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Find out Why More than 250 Family Offices Rely on Advent.
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FEATURE STORY
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InvestEdge ASP
It's on the web and ready to manage,
measure and report on high-net-worth portfolios
By Donald H. Kelley
(Note from the editors: Due to technical difficulties experienced
with the original broadcast, the newsletter is being re-sent. We
apologize for any inconvenience.)
Kelley Rating (one asterisk = lowest, five asterisks = highest):
• Ease of navigation, design of interface and learning curve *****
• Instructional documentation and help system ****
• Carries out the goal of the product as advertised *****
• Overall usefulness *****
InvestEdge ASP is a
web-based turnkey system for the managing and reporting on
high-net-worth investment portfolios. Even those advisors who don’t
actually handle investment portfolios may want to familiarize themselves
with how InvestEdge ASP works for their clients who are customers of
institutions that use it.
InvestEdge ASP is designed to serve family offices and mid- to
large-sized trust companies with $1 billion under management.
InvestEdge ASP is used by investment managers, compliance personnel and
performance/reporting professionals who require access to accounts,
holdings, transactions and performance data. In addition to
consolidating information, it includes a variety of tools that simplify
tasks such as generating reports, monitoring allocations, rebalancing
portfolios, optimizing portfolios for tax efficiency, etc.
It presents a well-designed single-screen interface that provides access
to system information, client accounts and management tools. It’s
designed to translate back-office activity into digestible information
for clients. InvestEdge ASP handles the rebalancing, compliance and
performance of portfolios.
InvestEdge ASP is described by its publisher as a “portfolio
management overlay system.” It relies on automated, daily feeds of
accounting data from the firm’s existing books-of-record. Because
InvestEdge ASP does not create a secondary books-of-record it eliminates
the need for reconciliation. Active interfaces are in place for all
major accounting systems, including those from SunGard, SEI, Metavante,
and Infovisa. In addition, data for held-away accounts not contained in
the books-of-record also can be imported-based on a partnership with
Evare LLC, a leading data aggregator.
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Competitors
Competitors are Advent Solutions,
SunGard WealthStation, and
Odyssey Management Platforms.
What’s It All About?
The information and tools available through InvestEdge ASP are accessed
via a standard web browser. User access is granted through a secure
log-in procedure, and permissions to view screens, accounts or groups of
accounts are controlled by an authorized system administrator at the
investment firm. The InvestEdge ASP interface consists of a screen
displaying an intuitive series of tabs that run along the top of the
screen. The data and features contained on screens can be customized to
a user’s specifications.
“Home” shows a list of the top 10 accounts being managed and the top
10 asset investments. Merely click on an investment name to produce a
list of the accounts holding that investment.
“Accounts” permits you to search for any account. It also displays
a list of recently accessed accounts and active accounts. The screen
for an individual account displays an overview with a summary of the
account, the account’s asset allocations by category, and the
account’s holdings by asset category. You may access an account
review, account analysis, real-time summary, fundamentals, tax
optimizers, subaccounts, transaction summary, transaction list, tax
lots, a list of the account investment policies, compliance reviews and
more.
“Reports” displays the recently generated reports for a given
account and facilities for generating reports. Configured packages lets
you create and save reports to be generated on a recurring basis.
Through the “Standard Package” facility, you may design the standard
report for the account. Through “Quick Package,” you may instantly
generate a report for the account; a handy tool when preparing for a
client meeting.
“Documents” displays a view of a knowledge base for the system,
including system support and equity research.
“Inbox” functions like email allow you to convey and store notes,
reports and documents within the InvestEdge ASP system.
“Admin” includes the ability to segment groups of users or accounts,
display all current pending trades, monitor each account against
pre-configured parameters, create investment policy groupings, optimize
calculations for given problems, and create parameter sets to be used in
optimization (includes the
Northfield Information Services optimization engine), set up report
templates, and list the activity on the system.
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Underlying this framework, the system includes the following general
categories of activity:
“Portfolio Management” tools provide a detailed view of holdings,
assets, allocation and performance data for each account (or group of
accounts). In addition to the standard four asset categories (equities,
fixed income, cash and other) users can define up to 10 additional asset
classes, as well as five layers of further categorization at the
subclass level. Key features include tools for comparing accounts to
targets and models, tracking investment policies, rebalancing, block
trading, and creating family-based relationships.
“Compliance Monitoring” includes a compliance engine for daily
monitoring of accounts against their policies or other customizable
rules. When exceptions such as style drift are detected, a “flag” is
created and the advisor and compliance group are notified. The
system’s compliance features include an automated approach to National
Banking Regulation 9 review processes. InvestEdge ASP enables firms to
identify and prioritize portfolios due for review, then sequentially
routes the reviews to each person in the evaluation chain.
“Performance Measurement” features global investment performance
standard compliant calculations. The scalable solution is a turnkey
system for the daily calculation of asset level, time-weighted rates of
return, as well as the calculation of composite returns. Through a
single interface, wealth managers can analyze investment strategies,
compare results to benchmarks and indices, demonstrate attribution, and
create reports for clients.
“Client Reporting” produces customized reports on-demand or on a
scheduled basis. Reports are based on templates customized for the firm.
Specific content within each report can be controlled through the
system’s "parameters" features that enable customization based on the
data to be included for each client. Once the desired content is
selected for the account, the system automatically translates account,
holdings, transaction and performance data into a consolidated report
package. It inserts a cover page, table of contents and page numbers.
What About Help and Support?
The “Help” tab on the InvestEdge ASP screen provides access to help
files and quick-start guides related to the use and administration of
the system. “Help” includes an online listing of topics relating to
the system functions and is word-searchable. The “Issue Manager”
enables you to submit comments, questions, requests and problems to a
system administrator assigned to you. Each submission is preserved, and
can trigger an automatic notification to your email and/or inbox if the
status of the issue changes. InvestEdge ASP also has a support desk,
which can be contacted via phone or email.
(Article continues below ad.)
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(Article continues here.)
Where Do You Get This Software?
InvestEdge ASP charges an annual subscription fee and is priced based on
the number of accounts being managed. You may request a demo at www.InvestEdge.com/contact.html
or view an online product tour at www.InvestEdge.com/solutions.html.
This service is available from:
InvestEdge, Inc.
1151 Freeport Road, Suite #396
Pittsburgh, PA 15238
Phone: 1-800-830-1839
Email: info@InvestEdge.com
Bottom Line
InvestEdge ASP provides an easy-to-navigate, clear interface for trust
company and family office portfolio management. It can generate
periodic reports or quickly produce reports, as needed. Although its
interface is easy to work with, it manages accounts with a high level of
sophistication.
Trusts & Estates magazine is pleased to present the monthly
Technology Review by Donald H. Kelley—a respected connoisseur of
the software and Internet resources wealth management advisors use to
further their practices.
Kelley is a lawyer living in Highlands Ranch, Colo. and is of counsel to
the law firm of Kelley, Scritsmier & Byrne, P.C. of North Platte, Neb.
He is the co-author of the Intuitive Estate Planner Software, (Thomson
– West 2004). He has served on the governing boards of the American
Bar Association Real Property Probate and Trust Section and the American
College of Tax Counsel. He is a past regent and past chair of the
Committee on Technology in the Practice of the American College of Trust
and Estate Counsel.
Trusts & Estates has asked Kelley to provide his unvarnished opinions
on the tech resources available in the practice today. His columns are
edited for readability only. Send feedback and suggestions for articles
directly to him at dhkelley@qwestoffice.net.
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