Florida Office of Financial Regulation
The Florida Office of Financial Regulation uses Versa Software to create an Award-Winning Regulatory Enforcement and Licensing System with a Paperless, Entity Comprehensive View.


Executive Summary
When the Florida Office of Financial Regulation (OFR) needed to improve enforcement by automating their paper-based workflow, Versa delivered a configurable award-winning solution that improved regulatory oversight through an entity comprehensive view.

Agency Overview
The Florida Office of Financial Regulation is responsible for the licensing and regulation of depository and non-depository financial services entities, including state chartered banks, credit unions, loan originators, mortgage lenders, securities brokers, consumer collection agencies and money transmitters, throughout the state of Florida. The agency's 450 employees license and regulate over 40,000 entities and nearly 30 different license types.

Business Challenge
When OFR's licensing and regulatory systems needed to be replaced, the internal IT department recommended replacing the agency's multiple, stand-alone legacy databases with a commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) solution. "There was only so much our IT shop could do to keep our systems running," recalls OFR's Project Manager, Janice Jackson. "A newer technology platform would give us more power and functionality, but our business unit needed a flexible environment that didn't require constant support from IT."

OFR recognized that a new regulatory solution would significantly improve efficiency so that more time could be spent on enforcement and community outreach activities. After taking time to document their needs and workflow requirements, the agency identified several criteria for a new system. In addition to strong licensing and enforcement functionality, they wanted to reduce paper by implementing electronic document management. They also wanted the ability to interface with the Fiscal department's cashiering system and several third-party databases. When OFR finally sent out their Invitation to Negotiate (ITN), they had a very solid picture of what their new system needed to deliver.

Iron Data Solution
During vendor presentations, Versa stood out from the competition by offering a highly-configurable regulatory solution and demonstrating a willingness to configure that solution to meet the look, feel and functionality specified by OFR's workflow diagrams. "When the Versa team said, 'We will build the system you want,' that spoke volumes to us," Jackson says. "In our minds, we went, 'Wow!'"

Versa also helped OFR achieve the actualization of a concept that the agency had developed: the idea of an entity comprehensive view that would connect all activity related to a specific entity across all license types. For example, this concept would eliminate the ability for a broker under investigation to start a new business as a loan originator. "Versa seemed to understand our challenges better than some of their competitors," Jackson states.

In 2008, OFR purchased the Versa regulatory solution and DataMart reporting engine and branded the solution as REAL, an acronym for Regulatory Enforcement and Licensing System. To ease adoption of REAL, the agency worked with Versa and Accenture, the software vendor's systems integration partner, on a phased implementation. Release 1 was deployed in March 2008 and included mortgage industry licensing, enforcement capabilities such as complaints, examinations, legal services and investigations, integration of a custom online portal and integration with OFR's external cashiering system.

Release 2 incorporated the remaining license types into REAL and introduced the Workflow and Document Management components of the system, and Release 3 consisted of internal changes to comply with the Federal Government's 2008 Secure and Fair Enforcement for Mortgage Licensing Act (SAFE Act).

OFR's REAL system has consolidated over 20 legacy databases into a single, standardized regulatory solution that is now used by nearly 400 licensing analysts, examiners, investigators, accountants, supervisors and legal staff.

Results for OFR
In 2009, OFR received the Computerworld Honors Laureates gold medal in the Government category for the successful implementation of REAL. "Versa has given us the power to control our own destiny," Jackson says when explaining how the flexibility and configurability of Versa has allowed OFR to achieve measurable benefits from the system.

Online self-service. The agency's custom Web portal, which integrates with Versa, has automated manual tasks while giving OFR's external users the ability to submit applications, renew licenses, make payments, upload documents and file complaints online – 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Since the REAL portal was deployed, over 70,000 applications and renewals and more than 3,400 complaints have been submitted online. The online self-service options, along with other operational changes, save OFR approximately $15K in postage costs each year.

Workflow and Document Management. OFR's databases and spreadsheets have been replaced with a workflow engine that produces work queues and checklists that streamline every step in a process. Analysts can now view applications electronically, scan and upload related paperwork and generate form letters with a click of the mouse. Automated paperless workflow has improved OFR's processing time for many previously time-consuming tasks.

Increased oversight and enforcement. REAL improves enforcement oversight by providing an entity comprehensive view that shows key data for a particular regulated entity, including open applications, licenses held by the entity, active complaints and enforcement actions against the entity and key business relationships. In addition, reports that utilize risk-based targeting help identify potential problems and prioritize tasks like examinations. And, since REAL has consolidated all OFR activity into a single database, management in Tallahassee can easily monitor what's happening at the agency's eight statewide field offices.

Third-party interfaces. Integration of REAL with OFR's cashiering system has automated the collection of over $15M in funds that were previously processed manually. In addition, by accepting instant payments via the online portal, OFR has reduced bad checks by over 200 percent.

As part of OFR's entity comprehensive view, REAL also integrates with a variety of other third-party databases, including the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) to perform background checks and import criminal records and the Nationwide Mortgage Licensing System (NMLS) to import and monitor mortgage industry licensee activity.

Looking Forward
Although OFR is still working to automate some processes that require human intervention, an early 2011 audit indicates that the agency's licensing and regulation improvements are already making a positive impact on the community. "The Auditor General surveyed our customers and found that 83 percent are happy with our service," Jackson states. "Our REAL system has definitely given us the tools we need to do our job as a regulatory agency."