Migration & Implementation Methodology
The six-phase approach Lokta uses to move an enterprise loan book from a legacy LMS onto Lokta. Sign-off gates between phases; daily reconciliation through pilot; hypercare into BAU.
Methodology principles
Three principles drive every phase. They appear in the contract, the kickoff deck, and the daily standup.
- Sign-off gates between phases. No phase begins until the previous phase's deliverables are signed off by the steering committee. This is non-negotiable.
- Daily reconciliation in pilot. Parallel run with the existing LMS continues until accounting events tie out for five consecutive business days.
- Reversibility through pilot. Until the production go-live decision, the lender can revert to the existing LMS without data loss.
Discovery & fitment
Assess the lender's current LMS, product catalogue, and operational reality. Map RFP requirements to platform capabilities, with explicit gaps identified.
Deliverables
- Current-state assessment of the existing LMS
- Product catalogue review with composability mapping
- Loan-lifecycle mapping against Lokta's lifecycle states
- Integrations inventory with priority sequencing
- Data-model mapping for migration planning
- Security and deployment topology decision
- RFP-requirement coverage matrix
Solution design
Lock the target architecture before configuration begins. The design phase ends with a sign-off package that everyone — lender, integrator, Lokta — references for the rest of the engagement.
Deliverables
- Target architecture document (deployment, network, identity)
- Tenant model with isolation boundaries
- IAM model — roles, permission groups, org-unit hierarchy
- Loan product configuration design
- Accounting-event design with GL mapping
- API and integration design with versioning policy
- Reporting model and dashboard specification
- Migration plan with validation gates
Configuration & integration
Configure products, wire integrations, and define operational workflows. End-state: the platform is ready for migration data to flow in.
Deliverables
- Loan products configured per the design
- Charges, fees, and allocation rules configured
- DPD bands and asset-classification thresholds set
- Maker-checker workflows defined per policy boundary
- User roles, permission groups, and OrgUnits provisioned
- Integration adapters built and tested in non-prod
- Notification flows wired from audit events
- AI servicing use cases configured with RBAC scoping
Migration & validation
Move the loan book into Lokta and prove the numbers. Migration ends only when validation gates pass — outstanding balances reconcile, schedules match, charges round correctly, accounting events tie out.
Deliverables
- Customer / party migration with deduplication
- Loan account migration with lifecycle state mapping
- Repayment schedule migration with interest validation
- Transaction history migration with allocation replay
- Outstanding-balance validation against source system
- Charges and waivers validation per product
- DPD validation across delinquent accounts
- Accounting reconciliation per GL line
- User acceptance testing with sign-off
Pilot & parallel run
Run a controlled production pilot with parallel servicing on the existing LMS. Daily reconciliation; explicit go / no-go gates before the wider rollout.
Deliverables
- Pilot portfolio scope (branch, region, or product slice)
- Operational training for servicing, collections, and operations teams
- Parallel run alongside the existing LMS
- Daily reconciliation report covering payments, balances, accounting events
- Exception register with RCA and resolution
- Go / no-go criteria signed off by the steering committee
Production rollout
Cutover, hypercare, business-as-usual. The wider book moves to Lokta; the existing LMS is decommissioned according to the lender's schedule.
Deliverables
- Cutover plan executed with named owner per workstream
- Hypercare period (typically 30–60 days) with daily standup
- Support governance — escalation matrix, on-call rotation
- SLA activation with monitoring dashboards live
- Enhancement backlog kicked off
- Quarterly business review cadence agreed
Typical timeline
The ranges below are typical for a single product line; multi-product or multi-partner engagements scale accordingly.
| Phase | Typical duration | Key gate |
|---|---|---|
| 01 Discovery & fitment | 2–4 weeks | RFP-coverage matrix signed |
| 02 Solution design | 3–6 weeks | Target architecture sign-off |
| 03 Configuration & integration | 6–12 weeks | Non-prod end-to-end test passes |
| 04 Migration & validation | 4–8 weeks | Reconciliation tie-out for 5 business days |
| 05 Pilot & parallel run | 4–8 weeks | Steering committee go-live decision |
| 06 Production rollout | 2–4 weeks + 30–60 day hypercare | SLA activation, hypercare exit |