NAB Online vs. NAB Direct

As an Oracle consultant, I often need to configure Oracle to create EFT files that get sent electronically to bank institutions for making payments to suppliers.


In Australia, there is a Bank Institution that currently has 2 different software offerings (Online & Direct) that connect to an ERP system like Oracle. This institution is NAB, National Australia Bank.


And during conversations I had with a financial director of one of my previous engagements, the difference between NAB Online and NAB direct was explained to me as per below, or this is what I understoond the difference was:


NAB Online: is the current version of software provided by NAB for enabling EFT payments, and has a built-in authorisation process for every payments which require 2 people to approve payments before the bank releases the funds.



NAB Direct: is the new software offering which has more automation when it comes to process and configuration, but the authorisation process from the previous version (NAB Online) is no longer offered in the new software, and this is critical per the Finance Director.

The director in question raised the new NAB offering, NAB Direct, as a risky piece of software and left me with these questions: "How can you prevent a techie person from dropping an EFT payment file in the designated NAB directory and tell me who will approve this payment?"

I could not argue with him regarding the director's last point. And I knew I could not diverge the director's irrational distrust of others towards a viable workaround or solution. But I could have had easily provided the director with a few hundred other ways the "techies" could cheat the system.

Here are a few benefits of "NAB Direct" listed their website:


• Leverages your ERP investment – use your ERP system to add ‘end to end’ connectivity between you and NAB.

• Helps save time and reduces costs – fully automatic straight through processing virtually eliminates the needfor manual reconciliation.

• Reduces risk – process high-volume transactions with limited human interaction, thereby reducing operationalrisk.

• Strong security – four layers of security, including digital signatures and message encryption, help to ensure yourconnection to NAB is protected.

My personal opinion about this issue is that the new R12 Oracle Payments module can easily handle the authorisation process within Oracle. The 'end to end' connectivity between Oracle and NAB should be leveraged as well. If a payment goes through by fraud, this will get flagged in the cash management module - alerts can also be defined to notify HR, the legal department, and your Finance Director.

As a side note, if your techies cannot be trusted, I suggest you start looking at outsourcing their tasks to an insured and qualified 3rd party vendor with a reputation to protect.