Ginnie Mae adopts business improvement suggestions.

GINNIE MAE IS ADOPTING A MAJORITY OF THE suggestions it received during its Business Improvement Initiative (BII), in which Ginnie Mae solicited tips to improve its business operations.

During the six-month collection period of Oct. 1, 2004, through March 31, 2005, Ginnie Mae said it received approximately 70 comments from its business partners and the general public on a wide array of issues.

Overwhelmingly, respondents suggested that Ginnie Mae simplify and enhance the technology it uses to conduct day-today business operations, according to Michael Frenz, executive vice president for Ginnie Mae.

"It is the nuts and bolts of assembling and certifying pools of government-guaranteed or -insured loans and the subsequent monthly reporting that many would like to see streamlined," said Frenz.

In 2002, Ginnie Mae said, it began internal discussions designed to assess its business processes, including pool processing, pool certification, pool-level and loan-level reporting. Subsequently, Ginnie Mae launched an enterprisewide effort to upgrade its IT-related requests into this larger, more comprehensive project.

Ginnie Mae adopted multiple requests to streamline the process for reporting and updating pool-level and loan-level information, as well as requests to provide more detailed electronic reporting. These suggestions will be integrated into Ginnie Mae's plan to improve its reporting and feedback process, said Frenz.

To allow for more electronic file-sharing, to advise business partners of program changes or changes in reporting requirements and training opportunities--all frequent requests by business partners--Ginnie Mae said it will launch an eNotification service.

The service will notify business partners of the availability of electronic files via email. As a result, said Ginnie Mae, much of the information lenders now receive by fax or phone will be available online in a lender-specific mailbox.

These new services will be accessible through a single Web portal. The implementation of a single, secure Web portal will serve as the gateway to all Ginnie Mae business applications. As a result, it will significantly reduce the need for Ginnie's business partners to interact with multiple reporting systems.