GMA works with financial services organisations to help them run their
operations more effectively and efficiently through the implementation
of collaborative-working functionality utilising the SharePoint platform.
Our team has experience in a range of sectors from retail banking, insurance
and capital markets through to asset management, including working with a number of hedge funds.
Information on examples of the solutions we have implemented can be found
here
We provide services for all stages of the project lifecycle from the strategic vision
through to delivery. We combine technical expertise with sector-specific experience to
ensure that our projects meet quality, time and budget expectations.
As well as implementing the full range of standard SharePoint capabilities and features,
we use a range of tools to design and build industry-specific bespoke functionality. Based
on our experience we have developed a clear vision and understanding of how this versatile
platform can provide significant benefits for our clients.
SharePoint functionality that GMA implements includes:
Custom
Workflows
Bespoke workflows for automating activities ranging from
routine tasks, for example booking annual leave, through to
compliance, risk management or operational procedures, such
as personal dealing approvals or end-of-day reconciliation
sign-offs.
Many financial services organisations still
carry out the majority of processes manually. However, most
of these tasks can easily be automated utilising
SharePoint's capabilities.
The benefits are not only greater efficiency but
also enhanced transparency and auditability which are
increasingly important in the financial services industry.
Any firm with effective automated risk management and
compliance procedures is likely to find undergoing the FSA
Arrow process significantly easier.
GMA has the skills and experience to use the most appropriate
toolset to build custom workflows to meet the client's needs:
- SharePoint Designer
- Nintex Workflow
- K2 blackpoint
- Windows Workflow Foundation 4.0 using Visual Studio 2010
- InfoPath forms
- Custom aspx pages
- Mobile device integration (e.g. BlackBerry, iPhone)
We can also help our clients achieve maximum effectiveness with
minimal increase in licensing costs.
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Business
Intelligence
Bespoke BI portals for a range of requirements from operational
monitoring to financial dashboards.
Financial
services organisations have significant amounts of data within
enterprise applications such as ERP, operational or CRM systems.
The recent market turmoil and rising regulatory pressures means
that gaining insights from the information in these systems is
very important.
However, where financial services organisations do have existing
BI systems they tend to be very expensive, difficult to use and
therefore are not widely available to staff. SharePoint's BI
capabilities allow data from a wide range of sources to be provided
to users across the organisation in user-friendly formats and at a
significantly lower overall cost to the business than other BI
solutions.
GMA can utilise a range of tools to deliver effective and
easy-to-use BI capabilities providing users with the information
they need in the format they want. These include:
- PerformancePoint Services
- Dundas Data Visualization
- ProClarity
- Excel Services
- SQL Server Reporting Services
- SQL Server Integration Services
The opportunity now exists to empower staff across the
organisation to create and share up-to-date and accurate
information, identify and resolve problems, or drive the business
forward by spotting and taking advantage of opportunities as they
arise.
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Portals
A full range of flexible and scalable portals, with integrated
content management, which can be styled using SharePoint Designer
and Visual Studio:
- Intranets
- Extranets
- Websites
- Composites
Composites are custom portals built on the SharePoint platform
which enable data from underlying line-of-business systems to be
retrieved and displayed in real time.
Enterprise applications such as CRM, ERP,
accounting, trading, and settlement systems operate in silos, so
users have to access each one separately to view the data they need.
GMA has the skills and experience to build, for example, a Composite
to extract and display customer data from a client's LOB
applications. This information could include:
- Contact details
- Account details
- Products owned
- Credit / trading limits
- Recent transactions
- Outstanding payments
The SharePoint Composite would allow users to view and interact
with all of the customer data in one place, providing a 'single
version of the truth'. With the enhanced capabilities of Business
Connectivity Services in SharePoint 2010, users can even write back
to the underlying data source.
Implementing Composites
will enable organisations to enhance efficiency and identify
additional revenue-generating opportunities.
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Collaboration
Implementation of secure, self-service collaborative workspaces
that keep people connected and informed:
- Team sites
- Project sites
- Blogs
- Wikis
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Enterprise
Search
Implementation of SharePoint search engine capabilities to
increase productivity and reduce information overload by providing
employees with the ability to find relevant content in a wide range
of repositories and formats:
- Search file shares, Web sites, SharePoint sites and Exchange
Public Folders
- Index, search, and intelligently display information from
line-of-business applications, relational databases, and other
structured content using the Business Data Catalog
- Robust security, granular administrative controls,
comprehensive monitoring, analytics, and reporting
- Enhanced compliance and litigation discovery
- Leverage people search capabilities to find people not only
by department or job title but also by expertise, social
distance, and common interests
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Document
and Records Management
Implementation of the full range of SharePoint information
management capabilities:
- Document management with 'out of the box' and custom
creation and approval workflows
- Records management with retention, protection, and auditing
policies
- Centralised document repositories with consistent
categorisation and metadata
- Integrated rights management
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