Unisys Buys Fraud Management System

Unisys, a 36,000-person e-business solutions company, has purchased exclusive rights for Cheetah, a fraud management system designed for local authorities and the public sector. The contract, struck with original developer Retrieval Enterprise Ltd, follows Unisys' successful implementation of the product for Southampton City Council as part of a pioneering revenue and benefits system contract. As reported by M2 Communications, Unisys now has responsibility for supporting existing Cheetah customers and has already begun its own development and support work on the product. Retrieval Enterprise Ltd. will now be focusing on the insurance sector.

According to Ian Harris, Local Government Business Manager for Unisys, "Fraud against local authorities, such as benefits fraud, has been made a priority at the moment by the government because of the amount of money that is lost in this way. When we started work for Southampton City Council on a new revenue and benefits system we committed to achievable savings over a five-year period. Crucial to this commitment was Cheetah and the money it could save Southampton via effective fraud management."

Cheetah was developed by Retrieval Enterprise Ltd in conjunction with local government fraud investigators and auditors. The product is split into four main modules including:

• A powerful search facility for council-wide data to deliver information to the Fraud Investigation Officer's PC
• A case management system enabling users to monitor investigations at every stage from allegation to completion
• A visits diary to manage and co-ordinate planned visit programs
• Reporting facilities allowing the production of reports on all aspects of investigations, complete and in progress

"Unisys is now committing itself to the further development and marketing of the Cheetah product and support of its customers. We are specifically looking at incorporating the Verification Framework and Prosecution elements within the fraud management software "said Harris. "As a systems integrator for local authorities and the public sector it is crucial that we can offer our customers products of this caliber and in this case, purchasing the rights to Cheetah enabled us to secure the capacity to continue supplying leading-edge solutions to the market.