Kirchman upgrades bank software to speed operations.

Orlando, Fla.-based Kirchman Corp. has enhanced its Dimension 3000 integrated banking system with a new processing technique designed to speed bank operations.

Called Parallel System Throughput, the enhancement is part of Kirchman's Dimension 3000 software and offers a range of banking modules from loan and transaction processing to an executive information system.

The upgrade Dimension 3000, which runs on International Business Machine Corp. mainframes, IBM AS/400 midrange systems, and Tandem Computer Inc. computers, to take full advantage of parallel processing technology reducing system "run" times.

Trims Running Times

Without parallel processing, typical core banking software processes a bank's financial information such as loans, deposits., and general ledger data in a series of sequential steps.

With Parallel Processing Throughput, Dimension 3000 can stage several jobs concurrently without operator intervention.

Robert Duncan, a senior vice president at Kirchman, estimates that the enhancement will reduce eight-hour batch processing runs to five hours.

He said that another benefit of the enhancement is that the system is better able to monitor itself.

For example, it if there is a failure or communications problem. Dimension 3000 won't shut down. it will restart.

With Parallel Processing Throughput, Dimension 3000 can prompt itself to recover where it left off, said Mr. Duncan. "Operationally, we think of it as a |bulletproof process."

The first bank to use the enhancement is Union Planters Corp., a $6.4 billion bank holding company in Memphis. Union Planters is in the midst of converting its 98 branches and 31 affiliate banks to Dimension 3000.

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