-- Simon Taylor, IDG News Service

Manual Mapping Slows Data Integration Effort

The process of integrating 400,000 customer records following the Jan. 1 merger of Credit Union Australia Ltd. (CUA) and Australian National Credit Union (ANCU) is being slowed by manual data-mapping requirements.

Barry Los, CIO of the merged company, which adopted the CUA name, said data is being migrated from the ANCU's financial applications to the CUA's mainframe-based system. Los didn't disclose the cost of the integration effort, saying only that the primary expense will be for consulting.

John Brand, an analyst at Sydney-based market research firm Hydrasight P/L, said integration projects that follow mergers are a CIO's "worst nightmare" because of the complexity of the data sets that need to be combined.