What this covers
- Four core conversions, including one I executed end to end myself
- Experience with FIS IBS, Jack Henry CIF 20/20 and ASI INSITE
- Independent of the core vendor — I represent the bank's side
- Data mapping review before you sign off on the vendor's spec
- Mock conversion balancing and exception resolution
- Conversion-weekend support and the first-Monday response plan
The vendor runs the conversion. Nobody runs your side of it.
A core conversion is the largest project most community banks and credit unions ever undertake, and it is usually attempted by people doing it for the first time. The core vendor has done hundreds — but their project plan is built around their deliverables, their timeline, and their definition of done. The gaps land on the bank: validating that the data actually arrived correctly, deciding what happens to the fields that do not map, balancing after each mock, and being ready on the first Monday.
I have been through four core conversions, including one I executed end to end myself rather than relying on a vendor conversion team. That perspective is the whole value: I know which questions the vendor’s implementation consultant will not volunteer, and where the schedule tends to be optimistic.
Where an independent actually helps
Data mapping review. The mapping document is the most consequential thing you will sign, and it is usually reviewed under time pressure by people who have never seen one. I go through it field by field with your operations staff, and specifically hunt for what is not on it — the fields with no target, the codes that collapse into a single value, the history that will not come across.
Mock conversion balancing. Each mock produces a mountain of exception reports. The question is never whether there are exceptions, it is which ones matter and which are noise. I help your team triage them, drive the real ones back to the vendor with enough evidence to be actionable, and track them to closure rather than to the next mock.
What the vendor is not converting. Almost always more than expected: closed accounts, certain history depth, non-monetary fields, notes and comments, custom flags, imaging links. These decisions are far cheaper to make deliberately in month two than to discover in month six.
Ancillary systems. The core is one system among many. The conversion touches imaging, statements, online banking, card processing, reporting and every integration built on the old file layouts. These are frequently under-scoped because they belong to nobody.
Conversion weekend and first Monday. A runbook with named owners and decision points, and someone available during the window who is not also trying to run the branch.
Who this is for
Community banks and credit unions changing cores, or reviewing a conversion that is already underway and not going the way the timeline said it would. I work alongside your staff and the core vendor — not in competition with either, and not as a replacement for the vendor’s obligations.
What I do not do
I do not sell or resell core systems, and I have no relationship with any core vendor. I will not tell you which core to select — that is a decision about your institution’s strategy, not a technical one. What I will do is make sure the one you chose arrives with your data intact.
Common questions
We already have a project manager from the core vendor. Why would we need you?
Their project manager is accountable to the vendor for the vendor's deliverables, which is legitimate but not the same as being accountable to you. The gap is on the bank's side of the line: validating the data, deciding the non-mapped fields, balancing the mocks, and the systems around the core. That is where I work.
When is the right time to bring someone in?
Before the data mapping is signed off, if possible — that is the point where decisions get expensive to reverse. But mid-project is common and still useful, particularly if the mocks are not balancing and nobody can say why.
Do you work with cores you haven't seen before?
Yes. The conversion method is the same regardless of platform — map, extract, load, balance, reconcile, cut over. Familiarity with a specific core shortens the ramp, but the discipline is what determines whether the data is right.
Can you help after go-live?
Yes. Post-conversion cleanup, reporting that broke because the underlying layouts changed, and the reconciliation items that surface in the first few statement cycles.