Encompys Looks to Offer Full STP Chain

Encompys, the recently launched straight-through processing (STP) workflow solution comprised of men and material from Advent Software, Compaq, Microsoft, Accenture and The Bank of New York, has signed the Pacific Investment Management Company (PIMCO) as its first client. "The primary goal is to provide the asset-management community with an end-to-end process of straight-though solutions that allows them to stay focused on making better investment decisions," says James Honohan, acting president of Encompys. "We will provide the services for all the technology and business processes that they need to run their business."

PIMCO is headed up on the technology side by Chief Information Officer Bob Ettl, who says that outsourcing is the key to keeping systems cutting edge while still keeping focus on developing core competencies.

"There are pieces of this business that, while not strategic, are not covered by that securities-processing arrangement (with State Street) and customer-relationship management (CRM) is one of them," says Ettl.

Though PIMCO will only use the solution initially for the acquisition and integration of a CRM system, the components offered by Encompys cover more of the STP chain.

That Web-enabled straight-through processing chain will be Microsoft Widows 2000-based and use BizTalk for messaging (the system will communicate in FIX, XML and ISO 15022) which provides a special set of XML tags that function as a common transport envelope for wrapping XML documents, facilitating business-to-business and application-to-application interoperability.

The system also contains San Francisco-based Plumtree Software's Corporate Portal-an open, scalable platform for the deployment of Web portals to information and applications. Development testing and application production will be done on the Intel-based line of Compaq Proliant servers.

The string of straight-through solutions will involve a CRM application-an XML-based Internet platform and thin-client CRM portal-from Onyx Software, market data from Reuters with trade order management and portfolio management and accounting software provided by Advent.

On the back end, financial institutions like State Street (as in the case of PIMCO) and The Bank of New York will act as sources for master record keeping and additional accounting information, handling all aspects of custody, including mid- and back-office processing. Accenture will provide the integration expertise to tie everything together.

Honohan says "release one" of the system is slated for the third quarter when the front-end piece or Onyx CRM component will be integrated with the Reuters'market-data piece and an outsourced-services provider for portfolio-management information such as State Street. The second release, which should be available by the fourth quarter, will see that back-end component provided by a fully-integrated Bank of New York.

Encompys' third release, which is scheduled for the first or second quarter of next year, will display the integration of the CRM component through to Advent's product suite-an offering specially constructed for customers that wish to retain some mid- and back-office processing in-house.

Honohan says the solution will be priced on a per-seat, per-month basis but refused to be more specific.

Ettl says he expects to see early capabilities from the Encompys integration this year. "My thinking is that heads of technology in institutional firms are going to have to really decide for themselves what's strategic and proprietary, what they need to build themselves and what they do not," says Ettl. "In those cases where it's not but there are pressures of T+1 and globalization then we'll need to identify industry solutions or vendor products that can really meet our needs and PIMCO is aggressively pursuing that analysis."

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STP Frenzy
J.P. Morgan Investor Services is launching a new business unit called the Asset Managers Solutions Group to help firms address STP and T+1. For more information, see story on Paula Sausville-Arthus in our Newsmakers section.

IBM has also organized a set of products and services (IBM STP WorkBench) for investment mangers, broker-dealers, and global custodians to help prepare those financial institutions for an impending one-day securities-settlement cycle (T+1) slated for 2004. Click here to read the full story.