WE AS WEBAI LabBook a reviewBook a workflow review

Case file 01 — anonymized at the client's request

From zero to a working AI capability, inside a regulated mutual

No AI today? That’s exactly where we start. Standing up AI capability inside a member-owned, FCA/PRA-regulated UK lender — hand-in-hand, entirely on their own secure cloud.

The name is withheld. The engagement, the tools and the figures are real.

UK financial services · Mutual lenderDiscovery & workshopsRapid prototypingCo-built internal toolsSecure-cloud delivery
Before
No in-house AI capability or tooling; deep manual processes on decades of legacy code.
Shipped
A live code-lineage tool, a screening workflow in design, a specified contract-review prototype.
Result
A working AI capability, a prioritised use-case pipeline, and teams who can run both.
Ownership
Everything runs on their secure cloud and belongs to them — code, tools, backlog.
0→1
AI capability where there was none
LIVE
Column-level code lineage on legacy SAS/SAP, on their estate
100%
Runs on the client’s own secure cloud — no data leaves

This engagement is measured in capability, not throughput: two proofs of concept co-built, three use cases scoped and prioritised, one tool live. No sensitive or proprietary client data appears in this file.

[01]

A century of manual process. Zero AI.

A century-old mutual, deep manual processes, decades of legacy code — and no AI capability to draw on.

Our client is a member-owned UK building society, regulated by the FCA and PRA. Like many established financial institutions, much of its day-to-day work runs on deep manual processes and legacy systems few people fully understand — and it had no in-house AI capability or tooling when we arrived.

Rather than dropping in a black-box product, we embedded with their teams: exploratory sessions and hands-on workshops to find high-value, low-risk places where AI can take the weight out of manual work, then co-building internal tools that run entirely on the client’s own secure cloud. Security, governance and knowledge transfer came first — as they must, for a regulated, member-owned institution.

SAS PROGRAMSSAP ATLSAP XMLDECADES OF LEGACY LOGICPARSECOLUMN-LEVEL LINEAGEAUDITEVIDENCE ✓RISK FOR AUDIT, CHANGE AND MODERNISATION → DOCUMENTED, TRACEABLE, ON DEMAND

[02]

Prove value first. Then build.

From conversation to working tools through a repeatable, low-risk cycle — proving value before committing to build.

Exploratory sessions mapped the manual, legacy-bound workflows that cost the most time. Hands-on workshops turned them into candidate use cases, prioritised by business value and delivery risk. Rapid proofs of concept demonstrated value on real material before any large commitment — then we co-built alongside their people and shipped into their environment, feeding a growing backlog of further use cases.

Discover › Workshop › Prototype › Co-build › Deploy & iterate

Everything runs inside the client’s own secure cloud. Sensitive data never leaves their estate. The full cycle is described under Approach.

[03]

Three tools, three honest statuses

Three use cases, each discovered with their teams, prototyped to prove value, then engineered for their infrastructure — with honest statuses.

01 · Code Flow Analyzer

live
Challenge
Decades of business logic live in legacy SAS programs and SAP data-flow exports that few people fully understand — a risk for audit, change and modernisation.
Delivered
A browser-based tool that parses SAS and SAP export files, builds visual data-lineage maps across sources, transforms and targets, and surfaces calculation evidence step by step — down to column-level lineage, with optional AI-assisted checks.
Value
Faster, safer understanding of legacy regulatory-calculation code; documentation and audit evidence on demand; a de-risked path to modernisation.

02 · Sanctions & watchlist screening

in design
Challenge
Members and applicants must be screened against government sanctions and prohibited-persons lists — today a slow, manual, error-prone task.
Delivered
An automated name-matching workflow that screens records against government watchlists, scores and flags likely matches for human review, and keeps a full audit trail — designed for the AML and KYC obligations of a regulated lender.
Value
Faster, more consistent screening, fewer missed matches, a clean audit trail, and a lighter manual review load.

03 · Contract Analyzer

specified
Challenge
Contract review is slow and manual; key terms, obligations, dates and risk clauses are buried across long documents.
Delivered
A tool that extracts and summarises key clauses, obligations, dates and risk terms to accelerate review. Scoped and prototyped during the engagement; ready to be reactivated when prioritised.
Value
Faster contract triage and materially lower review effort.

[04]

The capability stays in-house

Built with them, not just for them.

Knowledge transfer is part of the deliverable. The client keeps a standing pipeline of identified, prioritised use cases — and the in-house understanding to run with them. The capability stays inside the organisation, not locked in a vendor. Discovery and workshops continue to surface new candidates; the backlog of manual workflows ready for AI keeps growing.

[05]

From first tools to a broader footprint

With a first AI capability established and two proofs of concept behind us, the engagement is completing the screening workflow, expanding the code-analysis tooling, and working through a prioritised backlog of further manual workflows — all delivered the same way: on the client’s infrastructure, hand-in-hand with their teams.

Measurement basis

Basis
Capability-level: what was stood up, built and scoped. This engagement is measured in capability, not throughput.
Environment
The client’s own secure cloud. Sensitive data never left their estate.
Artifacts
One live analysis tool, one workflow in design, one specified prototype, workshop outputs, and a prioritised use-case backlog — plus the knowledge transfer to run them.
Not published
Client name, timelines and internal data. Baselines and timeframes are shared in conversation, with the client’s approval.