What were some of the ways that the DCR team decreased the business and technology integration risks during the Data Center Relocation?

This transaction combines our capital strength and sales capabilities with USA Group’s premier service quality. . . . It would be difficult to overstate the significance of this deal to our three principal constituencies: students, schools, and shareholders.
1 —Albert L. Lord, Vice Chairman and Chief
Executive Officer, Sallie Mae
In June 2000, the two largest players in the education finance industry announced their intent to merge: Sallie Mae of Reston, Virginia, would acquire USA Group of Indianapolis, Indiana. The merger announcement in The Wall Street Journal highlighted the strategic role that USA Group’s software applications would play in the new combined company: USA Group’s loan-guarantee-processing business and its campusloan origination and loan-processing products were expected to make the combined company more competitive.2