Comply 18.1 Update Is Now Available

Comply 18.1 is now available for download from the RATA Support site. This version incorporates all of the earlier 17 and 18 updates along with other beneficial changes. If you have updated to 18.01 this release is not needed for submission.  However, if you can update it wouldn't hurt.  Every version of Comply is always a little better than the previous. 

If you are updating from 18.00 or 18.01 this update should be just a normal update because all of the 18 updates conversions have already been done.  If you are updating from a Comply 17 system please read all of the important Comply 18 update info below because this update will run all of the 18 updates as well. If you have questions please call.

Check the changes document to see a list of all changes to decide the update priority for your institution. Due to getting the release out for those that want it early, the changes document may be posted a day after this announcement.  Keep an eye out for it under the Resources window on the Start Page.

Only read the following text if you are updating from 17.XX to 18.1. If you have already done an 18 update the following has been done and won't happen again.

The Comply 18 Update

The Comply 18.0 release incorporates significant changes, many of which are related to the final HMDA rule as published by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) on October 15, 2015 for 2018 HMDA data submission. However, a number of other exciting changes have been made throughout the Comply system. Many of these changes affect the way data is stored in the system so the update will take existing data and restructure it to work with the new methodologies going forward. Rest assured, this restructuring does not change the values of any data, simply the manner in which it is stored in SQL server.

System and Period Review Backups before Updating

We have tested the update and conversion processes using many different scenarios and data sets and are pretty confident that the process should not harm any existing installations, however, there is always the possibility that clients can have unique situations we did not think of which could cause issues with the update process. For this reason and general safety, as well as best industry practices, it is highly advisable that the following steps be undertaken prior to installation of this update:

1. Perform a full system backup of the Comply database in SQL server and keep it off to the side until such time that it is confirmed that all existing data and analysis was maintained in the updated database.
2. Since many changes were made in Fair Lending, users should back up all Period Reviews so that they can be easily restored in case there is any loss or corruption of previous analysis that was performed prior to applying the update.

Time Estimates for the Update

Restructuring of the SQL database to fit the new format for Comply can take some time depending upon how much data is in your system. While we generally recommend that only three years of data be maintained in the system, we are cognizant of the fact that many users keep all historical data in the system. The general rule is that the more data in the system there is to be restructured, the longer the update will take to complete. As a guideline, we updated from 17.13 to 18.0 with a system that had about 300,000 applications in the database (this included multiple reporting entities and period reviews). This update was performed on a decent but not high-powered server and took about 40 minutes. Keep in mind that in addition to the data volume, the time needed to complete the upgrade will vary greatly based on hardware, memory, server usage, etc.

When running the update, two of the alter scripts take the majority of the time. At the 89% progress mark, alter script AS1088543 will run, and on our test update it took 70% of the overall time (approximately 28 minutes). At the 90% progress mark, alter script AS1088576 runs and that takes about 20% of the overall time (approximately 8 minutes). Again, these are only guidelines as to what you can expect and your times will vary.

Fair Lending Management Changes

The reason for this restructuring was to incorporate all of the new HMDA data elements in the system and to make fair lending Workspaces easier to use and manage. In previous versions you created Period Reviews with snapshots of the data you wanted to analyze. With the new methodology, you create Workspaces and then assign "datasets" that you want to analyze to them. We have eliminated the need to have separate HMDA and CRA Fair Lending components and both types of data can be analyzed in any workspace.

As part of the restructuring and migration of Workspaces we created a Workspace Manager. All Workspaces are organized and accessible through the Workspace manager, making them easier to locate and work with. Any Workspace that you are currently using can also be marked as a favorite and will show up directly in the Data Manager for even quicker access.