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Data Warehousing and Data Mining

notes There may also be inconsistencies due to data integration, where a given attribute can have
different names in different databases. Redundancies may also result.

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Case Study Banco popular
the company
Banco Popular, the largest bank in Puerto Rico, with more then 2 million customers,
recognizes that effective service requires understanding individual needs and responding
to them promptly. That’s why, for the past 17 years, it has used a customer information
system to keep all its employees abreast of its customer relationships.
The bank has achieved steady growth with this approach, but until recently, success had
taken a toll on data system performance. As the bank added more and more customer
and account data to the system, sluggish response times and inconsistent, duplicated,
and nonstandardized data values made it increasingly difficult for employees to access
information.
open Database is key to customer Data system success
By replacing the old system with a new DB2-based system, the bank has built a solid
foundation for staying in tune with its clientele. The customer data system is integrated
with all other applications within the bank, and, working in conjunction with data cleansing
and reengineering software from Trillium Software, provides a complete, unified view of
each customer. A program analyst at Banco Popular said, “Opening a new account once
required several operations. Now it is completed in just one menu function. The DB2-based
system has improved both customer satisfaction and productivity.”
Residing on an IBM platform, the system is the hub of activity at the bank. As many as 50
percent of the 6,000 employees in more then 200 branches depend on it to manage more
than 5.7 million personal and business accounts. Every transaction that requires accessing,
updating, or collecting information on customers is handled by the customer data system.
For example, before opening a new account, customer service associates access the system
to research the customer’s existing relationships with the bank.
Any new customer and account information is then fed into the system, where it can be
used by other divisions of the bank.
Because of the key role the customer data system plays in growing the bank’s business,
Banco Popular insisted that the database at the heart of its new system be both robust and
open. The bank understood it needed a relational database. The main advantage of DB2
among relational databases is that companies can implement any third-party application on
top of it and it will meet expectations. Scalability was equally important to Banco Popular.
In the past, it had been constrained by a system that was unable to keep up with growing
data volumes and number of users. DB2 also gave the bank virtually limitless scalability as
well as high performance.
The bank is confident that its needs will be fulfilled for many years.
The Trillium Software System is used to cleanse and standardize each customer record and
then to identify and match those records against the database.
Banco Popular took advantage of Trillium’s highly customizable business rules to
eliminate duplicate records and develop an accurate view of its current customers and their
relationships with the bank. This has helped the bank establish meaningful and profitable
relationships with its customers. Contd...

160 LoveLy professionaL university