François Chung, Ph.D.

Sofico project @Ghent, Belgium (2015). Miles is a flexible end-to-end software for automotive finance, leasing, fleet and mobility management provided by Sofico. Main customers are leasing companies, car brands and banks. Software delivery projects consist of several phases: preparation, definition (i.e. analysis of the requirements), implementation (i.e. translation of requirements into a solution), system integration and user acceptance testings, go-live and post go-live.

In practice, Miles handles complex business processes and activities, as well as particular and often unique requirements in terms of workflow, functionality and data exchange with other systems. Miles also offers frameworks for mobile use (Miles Mobile) and online use (Miles Web), as well as a business intelligence system (Miles BI).

Here are some of the lease industry-specific functionalities:

• flexible product range (e.g. financial products, services, flex matrix);
• on-board vehicle data, through an automated interface;
• underwriting capabilities (e.g. credit scoring, self-funding, third-party funding);
• contract management (e.g. dull contract history, mileage-based costing capability);
• end of contract, with settlement options specific to the various products;
• accounting (e.g. analytical follow-up, general ledger accounting, asset management);
• fleet operator (e.g. price lists, flexible invoice rules, exceptions reporting);
• car policy support, capturing the rules and budgets of the different fleet operators;
• brokerage and commissions in case of indirect sales;
• third-party service management.

As a Consultant in Software Implementation, my main tasks are related to both business consulting (e.g. functional analysis and reporting) and the technical aspects of Miles implementation (e.g. batch processing, interface, security, data mapping, testing).

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