bank statement. The pension funds didn't notice it in practice either. That was the point," concludes Heijkers.

AZL
  • Exists for over 55 years
  • Advises more than 50 large and small pension funds and handles their administration
  • There are thousands of employers affiliated with these funds and a total of some 1.5 million employees
  • More than 600 employees
Added value Valid
  • Tight but not rigid project management
  • Open communication
  • Intensive coordination and cooperation with the external supplier
  • Added value throughout all phases of the project
  • Knowledge of business
  • Result-oriented
  • Teamwork