Scotiabank ran non-core banking transactions in the Caribbean through nine interconnected Domino databases. With technology and business needs evolving, it was the right time to modernize.
For nearly two decades, the Scotiabank Caribbean Technology group relied on a suite of custom-created Lotus Notes applications they called the Operations and Exchange Center (OEC).
Every branch officer in the region—roughly 5,000 users across the region—used it daily for fraud reports, wire transfers, incident tracking, back-office loan notifications, and more. Essentially, anything a customer could request that didn’t touch core banking flowed through OEC.
The platform had served the business well. But the system’s complexity reflected years of adaptation to evolving business needs, and modernization offered a valuable opportunity to enhance the user experience while positioning the platform for future growth.
The Opportunity
Nine separate databases that were replicated over 21 countries had grown organically over two decades, each connecting to the others and supporting different business processes. The system housed roughly 2 million records spanning twenty years—a testament to how deeply embedded it had become in daily operations.
A traditional rewrite would have meant years of requirements gathering and significant business disruption. Scotiabank wanted a partner who understood both Domino architecture and modern systems deeply enough to preserve what worked while unlocking new capabilities.
“The other option would have been a net rewrite in a brand new platform,” explains David Robinson, one of our Founding Partners here at Rivit. “But that would have taken three or more years.”
Modernizing the platform provided an opportunity to enhance operational agility and user experience, building on a strong foundation.
The Rivit Approach
Fortunately, we knew both worlds.
“We took over the Domino side of it and supported that for a while,” Robinson recalls. “And that was more painful than it should have been. So, we went to their VP David Conboy and said, ‘Why not migrate it?’”
David Conboy—now the CIO—saw the value immediately. Rivit began consolidating the 189 databases into a single codebase. Business logic was preserved. Data relationships were maintained. And the dynamic administrative capabilities that let branch staff work without developer support were preserved and enhanced.
The engagement took nine months before it was time for cutover—and the final migration happened over a single weekend. On Friday, thousands of users across the international division still accessed the system through Lotus Notes. By Monday morning, they were working in a modern browser-based application.
“We moved millions of records and turned on the application in one weekend,” says Chris MacDonald, our Senior Consultant. “There was no way to keep the data in line between the two systems. Once we cut over, that was it.”
The team spent roughly 40 hours on-site at Scotiabank during the cutover weekend, moving data and resolving any issues in real time. To be safe, they had tested the data migration multiple times beforehand, letting the bank’s users perform acceptance testing on actual production-level data.
To say this approach worked would be an understatement. We flipped the switch, and branch operations across the international group resumed Monday morning without disruption.
The Outcome
The migration consolidated twenty years of accumulated complexity into a single modern codebase which was then expanded with additional features and modules.
There was no lengthy requirements phase; our Rivit team could read what the existing system actually did. As a result, 20 years of refined processes and all 2 million records were migrated completely and correctly.
Branch officers across the Caribbean now process thousands of transactions daily, on a system built with technology that the bank’s teams understand. When the business needs new capabilities, they get delivered quickly—enabling continued innovation and operational excellence.
What Made This Work
- Twenty years of operational history became one codebase. Nine separate databases—each supporting different business processes—became a single browser-based application with one administration interface.
- Business logic stayed intact. SLA tracking, dynamic field management, workflow routing—all the processes refined over two decades were preserved. Rivit’s team translated them directly to the new platform.
- All 2 million records were migrated. Legacy data was normalized and migrated efficiently. Nothing was left behind.
- Users kept working the way they’d learned. The technology changed; the operations didn’t. That meant zero disruption for 5,000 users when they logged in on Monday morning.
- Expertise in both platforms made the weekend cutover possible. Rivit knew Domino, Notes, and the target stack. Multiple rounds of data migration testing meant the team could execute with confidence.
The Takeaway
Large-scale legacy modernization doesn’t require multi-year timelines or massive disruption. With expertise in both source and target platforms, Rivit can help preserve institutional knowledge while moving Domino and Notes to modern infrastructure.
For Scotiabank, that means a platform ready for continued growth—one that’s been running smoothly for years and can evolve as the business does.
