Product Owner: De La Rue
Description
DLR Analytics is a cloud-based software service that provides central banks with forecasting models and data driven insights into their cash cycle. It applies mathematical models, optimised by working with central banks since 2012, to provide banknote forecasts and quantifiable insight on banknote lifetimes and circulation velocities (i.e. return frequencies). Users of DLR Analytics can view aggregated and anonymised data from other users and so can see how decisions they are considering now have impacted other central banks in similar situations who have already made those decisions. They can also see how they compare to others in their region to assess whether they are operating within regional norms.
DLR Analytics runs off aggregated central bank data (such as circulation volumes) and publicly available data (such as IMF projections of GDP growth). It is therefore accessible to every central bank around the world. It does not require investment in serial number tracking or advanced sorting machines, but answers many of the questions these larger data solutions offer.
Users of DLR Analytics are supported by the Cash Cycle Partnership, which provides monthly webinars and annual seminars relevant to the users. Topics include banknote lifetimes, forecasting and insights into global and regional trends.
Date the innovation was first implemented
Countr(ies) where implemented
65 central banks have signed-up to the service since it launched. We have not sought permission to share their names, although the Reserve Bank of Fiji and the Central Bank of the Solomon Islands have publicly endorsed us. We know that Clydesdale Bank and the Central Bank of Lesotho are happy to be known as users. The regional breakdown is 15 in South America and the Caribbean, 7 in the Middle East, 18 in Africa, 11 in Europe and CIS region and 13 in Asia Pacific. DLR Analytics is being used by some of the smallest and largest countries in the world.
Innovation
It is the first cloud based cash cycle analytics package available to all central banks.
It is the first time a standardised set of statistical tools and language have been applied to the cash cycle and to banknote lifetimes, allowing central banks to talk a common language when comparing their banknote and cash cycle performance.
It is the first service to offer regular monthly webinars to support central banks.
It runs off common aggregated data that the majority of central banks have. It provides answers to standard questions without central banks having to invest millions of USD in a “big data” solution.
It provides central banks with aggregated and anonymised data at a regional and global level that they would not otherwise have access to. It supports their decisions by allowing them to see how past decisions of others have impacted the banknote demand and lifetime in other cash cycles.
Uniqueness
It is the first cloud-based offering.
It is the first standardised solution to cash cycle analytics that is available to every central bank and issuing authority in the world.
It is the first service that provides an aggregated and anonymised view of the global and regional cash cycles and banknote lifetime behaviours.
The calculations within the software are standard statistical and mathematical calculations, applied within the central banking world or other sectors where supply chain management is required. The suite of tools incorporated into DLR Analytics have been carefully selected and tested with central banks over many years to ensure that the combination of models are useful and focussed on answering the more commonly asked questions by central banks. Instead of thinking about what models to use the central bank can simply flick through the analysis and download images and tables for their reports.
Differentiation of new feature, product, or innovation from existing ones
DLR Analytics is the first globally available cash cycle analytics tool for central banks. It offers a route to standardisation of language and approaches that doesn’t require investment in specific sorters. At £25 k for a standard annual license if offers a very cost effective route to monitor the cash cycle and to predict the impact of future decisions (such as substrate changes). There are other central banks and other commercial suppliers working on variants of cash cycle but all other approaches require investment in sorters, sorting equipment or some type of big data analytics tool. These approaches are costly (typically over a million USD) and time consuming to implement. Our solution is targeted and priced for everyone and users who sign-up can be using the service within hours.
Increased Efficiency, Safety or Environmental Protection
Efficiency – quicker decisions are possible. One central banker mentioned that the forecasting toolkit generated models in ten minutes that would have taken him seven weeks to produce himself. When considering a change of substrate, the launch of a new high value banknote or the launch of a new family DLR Analytics and the associated support through the Cash Cycle Partnership can support decisions by modelling scenarios and allowing the central banks to see what has happened to others who have made that decision.
Environmental effects – for those considering a move between paper and polymer there are now multiple central banks who have made this transition and are using DLR Analytics. DLR Analytics can support an environmental banknote lifecycle impact assessment with supporting tools to estimate the relative banknote lifetimes expected for a specific type of cash cycle. One user has already used DLR Analytics to demonstrate that move from paper to polymer leads to a reduction in banknotes required and a reduction in the amount that the sorting machines need to run to process used notes (as the notes are remaining cleaner for longer and so coming back for sorting less frequently).
Important Improvement
It has standardised the existing calculations available and tested them with central banks. For instance the banknote lifetime calculations used have been selected after comparison to actual serial number derived banknote lifetime calculations.
The calculations are triggered and run in real time once the monthly update has been entered. Central Bankers no longer need to wait for analysts to find time to run the numbers or for consultants to produce a report for them. It takes only ten to fifteen minutes to update data once a month and the central bank has updated metrics on the state of their cash cycle and banknote lifetime performances. For forecasting it enables central banks to easily compare how multiple relevant forecasting models work for their denominations and to select the most relevant one for them.
Feedback from Stakeholders, Including the General Public
Mr. Daniel Haridi serves as the Chief Manager of Currency & Banking Operations Department the Central Bank of Solomon Islands. “Analytics has added value to what we are doing and perhaps given us a whole new dimension to our role as well: we can easily extract the information we require from Analytics, interpret the graphical illustrations etc. I think the difference is that we now interact a lot with the system which adds value to what we are currently doing.”
Christopher Jeffery, Chairman of the Central Banking Awards Committee and Editor-in-chief of Central Banking, said: “DLR Analytics provides central banks with an invaluable way of forecasting the future demand for cash – an issue ever-more prevalent, given the rise of digital payments. The software proves substantial value can be taken from simpler aggregated data, reducing the costs for central banks investigating its cash’s lifecycle.”
It is the first cloud based cash cycle analytics package available to all central banks.
It is the first time a standardised set of statistical tools and language have been applied to the cash cycle and to banknote lifetimes, allowing central banks to talk a common language when comparing their banknote and cash cycle performance.
It is the first service to offer regular monthly webinars to support central banks.
It runs off common aggregated data that the majority of central banks have. It provides answers to standard questions without central banks having to invest millions of USD in a “big data” solution.
It provides central banks with aggregated and anonymised data at a regional and global level that they would not otherwise have access to. It supports their decisions by allowing them to see how past decisions of others have impacted the banknote demand and lifetime in other cash cycles.
Uniqueness
It is the first cloud-based offering.
It is the first standardised solution to cash cycle analytics that is available to every central bank and issuing authority in the world.
It is the first service that provides an aggregated and anonymised view of the global and regional cash cycles and banknote lifetime behaviours.
The calculations within the software are standard statistical and mathematical calculations, applied within the central banking world or other sectors where supply chain management is required. The suite of tools incorporated into DLR Analytics have been carefully selected and tested with central banks over many years to ensure that the combination of models are useful and focussed on answering the more commonly asked questions by central banks. Instead of thinking about what models to use the central bank can simply flick through the analysis and download images and tables for their reports.
Differentiation of new feature, product, or innovation from existing ones
DLR Analytics is the first globally available cash cycle analytics tool for central banks. It offers a route to standardisation of language and approaches that doesn’t require investment in specific sorters. At £25 k for a standard annual license if offers a very cost effective route to monitor the cash cycle and to predict the impact of future decisions (such as substrate changes). There are other central banks and other commercial suppliers working on variants of cash cycle but all other approaches require investment in sorters, sorting equipment or some type of big data analytics tool. These approaches are costly (typically over a million USD) and time consuming to implement. Our solution is targeted and priced for everyone and users who sign-up can be using the service within hours.
Increased Efficiency, Safety or Environmental Protection
Efficiency – quicker decisions are possible. One central banker mentioned that the forecasting toolkit generated models in ten minutes that would have taken him seven weeks to produce himself. When considering a change of substrate, the launch of a new high value banknote or the launch of a new family DLR Analytics and the associated support through the Cash Cycle Partnership can support decisions by modelling scenarios and allowing the central banks to see what has happened to others who have made that decision.
Environmental effects – for those considering a move between paper and polymer there are now multiple central banks who have made this transition and are using DLR Analytics. DLR Analytics can support an environmental banknote lifecycle impact assessment with supporting tools to estimate the relative banknote lifetimes expected for a specific type of cash cycle. One user has already used DLR Analytics to demonstrate that move from paper to polymer leads to a reduction in banknotes required and a reduction in the amount that the sorting machines need to run to process used notes (as the notes are remaining cleaner for longer and so coming back for sorting less frequently).
Important Improvement
It has standardised the existing calculations available and tested them with central banks. For instance the banknote lifetime calculations used have been selected after comparison to actual serial number derived banknote lifetime calculations.
The calculations are triggered and run in real time once the monthly update has been entered. Central Bankers no longer need to wait for analysts to find time to run the numbers or for consultants to produce a report for them. It takes only ten to fifteen minutes to update data once a month and the central bank has updated metrics on the state of their cash cycle and banknote lifetime performances. For forecasting it enables central banks to easily compare how multiple relevant forecasting models work for their denominations and to select the most relevant one for them.
Feedback from Stakeholders, Including the General Public
Mr. Daniel Haridi serves as the Chief Manager of Currency & Banking Operations Department the Central Bank of Solomon Islands. “Analytics has added value to what we are doing and perhaps given us a whole new dimension to our role as well: we can easily extract the information we require from Analytics, interpret the graphical illustrations etc. I think the difference is that we now interact a lot with the system which adds value to what we are currently doing.”
Christopher Jeffery, Chairman of the Central Banking Awards Committee and Editor-in-chief of Central Banking, said: “DLR Analytics provides central banks with an invaluable way of forecasting the future demand for cash – an issue ever-more prevalent, given the rise of digital payments. The software proves substantial value can be taken from simpler aggregated data, reducing the costs for central banks investigating its cash’s lifecycle.”
