Automotive Industry and Production
Toyota Financial Services (TFS) recently undertook a major business transition programme to in-source its back-office functions. This required that a large number of Toyota and Lexus retail finance contracts, together with all their associated transaction data, be converted from an external IBM mainframe-based system to an in-house system. The new system was based on the Lynx "Portfolio" software package using Unix and Oracle technology. ATD consultants worked closely with TFS throughout the data conversion project in the following roles:
contributing to a feasibility study into the risks and benefits of undertaking a data conversion from the outsourced external system, and presenting the findings of the study to the TFS management board, which approved the data conversion project
managing the data conversion project from the start, through to its successful conclusion 18 months later
acting as the principal contacts with both the existing external system supplier (Black Horse) and the suppliers of the new in-house system, for the resolution of technical and data-related issues
support for the transition of the business to an in-house operation, particularly through the provision of management information from the source data
data analysis, data mapping, design of the migration procedures and development of migration software
unit and system testing of the data migration procedures and software, as well as support for user acceptance testing
development of procedures for both the financial and non-financial reconciliation of the data conversion.
The director of the transition programme was Blair Pollock, TFS ' General Manager, Business Development, who commented:
"When the ATD consultants joined TFS, the administration of our finance portfolio was outsourced to Black Horse, a subsidiary of Lloyds TSB Bank. We had decided to bring this part of our business in-house and were looking for someone to lead the effort to convert our retail
contributing to a feasibility study into the risks and benefits of undertaking a data conversion from the outsourced external system, and presenting the findings of the study to the TFS management board, which approved the data conversion project
managing the data conversion project from the start, through to its successful conclusion 18 months later
acting as the principal contacts with both the existing external system supplier (Black Horse) and the suppliers of the new in-house system, for the resolution of technical and data-related issues
support for the transition of the business to an in-house operation, particularly through the provision of management information from the source data
data analysis, data mapping, design of the migration procedures and development of migration software
unit and system testing of the data migration procedures and software, as well as support for user acceptance testing
development of procedures for both the financial and non-financial reconciliation of the data conversion.
The director of the transition programme was Blair Pollock, TFS ' General Manager, Business Development, who commented:
"When the ATD consultants joined TFS, the administration of our finance portfolio was outsourced to Black Horse, a subsidiary of Lloyds TSB Bank. We had decided to bring this part of our business in-house and were looking for someone to lead the effort to convert our retail
References: semi-customized software (Rapp 1995) but is changing towards a more selective use of package software managed via customized systems analysts have hypothesized; a coherent business strategy is a necessary condition for a successful IT strategy (Wold and Shriver 1993).3 These strategic links for Toyota and environments. This is similar to Nelson and Winter 's (1982) rules and routines for other kinds of management decisions and innovations, and illustrates these firms ' evolutionary approach to IT use and development