How you currently get to the numbers

• Tell me about the last monthly loan concentration report your team produced, who assembled it, and how long the full process took from extract to final PDF
• How many analyst-hours does your team spend each month extracting, reconciling, and preparing credit concentration and HMDA reports Options: 0-10 hours, 11-20 hours, 21-40 hours, 41-80 hours, 81+ hours
• Walk me through the specific files and systems you touch when building that report, for example core extracts, LOS exports, or manual spreadsheets
• When was the last time a produced report needed a full redo because source data changed or an examiner flagged an inconsistency Options: This month, Past 3 months, Past year, Longer than a year, Never
• If the board asked for a near real-time view of loan concentration by collateral code tomorrow, what would block you from delivering it within 90 days

What those monthly delays are costing you

• What single reporting failure in the past 12 months would have made leadership lose confidence if it had reached the board
• Describe a recent time when analysts spent multiple days reconciling numbers instead of analyzing portfolio risk, what happened, and who raised the issue first
• How often do ad hoc requests for concentration slices or examiner-style exports come in during a typical month Options: Weekly, 2-3 times a month, Monthly, Quarterly or less
• Which downstream areas, for example capital planning, stress testing, or examiner responses, suffer most when a concentration metric is late or contested Options: Capital planning, Regulatory reporting and examiner responses, Credit approval and limits, Treasury and liquidity, Board reporting, Other
• Who ends up absorbing the extra operational cost when a report must be rerun, and how do you quantify that cost today Options: Operations headcount, Risk analytics team, Third-party consultants, Opportunity cost to business lines, Not tracked

Who signs the numbers and what they need to trust them

• If a pilot dashboard showed materially different concentrations than your current report, who must approve accepting those numbers and what evidence would satisfy them
• List the decision makers and the primary concern each has about trusting a new data feed, for example CFO concerned about board optics, CRO about model parity, CIO about integration risk
• Walk me through how signoff is scheduled today, where approvals usually stall, and who typically escalates a stuck decision
• Which team or role will be the formal data owner for extracts during the pilot and will they provide written authorization to access core exports Options: Line of business data owner, IT/infrastructure, Risk analytics, Compliance/legal, No named owner yet
• Name the single validation or reconciliation that, if it failed during the pilot, would stop the program immediately

What regulators will expect and where the risk sits

• Imagine an examiner requested daily reconciliations for a contested portfolio, what part of your current audit trail would be hardest to justify
• Identify who owns HMDA, CECL, and examiner responses and how quickly that owner can provide supporting documentation when asked
• How many regulator findings or data-related consent orders has the institution had in the past five years Options: None, One, Two, Three or more, Unsure
• Are there approvals from legal, compliance, or risk committees required before a vendor can ingest customer-level records for a pilot Options: Yes, legal, Yes, compliance, Yes, risk committee, No approvals required, Unsure
• Name the regulatory approval that, if delayed more than 8 weeks, would prevent running a 90 day pilot

Connector and data reality check

• Suppose your core only provides nightly flat-file extracts and no API, how would that change scope and timelines for a pilot
• Select the extract or access methods your systems can deliver for a pilot Options: Daily flat-file core extracts, API endpoints with transactional feeds, Database replication or CDC, Loan origination system exports, Third-party aggregator feed, Unknown / needs investigation
• Identify the person or role who can sign off on access to core extracts and describe their typical availability for onboarding tasks
• Measure the historical lookback you can commit to for pilot validation in weeks, for example transaction and collateral history Options: 2 weeks, 4 weeks, 8 weeks, 12 weeks, 24+ weeks
• Is there an internal security or integration review that typically takes longer than two weeks before vendors can load production-like data Options: Yes, typically 2-4 weeks, Yes, typically 4-8 weeks, Yes, more than 8 weeks, No, review is under 2 weeks, Unsure
• Do you have a named technical lead who can commit 4-8 hours per week during the pilot, yes or no Options: Yes, No, Part time but less than 4 hours per week, Can assign after approval

The alternatives you are weighing

• Right now, if you do nothing different, what will change in how reporting is produced next quarter
• List the vendors, incumbent systems, or internal projects you are actively evaluating as alternatives to an external analytics platform
• For each alternative you named, what is the primary reason your team is considering it, for example cost, speed, control, or existing relationship Options: Lower cost, Faster to deploy, Greater control over data, Existing vendor relationship, Perceived lower risk, Other
• Under what circumstance would your team choose to build an internal solution instead of contracting with an outside platform
• Describe the minimum changes required for you to remain on your existing process rather than switch to a vendor solution
• Assume your internal team could deliver connected dashboards in 90 days that meet the pilot acceptance criteria, would that remove the need to engage an external vendor Options: Yes, we would build internally, No, we would still evaluate vendors, Maybe, needs cost comparison, Unsure

If the pilot proves the numbers, what happens next

• Assuming the pilot meets the agreed acceptance criteria, what would keep you from signing a production contract within two weeks
• Tell me who holds the budget authority to move to production and the typical approval lead time for that executive
• How would you measure success at 30, 60, and 90 days after production go-live, list two or three KPIs you expect to see improve Options: Time to produce reports, Number of manual reconciliations, Regulatory discrepancies, Analyst headcount required, Decision latency for limit approvals, Other
• Provide the internal teams that will require training and estimate ramp time for each
• Given the pilot meets acceptance criteria, name the one action that would accelerate funding if production budget is a constraint

Practical logistics and scheduling

• By when do you need a pilot dashboard live to keep this initiative on the board's priority list Options: Within 30 days, Within 60 days, Within 90 days, Within 120 days, No firm deadline
• Provide your preferred integration windows and maintenance days that minimize disruption for core and lending systems Options: Weekends, Weeknights, Early mornings, Scheduled batch windows already in place, We have no preferred windows
• Do you have blackout periods such as month end or quarter end where no data changes or integrations can occur Options: Yes - month end, Yes - quarter end, Yes - both month and quarter end, No blackout periods, Unsure
• On a scale of 1 to 5, how urgent is delivering near real-time loan concentration reporting to satisfy the board directive Options: 1 - Not urgent, 2 - Low urgency, 3 - Moderate urgency, 4 - High urgency, 5 - Immediate priority
• Given the seller can deliver a pilot dashboard in 90 days with production-ready connectors to your core, how quickly could your executive team sign off to proceed Options: Immediately, within 1 week, Within 2-4 weeks, Within one quarter, Longer than one quarter, Would not sign

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• Connect Core banking extracts
• Ingest loan origination feeds
• Stream digital banking clickstreams
• Load historical transaction and loan data
• Automated data reconciliation jobs
• Deploy pre-built CRE concentration dashboard
• Deploy CECL reserve modeling suite
• Deploy BSA/AML alert tuning dashboard
• Deploy CRA geocoding and mapping
• Validate calculations against source reports
• Enable self-service analyst workspace
• Configure analyst and manager dashboards
• Production feed monitoring and alerts

Connect Core banking extracts

• Which core extract files from your current core platform will you provide for integration (examples: general ledger post file, account master, transaction ledger)? Options: General ledger post file, Account master, Transaction ledger, Customer master, Other
• Provide the file format and delivery method for each core extract (fixed-width, CSV, SFTP drop, API payload, nightly batch) Options: Fixed-width, CSV, SFTP drop, API payload, Other
• Specify the expected latency requirement for core account and transaction extracts for production (examples: daily by 06:00, near-real-time within 1 hour) Options: Daily by specific time, Near-real-time (<1 hour), Near-real-time (<4 hours), Other
• Who in your IT or operations team will own extract access and credential provisioning (provide role or name)?
• What acceptance criteria will confirm a production-ready core connector for your environment (examples: successful ingest of 90 days of transactions, schema match to agreed layout, error rate <0.1%)?

Ingest loan origination feeds

• Which loan origination system export feeds can you provide for pilot (examples: loan application export, underwriting decision file, collateral records)? Options: Loan application export, Underwriting file, Collateral records, Funding events, Other
• Provide the cadence and retention window for each LOS feed you will share for pilot (examples: nightly full, delta hourly, retention 7 years). Options: Nightly full, Delta hourly, Delta daily, Retention: 1 year, Retention: 7 years, Other
• Specify the identifier mapping key you use between LOS and core loan records (examples: loan number, application ID, external reference) for linkage. Options: Loan number, Application ID, External reference, Other
• Who will validate LOS field-level completeness and sign off field mappings during pilot (provide role)?

Stream digital banking clickstreams

• List the digital channels that produce session logs you want streamed for analytics (examples: mobile app, online banking, bill pay, mobile deposits). Options: Mobile app, Online banking, Bill pay, Mobile deposit, Other
• Indicate the event types you expect in clickstream (examples: login, transaction-click, page-view, payment initiation) and required retention window. Options: Login, Transaction click, Page view, Payment initiation, Other
• Do you already have an event naming convention or tag schema for client-side instrumentation that we should align to? Options: Yes, No
• Name the role responsible for client-side instrumentation releases or mobile app updates that enable streaming events.

Load historical transaction and loan data

• Indicate the historical window you require for transactions and loans for pilot and production (examples: 24 months for pilot, 7 years for regulatory reporting). Options: 12 months, 24 months, 36 months, 7 years, Other
• State estimated extract sizes for historical loads (GB or approximate number of rows) for transactions and loan tables.
• Are any historical records archived in non-standard stores (tape, offline archives, third-party servicers) that will require special extraction steps? Options: Yes, No
• How will you evidence historical completeness for the pilot load (examples: reconciled monthly totals, sampling of loan balances, signed attestation)?

Automated data reconciliation jobs

• List the reconciliation points you need automated for pilot (examples: month-end GL-to-loans totals, HMDA line-item match, daily clearing account sweep). Options: GL-to-loans totals, HMDA line-item match, Daily clearing account, Deposit balance roll-up, Other
• State the tolerance thresholds you accept for each reconciliation point (examples: variance <0.5% or absolute dollar threshold).
• Which role will own daily reconciliation alerts and first-level triage during the pilot?
• Do you require automated exception reports to be exported into your ticketing or incident tracking system during pilot? Options: Yes, No

Deploy pre-built CRE concentration dashboard

• Identify the CRE collateral code field in your core or LOS that maps to the dashboard's concentration buckets (provide exact field name).
• What are the pilot acceptance criteria for the CRE concentration dashboard (examples: matches board report within 5%, supports borrower-level drill-down, refresh <1 hour)?
• Enumerate the borrower-level attributes required for drill-down analysis (examples: borrower name, tax ID, loan balance, LTV, collateral address). Options: Borrower name, Tax ID, Loan balance, LTV, Collateral address, Other
• Are geospatial heatmaps (by collateral address or census tract) required for CRE concentration visualization? Options: Yes, No

Deploy CECL reserve modeling suite

• Identify the CECL input datasets you can provide from your systems (examples: historical charge-offs, seasoning tables, contractual maturities, forward-looking macro scenarios). Options: Historical charge-offs, Seasoning tables, Contractual maturities, Macro scenarios, Other
• How many years of historical charge-off and loss data do you have available for CECL modeling? Options: Less than 3 years, 3-5 years, More than 5 years
• Name the role that will approve forward-looking macro scenario selections used for CECL during the pilot.
• Are backtesting and reconciliation to your current reserves schedule required as part of CECL pilot validation? Options: Yes, No

Deploy BSA/AML alert tuning dashboard

• Enumerate the alert types and rules from your monitoring system you want surfaced in the tuning dashboard (examples: structuring, velocity, high-risk counterparty matches). Options: Structuring, Velocity, High-risk counterparty, Name screening matches, Other
• Confirm whether existing SAR templates or suspicious activity workflow artifacts must be linked to tuned alerts for analyst disposition. Options: Yes, No
• Name the tuning thresholds you want configurable during pilot (examples: score cutoff, daily transaction velocity limit).
• Select one or two KPIs you will track to assess tuning effectiveness (examples: alert volume, disposition rate, SAR conversion rate). Options: Alert volume, Disposition rate, SAR conversion rate, Other

Deploy CRA geocoding and mapping

• For geocoding, list the source address fields you will provide (examples: borrower address on loan file, deposit account address).
• Choose the coordinate precision required for regulatory mapping output (options: rooftop, parcel centroid, census tract). Options: Rooftop, Parcel centroid, Census tract
• Will mapping layers need alignment to the CRA assessment area shapefile you file with regulators? Options: Yes, No
• Please list the team or role that will supply the CRA assessment area shapefile and any GIS contacts we should coordinate with.

Validate calculations against source reports

• Please list the legacy reports that must be matched for pilot validation (examples: board loan concentration report, monthly HMDA export, CECL reserve schedule).
• How will you produce evidence of calculation parity during validation (examples: row-level exports, reconciled totals by loan type, signed attestation)? Options: Row-level export, Reconciled totals, Signed attestation, Other
• What sample sizes do you expect for pairwise validation during the pilot (number of loans, number of accounts or percentage sampling)? Options: Random sample 1%, Top 100 loans by balance, All loans for small portfolio, Other
• Please state the role that will sign off on calculation discrepancies discovered during validation.

Enable self-service analyst workspace

• Describe the analyst personas who will use the self-service workspace (examples: reporting analyst, risk analyst, credit reviewer).
• Select the self-service capabilities required for analysts (examples: ad-hoc querying, saved views, export to spreadsheet, scheduled reports). Options: Ad-hoc querying, Saved views, Export to spreadsheet, Scheduled reports, Other
• Will you require role-based access control to restrict sensitive fields in analyst workspaces (PII, tax ID, SSN masked)? Options: Yes, No
• How should analyst training be sequenced for pilot and production (examples: train-the-trainer, phased by team, full cohort)? Options: Train-the-trainer, Phased by team, Full cohort, Other

Configure analyst and manager dashboards

• Describe which KPIs must be visible to managers versus analysts (examples: concentration by borrower for managers, drill paths for analysts).
• Choose preferred refresh cadences for dashboards by type (options: real-time, hourly, daily at a set time). Options: Real-time, Hourly, Daily at set time, Other
• Confirm whether managers require exportable board-ready PDF snapshots and the expected formatting requirements. Options: Yes, No
• Outline the role that will own ongoing dashboard updates and the change-control process you expect (examples: ticket-driven, CI/CD for visuals).

Production feed monitoring and alerts

• Define monitoring thresholds that should trigger production alerts for feeds (examples: missed daily extract, schema mismatch, error rate >0.5%).
• Via which channels should feed alerts be sent (examples: email distribution list, ticketing system webhook, SMS for on-call)? Options: Email distribution list, Ticketing system webhook, SMS/pager, Slack/Teams channel, Other
• How fast must critical feed alerts be acknowledged under your SLA (provide minutes or hours)? Options: 15 minutes, 1 hour, 4 hours, 8 hours, Custom
• Designate the on-call owner role for production feed incidents and describe the escalation path we should record.

• Subscription Agreement / Order Form
• Master Services Agreement (MSA)
• Statement of Work (SOW)
• Service Level Agreement (SLA)
• Data Processing Agreement (DPA)
• Security & Compliance Addendum (SOC2 / Data Residency)
• Data Access Authorization
• Pilot Acceptance Certificate
• Change Order Agreement

• Go-live health check (weeks 1-4)
• First outcomes measurement (weeks 4-10)
• Acceptance gate review and incumbent wind-down (around day 90)
• Quarterly success review (ongoing)

• Adjust monitoring thresholds and alerting for connectors based on recent error patterns.
• Update training materials and schedule targeted analyst sessions to increase dashboard adoption.
• Produce a reconciliation packet that shows variance between platform and legacy outputs for buyer risk and finance review.
• Restate acceptance criteria and targets
• Record pass or fail for each acceptance criterion documented in Solution Scope.
• Capture a documented acceptance decision with the named buyer signatory or documented buyer owner decision as appropriate.
• Confirm the incumbent reporting process is either decommissioned or retained read-only with archived data and a plan to close fallback usage.
• Publish the acceptance decision document with attached evidence and circulation to the buyer's signatory.
• Schedule remediation tasks for any failed criteria with verification steps and firm resolution dates.
• Archive incumbent datasets and confirm read-only access or decommissioning steps and timelines.
• Operational performance review
• Confirm connector uptime meets the Solution Scope SLA targets or approve a remediation plan with dates.
• Ensure calculation variance rates remain within accepted bounds for regulatory readiness and that reconciliation items are scheduled for closure.
• Prioritize enhancement requests that impact regulatory reporting or adoption and assign expected delivery windows.
• Create prioritized enhancement backlog items for approved regulatory or adoption requests.
• Schedule validation runs for reconciled reports and close outstanding reconciliation tickets.
• Confirm success criteria and owners
• All deployment validation checks are either completed or have documented remediation plans and dates.
• Early adoption signals reviewed and thresholds for acceptable first-month activity agreed.
• Open issues logged with resolution dates and defined escalation steps.
• Publish the deployment validation checklist with status and remediation dates.
• Create a ticket for each open issue including severity and expected resolution date.
• Enable connector error alerts and circulate alert thresholds to the buyer's operations team.
• Present first outcome data
• Determine whether hours per month spent on manual reporting are reducing toward the Solution Scope target or require additional remediation.
• Confirm weekly active dashboard users meet adoption thresholds or approve a targeted adoption plan with milestones.
• Document root causes for any shortfalls and approve remediation tasks with dates to reach the acceptance gate.
• Implement agreed connector configuration fixes and schedule any required historical data re-loads.
• Present outcome data against each criterion
• Calculation integrity and reconciliation status
• Deployment and migration validation
• Calculation validation and variance summary
• Formal acceptance decision
• Early adoption signals and usage patterns
• Adoption and support trends
• Connector stability and error review
• Enhancement and regulatory change queue
• Remediation plan for any failed criteria
• Open issues and blockers
• Root-cause analysis for gaps
• Agree corrective actions and acceptance timeline
• Incumbent system wind-down
• Open issues burn-down
• Immediate remediation actions