The customer is a leading global independent provider of financial advisory and investment banking services, delivering trusted advice, principally in the areas of valuation, transactions, financial restructuring, dispute and taxation.

Situation

The Portfolio Valuation group is responsible for the quarterly valuation of clients’ investment portfolios.  This group lacked the ability to effectively manage their process with enforceable standards, leading to inefficient and highly variable quality work.  Without a manageable process, valuation teams were limited by geography, such that the company was forced to make assignments based on location, not on expertise or availability.  Client reports, consisting of individual analytical write-ups and financial analysis for each investment, were assembled in a time-consuming manual process.  For all these reasons, client deadlines for valuation reports were often missed.

Solution

DataLan implemented a solution on the MOSS platform to create a manageable team-based approach to the valuation of a client’s investment portfolio across geographies.  Client’s deadlines are managed via standard milestones with configurable dates.  This allows for effective cross-client process management while allowing for timing differences from client to client.  Each valuation period has its own management site to track the investments in the portfolio, team assignments, task assignments, and milestone progress.  A custom-developed form allows for the easy input of investments from client-provided lists, and the ability to copy the portfolio from period to period reduces the data entry burden for large portfolios. Task assignments and overall process milestones are visible within and across clients, allowing for effective cross-geographical management of individual projects and the overall process.  Automated report assembly and workflows shorten engagement timelines and improve quality through the implementation of a more formal review and approval process.

Benefits