In May 2019, Cheryl Leong, Head of Fraud Analytics and Data Management at Moss & Associates, a mid-sized New York accounting firm, was tasked with fraud detection in annual reports. Besides helping clients present financial information to stakeholders, accounting firms had to ensure there were no misrepresentations. The incidence in companies reporting material falsehoods had risen in recent years and regulators were pushing accounting firms to detect those instances earlier. Companies had been using qualitative text to mislead stakeholders of their financial wellbeing. Leong was working on a data analytics platform that would replace the time consuming task of manually going over executive statements and management discussion & answers (MD&A) sections. Several text mining techniques were available within the system to break text down for classification. With the fraud detection tool ready for launch, she wondered whether she had adequately addressed the challenges of analysing text in annual reports. What steps should she programme the tool to take? How successful it would be?

Andy Smith is the Transport Excellence Manager (Asia-Pacific) at GLC, a leading global logistics services company. In April 2016, GLC inaugurated the GLC Hub in Singapore, which is expected to boost cargo volume in Asia-Pacific. However, Smith faces issues further down the supply chain due to problems with road freight vendors. GLC utilises a hub-and-spoke method to transport cargo. Last mile deliveries are typically outsourced to small local transportation providers in the Asia-Pacific region who would complete the delivery by road. These vendors are usually small companies with only a few vehicles. They do not always make the best decisions about their operations, (e.g., deciding the type and combination of vehicles to be used in the fleet), or the type of resources (such as fuel, equipment on board) to be used. This inefficiency results in vendor bankruptcies and subsequent disruptions to GLC's delivery obligations. Smith wanted to devise a long-term solution to help his vendors manage their operations. He decided it would be best to help address their business needs and enable the vendors to make better managerial decisions. He started collating data in an Excel spreadsheet, but it soon became apparent that the spreadsheet was not ideal. He then considered other solutions such as developing a common platform, using Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) visual analytics online tools or creating a customised application. He wanted a tool that would ideally allow vendors to analyse their financial health over a period of time, and perform scenario analysis to aid their decision-making.

This case study is organised into five parts, meant to be read and discussed progressively. Winston Mariota, a newly hired IT Architect at LGB Bank, had developed over his career a specialisation in Enterprise Application Integration (EAI). Prior to joining LGB, Mariota had recent successes in a smaller regional bank where he had replaced its outdated point-to-point style of integration with a hub-and-spoke style of integration. This enabled the bank to better manage its existing applications, and to easily add new applications with minimal disruption to operations. Mariota was headhunted by LGB and offered a job based on his expertise in application integration and reputation as a problem solver. LGB specifically wanted him to review its current IT architecture and to propose a new architecture, similar to what he had implemented in the past. Even though LGB was a larger bank with larger integration problems, Mariota decided to take up the challenge. He accepted the job offer to join LGB's technology department based in Singapore.

Supplement to case SMU425. This case study is organised into five parts, meant to be read and discussed progressively. Winston Mariota, a newly hired IT Architect at LGB Bank, had developed over his career a specialisation in Enterprise Application Integration (EAI). Prior to joining LGB, Mariota had recent successes in a smaller regional bank where he had replaced its outdated point-to-point style of integration with a hub-and-spoke style of integration. This enabled the bank to better manage its existing applications, and to easily add new applications with minimal disruption to operations. Mariota was headhunted by LGB and offered a job based on his expertise in application integration and reputation as a problem solver. LGB specifically wanted him to review its current IT architecture and to propose a new architecture, similar to what he had implemented in the past. Even though LGB was a larger bank with larger integration problems, Mariota decided to take up the challenge. He accepted the job offer to join LGB's technology department based in Singapore.

Supplement to case SMU425. This case study is organised into five parts, meant to be read and discussed progressively. Winston Mariota, a newly hired IT Architect at LGB Bank, had developed over his career a specialisation in Enterprise Application Integration (EAI). Prior to joining LGB, Mariota had recent successes in a smaller regional bank where he had replaced its outdated point-to-point style of integration with a hub-and-spoke style of integration. This enabled the bank to better manage its existing applications, and to easily add new applications with minimal disruption to operations. Mariota was headhunted by LGB and offered a job based on his expertise in application integration and reputation as a problem solver. LGB specifically wanted him to review its current IT architecture and to propose a new architecture, similar to what he had implemented in the past. Even though LGB was a larger bank with larger integration problems, Mariota decided to take up the challenge. He accepted the job offer to join LGB's technology department based in Singapore.

Supplement to case SMU425. This case study is organised into five parts, meant to be read and discussed progressively. Winston Mariota, a newly hired IT Architect at LGB Bank, had developed over his career a specialisation in Enterprise Application Integration (EAI). Prior to joining LGB, Mariota had recent successes in a smaller regional bank where he had replaced its outdated point-to-point style of integration with a hub-and-spoke style of integration. This enabled the bank to better manage its existing applications, and to easily add new applications with minimal disruption to operations. Mariota was headhunted by LGB and offered a job based on his expertise in application integration and reputation as a problem solver. LGB specifically wanted him to review its current IT architecture and to propose a new architecture, similar to what he had implemented in the past. Even though LGB was a larger bank with larger integration problems, Mariota decided to take up the challenge. He accepted the job offer to join LGB's technology department based in Singapore.

Supplement to case SMU425. This case study is organised into five parts, meant to be read and discussed progressively. Winston Mariota, a newly hired IT Architect at LGB Bank, had developed over his career a specialisation in Enterprise Application Integration (EAI). Prior to joining LGB, Mariota had recent successes in a smaller regional bank where he had replaced its outdated point-to-point style of integration with a hub-and-spoke style of integration. This enabled the bank to better manage its existing applications, and to easily add new applications with minimal disruption to operations. Mariota was headhunted by LGB and offered a job based on his expertise in application integration and reputation as a problem solver. LGB specifically wanted him to review its current IT architecture and to propose a new architecture, similar to what he had implemented in the past. Even though LGB was a larger bank with larger integration problems, Mariota decided to take up the challenge. He accepted the job offer to join LGB's technology department based in Singapore.

It was April 2014, and Cadence Chong, a new analyst at YOB Bank Singapore's consumer banking department, is working on her first assignment. Chong has been hired to improve the bank's credit card business, as her manager believed that there was scope for the business to do better. A specific initiative that had been suggested was to enhance the bank's responsiveness to customer feedback on MyDiningDeals, a mobile application that offered special deals and promotions contingent upon customers using their YOB credit cards. Chong was tasked to apply analytical techniques to the user-generated data gathered by the application. She had to analyse the data in response to customer and internal feedback on the division's credit card offerings to investigate how the application could be made more user-friendly. Chong was eager to complete her task as she knew that her analyses and recommendations would help drive up profitability in the credit card division.