# From Signature to Go-Live in Six Months: How First Bank & Trust Set a New Implementation Standard _Published: 2026-07-23T00:00:00.000-04:00_ How First Bank & Trust went from CPP signature to go-live in six months — and the preparation-first playbook other banks can run themselves. _Ask most banks what makes an implementation succeed and they'll point to the project timeline. First Bank & Trust points to everything that happens before it._ When First Bank & Trust (FB&T) signed for Commercial Pricing & Profitability (CPP) in March 2025, the bank had a goal that most institutions would consider ambitious: go live by late September. They made it. The reason isn't luck; it's a methodology built over years of nCino implementations that other banks can learn from. First Bank & Trust has developed a reputation for something unusual: they implement fast, and they implement well. In a breakout session at nSight 2026, nCino's annual conference, Director of Banking Systems Stacy Davis, Banking Systems Admin III Shawn Rettedal, and nCino's Brian McLeod and Pratik Mody pulled back the curtain on how they do it and why the secret is almost entirely about what happens before the project starts. ## The work starts before day one The CPP contract was signed in March, implementation set to kick off in May, with the goal to go-live in September. It looked aggressive on paper. But by the time the official project launch arrived, FB&T had already done the foundational work that typically consumes the first weeks of any implementation. "They did the work before the project even started," said McLeod. "They got the data set and they completed the workbooks. They knew who was responsible for what and what the goal was." The team advocated early for access to workbooks, connected with peers at other institutions who had been through nCino implementations, and arranged for nCino to come on site rather than work over video calls. They went into every session with specific questions and a clear filter for decision making: what data do we need on this platform? By the time they reached the project configuration phase, the team was ready to set up the product immediately. There was no discovery lag, just execution. ## Decision velocity as a competitive advantage FB&T knew that implementation timelines could slip due to the sheer amount of decision making and waiting, so the bank addressed decision making head on. Key decision-makers committed at the start of the project to attending every meeting and making calls in real time. They also agreed upfront to a simple decision framework: is this a material decision or not? If it isn't, move on. If it is, decide now. > _“Executives were in the meetings, making those decisions quickly. This was incredibly helpful. And the Project Managers kept them accountable.” _**— Brian McLeod, nCino** ## A change management system that actually works FB&T runs every implementation through a change management framework that's become second nature to their team. It starts with a detailed Statement of Work that maps responsibilities, risks, stakeholders and goals before any work begins. Each initiative gets dedicated champions, a senior internal expert who goes through a “train-the-trainer” session with FB&T's admin team, then becomes the first line of support for their colleagues. > _“We do phased rollouts, sometimes directly to the champions first, or a few branches. If issues come up, people go to their champion first. Then it goes to the service desk. Then to admin. The admin is the only one who interacts with nCino support.” _**— Stacy Davis, Director of Banking Systems, First Bank & Trust** This tiered support model does three things: it separates user issues from system issues, it contains early-adoption issues before they scale, and it ensures that when issues do reach nCino, they arrive already filtered and documented, which means faster resolution. ## Post-go-live is its own phase Going live isn’t the finish line. FB&T builds post-go-live support directly into their published six-month roadmap, and they hold firm to one rule: no add-ons in the first months after launch. Staff need time to get comfortable with the new workflows and capabilities. Admin stays available and accessible. The champion network keeps driving adoption. That patience pays off in two ways. First, implementations that stabilize fully typically produce better long-term outcomes and higher engagement. Second, the champions who shepherd staff through that adjustment period gather the feedback that flows back to nCino, shaping what gets built next. ## Internal ownership as the foundation None of this works without deep internal expertise. FB&T has nine technology admins managing their banking platforms and two of them are dedicated entirely to nCino. > _“Make sure you’re up to date on releases and release notes. Have a great team doing testing in a sandbox environment. And communicate honestly with your nCino Customer Success Manager. If you don’t advocate as an admin, you likely won’t see the enhancements you need.” _**— Shawn Rettedal, Banking Systems Admin III, First Bank & Trust** > _“Having two admins dedicated to nCino creates a much higher level of platform understanding. That expertise is what lets First Bank & Trust move so much faster than institutions trying to manage the platform as an afterthought.” _**— Pratik Mody, nCino** ## Pricing on data, not vibes The CPP implementation has shifted how FB&T thinks about commercial profitability. Relationships that lenders felt were their most valuable didn't always prove to be in the data. There was pushback at first. Now, lenders lean on the tool. FB&T treats CPP as a moving target by design. Their pricing committee continuously evaluates RAROC targets as the portfolio shifts and economic conditions change. A low-profitability flag from CPP isn't a rejection — it's an opening. > _“This is pricing on data versus pricing on vibes. The relationships that are biggest to the lender might not be the most profitable. CPP isn’t meant to be black and white, it’s meant to contextualize the data.” _**—**_ _**Brian McLeod, nCino** The data work behind CPP requires effort upfront. Aggregating information and loading it into the nCino record isn't trivial. But Rettedal puts it plainly: "It might take a little more work from your data team to pull everything together, but it pays off when you want to look at relationships holistically." ## The playbook, distilled **What drives record-setting implementations at FB&T:** - Complete data prep and workbooks before the project officially begins - Hold an internal kickoff with decision-makers before the vendor arrives on site - Commit key decision makers to every meeting and establish a material/not-material decision filter from day one - Maintain one Project Manager across all implementations for continuity - Build a detailed SOW with roles, risks and goals defined upfront for every initiative - Identify business line champions per initiative and run train-the-trainer - Implement a tiered support ladder that starts with the champions followed by service desk, admin and lastly nCino - Phase rollouts — champions and select branches before full deployment - Treat post-go-live as its own phase: no add-ons for the first few months - Dedicate specific admin resources to the platform — concentrated expertise accelerates everything The through-line across all of it: relationships. FB&T's business lines trust their technology team because that team has consistently delivered. That trust makes every subsequent implementation faster, and every post-launch enhancement easier. The roadmap isn't just a schedule; it's a discipline the organization has learned to believe in. --- [View sitemap](https://www.ncino.com/api/markdown/sitemap)