United Bay Community Credit Union (“Ubay”) is a state-chartered credit union headquartered in Bay City, Michigan. They operate 6 branches throughout the state and control just over $280 million in assets.

Why Ubay Sought a New Approach

Ubay was having trouble tracking findings from audits and exams. Files were kept in individual folders on a shared network drive, but each business unit was responsible for their own folders. Without centralized documents—or even a master spreadsheet to work from—Ubay’s audit documentation and findings resolution were not meeting the standards they set for themselves.

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Christene Swartzendruber, VP of Risk and Compliance at Ubay, joined the credit union and quickly created 2 master spreadsheets, 1 for each year of audit findings that she was tracking. However, much of the responsibility was still spread out across multiple business units, and she consistently found that her monthly reports were missing critical updates.

Despite her position on the executive team, Swartzendruber had to dedicate significant time to maintaining the spreadsheet, revising reports, and other audit administration duties. It afforded her less time to fulfill the critical duties of her role and got in the way of the strategic priorities of the credit union. In turn, that limited the credit union’s growth potential.

Swartzendruber began looking for solutions to improve audit efficiency and findings management. She soon discovered Redboard, and after some vetting, she brought their audit management platform to Ubay. The effects were immediate.

The Results? A Significant Improvement in Efficiency

Automated reminder emails allowed Swartzendruber to spend less time on follow-up with business units. “I don’t have to summarize what they told me or copy and paste an email—it’s all there. It’s so easy for me to pull reports. I spend very minimal time maintaining the tracking of audit findings now,” Swartzendruber noted.

Her business units are also happy with their new audit process. They get weekly reminders to log in, type their responses, and move on to their next task. Swartzendruber noticed that they no longer check with her about what they need to do, they spend less time on emails, and they don’t ask “where’d you save that spreadsheet again?” anymore.

Furthermore, business unit managers now have visibility that they never had before. They can see where they’re strong and where they need to enhance procedures and training. They’re able to make decisions based on organized, up-to-date, and risk-weighted audit data. Swartzendruber has also identified several other areas where Ubay can improve and ultimately grow now that they have a better understanding of operations and more time to make progress.

Today, Swartzendruber estimates that she saves 10–15 hours per month—and another 15–20 for her department—just from automation, easier follow-up, and centralized documentation. That time saved has allowed her department to add more audit coverage without adding any staff. For a relatively small credit union, this is a significant improvement in efficiency.

Moreover, Ubay hasn’t lost any time learning new software or significantly altering their processes. “The system is very user-friendly. It’s intuitive. It just makes sense,” Swartzendruber said. “It’s automating the work that I was doing and making me more efficient… it has made my life so much simpler.”

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