CU*Answers works with Messick, Lauer & Smith P.C. to develop CUSO formation guide

Cooperative CUSO CU*Answers has worked closely with Messick, Lauer & Smith P.C. to develop a new CUSO formation guide aimed at promoting the value of CUSOs and to help those interested in starting their own.

Scott Page, Developer’s Help Desk business manager for CU*Answers said: “CUSOs help credit unions solve problems and often enable credit unions to act bigger than they are. Collaboration aggregates the resources of credit unions to enable each participating credit union to provide more member services more efficiently and effectively. For example, if a credit union has a highly performing lending program and shares the services with other credit unions through a CUSO, the original credit union can spread its fixed costs over a greater number of loans. The credit unions receiving the service have an effective lending platform for a cost they could not otherwise have afforded.”

The guide includes valuable information for anyone considering forming a CUSO, including an overview of legal rules and regulations, organizational and operating considerations, essential CUSO formation documents needed, and more. The document is being offered to all interested parties for free, and an electronic copy can be ordered from the CU*Answers online store.

DHD offers new Design Studio project video

The CU*Answers Developer’s Help Desk (DHD) announced a new video as part of its on-going POV series designed to provide timely information, tips and techniques for how clients may best utilize the DHD team for custom software development.

CU*Answers said that its DHD Design Studio projects represent a true custom project strategy in which CU*BASE^® clients are encouraged to formulate and design custom project ideas, but may wish to contract for various CU*Answers technical services for helping build-out their desired project vision.

Scott Page, DHD Business Manager said: “This expanding series of web videos is intended to provide simple, quick hitting tools for clients to instantly focus on key topics of interest. For instance, this first video highlights how simple the process is for clients to initially contact, collaborate and submit a custom project idea. In 2018, we will add many more of these video snippets, featuring a library of topics from which to choose.”

The DHD is organized and is targeted to facilitate the processes by which clients order, design, build and manage custom projects in a new, innovative way. Popular projects already being submitted by clients include 3rd party vendor integrations, custom fee development, SSO projects (eliminating multiple verification) and external data warehouse file exchanges. For more information, visit the DHD at their website.

DHD to host building custom software overview

CU*Answers announced its Developer’s Help Desk (DHD) will host 2 one-hour web sessions to introduce the DHD’s new strategy for building custom software with CU*Answers.

Scott Page, business manager for the Developer’s Help Desk, said this DHD initiative represents a new road for partnering on project development solutions. Today, more CU*Answers clients than ever are expressing a ‘do-it-yourself’ (DIY) mentality, and are wanting maximum flexibility and control to be able to manage software development themselves. The DHD strategy is aligned ideally to provide exactly that, and a key component is its CU*Answers Online Store, from which clients can order both traditional off-the-shelf and custom (Design Studio) project services electronically.

In addition to Page, these informational sessions will be facilitated by Brian Maurer, EVP software development, and Kristian Daniel, DHD account executive, and will introduce the DHD toolbox and highlight the unique ways clients can get started on their own custom software project development.

Any credit union is invited to attend, and for anyone wishing to learn more regarding the CU*Answers DHD initiative, visit them online or contact Scott Page at spage@cuanswers.com.

The published dates for the free web conferences are Tuesday, December 5 from 2-3 PM ET, and Thursday, January 11 from 2-3 PM ET.

CU*Answers DHD Boot Camp still open for registration

There is still time to register for the new 2018 Developer’s Help Desk Boot Camp, hosted by CU*Answers, a 100% credit union-owned data processing CUSO. “The DHD Boot Camp is a hands-on Do It Yourself experience,” said Scott Page, DHD business manager. “Unique when compared to other executive boot camps, the DHD boot camp is an experiment in a new style of collaboration between developers at credit unions and developers at our CUSO. It’s an experiment in how solution designers and architects from credit unions can take advantage of the expertise of the designers, developers, testers, and documenters at the CUSO to produce a finished product. It’s an experiment in proving out the point of the DHD online store – can credit unions use DHD resources to help them build something new?”

Applicants for the DHD Boot Camp submit a project idea that they will then work with CU*Answers staff closely to see from design to development and launch. The boot camp features just two classroom sessions where the entrants will have an opportunity to meet face-to-face with design and development teams.

The application period is open until December 18, 2017. Those interested can apply on the CU*Answers website.

DHD business manager interviewed for Get Connected series

CU*Answers recently kicked of a new “Get Connected” webinar series aimed at educating clients about the key roles and individuals working for the 100% credit union-owned cooperative CUSO. Most recently, Scott Page, business manager of the new Developer’s Help Desk (DHD), was interviewed. During the session, Page described how the DHD is organized and is targeted to facilitate the processes by which clients order, design, build and manage custom projects in a new, innovative way.

Page said a primary objective of the DHD is to blend the way in which CU*Answers offers custom software project development services to the credit union industry by combining many of the proven development techniques CU*Answers has employed to great success for nearly 50 years. A key component is the packaging of many of these offerings within the evolving CU*Answers Online Store, from which clients can order services and products electronically.

To facilitate requests, CU*Answers has split projects into three categories: off-the-shelf, Design Studio, and API development projects. Off-The-Shelf projects represent common projects that CU*Answers has previously completed and are normally very familiar with the project parameters and specifications. Examples of these types of projects include converting to a currently supported ATM/debit card, credit card or check processing vendor.

Design Studio projects are a more customized project development strategy for which the participating client is often the architect for designing the project blueprint and building the solution. The DHD is fully available to collaborate in helping make a client’s project vision become a reality. For example, in considering a project, stated clients may optionally wish to contract CU*Answers to engage its expert resources in a variety of ways, including project design/management, programming, quality control, marketing, compliance, back office, and more. Examples of these projects include new 3rd party vendor integrations, SSO projects, data exchange (DEX)/data warehouse file downloads, and more.

CU*Answers API development processes are moving rapidly ahead, with many APIs currently available to credit unions and vendors for free. On-going API development represents an important conduit for allowing third-party servicers to seamlessly integrate their solutions to the CU*BASE^® product.

Be sure to check out the next Get Connected session to learn more about CU*Answers and the people who drive the organization forward.

DHD unveils categories for handling custom software projects

CU*Answers, the core data processing CUSO, has always had a Do-It-Together mentality for developing products and solutions, working with credit union partners to build cooperative solutions. With the recent creation of the Developer’s Help Desk (DHD), CU*Answers is ramping up its support for credit unions looking for DIY support.

The Developer’s Help Desk provides a new and exciting vision for how client software development projects are handled by CU*Answers. It’s uniquely targeted to facilitate the process by which clients design, build, and manage custom projects in a new, innovative way.

DHD has most recently announced two primary categories for how it will handle custom software project development. Off-the-shelf projects represent common projects that CU*Answers has previously completed and are normally very familiar with the project parameters and specifications. For many of these projects, CU*Answers provides standardized pricing, published in its annual pricing guides. For these types of custom project requests, clients may visit the DHD website to review and order online. Examples of these types of projects include converting to a currently supported EFT, credit card or check processing vendor.

Design Studio projects are a more customized project development strategy for which the participating client is the architect for designing the project blueprint and building the solution. DHD is fully available to collaborate in helping make a client’s project vision become reality. For example, in considering a project, clients may optionally wish to contract with CU*Answers to engage its expert resources in a variety of ways, including project design/management, programming, quality control, marketing, compliance, back office, and more. Examples of these types of project include new 3rd party vendor integrations, SSO projects, data exchange (DEX)/data warehouse file downloads and more.

Developer’s Help Desk Online Store Takes Focus

CU*Answers announced that its new Developer’s Help Desk (DHD) online store is open for business and has already started to secure client and vendor interest and early orders. The DHD currently features over 160 products and services, and is located within the CU*Answers Online Store.

Scott Page, business development manager, said: “This represents the first opportunity to see our DHD initiative for serving credit unions. Although it’s still under development, we wanted to provide an early opportunity to see the approach and type of content we will be including to promote our streamlined presence. Word is already resonating with clients, and we have fulfilled our very first online orders. We are also engaged in reviewing software development project ideas brought for further research. In the coming months, our DHD shopping experience will continue being developed with considerably more product offerings. It’s pretty neat to be able to offer clients an Amazon-style online shopping experience for technical and programming related services.”

The CUSO, which has thrived through a Do-It-Together model for software development, creating the DHD initiative to target individuals and businesses with a builder’s soul, who want to design and build something for themselves. To learn more, visit the DHD website.

Developer’s Help Desk (DHD) at Leadership event

CU*Answers announced that its new Developer’s Help Desk (DHD) business initiative was prominently featured at its Leadership Conference, recently held in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

Scott Page, Business Development Manager said: “For many folks, this represented their first exposure to learning about our Developer’s Help Desk (DHD) initiative. We had multiple clients (and vendors!) approach us to review our newest collateral, including our very first API Design catalog. Several were interested in discussing upcoming project initiatives they are already considering, and ways in which partnering with the DHD may assist and help expedite their development criteria. We are very excited at the positive level of interaction we have already received.”

During the conference, CU*Answers described how its DHD initiative is uniquely targeted to clients with a builder’s (or DIY) soul, that want to design and build something for themselves.

CU*Answers DHD Initiative Taking Shape

CU*Answers announced that its new Developer’s Help Desk (DHD) business initiative is moving quickly ahead with its new online retail presence in full development and the CUSO’s first API catalog ready to be distributed by the June Leadership Conference.

For nearly 50 years, CU*Answers has provided a collaborative, do-it-together model for credit unions to collectively partner to design and build new software solutions. CU*Answers said its DHD approach is very different. It becomes the center of client project management, and is uniquely targeted to clients with a builder’s soul (or DIY approach) that want to design and build something for themselves.

Scott Page, business development manager said: “Under DHD, the client is the boss, totally empowered to tell us what they envision and want. The benefit is this provides clients a new way to develop custom software, in which they tell us what they need and we act as a general contractor for their project, helping determine the amount of resources they’ll need from CU*Answers to complete it. The cooperative development model is still the lifeblood of our organization, where software development takes the entire cooperative’s needs into consideration, but through DHD, we can also be here to help a credit union create their individual vision. For many clients, this will offer a refreshing new way for partnering with CU*Answers.”

The DHD team has laid out several aggressive goals to accomplish in 2017, including adding consulting and development staff, and officially launching the DHD Virtual Online Store, where clients will find a convenient location to begin designing their custom solutions.