Page 1 of 16 Delta Stream Murex Services Murex Services
Murex Services from First Derivatives include implementation, development, training and support to manage the complete application lifecycle Completeness, accuracy and timeliness are the three tenets of robust transaction management - and it is in trading systems such as Murex that they must be unambiguously evident. From deal capture and position management through to transaction processing and settlement, these solutions serve as systems of record and channels of mission critical data to multiple downstream processes. As a result their accuracy and reliability are paramount; configurations must be accurate, interfaces robust and static data complete. Not only must they be stable, however, they must also be agile enough to incorporate new functionality demanded by market developments and regulatory requirements. Implementing and maintaining systems to these high standards requires knowledge, process and pedigree. First Derivatives (FD) provides all three to ensure your Murex implementation meets these exacting challenges. Choosing FD to provide third party application services brings a number of advantages to clients including: - Consistency and reliability of experienced resources. FD has dedicated Murex consultants who provide consistency of service and internal training programmes that maintain and replenish their skills and expertise. - Delta Operations Network a suite of tools, automation and best-practice processes enabling teams to manage applications consistent, optimised and efficient manner - Domain and technology expertise guaranteed through an extensive capital markets training program, which has enabled FD to establish a world-renowned reputation for delivery and quality. - Reducing total cost of ownership by optimizing solutions, minimising errors and streamlining processes - FD services are delivered with a spirit of speed and flexibility its global footprint enables it to deploy resources world-wide at short notice and can draw upon an extensive talent pool as short term needs arise. FD offers a hybrid delivery model through a mix of On-shore and Near Shore services. This approach to reducing costs coupled with the offer of fixed price engagements for qualified projects enables clients to significantly reduce the TCO of their Murex implementations. First Derivatives brings deep domain expertise to the delivery and management of Murex applications for leading global financial institutions. It offers a service with longevity and accreditation: our leadership team has forged a strong relationship with Murex over the last 20 years, our delivery team has a combined experience of over 500 Murex projects and FD has signed a Global Relationship Agreement with Murex that makes it an integral part of its partnership programme. Our goal is to be the first choice provider of Murex Consultancy services Our culture is to partner and support our clients FD s experience of Murex is underpinned by deep domain knowledge across all aspects of the application and across all asset classes Page 2 of 16
The Murex Service FD s Murex practice assists organisations in comprehensively and cost effectively managing their Murex applications and environments. FD has had a long and trusted relationship with Murex. This is evidenced by the Global Relationship Agreement that sets a framework for co-operation and collaboration between both companies and under which members of FD s consulting team become embedded in Murex s development centre in Paris to fully understand its systems and support procedures. This engagement illustrates Murex s confidence in working with FD to ensure smooth implementation of its products. FD leverages its global delivery model and long history of supporting Murex implementations to provide the following services: Implementing Murex Management and Planning - a proven methodology and experience for undertaking the complex work of implementing Murex in an optimal and timely manner. Integration - Analysis and mapping of data, design and implementation of interfaces Implementation - Scoping, planning, phasing, costing and delivering projects Enhancing Murex System Review - Benchmarking systems against industry best practice, gap analysis and remediation recommendations Upgrades - Services designed to ensure the complex task of upgrading is smooth, stable and timely and meets the underlying business drivers Performance - Identifying, implementing and monitoring performance enhancements Managing Murex Application Management - A range of services covering testing, releases, performance monitoring, reporting, end-of-day processes and environments Support - First to third line support for Murex applications, provided onsite or on a Near Shore basis Health Check - Identifying weaknesses, potential risks and mitigation measures To deliver these services consistently and comprehensively FD maintains a significant resource pool of talented Murex personnel who can assist in all aspects of implementations including integration, price feeds, market data, position management, valuations, workflow, SWIFT, clearing, CCP, messaging and scheduled tasks. It can provide complete project resources ranging from junior consultants at competitive rates, to senior business/technical analysts, developers and project managers either as complete teams or as individuals to augment existing projects. Delivery is further enhanced by the Delta Operations Network that offers a suite of tools, automation and best-practice processes. New to the First Derivatives Third Party Vendor services is the provision of fixed-price or capped-price development projects. In these engagements FD gathers requirements onsite and delivers detailed design specifications and project New Service Offering: costing to clients for their sign off. FD then develops, tests and delivers Fixed-price / Capped the required functionality from its Near Shore centres. This provides charge and Near clients with the benefit of cost effective, fixed-price delivery coupled with Shore Delivery proximity that facilitates good communication, close cooperation and where required, on-site accessibility that ensures timeliness and quality of delivery. FD is engaged in projects across mainland financial centres in Europe, US and Asia and also in Emerging Markets. First Derivatives can offer services on a hybrid model, either On-shore in client sites, or Near Shore from dedicated delivery centres in Northern Ireland, North America and Asia. Page 3 of 16
Why FD FD has over 16 years experience in providing consulting and support services to the Capital Markets. In that capacity it specialises in assisting clients in implementing, supporting, upgrading, enhancing, testing and decommissioning leading trading applications. As a result it has accumulated unparalleled experience in working with leading technologies such as Murex, Calypso, Wall Street, kdb+ and Summit. It makes this knowledge and expertise available to clients through its Third Party Vendor Services FD consultants provided under the Third Party Vendor Services have skills in project development and support work across a variety of roles which span business analysis, documentation, prototyping, testing, day to day issue resolution, configuration, migration and development. Our consultants are highly trained across asset classes and possess transaction knowledge and integration requirements from front office to back office and supporting systems in the middle office. Murex Specialists Experience Scalability Costs Near Shore Delta Operations Network Multiple Murex projects Extensive product knowledge Full lifeycle maintenance Applicaion maintenance is the heart of our company Best Practice processes Leadership Managed bench of highly trained consultants Strong balance sheet Commitment to growth Fixed Fee KPIs & penalties Flexibility Low Cost No Visa issues Government backing In providing these services FD has gained an exceptional reputation for the quality of its deliverables and its people A suite of tools to automate and contol the full product lifecycle Monitoring, and synchronisation tools Streamlined configuration management What makes us different? We specialize in Capital Markets and Murex We invest in our business - FD recruits approximately 100 graduates each year. We invest in our people - FD has a 2 year Capital Markets Training programme. We invest in our clients and respond to market needs by building Near Shore centres of excellence. We invest in our tools - FD continues to develop its industry standard tools to reduce implementation timescales. We are agile - Resources can be allocated dynamically to meet business demand. We reduce client s TCO through our efficiencies. The Importance of Training Training is at the heart of everything we undertake at First Derivatives. For Murex services we have a state of the art Training Facility and program through which each one of our employees proceed. Our project experience has shown that the investment in training is one certain step IT managers can take to ensure project teams possess the skills necessary to reduce failure risk, decrease costs, and increase project effectiveness. FD s training platform is a web based application which provides access to all training collateral, FAQs Trouble Shooting guides and a forum for Helpdesk Support questions. FD s unique advantage within the capital markets industry is that all consultants have extensive technical and functional knowledge of leading third-party trading platforms. This enables them to understand both business and technical requirements alike and to engage meaningfully with traders, IT, management, support and testing departments to quickly understand and service their needs. In the fast moving trading environment there is little time for on-the-job training so FD invests in advance to ensure it has experts to deal knowledgably and directly with your experts. We train our staff, you avail of their expertise. Page 4 of 16
Implementing Murex Murex is a comprehensive and complex package that requires detailed planning and alignment to underpin organisation's business process and strategy. Implementation execution must ensure that the organisation receives the maximum return on its investment. First Derivatives has extensive experience of implementing Murex solutions across all asset classes and incorporating functionally from front-to-back office. As part of its implementation service it provides expertise in managing the entire project and subject matter experts to focus on key work streams as outlined below. Implementation Managment planning Scoping Detailed Design Functional and Technical delivery Transition to Live Creating and reviewing implementation plans Creating phasing options and Roadmaps Cost estimations and budgeting Rosk mitigations and best practice Global operating model design Mapping of Business requirements Resource profiling and planning Migration approach Creation and review of all functional and technical designs Acting as design authority for overall project design and delivery Technical architecture nd best practice Regular project reviews and delivery status updates Functional configuration Technical and integration delivery Work-stream ownership and execution (configuration, integration, testing) Subject matter Expertise Go-Live Strategy Migration execution Go-Live planning and execution Support Hand Holding In the Implementation Management Planning phase FD develops technology roadmaps, implementation plans and phasing approaches along with cost estimations, resource profiling and budgets to assist clients in making the right choices when implementing Murex. Through the Scoping workstream the initial business requirements are mapped by FD s Murex specialists using an Application Operating Model to complement the MxPress methodology of the vendor to deliver the Murex Implementation. The Application Operating Model (AOM) definition seeks to document existing processes and workflows of the as-is business-operating model, and develop a new business model built around Murex. Detailed Design then follows which includes the creation and review of all functional and technical designs, whilst acting as a design authority for overall project delivery. At this stage technical architecture is reviewed and best practice discussed. The integration of Murex with other systems within the organisation must consider both the technical design and functional analysis needs. Functional analysis includes an end to end business process, mapping of business objectives including trades, market operations and static data, communication protocols and input and output formats. The Integration Architecture Design covers the component architecture including Murex, Middleware and other applications where Murex workflows are drawn up. Functional and Technical delivery takes up the next stage of the implementation process, and includes a number of steps including functional configuration, technical and integration delivery, work stream ownership and execution, all performed by FD s subject matter experts. The workstream also includes workflow and data mart development, and additional Murex configuration (exchange workflow, MxML exchange, additional UDF s and pre-trade rules). During the implementation consideration is given to testing; FD uses a multiiteration testing process to perform the System & Integration activities. FD promotes the use of test scenarios that represent typical business performance so that the application is stressed under these varying scenarios using a variety of performance, load, stress and user response time testing techniques. The final step sees FD Murex specialists develop the Transition to Live and a Go-Live strategy. Page 5 of 16
Enhancing Murex Once in production an application often diverges from its implementation footprint through a change in business direction or additional maintenance demands. FD consultants wealth of experience makes them uniquely placed to undertake a System Review for our clients; this establishes four key principles: 1. The applications ability to support the current business needs 2. To identify weaknesses and identify potential enhancements to the system 3. To identify potential risks and issue-mitigation approaches 4. To review whether future proofing has been incorporated so future upgrades, and additional functionality can be introduced efficiently and effectively with minimal disruption to business Where minor product enhancements are required First Derivatives consultants have considerable experience of extending the scope and reach of the Murex application with product enhancements. Clients often seek to extend Murex either through increased usage, for instance new entities, or through increased functionality, product coverage or improvements to operational controls like workflow configuration, report production or changes to batches. First Derivatives provides specialist project teams, with the appropriate mix of skills, that are tailored to client requirements and whose familiarisation with the product enables swift development times and fast delivery. Service Provided Detailed regression test plans Thorough testing over several logical days test cycle Monitoring and prioritising of all bugs Management of risks and issues list Vendor management and liaison UAT support and assistance Training for new functionality Client Benefits Risk and dependencies can be removed by branching and parallelisation of development Reduces task delivery timeframes Removes the need to cross-specialise - First Derivatives already has the application skills and experience, Targeted resource - specific focus on project, reducing client FTE Upgrades The evolution of both clients business needs and the development of the application by the vendor results in an upgrade requirement; Murex has a specific upgrade policy that requires a client to move to a new binary every 12-18 months. The driver for the upgrade can be the result of many differing factors and this driver will influence the upgrade scope and approach; FD is experienced in guiding our clients to the most appropriate path that is best suited to their business needs. In our experience the approach can be categorised in to the following: An upgrade may often be viewed as an expensive necessity; if it is driven by technology the business often cannot see the value, and if it is driven by business change then technology may recoil from changing the current harmonious state. Page 6 of 16
The vast majority of effort, over 55%, of an upgrade is expended in regression testing and reconciliation. FD has developed tools to improve the timescales and costs for an upgrade Delta Rec is available to our teams to use during an upgrade to execute automated testing against our pre-defined test libraries In conjunction with client and vendor, FD can propose an approach that accommodates the scale and complexity of the upgrade. Where clients are moving between Murex versions (e.g. MxG 2.11 to Mx3), FD would discuss aligning with the FEM methodology that Murex proposes as the approach for the upgrade, or whether an alternative approach that FD follows would be more appropriate. As important as enhancing systems with new functionality is the ability to enhance their performance. FD s Murex practice offers a well defined process for identifying, implementing and monitoring performance enhancements. They include the ability to improve batch performance, interactive performance and to ultimately reduce interface latency. These performance and stability improvements are equally valid for Trade Flows, Market Data Flows and Payment Flows. The approach in each case follows the steps outlined below: 1. Mobilise the system, here FD will identify and understand the performance goals for the client s individual Murex system and define the scope of the system. Test environments are prepared and tools and techniques identified to test and analyse over all Murex performance. KPI s will be defined to determine what should be measured to understand Murex performance. 2. Benchmarks, to identify how murex performs under test (in test environment) vs production. KPI s will be captured and a mixture of vendor and FD tools used to capture performance related data. To follow this benchmarking, we will: 3. Analyse results against particular KPIs and make relevant changes to the application and system configurations. Results will also be analysed against theoretical hardware capacity i.e. where and what hardware is constricting the performance of Murex. 4. Provide Recommendations to the client on what was identified and the new benefits you can gain. FD will identify quick wins and how they can be delivered, and provide suggestions on what to do next. As with the above, in order to future proof Murex performance, FD Murex specialists perform a number of steps to get to the recommendations stage. These are similar to the steps carried out to improve performance, the key difference here is that Data Volumes are bulked up, in terms of what size and shape the Murex database will be in the future and what hardware requirements are required to handle the increased data sets. Step 1:Foundations Infrastructure Architecture and Environment Documentation Step 2: Configurations Known and repeating issues Batch Management Reporting Step 3: Processes Intraday processes End of Day processes Procedures Step 4: Perceptions User Perceptions Support Perceptions Step 5: Conclusions Initial findings Quick Wins Reccommended next stpes We will identify: Strengths and weaknesses in the foundations of your Murex system and its architectural context Coverage and accuracy of your existing documentation We will identify Causes for known and repeating issues and how to address them How to best manage the batch to maximise stability & efficency How to optimise reporting soit focusses on reports that are used We will identify: Areas for Improvement or timesaving in Intraday processes Areas for Improvement or timesaving in EOD processes Areas for Improvement or timesaving in procedures We will identify: The good, the bad and the ugly perceptions from business users The views of the people who monitor and maintain the system We will present back to you: What we have identified and he new beneftis you can realise Quick wins: What are they and how you can deliver them Our suggestions for what to do next Page 7 of 16
Managing Murex As financial institutions strive to reduce the Total Cost of Ownership of vendor packages the outsourcing of non-core functions to external specialists has become an increasingly popular strategic decision. For that reason FD has developed a suite of services for the management of Murex environments Environmental Managing production, staging, QA, housekeeping, performance tuning, test and support environments as appropriate. Refreshing environments from production data, maintaining correct production baseline configurations, maintaining forward schedules of environment usage and working closely with in-house System Administrators and DBAs. Reporting All aspects of report development are supported from data sourced from any leading DB, such as Oracle, Sybase and XML file. Development supported upon many applications, such as Actuate, Crystal Reports, Microsoft Reporting Services, or Java. Report delivery may be via a HTML, email, file transfer, PDF, Excel or text file. Technical A wide range of services are provided to maintain application performance and continuity of services. Whilst ensuring production issues are addressed, this service pro-actively investigates and performs DB and volume trends analysis to anticipate and resolve potential volume-related constraints. Test & release Undertaking functional, non-functional (performance testing, volume testing, stress testing, penetration testing and release procedure testing), and regression testing of releases of all types including integration testing. FD provide both test strategies and appropriate test facilities. EOD Providing day-to-day technical and functional support of the client s EOD and batch management. FD has a proven track record in deploying and running 24*7 call centres across multiple global locations. FD provides operational assurance including start-of-day, intra-day and end-of-day checks, and use of auto-monitoring tools. Application Tuning Application tuning involves analysing the performance of the Murex application and its interfaces from different angles and then implementing methodologies to improve the overall system. Application tuning projects are also aimed at pinpointing bottlenecks and building monitoring tools. These activities help to identify and resolve latency issues on time, before they impact trading. Performance testing The performance testing provided by First Derivatives is crucial in determining the scalability of your application and the ability cope under excessive loads, such as those experienced during high market volatility. Management of Production, QA and Development Environments Maintenance/Management of Environments Ancillary to Production Preparation of Test Environments Backing-up and Archiving Support and Performance Management New Datamart and Report Installation Improve the Existing Datamart Architecture M-Report to Datamart Migration Performance Enhancement Technical Release Management Performance Monitoring Interface building Trend analysis and sizing Business Continuity and High Availability Test Management including test coverage, test strategy, defect management and test automation Release Management including planning, release validation against business requirements and metrics Operations Processing Batch Management and Monitoring EOD Optimization and Performance Improvement Creating a Tailored Application Tuning Plan In-depth Performance Analysis Maximising of Hardware Performance Analysing Performance Bottlenecks Application Tuning and Monitoring Tools Regular Performance Testing (monthly, quarterly) & recommended changes Load Testing Stress Testing Page 8 of 16
Support Services Functional support is a crucial component of our service from first line support through to third level liaison with the vendor and offers the following Functional support available up to 24x7 for all user categories Issue resolution through established prioritisation rules and response requirements Specialist assistance for the business, assessment and explanation of vendor functionality, training and education for users Close liaison with Murex to maximise the resources available to us Introduction, testing and release of new functionality, including small enhancements Overseeing and supporting the integrity of the Business Operating Model General consultancy and advice on system adaptability for new products Provision of fast-track new product capability Streamlining of business processes within the system Small enhancements implementation EOD Handover Monitoring, assisting and streamlining the business process and workflow Governance and transparency around support is achieved though well defined procedures for issue tracking, issues categorisation, agreed response time and escalation procedures via a dedicated service desk that provides a single point of contact for customers. A system Health Check can be designed to meet a number of objectives and used to assess the implementation against a number of objectives including original design requirements, current business needs and market best practice. A roadmap towards a stable system by reviewing instability issues against business needs Weaknesses and potential enhancements to the requirements for the system Potential risks and issue-mitigation approaches before any major system enhancements or upgrade Health Check Steps Planning and Preparation: This stage involves data gathering in advance of an onsite deployment of our Health Check Team. Analysis: This stage involves Technical and Functional Reviews of all aspects of the implementation onsite with our Client Production of Health Check Report: This stage focuses on delivering the outcome of the Health Check Analysis and preparing the report for delivery to our Client with hotspots, impacts and recommendations and prioritisation of post activities Benefits Improve efficiency and reduced costs, Increase the life of your existing software Improve the stability of your solution Page 9 of 16
Case Studies Background: As a new European body the client required an application to support its business. The client selected Murex for their trade capture and risk management stream. As a greenfield site this implementation had the challenges of short timeframe, the need to meet regulatory requirements and a client that had limited experience in implementing complex applications. Drivers: The need for expertise and methodology in the scoping and design of the key process elements of the implementation. The client executed non-traditional financial business that required the application to be flexible and therefore needed guidance on how to best implement the product. FD was asked to coordinate the internal and external staff to produce a coherent project team. What we did: Following the system selection we were engaged to manage the project and provide Murex expertise during the implementation. Part of our role was to manage the Murex resources and ensure the deliveries of all schedules were met. We facilitated the design and analysis workshops providing the business balance to the Murex MxPress methodology. Key areas were staffed by FD including the project manager lead BA on the front office and back office workstream. Benefits: An implementation of Murex that is tailored to the client s specific business needs; this is not simply an out of the box solution. Provides a framework that enables the business to be scalable and flexible in meeting new market and regulatory demands. A low maintenance implementation that can be supported by a minimal team. Access to expertise and personnel in the initial scoping and design phases on how to best implement the system for some non-standard requirements. Background: European financial institution identified the need to support business growth and to improve both the range and efficiency of services through a new business and operational model. This would primarily address issues around operational risk and processing inefficiencies. It was further determined that a buy not build solution would form the IT component. After a vendor selection process, Murex was chosen as a long-term front to back solution. Drivers: A comprehensive review of the Murex system was necessary to confirm that the system would work as intended and go live in a smooth and low risk manner. It was also necessary to review the existing processes to confirm their completeness. The client was unable to determine the optimal approach to supporting the application and required experienced assistance and direction. What we did: Determined the Murex entity s readiness for production. Outlined a smooth Go-Live and after-care period by confirming & advising on the Transition To Live approach and support model. Identified weaknesses and potential enhancements for specific requirements Identified potential risks and issues with accompanying mitigation approaches during the implementation phase. Ensured future proofing had been incorporated, to ensure subsequent upgrades and additional functionality could be introduced efficiently and effectively with minimal disruption to business. Benefits: Produced a Production Readiness report detailing. Elimination and remediation of inefficient or incomplete processes. RAG based hot-spot dashboard highlighting areas of critical concern. Gap analysis between the requirements and delivered system. Capacity planning / future proofing to ensure the business can respond swiftly to market and regulatory demands. Validation of design documentation. Recommendations and mitigations. Evaluated the effectiveness of the project in terms of planning and delivering. Page 10 of 16
Case Studies Background: The bank was seeking to exploit new revenue streams arising from becoming able to trade new products. The bank was also finding it increasingly difficult and costly to keep pace with the increasing richness of regulatory requirements. Therefore the bank initiated a Systems Transformation Programme to provide the new platforms required to trade in the new products, and reduce the costs and complexities of compliance. Drivers: Specialist assistance with the programme s evaluation phase: Current state analysis and target state definition Independent assistance/advice on the vendor selection for a front to middle office system Subject Matter Expertise for analysis / validation / insight into key areas of the programme, such as Enterprise Data Management, Finance and Back Office Outsourcing Creation of a business case to justify release of the funding to implement the future vision defined in the evaluation phase activities above. What we did: Our team worked with the client to enrich their current state analysis and formalise the requirements that had hitherto been captured. Our team used these requirements as the basis for a quantitative scoring of the vendors systems, supported and enriched by qualitative feedback from the business and our own experience. Combining the requirements with the findings from the reviews by our SMEs, our team worked with the client to build an appropriate and achievable target state model for the bank's system architecture and high-level processes. Our team also provided due diligence reviews of the bank s outsourcing plans for Settlements processing. Benefits: The client benefited from the FD team s experience; helping to ensure an appropriate and achievable target state, which was delivered within a tight timeframe. The client also benefited from access to FD s pool of SME knowledge; being available on-demand the client was able to keep the cost of the engagement to a minimum while retaining access to the skills and insights needed to ensure the analysis and resulting business case was of the requisite quality. The client was able to exploit FD s deep Murex and Calypso knowledge to ensure a thorough vendor selection process. Background: The bank had recently undertaken a global technology review, which identified Murex as a strategic platform. This new technology strategy required the existing instances of Murex v2.11 to be upgraded and consolidated in to a single instance of the latest version of Murex 3.1 across multiple asset classes including interest rate, credit and equity derivatives. Drivers: A specialist advisor to: assist in producing the business case that would underpin the upgrade and consolidation work, ascertain the effort and skills required and produce a high-level plan for the work and to assist the bank in its conversations with Murex. What we did: Analysed the current state of project proposal. Generated a framework for the "business proposal." Performed an initial scoping and costing exercise to allow the client to understand the resources required to undertake the work. Established the future resource requirements, accompanied by a selection of people who can undertake the work (minimising resourcing risk once the project is approved.) Benefits: A sound business case for the work, produced by independent experts. Reducing the required spend on external project resources through getting an early view of the size of the undertaking, which gave the bank time to adapt and increase its capability before starting on the work. Support in discussions with Murex themselves, exploiting FD s relationships and improving the efficiency of the Murex- Bank collaboration. Page 11 of 16
Case Studies Background: The client is using a 20 year old legacy system to support FX, heavily interfaced into the bank s core systems. The client had attempted to mobilise the selection and deployment of a vendor based replacement but has been unsuccessful a number of times over the last 5 years. The client did not have the expertise to mobilise, design and integrate, identifying Murex specific risks, issues and processes. Drivers: To provide expertise in the scoping and initial design of the key process elements of the replacement project. The client had been unable to develop a successful program of work due to a lack of experience and expertise. They required assistance in planning and a selection of key resources to augment the existing staff during the pre-project feasibility phase. What we did: The content of the feasibility study was derived from a short gap analysis performed onsite across the complete business unit. The gap analysis highlighted key areas of weakness to address prior to a full implementation. These areas were addressed by producing a feasibility study designed to close all the gaps. Key areas were staffed by FD including the management of the proof of concepts, the generation of an in house full function test Murex and the production of prototype interfaces. Benefits: The gap analysis was seen as a critical checklist to ensure that the feasibility stage would deliver a platform to drastically reduce the risk of proceeding with a full scale purchase and implementation. During the feasibility phase a complete working test Murex was setup, allowing testing of the key risk areas in a series of Proof Of Concepts. As part of the POCs the major interfaces into core bank systems were prototyped using base Murex technology. Background: The client wanted to be first to market in providing a new FX clearing service but did not have a platform in place to support it. The client selected Murex as the basis for providing this high performance FX management platform for all locations. The client had did not have the capacity, experience or expertise to design, manage and deliver the project without assistance. Drivers: A trusted partner to provide Murex specific experience in mobilising the project and delivering all integration components. Assistance with project management and detailed design of the Murex implementation, guidance on best practices associated with the technical and functional aspects of the project and the design and build of the numerous interfaces between Murex and existing systems. What we did: Worked with the client to select and mobilise the project team, and helped them to establish the governance framework for the project, identifying Murex specific risks, issues and assumptions. Managed the functional and technical requirements, scoping and detailed design of many of the key elements of the project including: Global Operating Model Integration (trade, market data, risk and scheduling) Datamart Reporting Environment management Worked alongside Murex (who were responsible for delivering and configuring the new Murex platform) to build the requisite interfaces to existing systems. Benefits: Effective project support by on-site subject matter experts, this not only enhanced the project but also benefited the client s team through training and knowledge sharing. Reduced time, cost and risk of delivery as a result of our team s prior experience of working with Murex and building interfaces to it. Established vendor relationship, sharing our close relationship with Murex with our client. Long-term and stable relationship with client. Page 12 of 16
Near Shore Services FD offers additional cost benefits to its clients by providing its services on a Near Shore as well as on-site basis. All our services, from vendor systems management and software development to infrastructure monitoring and legal and compliance, can be delivered from our high quality service centres where robust technical infrastructures guarantee the required high levels of security, access control and resilience. A compelling feature of the FD s Near Shore approach is its operation from strategically located service centres in Europe, North America and Asia that enables us to offer our Near Shore service on a worldwide basis. The physical proximity affords swift, ad-hoc, on-site deployment of resources where required for specific tasks or projects while the cultural alignment it facilitates ensures the communication process is as streamlined and efficient as possible a critical component of any partnership engagement. This approach therefore provides the client with all the cost benefits of adopting a near shore model while still retaining the advantages of close contact, common time-zone and mobility for face-to-face interaction of on-shore or onsite arrangements as required. Cost Low cost service model Reduced recruitment, training and management overhead Eliminate costs associated with office space, training, hiring, reviews, holiday cover, sick leave, career management Our regional locations ensure a low cost base, guarantee resources in the same time zone and eliminate communication issues. In addition, our staff can be on site within 5 hours when required Capability Highly skilled multi disciplined resources Lawyers and legal professionals who understand the markets and technology and who can assist not only in the interpretation of data and documentation but also in its sourcing and reporting Avail of industry best practices, procedures and service efficiencies Proven Infrastructure Capacity On-demand capacity giving the ability to ramp-up and ramp-down resources as required Follow-the-Sun support model across worldwide near shore centres Dedicated recruitment and training programmes to ensure continuity Provision for Pandemic and other disruptive events Our resources have the elasticity to respond to changes in demand. We provide staff that are highly trained in multiple disciplines and have first-hand expertise on client sites across a variety of projects, systems and assets so that a wealth of knowledge and experience is brought to bear on each assignment. On the infrastructure side, comprehensive Disaster Recovery and Continuity of Business provisioning ensures resilience and robustness of service. VPNs over dedicated bandwidth provide highly secure and resilient access. Segregated areas with dedicated and monitored access points enforce physical security while intrusion detection and vulnerability tests provide protection against host and network attacks. Clustering and failover configurations along with Business Continuity Plans ensure resilience and high availability. To further help clients manage their costs FD offers an embassy model approach to service provision that enables them to select segregation levels appropriate to their level of risk: Gold level offers complete physical and logical separation including dedicated network, phone and power in a standalone facility, Silver offers logical separation within shared facilities while Bronze is appropriate for non-data sensitive related services where segregation is not a priority. Page 13 of 16
Delta Operations Network As part of its Delta Operations Network FD has developed a suite of tools for managing Vendor applications and their environments to enable better support, swifter implementation and improved application performance. They are based on many man-years of hands-on implementations, system migrations and upgrades, as well as operational support services that FD provides. The same tools are now available to its clients offering them consolidated visibility and control over multiple applications. Monitoring dashboards provide summary status views on servers, processes and engines with drilldown to view errors and their causes. They enable managers and support staff to view engine status, processing bottlenecks and overdue tasks. Additional performance monitoring capabilities enable developers and test managers to profile the effect of system and configuration changes and to access capacity thresholds and degradation levels Delta Rec is an automated reconciliation and regression testing tool for data across multiple systems. It operates on a high performance kdb+ database where an XML mapping defines the data, fields, format and rules for testing and comparing results. Delta Rec is ideal for migrations and upgrades. Results are presented in Dashboards and reports enabling users to view summaries, drilldown into causes and monitor trends. When Combined with Test tools for loading trades and advancing them through their trade lifecycle it enable swifter and more accurate regression testing Configuration management A utility to model, view and track configuration settings and enable their import, export and amendment in a controlled audited manner. Using tools in this way removes human error by automating the creation and deployment of upgrade scripts. The utility can be extended to cover additional file types and system settings that define and control other aspects of the solution Murex tools make system implementation and support more efficient and effective. Monitoring is continuous and thorough. Its results are instant and informed helping to ensure that potential errors are forewarned and their effects forestalled. Testing is enhanced by automation that facilitates increased and repeated test coverage without incurring additional cost. Configuration can be centralised, managed and controlled Murex tools provide answers to difficult questions posed by managers, auditors, and users: Are all your systems currently running? Are you confident they will continue to run efficiently? Can I look at the status of other in-house applications as well? Is our backup configuration the same as the production one? Could you prove it to internal audit? Did the upgrade you are proposing pass all test cases? Show me the results. How is performance going to be affected? Is your test coverage adequate? Can you increase it without incurring additional testing costs? We need to reassign some roles. Can you assure me the new permissions can be applied accurately and consistently - across all our environments? We need to test under real life conditions can we do a parallel run? Using Murex tools within Delta Operations Network the answer to all the above is Yes Murex tools: Visibility, Control, Automation. Page 14 of 16
First Derivatives Corporate First Derivatives plc ( FD ) is a leading provider of software solutions and consulting services to the capital markets industry. Founded in 1996, FD occupies a niche market position in terms of deep domain knowledge and technical expertise. Headquartered in Ireland, FD has a global presence with offices across EMEA, the Americas and Asia Pacific. Publically held company on London Stock Exchange (LSE FDP.L) Headquartered in Newry, Co. Down, N Ireland 1300+ employees worldwide Consulting Services Multi Vendor Services Calypso, Murex, Wall Street, Summit, Opics Legal, Regulatory and Compliance Data Management Software Development Big Data and Data Science Big Data Solutions Delta Flow/Delta Flow+ Foreign Exchange Trading Delta Algo Low latency trading strategies and execution Delta Surveillance For Regulators, Exchange and Brokers Delta AlgoLab Testing, validating and profiling algorithmic trading strategies Delta Data Factory Market and Reference Data Management Delta Stream High Volume data capture, analysis and distribution... powered by kdb+ and other Big Data technologies Page 15 of 16
Delta Suite Delta is a powerful Big Data platform, offering capabilities in reference data management, market data management, CEP, algorithmic and high-frequency trading, FX trading, treasury risk management and exchange management surveillance. Deployed in some of the world s largest banks, exchanges and hedge funds, Delta applications are designed for Volume and Velocity low-latency, high-throughput applications delivered as a hosted service or deployed locally. FD provides a range of brochures on its products and services. For more information please contact us via our website or the numbers below Contact Us New York +1 (212) 447-6700 Europe +44 (28) 302 52242 Asia-Pacific +61 2 9477 0200 info@firstderivatives.com www.firstderivatives.com This information is subject to change without notice and is offered for information purposes only. Page 16 of 16