|
The Farm Service Agency awarded ECI the contract to deliver the Web Equity Manager® system as the core component for their Farm Business Plan system in September 2003. Below is the most recent news (July 2005) about the success of this history-making implementation and the original press release from September 2003.
Farm Service Agency Farm Business Plan Implementation Team Scores High Honors In Washington DC...
Released: July 2005
The USDA’s Farm Service Agency “Farm Business Plan Implementation Team” was awarded the “Administrator Honor Award” in the category for “Improving Business Process Effectiveness” in a ceremony in Washington D.C. on June 22, 2005. The awards are the highest awards the Farm Service Agency can bestow and they are given to the outstanding performers in the Farm Service Agency each year.
"We learned about the award in an email from Farm Service Agency Direct-Loan Chief, Mike Hinton," said ECI Chairman/CEO, Gary Kruse. "In the message Mike said, "We should all be very proud of what we have accomplished on this project and this award indicates that others, outside of Farm Loan Programs, recognize the impact it has made on how we deliver our programs.”
The citation on the award reads: "For outstanding team effort in the successful implementation of the Farm Service Agency's Farm Business Plan, which aligns Farm Service Agency business processes with agricultural lending standards resulting in improved credit services and financial counseling for agency customers and business partners."
Hinton ended his message saying, “Again, congratulations to all of you for a job well done. It has been a pleasure and an honor for me to work with all of you on this project.”
The Administrator Honor Award is a show of internal recognition within Farm Service Agency for a job well done by the FBP Implementation Team. According to ECI FBP Implementation Lead, Kevin Britten, “Many on the Farm Service Agency team I have spoken to also commented that ECI had a lot to do with their success and that we should be congratulated as well.”
The FBP implementation was one of the most successful initiatives in Farm Service Agency history as a direct result of the exceptional working relationship ECI shared with the entire Farm Service Agency group from October 2003 through October 2004.
According to Kruse, "It is that human element of the software business that we find the most gratifying here at ECI."
Below is the original press release about the Farm Service Agency choosing ECI's Web Equity Manager for the Farm Business Plan implementation.
USDA/FSA
CHOOSES ECI's WEB EQUITY MANAGER® TO ANALYZE
GUARANTEED AND DIRECT LOANS
Released: September 30, 2003
Implementation to impact the lenders and 100,000 producers
using these Farm Service Agency loan programs
GLENWOOD, IA -- The United
States Department of Agriculture’s Farm
Service Agency recently chose ECI's Web
Equity Manager® software to replace
FSA's legacy Farm and Home Plan (FHP) software.
Web
Equity Manager® will be used to administer
over $16 billion in loan volume spread across some 100,000 government
program participants through the Farm Service Agency Service Centers assisting agricultural
producers in over 3,000 counties across the country.
This
landmark decision is part of a comprehensive e-government initiative
to provide a standardized platform for facilitating better communication
and information exchange between all government loan program participants
and the financial institutions and community partners who assist
their customers in receiving government program benefits.
"FSA's
ultimate goal with Web
Equity Manager® is for multiple government
agencies to securely operate within the same system as banks, farm
credits, regulators and other key lending industry players to significantly
reduce the time and expense associated with gathering, analyzing
and exchanging program participant information," explained ECI
Chairman/CEO, Gary Kruse.
One
of the key goals for Web
Equity Manager® in the Farm Service Agency environment
is to empower producers to complete their farm business plans on
the Web and submit them electronically to the service center. This
will allow service center employees enhanced capabilities for assisting
producers in completing their business plans.
“We
knew that we had to start running our financing programs like the
rest of the financial analysis industry including standardizing
our use of things like Farm Financial Standards Ratios, accrual
analysis and the like” said Steve Rubin, Farm Service Agency head of the Web-based
FHP initiative. "Web
Equity Manager® is not simply a replacement
for the existing FHP, but a system that USDA and other government
agencies can expand upon into the future."
According
to Rubin, FHP and Guaranteed Loan programs will be the beginning
for the Web
Equity Manager® standardized analysis
and information management platform.
"The
Web-based forms and processes in Web
Equity Manager® will satisfy our long-term
goals for sharing automated tools such as government loan programs
with participants. This is a far-reaching initiative that goes way
beyond the exchange of information between the producer, lenders
and the Farm Service Agency. Long term it could involve other entities like universities,
agricultural consultants, accountants, and industry suppliers that
have a direct affect on the successful processing of Farm Service Agency program
participant information.”
The Farm Service Agency
first started the process to seek out a solution provider to replace
the current PC-based FHP system due in large part to conform to
the Government
Paperwork Elimination Act (GPEA) which mandates all government
agencies provide a process where business transactions and record
keeping can be done electronically by program participants by October
2003.
Web
Equity Manager® calculates a complete
financial analysis on any loan type, from the simplest loan requests
to the most complex agricultural and related small business credits
utilizing the Farm
Financial Standards Ratios and RMA
Industry Comparisons. Credit bureau reports can be pulled from
within the Web
Equity Manager® system and lenders
can include that information in their scoring and rating parameters.
Web
Equity Manager® also provides the
Fair,
Isaac LiquidCredit® analytic and decisioning
service for small business lending, including the industry-leading
Small
Business Scoring ModelsSM (SBSSSM)
functionality so lenders can quickly and confidently process loans
up to $250,000 with little or no financial data.
Click on the link below (or call ECI) to schedule a live online demonstration of Web Equity Manager® financial analysis capabilities today.
FREE Online Demo Form Here...
1-800-264-0787 ext. 200 | ECI Home Page Here
© ECI | All Rights Reserved.
Contact Us | Privacy Statement
|
