Technology

Case Study: Microsoft

Credit reference agency achieves rapid time to market with database software
Posted: 11/09/2007

Callcredit is a United Kingdom credit reference agency that supplies information to lenders to help them establish an individual's credit history and make more responsible decisions throughout the customer lifecycle. This involves processing 300 million data items, such as address and account details, per month. In the development of its credit reference solution, Callcredit needed a database that could handle massive, and ever expanding, data volumes. Once in the database, information has to be available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. The IT team originally deployed Microsoft® SQL ServerTM version 7.0 as its database software, upgrading to SQL Server 2000 and SQL Server 2005. Using Microsoft technology, Callcredit achieved a rapid arrival in the marketplace. Its credit system runs at a constant level of high performance, providing comprehensive, real-time information to client organisations.

Situation

Callcredit, a subsidiary of Skipton Building Society, is one of the United Kingdom's three credit reference agencies. The company provides information services to organisations and individuals to help them manage financial decisions. Headquartered in Leeds, Callcredit employs more than 200 people with a client base that includes banks, building societies, legal firms, finance houses, telecoms operators, and utility companies.

“Our competitors with mainframe-based solutions have taken 20 years to establish the type of system that, through our choice of technology, we've created in seven years.”

Mark Davison - Group Technology Deveopment Director

The agency supplies organisations with web-based customer information so they can establish an individual's credit history and monitor events that may be indicators of credit risk. The main service supports consumer requests such as taking out a mortgage or applying for a credit card. Consumers can also access their personal credit reports through the company's consumer Web site Callcredit Check.

Callcredit collects and consolidates data from more than 300 suppliers such as local authorities, public data sources, and financial institutions. The data includes an individual's previous addresses, aliases, financial agreements, county court judgments, and payment history, and is used to determine credit worthiness. Organisations requesting credit reports need instant access to comprehensive information so they can make fast, accurate decisions regarding consumer requests. This involves processing 300 million data items per month.

Since its foundation in 2000, Callcredit has worked to develop a credit reference system based on the following requirements:

  • Each individual data item has to be loaded, cleared, and live on the system within two days
  • Once live, information must be online and available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year
  • The database contains more than 8.5 billion records and needs to handle further growth estimated at 2 billion records a year

Mark Davison, Group Technology Deveopment Director, says: "Maximising the speed and number of possible transactions through the system is critical. We rely on volume to drive revenue."

Solution

In the past seven years, Callcredit has developed credit reporting, risk analysis, collections and recoveries tools and anti-money laundering products from a single data warehouse. This was originally based on the Microsoft® application platform, using Microsoft SQL ServerTM version 7.0. Davison says: "We evaluated a number of systems based on performance, cost of development and the levels of user support required. Compared to other database systems, SQL Server came out on top across these three areas."

In line with regular feedback from clients and the availability of new data sets, the company looks to improve its range of products and seek new areas for innovation. So the release of Microsoft SQL Server 2000 meant the solutions could be developed further and the earliest version of the credit report system went live in 2002.

Following the release of Microsoft SQL Server 2005, the implementation team began migrating its databases to take advantage of additional features. SQL Server 2005 provides a single enterprise-wide data platform so that data administrators anywhere in the organisation can monitor, manage, and tune all the databases and associated services across the business.

The final database was migrated to SQL Server 2005 during October 2007. The Callcredit product implementation team consists of developers and business analysts, with a separate quality assurance team that tests functionality and performance. A systems and network team concentrate on the operating systems and hardware. Members from the different teams work on the same phases of product development at the same time. Davison says: "We have agile working methods. These methods fit perfectly within the Microsoft development environment because it means we can retain our flexibility and remain highly innovative."

“With SQL Server 2005, we can create two copies of the data, update one of them, and switch bundles.”

Mark Davison - Group Technology Deveopment Director
Benefits

Using SQL Server as its enterprise data software, Callcredit has been able to develop its products well ahead of the milestone dates in its business plans. The powerful system delivers a comprehensive real-time credit rating service online. Additional features in the software save time in data handling and increase overall performance, bringing improved customer service for Callcredit clients and the services its clients offer their customers.

New software drives innovation and supports time to market

The time to market for products was an important factor in the company's choice of database software. "Our competitors take a couple of years to deliver a product that we can deliver in a couple of months," says Davison.

The company has turned a profit for the first time in 2007-two-and-a-half years ahead of its business plan. Davison explains: "A large part of that is due to our server-based infrastructure that means we can develop products faster. Our competitors with mainframe-based solutions have taken 20 years to establish the type of system that, through our choice of technology, we've created in seven years."

Crucial Credit Information Delivered in Real Time

The company's primary online applications can conduct 600 million searches a year, each with an average time of less than a second. This speed is critical for investment clients who want instant reports in line with regulatory requirements so they can perform trades.

Instant access to information is vital for all banks, mortgage lenders, and credit card retailers. If a bank's chosen credit agency goes down, they are unable to make credit decisions and, as a result, cannot sell products. "Unlike our competitors, which have mainframe-based solutions that require over an hour of downtime each day for data updates, we can produce and send credit reports in real time, 24 hours a day, seven days a week" says Davison.

"With SQL Server 2005, we can create two copies of the data, update one of them, and switch bundles. We experience a couple of milliseconds downtime that causes no interruption to the system workflow," explains Davison. This means organisations can rely on Callcredit for critical information that supports their product sales and investments.

Administrators can focus on high-value tasks

Much of the company's information handling is data matching, which involves comparing two character sets. Using common language runtime integration in SQL Server 2005, database programmers can code stored procedures, functions, and triggers in the .NET Framework language of their choice. Davison says: "Data matching is 10 to 20 times faster with Microsoft Visual C# .NET and common language runtime, which has significantly increased performance. Code is more stable and requires less maintenance, improving overall stability and error handling."

Table and index partitioning eases the management of the large databases. Davison explains: "Some of our tables are huge. There is one that contains more than 6 billion records. Without the ability to partition across file groups, we'd have real performance issues."

The restoration capabilities in online indexing mean only the data being restored is unavailable. Davison says: "This is a huge advantage for our database administrators because they can perform optimisation without taking the database offline."

The updated application platform means database administrators spend less time on routine database maintenance. They have more time to focus on high-value tasks such as database architecture and developing new features and products.

System supports increasing data volumes and future growth

The Callcredit core database is approximately 2.3 terabytes and growing by around 400 gigabytes a year. The rate of growth is based on current data feeds, but Callcredit has peace of mind that its system can handle any quantity of data. Davison says: "SQL Server 2005 handles everything we throw at it and will take on any new data sets that enter the market. We've been able to optimise features to ensure constant levels of high performance."

Looking to the future, Callcredit is keen to take advantage of the analysis services within SQL Server. "This will give us key strategic insight into the data we currently don't have," says Davison.

Microsoft server product portfolio

For more information about the Microsoft server product portfolio, go to: www.microsoft.com/servers/default.mspx

Microsoft SQL Server 2005

Microsoft SQL Server 2005 is comprehensive, integrated data management and analysis software that enables organizations to reliably manage mission-critical information and confidently run today's increasingly complex business applications. By providing high availability, security enhancements, and embedded reporting and data analysis tools, SQL Server 2005 helps companies gain greater insight from their business information and achieve faster results for a competitive advantage. And, because it's part of Windows Server System, SQL Server 2005 is designed to integrate seamlessly with your other server infrastructure investments.
For more information about SQL Server 2005, go to: www.microsoft.com/sqlserver

Software and services
  • Microsoft Server Product Portfolio - Microsoft SQL Server 2000 - Microsoft SQL Server 2005
  • Technologies - Microsoft Visual C# .NET

For further information about Microsoft products and services, please visit www.microsoft.com/uk or call 0870 60 10 100*

For hearing impaired customers with a Minicom, contact: 0870 50 30 400*

*Lines are open 8am-6pm, Monday to Friday. Please note, numbers prefixed 0870 will be charged at national call rates. For details of national call rate charges, please contact your telecommunications provider.

For more information about Callcredit products and services, call 0113 244 1555 or visit the Web site at: http://www.callcredit.co.uk/

This case study is for informational purposes only. MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, IN THIS SUMMARY.

Document published November 2007