August 14, 2025
The challenge
The client, an Isle of Man-based asset management firm, engaged Davies to oversee a Front Office, OMS, Reporting, and Middle Office migration project to a new Asset Servicing provider. The previous provider delivered a customised data feed featuring investment and accounting data. This enabled the client to post their investment journal directly to their General Ledger system. However, the incoming provider could not support the accounting data element of that feed. Therefore, the customer needed to build a solution to facilitate the creation of accounting journals from the raw data files. Timelines were very short, so a pragmatic approach was required to build an interim solution, which could be revisited and streamlined in the future.
Our approach
We applied good practice project disciplines to structure the work in a way that gave us the best possible chance of success. We identified client SMEs early in the process and complemented them with the appropriate skillsets from the Davies team. The client SMEs took responsibility for building the Excel solution, ensuring that skills and knowledge remained within the client post go-live. Regular communication and an appropriate governance structure enabled swift decision-making, keeping focus on the key deliverables.
The Davies team conducted detailed analysis of the data provided by the new supplier and supported the review and analysis of data gaps. In addition, we created comprehensive documentation to ensure the client could maintain an understanding of the solution following project completion. We left the client with a plan to ensure readiness when the upstream project went live, along with documentation to support future enhancements and automation of the solution.
Our impact
The project successfully created a tool proven to create suitable accounting journals, which could be loaded into the General Ledger system. However, due to a delayed go-live date on the upstream project, Davies rolled off prior to go-live to stay within the agreed project budget. The client retained comprehensive documentation detailing the workings of the translation tool and process. This would support monthly journal postings and ensure readiness for the go-live date.
