New Adjustments System for
St. Louis and Louisville Zones

---

The Eighth District Federal Reserve offices in St. Louis and Louisville recently converted to a new automated adjustments system. The new system, nicknamed EWA for Enterprise Wide Adjustments, was implemented in Louisville on April 12 and St. Louis on April 19. The Little Rock and Memphis offices will be converted during third quarter 2001.

Development of the EWA system was the result of an internal recommendation for all of the Federal Reserve offices nationwide to utilize one common platform for processing adjustments. The goals of this system are to provide improved customer service, as well as improve the effectiveness and efficiency of Federal Reserve operations. The implementation is expected to:

• ensure consistent service levels across districts;
• enhance cross-district adjustments processing capabilities; and
• improve the Federal Reserve Banks' abilities to assist each other during periods of exceptional adjustment volume and backlog.

Implementation of the EWA system is a multiyear project for the Federal Reserve. Currently, there are 12 Reserve Banks and branches on the EWA system; within the next two years, all Reserve Banks and branches are expected to process their adjustments through EWA. Once all offices have converted, they will have nationwide access to each other's records, which will result in quicker resolution of cases.

For customers of the St. Louis office, changes brought about because of this conversion have been relatively transparent. The EWA system is an updated version of the Pegasystems software, which the St. Louis adjustments department has been using for approximately two years. FedLine® messages and paper notices have not changed with this conversion. The only apparent change customers may notice is that daily acknowledgements of FedLine messages are now sent only once, at the end of each business day. Before the EWA conversion, multiple acknowledgements were sent throughout the day.

The Louisville office also made a successful transition to the new software, with service levels remaining unchanged, and customers seeing only minor changes in the format of paper advices. Because most Louisville customers do not transmit adjustments via a FedLine terminal, they are currently unable to take advantage of the true benefits of the EWA system. We hope to change this soon, however. A customer seminar will be scheduled in late 2000 or early 2001 to review the benefits of submitting and receiving electronic adjustments. If you are interested in obtaining information about this service now, contact Louisville's account executive, Ralph Ising, at (502) 568-9290.