The Design of T24

The design of T24 is strange to say the least. Most people don't realize just what is "inside the box" of T24 which is why I'll make a comment on two on that subject here--

1. T24 is UNIX code (old UNIX)
2. Jbase or renamed TAFC or TAFJ is ancient Pick binary language (1960s stuff - see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pick_operating_system)
3. T24 has an integral database or a "cascading database" which is NOT a relational database as sometimes the vendor claims - it is "hierarchical" in design which makes it limited in size and function
4. A typical T24 database (per module/table) has a maximum of 200 fields - that has been "manipulated" by the vendor to expand that number, but in effect you don't have a lot of "real estate" in a T24 TAFC or TAFJ database - 200 fields can "go" fast
5. The general ledger in T24 is "virtual" - that means it is generated during the End-of-Day run as a report - it is not a database in the system - for that you would have to export the GL and then make it into a database yourself in some other outside (of T24) application
6. T24 reports are now turned off - they were once hard coded after compilation - a big headache and once compiled they could not be edited - the vendors push off the Enquiries function now as the report tool, but they are equally difficult to design and to set up in T24 (note that the old compiler tool is no longer sold with T24--the vendor does not want clients compiling code in T24)
7. The modules in T24 interact with the core but not with each other - the prime example is that the Trade Finance modules (Letter of Credit and Settlement) to not cross-link or cross-communicate
8. The use of the Security module (user security) is very complicated and tedious to set up
9. The End-of-Day run on T24 is often a headache and "crashes" the system - to correct a failed End-of-Day run on T24 is not always easy - requires a major analysis of error logs and manual correction of the problem that crashed the system
10. The use of outside databases with T24 (Oracle, SQL, Terradata, Sybase, etc) slow the system performance down tremendously and often result in 8-12 hour or more End-of-Day runs
11. The use of any peripheral or outside software interconnected with T24 slows the system down tremendously also
12. The database (Jbase or TAFC or TAFJ) grows tremendously with each End-of-Day run - in fact it grows so fast that in a year the amount of data stored "live" on the system will cause the performance and speed of the system to degrade significantly
13. The use of T24 as a Treasury system has limits in its performance, functionality and product line up - it is not suitable for a large treasury operation in fact--treasury limits for individual traders are not easy to set up either (this was once not possible)
14. T24 does NOT do Trust accounting
15. T24 claims to have an Islamic banking version, but that is not 100% true per Sharia law specs - the GL is one only in T24 (no two GLs possible) and cannot be severed from "regular banking" for Islamic banking. A GL in an Islamic bank must be 100% Islamic and not mixed with a GL that is not Islamic (often banks want to have "two GLs": one Islamic and one "Western" - that is not possible in T24 - it will NOT support two GLs)
16. Various new loan modules such as Arranged Architecture have appeared over the years - they are a nightmare to set up (the old Loans module was bad enough to configure)
17. Once you are "live" with T24 then integrating any new "test system" developments to the live system is possible, but it must be done via a very controlled and audited procedure. In short, additions of new code to a live T24 system can create a disaster overnight if not fully understood regarding system impact across the board
18. The use of T24 for a derivatives trading platform is complicated to set up and limited in functionality (like Treasury is)
19. The whole design of T24 from "top to bottom" is like an "experiment in no QA," or "Quality Assurance," at all - in effect the quality assurance in the code design of T24 is practically a joke - very little was ever followed in design and coding standards in T24 since back in the late 1980s to mid-1990s (and afterward for that much to this present day)
20. The system used to be called "Cosmos" in the 1980s. It came out of Citibank in London as their product in the 1980s (designed at first as a treasury platform oddly). Then it was renamed "Globus" later by a German vendor who "recreated" the Citibank system (and cloned it--ripped off the Citibank design in other words without their permission) - in roughly 2004 Globus was renamed T24. It claims to be able to run "24 hours a day" without an End-of-Day run, but that is mostly hype. It can do that with the "right" T24 module add on, but few banks use that. It's a problem over multiple time zones for international banks among other headaches that exist to use a non-End-of-Day set up.
21. Multi-bank and branch set up in T24 is another nightmare - beware of that too

DUE DILIGENCE - get your facts straight about T24 if you are thinking about buying it!!