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Change Implementation Engagements Portfolio Investment Process Redesign In this engagement we are overseeing the redesign of the investment framework for a $250 billion fund that invests across public and private assets around the world. Our responsibilities include coordinating the efforts of management to design the principles and process for realizing the desired portfolio composition for the entire fund. As a member of the enterprise-wide program office for this initiative, we are responsible for communicating and educating staff from around the company about the evolving design, and preparing for its implementation. Portfolio Management Platform Design and Implementation This manager of $165 billion of pension assets was embarking on designing and implementing a new platform to facilitate its quantitative and fundamental market neutral corporate securities investment program and scale for anticipated dramatic asset inflows. We structured the multi-year program to identify the business outcomes desired; facilitated the solution design; defined the sequence of implementation; and analyzed the effects on business processes and organization. We led the implementation program to successful deliverables of fundamental investment portfolio construction tools and processes, improved interactions with the trading desk. and the development of a robust quantitative research platform and its underlying components. Global Investment Guidelines Compliance System, Process, and Organization Implementation Phase 1: Design, Functional Requirements Development, and Solution Selection In this engagement we led an international team in developing the functional requirements and standard process model for an investment guidelines compliance system and organization, and selecting the application to serve as the core of the process. The scope of this work was global and included both pre- and post-trade compliance requirements. We conducted a structured RFP process that incorporated the requirements and process model, as well as technology and vendor background considerations. This engagement culminated with the selection of a third-party application, and led directly into the implementation phase, discussed below. Phase 2: Implementation This followed directly from the above project. We were engaged as the global program manager. The program involved simultaneous deployments of Fidessa LatentZero’s Sentinel application in Japan and Europe for post-trade compliance checking. The phases of the program included the extraction of investment rules from governing documents such as investment management agreements, prospectuses, and regulations; the development of data requirements for evaluating the rules; identifying the sources of data to populate the system; developing the data feeds; coding the rules into the system; deploying the application at multiple sites; staffing two regional teams and a central global center of excellence for the function; and testing the data feeds, system, and processes end to end. The system and process went live in Europe and Japan during Q4 of 2007. This effort involved a global team across six locations, including a disparate mix of permanent, contract, and vendor personnel. Our role was direction and oversight of the complete program, including all aspects of program management: planning, staffing, budgeting, and tracking; reporting and stakeholder communication; risks and issues management; and vendor management. Throughout both phases of this engagement, we brought capable, trusted leadership, judgment, and vision so that the senior executive sponsoring the project could focus her attention on projects experiencing difficulties or otherwise requiring her guidance. top Asset Management Back Office Outsourcing A global asset management firm was outsourcing the middle and back offices of its North American operations, and engaged us to manage the technology separation portion of the project. This “lift-out” outsourcing involved the transfer of several applications from the asset manager to the custodian/administrator; the decoupling of tightly linked systems and implementation of arms-length interfaces between the two organizations; and the separation of the two networks. Our primary role was to ensure that all linkages between systems staying in house and those migrating to the service provider were discovered and documented, that they had plans for their decommissioning and replacement developed, and that those plans were then executed. We also advised on business process matters and standardizing on industry best practices. top
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Change Implementation Engagements

Portfolio Investment Process Redesign

In this engagement we are overseeing the redesign of the investment framework for a $250 billion fund that invests across public and private assets around the world. Our responsibilities include coordinating the efforts of management to design the principles and process for realizing the desired portfolio composition for the entire fund. As a member of the enterprise-wide program office for this initiative, we are responsible for communicating and educating staff from around the company about the evolving design, and preparing for its implementation.

Portfolio Management Platform Design and Implementation

This manager of $165 billion of pension assets was embarking on designing and implementing a new platform to facilitate its quantitative and fundamental market neutral corporate securities investment program and scale for anticipated dramatic asset inflows. We structured the multi-year program to identify the business outcomes desired; facilitated the solution design; defined the sequence of implementation; and analyzed the effects on business processes and organization. We led the implementation program to successful deliverables of fundamental investment portfolio construction tools and processes, improved interactions with the trading desk. and the development of a robust quantitative research platform and its underlying components.

Global Investment Guidelines Compliance System, Process, and Organization Implementation

Phase 1: Design, Functional Requirements Development, and Solution Selection

In this engagement we led an international team in developing the functional requirements and standard process model for an investment guidelines compliance system and organization, and selecting the application to serve as the core of the process. The scope of this work was global and included both pre- and post-trade compliance requirements. We conducted a structured RFP process that incorporated the requirements and process model, as well as technology and vendor background considerations. This engagement culminated with the selection of a third-party application, and led directly into the implementation phase, discussed below.

Phase 2: Implementation

This followed directly from the above project. We were engaged as the global program manager. The program involved simultaneous deployments of Fidessa LatentZero’s Sentinel application in Japan and Europe for post-trade compliance checking. The phases of the program included the extraction of investment rules from governing documents such as investment management agreements, prospectuses, and regulations; the development of data requirements for evaluating the rules; identifying the sources of data to populate the system; developing the data feeds; coding the rules into the system; deploying the application at multiple sites; staffing two regional teams and a central global center of excellence for the function; and testing the data feeds, system, and processes end to end. The system and process went live in Europe and Japan during Q4 of 2007.

This effort involved a global team across six locations, including a disparate mix of permanent, contract, and vendor personnel. Our role was direction and oversight of the complete program, including all aspects of program management: planning, staffing, budgeting, and tracking; reporting and stakeholder communication; risks and issues management; and vendor management.

Throughout both phases of this engagement, we brought capable, trusted leadership, judgment, and vision so that the senior executive sponsoring the project could focus her attention on projects experiencing difficulties or otherwise requiring her guidance.

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Asset Management Back Office Outsourcing

A global asset management firm was outsourcing the middle and back offices of its North American operations, and engaged us to manage the technology separation portion of the project. This “lift-out” outsourcing involved the transfer of several applications from the asset manager to the custodian/administrator; the decoupling of tightly linked systems and implementation of arms-length interfaces between the two organizations; and the separation of the two networks.

Our primary role was to ensure that all linkages between systems staying in house and those migrating to the service provider were discovered and documented, that they had plans for their decommissioning and replacement developed, and that those plans were then executed.

We also advised on business process matters and standardizing on industry best practices.

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