LS-Bank is a full solution for automation of banking activities.

 

The system is built around a unified accounting nucleus and supports all functions of both the country’s Central (National) Bank and any commercial bank.

 

The system operates under DBMS Oracle 8.1 and Windows NT platform. The front-end applications are implemented with Borland C++ and Oracle PL/SQL.

 

LS-Bank supports user interface and data entry in three languages (depending on a particular user’s preference): English, Armenian and Russian. The user interface language is chosen by the user at the setup phase, whereas the data entry language may differ from one entry form to the other.

 

LS-Bank has extended access control features. The access control system has definitions of user, user role and user group. A user may have several roles and belong to several user groups. The rights of a particular user are defined by unification of the rights of his/her roles and participated user groups. Each user or a user group has access to only those objects and functions, which are allowed by the Security Service. Each entry form, window, page, menu item, button, account, client, report, record owner (each record in the database has its owner – creator or master), etc. are considered as a separate object for access. This allows configuration of the system according to the tasks of a particular user.

 

Any change in the database is logged on the level of triggers with registration of the user who did the change and the date/time stamp. For each and every record of the database the system tracks all changes since the record’s creation. This means that for any given moment of time the database status can be restored.

 

The whole data entry process passes several levels of verification and authorization (this may be configured according to a particular Bank’s requirements), e.g. most important data entry operation may get verified by a double entry, get signed by inspectors/managers after visual verification, etc.

 

The transactions are first reflected on the account limits and only after required authorization are reflected on the account balance and general ledger balance.

 

For multi-branch banks the system provides communication between the head office and the divisions. The system has a classical three-star structure. The main functional logic is implemented in PL/SQL. The Application Server undertakes only caching in the local network and for remote users. The data exchange is implemented via Windows Sockets (TCP/IP) by Borland Midas technology. The whole database is organized with orientation to branches (i.e. almost every table has a “Branch” field). The information from branches to the bank’s main database is transferred either online, via the application server (if the branch works directly with the Oracle server of the main office), or, if the Oracle server is placed in the branch – using special import-export feature. The branch application server caches the data received from the main server when working online or gets the data from the local Oracle server, i.e. the branches work according to one of the following schemas:

·      Main Oracle Server ® Main Application ® Branch Application ® Client

·      Branch Oracle Server ® Main Application ® Client.

Oracle server means the server along with software implemented in PL/SQL.

Switching from branch to the other is done through switching the Oracle context, i.e. each branch has access only to its own subset of data.

 

All financial information in the database is kept in a form of pairs of date/time stamp and value, which allows both executing transactions and generating analytical reports.

 

The control over the date of executing financial operation has only administrative implication as any operation for any date is correctly reflected in the general ledger balance.

 

The required complementary information about the financial operations is reflected on the technical accounts, which gives the system users a universal and handy tool for controlling the bank’s operation and getting reports on its activities.

 

The System of Limits allows setting different types of limits on an account or a group of accounts. The list of the limit types can be expanded by the user.

 

LS-Bank supports several report formats: Crystal Reports, MS Excel, Formula1 Book, and Quick Report. All reports are generated into separate from the system’s database files, and therefore, the list of available reports is easily expandable by the user. Nonetheless, when a report is generated, any requested piece of information should pass the access control system. In all these reports the financial and other functions (view, cursors) prepared in PL/SQL can be used.

 

LS-Bank includes the following subsystems:

·        Accounts Plan

·        Customers Look-up

·        Customer Services:

o            operations with customers,

o            operations with cash,

o            private money transfers,

o            loans and deposits,

o            securities,

o            inter-bank operations;

o            hard currency operations.

 

·        Operations with correspondent accounts

·        Document Flow Control:

o         checking for existence of funds on the payee’s account when entering a document;

o         data entry verification via double entry of key parameters;

o         search for a document by any set of parameters and for any valid date;

o         generation of various reports on documents;

o         collection of information on flow of funds on face and balance accounts.

 

·        Currency Operations:

o         every foreign currency account has two balances: in that currency and in the national currency;

o         reevaluation of the hard currency accounts;

o         document entry according to a special exchange rate – different from the official exchange rate set by the Central Bank;

o         for each registered hard currency the system allows calculation of the balance, reflecting operations in a particular currency, as well as information for any set of currencies;

o         automation of the bank’s currency exchange offices

 

·         Loan-Deposit operations provide entry into the system and control on different types of loans and deposits: short term, long term, with different interest and principal payment schedules, credit lines, repot and reverse repot agreements. The system supports any kind of guarantee for loans (including different types of collateral). Interest is automatically calculated and added-up according to the loan agreement, as well as supports capitalization of the interest. Any changes (change in payments schedule, interest rate, calculations in case of late payments) in the loan agreement can easily get reflected in the system. The system keeps the whole history of the loan: all changes in the loan agreement, changes in the interest rates, payments of the interest and the principle, etc. Any loan operation whether it is a financial or non-financial gets authorization.

 

·         Securities Module supports tracking the deals on purchase, sale and pay-off of discount and coupon securities, including pay-offs with irregular payment schedules, automatic add-up of interest earned, etc.

 

·        Inter-Bank Transfers/Payments Module supports making and receiving transfers/payments to/from correspondent accounts with import/export feature which supports most popular formats: SWIFT, the National Data Format, telex, different specialized systems. The system internal data storage format (accounts, banks, amounts, object names) fits the SWIFT standards, which allows easy support of any format similar to SWIFT.

 

·         Private Money Transfer Module supports sending and receiving of money transfers to individuals.

 

·         Automatic Execution of Standard Operations:

o         of reevaluation of hard currency accounts;

o         of writing off the incomes and expenses;

o         of calculation and add-up of interest on loans, credit lines, deposits and other accounts.

 

·         System of Limits allows setting on any account different limits, list of which is expandable by the user.

 

The following picture shows the structural schema of LS-Bank: