Having written previously on both the “Good Practices” within the Investment Management industry and the “Technical Issues” facing it; this third article considers some of the key foundations necessary to build a system that will still be delivering business value 25 years from now.
We are coming at this with distinct advantage over legacy vendors. We started with a blank canvass; supported by 40 years international Investment Management industry experience; and being the architect for four global systems as well as founding a successful Third-Party Administrator (TPA) in the late 90’s.
This systems background is rounded. The scope of the three previous developments ranged significantly from adapting a package solution; to developing bespoke software with Oracle for a global fund management group with a budget of US$19 Million (in the 90’s): to bootstrapped development when I was getting my TPA off the ground.
I have seen many mistakes made; and made a number of my own.
All of this experience has contributed to building a software platform of the future – Quartz – considering the dynamics of technical and cultural change. In today’s fast paced world, it is important that any chosen software system must meet current needs of global product with local nuances; empowering the user across multiple disciplines; regulatory compliance across jurisdictions; location independent usage; quick implementation: scalability and appropriate pricing. A system built by a User for a User.
Quartz is the culmination of 5 years concentrated development. Starting with 18 months of researching the market and committing the design to paper (1200+ pages of A4) At one stage, a team of 30 people were involved in building out the product. Having everything written down was a great help, but current software and project delivery techniques of Agile and Scrum were key to getting the outcome we wanted, transferring knowledge to the development team and working with developers to ensure the core of the system was as envisaged.
Quartz could only have been developed in the last few years. Technology moves quickly and without the far-reaching use of Cloud computing, the system would not exist. It covers e full range of tasks completed within a Fund Manager’s or TPA office but is designed in a way that when further developments occur, such as accessing pricing data dynamically, we are set to take advantage.
By spending a lot of time developing the rules-based engine at the outset, we have saved significant amounts of time in maintaining and customising the software in the future. This encompasses:
- Full Front Office Order Management (with many order creation methods)
- Data collection and management
- Pre-Trade compliance
- Trade processing and settlement
- Corporate Actions
- Income
- Fund Accounting
- Integration with Tableau reporting
All of this is fully integrated so that an order entered by a Fund Manager is the basis of the accounting entries that occur for that transaction. Integration with Fix, confirmation and settlement systems give maximum Straight Thrgh Processing (STP) with its own Standing Settlement Instructions (SSI) database. For TPA’s, Cloud structure means your clients will have access to an Order Management System (OMS) whilst not seeing any other menu options, expanding the service offered by them. Fund Managers can also use the software to reduce their reliance on spreadsheets.
In keeping with the systems ethos of empowering the user, the database has been connected to Tableau. We have created stored procures that allow users to drag and drop elements from the database into a. Parameters can be used during the reports creation so that subsequent users can use these reports, changing parameters to reflect different funds, sub funds, dates etc. These reports can then be combined with text, pictures etc. in a dashboard. Once complete, the report can be published Online where it is available for other users.
To summarise, the Quartz software is now complete and ready to revolutionise how we work:
- in the global Investment management industry with local requirements a given
- with an OMS component with pre-trade compliance in a world where compliance is creating more cost, by automating how we keep our funds within the rules and fund administration costs down.
- utilising the software’s rules-based engine that provides a very flexible system to be used in any jurisdiction and for any investment vehicle.
- built on the culmination of 40 years working and developing software for the industry designed by a User for a User.
- exploiting the Cloud therefore it can be implemented speedily with users in multiple locations working on the same data.
- using Microsoft Azure to achieve scalability.
- and by rewriting the business model as it is charged as a fixed annual fee rather than a fee that exploits the level of assets on the system.
We believe we have something special. If you would like to discuss any of this further or arrange to see the software please contact David Studd at david.studd@cumulusinv.co.uk