The client desired an Enterprise Data Platform that would serve as a Single Source of Truth and drive operational efficiency. Olmstead led the strategy and implementation. We built an Enterprise Data Warehouse using our Snowflake accelerator and developed data ingestion processes from their middle office provider, Salesforce, and FactSet. We constructed flexible Power BI reports that provided easy access, transparency, drill-downs, and drill-throughs. We created a One-Stop Shopping experience for convenient Self-service access to curated data and improved data accessibility, productivity, and intelligence.

The client was seeking to transform their operations through building a digital operating environment.  Olmstead led the successful operational transformation by implementing the Investment Data Hub (IDH). This central data warehouse streamlined processes, reduced costs, and mitigated risks for the Fund Administration function. The IDH replaced manual processes and disparate databases, resulting in a 20% reduction in fund expenses, $12.4 million cost savings, and 30k+ hours of annual capacity. Olmstead's expertise in data architecture, cloud migration, and industry knowledge ensured the implementation of key use cases and user-enabled technologies, yielding significant efficiency gains and business value for the client.

The client required data that was trustworthy, accessible, documented, and supported.  Olmstead customized our Data Governance Framework for the client and established a Data Governance Program.  We coached the client through organizing their data into data domains, assigning ownership, and communicating program details.  Implemented a data catalog, enacted data issue management workflows, and instituted a Data Quality Framework.  Dramatically improved data quality, data accessibility, and laid a critical foundation for Self-service.

The client desired an optimized FactSet process to achieve scalability, agility, and business intelligence goals.  Specifically, the client needed to blend FactSet data with other enterprise data, eliminate report inconsistencies, and speed up the overall reporting processes. Olmstead developed an export process from FactSet to their enterprise data warehouse, created automated data quality rules into the process, and built flexible Power BI reports which enabled portfolio managers to respond to questions instantly.  This resulted in faster report changes, improved scalability, and a decreased total cost of ownership.

The client was unsatisfied with its loose controls around data processing. There was also unclear ownership and confusion around how best to add usable information to data stores. The client requested enhancements to its data governance to address these pain points. The client wanted to avoid a large bureaucracy when implementing the needed controls. Olmstead created organizational structures and light-weight processes to manage ownership and changes to the data in the firm. These processes brought clarity and consistency to data processing and governance.  Recognizing that there is additional governance work ahead, the organization is committed to further enhancements of the processes in the future.

The client sought changes to their Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC) to improve project execution and efficiency.  Olmstead oversaw the implementation of an Atlassian JIRA project to track all related epics and stories and implemented a software development process aligned with this JIRA project ensuring proper completion, testing and deployment of code.  In addition, we implemented a separate Kanban board for high level backlog items not ready for development to be used by business analysts to track their activities in the development story creation and refinement. These activities had a significant impact on the project’s efficiency and ability to move forward quickly.

The client desired a central store of trusted IBOR and ABOR data for enhanced data integration and clean data for business applications and processes. Olmstead introduced an enterprise data architecture that connected a central data hub with portfolio analytics, risk management, performance measurement & attribution and finance.  We also added a data governance process that created data ownership and decision rights processes resulting in increased quality and confidence of the data.

The client desired an enterprise-wide data strategy aligned with their business strategy to replace a legacy point-to-point data platform. Olmstead created a Single Source of Truth using Master Data Management (MDM) and a centralized Data Warehouse.  We also introduced Data Governance practices that included robust data quality metrics and policies across all data domains.  Finally, dashboards and reports with dynamic analytics were built.  This resulted in improved data accessibility and trust in data.

The client was seeking a consulting firm with deep expertise in operating model design who could assess their fragmented operating model which supported their investment teams via manual and offline processes, to produce a strategy toward outsourcing their middle office functions. Olmstead was engaged to design a vision for a strategic operating model that enables focus on core business, positioning the firm for scaling their client base. Olmstead guided the client through evaluating opportunities for outsourcing Middle Office, including transaction execution, cash processing, and IBOR reporting, as well as new opportunities for Back Office services.

The client had been expanding their single proprietary, bespoke platform over multiple decades to support three distinct trading desks: Muni, Taxable Fixed Income, and Equity. Built initially as a Muni platform and nearing end-of-life, the client was seeking a modern, SaaS-based solution to address the unique needs of each investment team. Olmstead was engaged to lead a multi-workstream cross-functional program from vendor selection through implementation, positioning the firm for future business growth, asset class expansion, and product diversification.

With an accounting and performance platform reaching end-of-life, the client was faced with a decision to replace the technology or outsource middle and back-office operations. Because the legacy technology was tightly coupled with the investment team's front office technology, the evaluation included an assessment for replacement of the existing proprietary OMS. Olmstead was engaged to lead the client through determining strategic direction – technology replacement or outsourcing – and assessing the market for potential technology solutions (accounting, performance, and OMS).

Post acquisition of a new affiliate, the client was looking to rationalize disparate operating models and platform solutions. The operating environment consisted of a fully in-sourced model servicing the acquired affiliate, as well as a fragmented outsourced model for the legacy business. Olmstead led the client through evaluating capabilities, controls, cost, and scale of the insourced and outsourced models, and assessed suitability of existing market solutions and identified opportunities for change.

Dealing with ongoing client errors and complaints, a major global service provider engaged Olmstead to assess their middle office service model. Olmstead led an assessment of each middle office functional area, reviewing their processes at a detailed level. Olmstead also analyzed the provider's current state client engagement model. We designed a vision for a strategic operating model which would improve how the provider faced off with their clients, boosting service and client satisfaction. Olmstead also provided dozens of strategic recommendations to improve processes across each functional area.

In order to meet existing and future business demand, the client’s operating environment required transformation to enable product, market, and asset class diversification. The client engaged Olmstead as an objective 3rd party to spur creativity and facilitate ‘out-of-the-box thinking’ by leveraging our deep understanding of the solution landscape and leading industry practices. Olmstead guided the client in developing a vision for an operating platform (operating model, data, and technology) that was transformational, achievable, and positioned the firm for growth.

The client had been experiencing ongoing service issues with their current back-office provider. Olmstead was engaged to manage the due diligence process to select a new provider for fund administration, custody, and fund accounting services. Olmstead was then retained to lead the client through the conversion of portfolios, from implementation planning through the completion of parallel processing.

The client’s existing Fund Treasury operating model had been strained over time due to product growth and increasing complexity. This coupled with an underinvestment in technology, process inefficiencies, and key-person risk elevated the need to rationalize the existing environment and transform to address existing and future demand. Olmstead assessed the current operating model and identified opportunities for transformation to meet business objectives; including technology, data optimization, outsourcing, and organizational alignment, and produced a roadmap to guide the client in their Fund Treasury transformation.

The client had a small team of staff supporting their tax function in-house. Many processes were manual and time-consuming. They were seeking a premier accounting firm to take over the tax functions as well as take on half of the staff as a lift-out. The client engaged Olmstead to guide them through the due diligence process for selecting a tax services provider, from requirements gathering to RFP, through target state operating model and workflow design.

The client’s proprietary Billing and Commission platform was tightly integrated with their end-of-life accounting application. The replacement of the accounting application provided an opportunity to enhance the billing process and reduce the technology footprint via a modern, SaaS-based vendor product. Olmstead guided the client through a due diligence effort, assessing the market for potential partners, identifying requirements, and facilitating vendor POCs to assess functional and technical requirements and workflow capabilities.

Olmstead was engaged to evaluate, recommend, and deliver a new reporting platform. Our team designed and delivered a fully integrated and dedicated data management solution to connect several structured and unstructured data sources. The Olmstead team managed the design and development of the reporting mart that automated the data feed for client reports. We also designed end-to-end workflows for data transportation, report creation and approval, report delivery, and storage. The new platform improved the development and delivery of client materials in terms of accuracy, automation, and delivery time (10 days to 3). 

The client was seeking a consulting firm with deep expertise in complex account structures to analyze the current state of their account master, assess data gaps and deficiencies, unwind complexities, and formulate a plan to ready their account master to support the implementation of an IBOR platform. Olmstead completed a mastering initiative that improved information structure, governance, and data trustworthiness. The project significantly reduced risks of new client onboarding, reduced processing delays, and improved reporting accuracy.

The client was struggling with their Salesforce being overextended and not satisfying their sales, service, and marketing teams' needs. The client was looking for consulting expertise to help them define the strategy for how they would utilize Salesforce.  Olmstead executed a full CRM health assessment for this asset manager by evaluating their process workflows, data management practices, reporting capabilities, and application support. An implementation roadmap was created, guiding the client to make several changes that were low effort for the client but contributed significantly to the health of their Salesforce usage and end-users’ satisfaction. 

Olmstead was engaged by a major service provider to design and develop an equity report template to provide an “out of the box” client report solution for their middle office clients and data mart clients.  This project led to a fully automated client reporting solution relieving clients of manual production of client reports.  Duties included the design of the client report, data gap analysis, and design of the business/data workflows, and UAT.  The Olmstead team also authored the Migration Specifications document used by the provider’s middle office clients who utilized Vermilion as part of their middle office solution. 

Olmstead was engaged by the client to lead their project to build a reporting data mart and implement Coric.  This project successfully created a fully automated client reporting process and a gold copy of reporting data resulting in a shorter production period utilizing pre-validated data. Our team was responsible for reporting project status to offices of the CTO, CFO, and Chief Reporting Officer via steering committee meetings.  We successfully automated the production of biographical data, investment commentary, and disclosures, and created Design Specifications for both the reporting data mart and the client report templates. 

Olmstead completed a corporate-wide account master assessment of a multi-affiliated asset manager. The proposed solution created a single account master across the client’s multiple affiliates. It allowed for a seamless flow of data from each individual affiliate to the parent, and enabled the affiliates to use a single corporate license for reference data, share a single platform to produce client reports & marketing materials, and house all data in an enterprise data warehouse.  The project enabled the client to reduce manual data processing, significantly reduce license costs, and cut maintenance efforts. 

Olmstead was engaged to assist with the first Nort American implementation of Vermilion at a large institutional & retail investment manager.  This project fully automated a previously manual client reporting process.  Olmstead's responsibilities included performing a data readiness analysis across multiple sources to determine the systemic availability of data needed to produce client reports.  Our team wrote the design specifications that detailed report design, data mapping, data validation, error processing, and approval workflows. We also developed and completed UAT testing.  Documentation was handed off to the client to be used by business analysts, system analysts, and developers detailing report components, data sources, stored procedures and business contacts.