Streamlining Investment Platform Allocations with Anaplan

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Situation

An investment management firm with a long-established reputation and diverse investment strategies historically relied on manual Excel workflows for margin and cost allocation processes. These processes involved investment platform allocations, mutual fund allocations, and trust company allocations. The manual approach was complex, time-consuming, and prone to errors, creating the need to automate and streamline cost allocation within their existing financial planning environment.

  • Industry Name: Asset and Wealth Management
  • Company Size: $425B AUM
  • Project Team: 5
  • Project Duration: 12 Weeks
For more information, contact:

Antonia Demmers

Director, Enterprise Performance Management

LinkedIn

Approach

The project team developed a comprehensive automation solution within the firm’s Anaplan environment, focusing on:

  • Creating a driver-based calculation engine supporting over 30 drivers to automate allocation percentage calculations by platform, enabling a “set and forget” approach.
  • Establishing an automated framework to allocate costs from investment platforms to mutual funds and trust products, replacing manual Excel procedures.
  • Implementing scenario planning to allow multiple allocation versions for flexible “what-if” analyses without impacting finalized data.
  • Designing reporting and validation tools with dashboards and configurable variance thresholds for quality control and audit readiness.
  • Enhancing integration and workflow by automating batch data refreshes and providing override functions for final allocation adjustments.
  • Delivering exportable journal entry reports aligned with the general ledger system to support timely financial postings.
  • Improving user experience with centralized landing pages, process guides, and streamlined navigation to reduce errors and increase transparency.

 

Impact

The solution yielded significant benefits including:

  • A substantial reduction in manual effort and process complexity.
  • Enhanced accuracy and confidence in cost allocation data.
  • Increased agility in adjusting allocations and performing forecasting.
  • Strengthened operational effectiveness and improved reliability of reporting.
  • Early detection of anomalies through quality control features, supporting better oversight.

 

Conclusion

The successful delivery of the cost allocation automation solution has not only optimized the client’s financial planning processes but also reinforced the strong relationship between the client and Alpha Alternatives. The client plans to continue enhancing their financial ecosystem with upcoming phases targeting asset under management roll-forward, revenue forecasting, and distribution fee automation. This collaboration underlines the value of leveraging innovative technology to meet evolving financial management needs, and the team looks forward to supporting the client’s ongoing strategic objectives.