Alpha Analytic forms new partnerships

London, 23rd January 2009

Alpha Analytic are pleased to announce two new partnerships in their mission to provide the best solutions to their clients. 

We have partnered with Nintex to resell their Nintex Workflow 2007 product as part of our AlphaPoint® range of solutions.  This will allow us to better meet the needs of clients in managing, controlling and automating their business processes, thereby improving their services and increasing operational efficiency.  Based on the core Microsoft SharePoint and Windows Workflow technologies, it provides a browser based graphical interface for the development of complex workflows, allowing greater tailoring of business processes to meet specific business needs in a timely fashion.

To meet client needs for improved  management of email, we have partnered with Colligo Networks to integrate their Contributor for Outlook with our AlphaPoint® range of solutions.  This allows emails to be easily stored within SharePoint document libraries with 'meta data' which can be used for indexing so that they can be easily referenced by multiple views.  The product works within the familiar Outlook application and allows email to be filed within Sharepoint, with its advanced search capabilities, using 'drag and drop'.

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From PerformancePoint to AlphaPoint

Investment Portals enter a new era with Microsoft's new Analysis and Monitoring Server

London, 13th September 2008

Alpha Analytic are pleased to announce that AlphaPoint, the portal for Investment firms, has been enhanced to take full advantage of the benefits of Microsoft's new Office PerformancePoint server for reporting and analysis. AlphaPoint now incorporates a full range of dashboards and interactive reports and enquiries using PerformancePoint, to add to the existing reporting via Excel Services and Reporting Services. Along with the integration with SharePoint to incorporate document, event and contact management, AlphaPoint offers a comprehensive range of options in for delivering both quantitative and qualitative analysis, to both occasional and expert users.

Providing the information for decision makers within investment firms is not straightforward. The complexity of the underlying business, the flexibility required to meet diverse and stringent requirements, the need for accuracy and consistency, all within tight time constraints make serious demands of any potential solution. It is for this reason that many investment firms are still reliant on spreadsheets, as these provide the necessary flexibility to meet these needs. But this comes at a cost, with risks of potential losses, due to data or logic errors, key person risk, and associated costs of support and maintenance.

Realising the twin needs of flexibility along with consistency and control, Microsoft recently launched the new Office PerformancePoint server to enable businesses to analyse their activities and performance more effectively. Tightly integrated with Microsoft Office applications such as Excel and PowerPoint, it removes the risks of inconsistencies, duplication and error by utilizing centralized data, analytics and reports stored on a server. This allows access to data and permissions to alter formulae and layouts to be controlled while retaining the familiarity and ease of use of Microsoft Office.

The combination of AlphaPoint's analytic database and engine designed specifically for the investment industry, along with the dashboards and reports developed and deployed with PerformancePoint, provides a comprehensive and cost effective solution to an investment firm's need for an investment portal to meet the needs of decision makers at all levels across the business.

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Controlling spreadsheets: with Excel Services and AlphaPoint

London, 6th March 2008

As the investment business continues to become more competitive and more complex, there are increased demands for better information across all business functions: to analyse performance, ensure effective controls, and provide greater transparency.

It is not always possible for IT to meet all these demands, and therefore business users turn to their spreadsheets. This can cause issues in ensuring proper maintenance and data integrity.

Fortunately an answer to this is on hand. Alpha Analytic are pleased to announce that they have integrated their management information solution for investment, AlphaPoint, with the recently released Excel Services.

AlphaPoint provides an analytic platform based upon the latest Microsoft business intelligence tools and designed specifically to meet the needs of investment firms.

AlphaPoint combines data integration, a multi dimensional database, and an analytical server, with output via Excel Services, Microsoft Office, high quality reports and visualisation tools. It supports sharing of analytical and unstructured information through the Sharepoint portal.

This framework provides a means of controlling the use of spreadsheets, by combining consistent data and centralised analytics, with the flexibility and familiar working environment of Excel.

Excel Services is a server based application which replicates the functionality of Excel via the browser. Spreadsheets can be developed and migrated to the server when they are required for full operational use. Formulae and code is then under control, as well as the data.

AlphaPoint, in conjunction with Excel Services, will support the provision of better quality information and analytics for all business users across the Investment, Distribution, Operation and Finance functions.

AlphaPoint - The Multi Manager Portal

London, 5th September 2007

As a Manager of Managers, you don't just need to examine the statistics, you also need to understand the organizations and people behind the figures.

So as well as analysing risk, performance and other quantitative measures, you also need to organize and record the meetings and contacts with managers, share your thoughts and ideas with colleagues, and keep control of all the correspondence.

As demands grow, more and more information has to be processed, for both internal and external consumption.

This may mean that your managers and analysts are spending more time collecting and collating data, and perhaps less time than they would like providing value added analysis. Spreadsheets are often used to hold important data, both numeric and textual, leading to potential concerns over controls and maintainability.

AlphaPoint is a new solution for Multi Managers to help address these issues. Based on Microsoft's latest technology, AlphaPoint:

• Automates and consolidates inputs from custodians, market information vendors and specialist analytical systems.
• Incorporates proprietary and industry standard analytics.
• Allows integration of details of meetings, contacts, commentary and documents.
• Enables greater collaboration and consistency between analysts.
• Provides workflow to ensure smooth operations and properly audited processes.
• Reduces the need to manually collate data into spreadsheets.
• Provides reporting and analysis via Web portals, Microsoft Office and ad hoc queries and data visualisation, as well as high quality reports.

Paul Smith, Chief Executive of Alpha Analytic, says "AlphaPoint is the mechanism for bringing together all the information which is currently held across a variety of third party accounting and analytic systems, spreadsheets, Access databases, mail servers and network directories. For those who find it difficult to imagine life without their spreadsheets, it even allows these to be properly managed and controlled through deployment on the server and distribution via a browser."

The system is flexible and scalable, and can support all sizes and flavours of multi manager, whether Fund of Funds or Manager of Managers, and whatever proprietary methods or processes need to be employed to gain a competitive advantage.

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Could do better : the verdict on MIS in Investment firms

London, 10th May 2007

A survey on Management Information Systems within investment firms has been conducted by London Business School students as part of their 2007 MBA programme, commissioned by Alpha Analytic.

60 investment firms, representing a good cross-section of the industry with respect to size, geography, and client focus, participated in the initial, high level survey. A quarter took part in a more detailed follow up, examining the use of MIS within each business function - Investment, Distribution, Finance and Operations. The survey also looked at the organisation, processes and proposed initiatives across firms, and the major industry trends driving the need for better MIS.

Respondents considered the major industry trend impacting MIS is the number of new products being developed to meet the changing investment environment. In particular, the commoditisation of beta and quest for alpha, and the packaging of investor products to meet specific outcomes, presaged the need for better information. The other major impact on MIS continues to be increased regulation, both for Investment and Distribution.

There was near unanimous agreement on the importance of MIS to the investment business. Other survey findings were:

• Almost half of respondents are not fully satisfied with their MIS - although adequate they did not match the high level of importance attached.
• There is widespread reliance on manual processes and spreadsheets, with the overall level of manual effort to produce MI rated as Medium to High.
• MIS for Distribution in particular could be improved, both in terms of quality and automation.
• Management information systems are not well integrated, and data reconciliation is often a challenge, even though data management is now being addressed.
• Report presentation quality needs improvement and is still primarily hard copy, and over reliant on spreadsheets.
• Access to management information needs to better permeate all levels of the organisation.
• Over 50% of participants had difficulties with reporting of profitability for MI.
• All respondents had plans to invest in improving MIS, the majority within the next 12 months.

For those participating we were able to provide an assessment of their own firm's positioning against an MIS blueprint for Investment firms and relative to the peer average.

A sample copy of the report sent to participants can be obtained by visiting the Alpha Analytic web site at www.alphaanalytic.com/news.aspx.

About Alpha Analytic

For over 16 years Alpha Analytic has worked with major investment firms, playing key roles in providing solutions supporting the needs of management and decision makers. We combine a deep understanding of the investment business with expertise in technology that manages, analyses and delivers this information.

About AlphaPoint

AlphaPoint is a Management Information Solution for Investment firms, supporting decision making across the value chain. AlphaPoint provides integration of data, consistent information, centralised analytics, and publishing through reports, MS Office, Web Portal and visualization tools.

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