The depth of IBACAS consultants' Corporate Actions knowledge is what sets us apart from our competitors. All consultants have a minimum of 5 years Corporate Actions experience, either in a line role, project role, or combination of both.

As a result, IBACAS can offer an unparalleled pool of resources that has in depth knowledge of every aspect of the Corporate Actions product. Areas of expertise include the following:

One of the most important parts of any project is the Cost Benefit Analysis. Quite simply, there is no point investing if the returns on that investment cannot be realised within the desired timescales. All too often, the expected benefits are overstated and the effort involved (and hence the overall cost of the project) understated. This often leads to projects being undertaken when there simply is not the business case to warrant the investment.

IBACAS consultants have extensive experience of working on Corporate Actions projects and are therefore able to provide realistic estimates of both the true savings that can be realised, as well as a more accurate estimate of the costs involved. In an area as complex as Corporate Actions processing related projects, there is simply no substitute for specialist market experience.

In today's climate of tight budgets and increasing pressure to reduce timescales for realising returns on investment, a complete and accurate Cost Benefit Analysis is critical. It can be the difference between securing budget from senior management and having your project put on hold.

Conversely, IBACAS commitment to providing impartial and independent advice to our customers means that we will not shy away from recommending a project be stopped, or drastically reduced in scope, if that is the best course of action for the customer.

Producing a detailed Business Requirements Document (BRD) is critical to the success of any project, particularly in the Corporate Actions arena. IBACAS consultants can produce a high level BRD that covers the general Corporate Actions process from announcement capture through to completing the payments process. However, we also appreciate that each institution processes Corporate Actions in a different way. We will work with your line resources to make sure that your specific requirements and processing methods are captured correctly. In addition, we will work with the associated areas, such as settlements and controllers, to make sure that the impact of the Corporate Actions process on these areas is also recorded.

IBACAS also recognises the fact that a BRD is a "living" document. Throughout the project lifecycle, requirements can be changed, added or clarified. IBACAS will ensure that these changes are reflected in the BRD, ensuring that there is one central reference point for all requirements to be located. This means that all involved parties (line, project team, IT, vendors etc.) are working towards the same result, thereby reducing confusion, the need for clarification meetings, recoding and general inefficiency.

Once the Business Requirements Document (BRD) has been completed and signed off, IBACAS can work with your IT resources to produce a Functional Specification Document (FSD). Our consultants have spent many years working with a number of IT departments on such tasks. This experience allows us to explain the business requirements to technical personnel in a clear and concise fashion. This reduces the opportunity for misinterpretation of requirements and avoids the subsequent issues that this raises.

As with a BRD, IBACAS recognises that an FSD is also a "living" document. As changes are made to the BRD, we will work with your IT resources to ensure that these changes are also updated in the FSD.

All IT departments have differing levels of experience when it comes to Corporate Actions project work. Due to the complexity of the Corporate Actions process, it is critical that the IT department has an appropriate level of understanding of the processes involved.

IBACAS can provide business training for your IT resources on a number of levels. These range from a one hour process overview, to sessions concentrating on specific components of the process (such as announcement validation or ISO15022 messages), through to full workshops covering the entire Corporate Actions process in detail. The business training can be tailored to suit your specific needs.

IBACAS consultants have performed this function, working with a range of IT departments during their time in the industry. In addition, IBACAS has provided this as a service to a number of IT companies and software houses that have entered the Corporate Actions market, with great success.

For projects where an external vendor is involved, IBACAS can manage those external relationships. We can identify those vendors with solutions or products that fit your requirements, run the vendor selection process for you and work with your procurement department during the contract negotiation phase.

Our contact network of senior managers within the industry, have purchased a wide range of solutions from vendors, including data feeds, messaging software, data scrubbing tools and Corporate Actions STP systems. This allows IBACAS to provide you with a more detailed and realistic view of the quality of the products, the ability of the vendor to deliver and the quality of the vendors post implementation support services.

Once a vendor has been selected, IBACAS can liaise with the vendor to ensure that all requirements are correctly understood, any additional requests for functionality are properly implemented and that the final implementation goes ahead on schedule. IBACAS will also ensure that the vendor and your internal IT resources have clear and regular channels of communication, to ensure the smoothest possible implementation process.

Far too many Corporate Actions projects go over budget, deliver late, or ultimately fail as a result of poor project management. There are many examples throughout the market of costs spiralling out of control, delivery deadlines being repeatedly missed, or projects being closed down. In the majority of these cases, the problem has arisen from a lack of understanding of just how complex Corporate Actions projects are compared to many other types of projects.

Active and informed project management is a key component to succeeding on any project. Many other consultancy firms apply a generic project management methodology to Corporate Actions projects. The difference with IBACAS approach is that we combine recognised project management methodology with our in depth understanding of the Corporate Actions process.

The main benefits of this approach are evident during the initial planning stages. IBACAS consultants previous experience of Corporate Actions projects allows us to provide far more realistic and accurate estimates of the effort involved for each component of the project. This means that the overall project timelines are more precise, due to provision of a truer estimate of the resources that will be required, when they will be required, how long they will be required for and the associated costs.

Furthermore, the IBACAS approach to project management involves constant review of the project plan. This approach results in the ability to truly reflect the current status, identify changes to the timeline as a result of changes in requirements, as well as providing clear and concise management reporting. We believe that this approach puts you in control of your project, rather than the project being in control of you.

IBACAS can provide resources to ensure smooth execution of testing at all levels including the following:

IBACAS consultants have previous experience of testing on Corporate Actions projects and fully understand the business requirements driving the process. They will analyse the project documentation to create test plans and produce the associated test packs. Their underlying Corporate Actions knowledge allows them to focus on the most critical and challenging areas for testing, as well as being able to identify any opportunities to automate the testing process, where appropriate.

Once the test plans have been approved, our consultants can take control of the co-ordination and day to day management of testing activities. This function includes co-ordination of testing environments, test execution, defect capture and management, as well as the associated reporting of the testing status. Our consultants Corporate Actions specific knowledge allows them to accurately prioritise any issues or defects and work directly with your IT resources to resolve them.

The introduction of new Corporate Actions system functionality can affect a number of different departments within your organisation. For example, cutting new types of cash or stock movement instructions will affect the settlement and reconciliation areas, as well as potentially affecting areas such as Prime Brokerage. In addition, the timing of introducing new functionality can affect the impact of any changes.

IBACAS consultants can prepare an implementation plan to identify and notify the affected departments of the changes that are going to occur and when they will happen. This process not only avoids issues arising from the new process but also ensures that the maximum possible benefit is gained from the implementation.

A key step to the successful introduction of any new system is the confidence that the users have in it, their understanding of the new functionality and their ability to use the system. There is no point in investing in a new system if the users and your customers are unable to extract the full benefit from it.

IBACAS consultants can prepare fully comprehensive user manuals that detail all the new functionality and business benefit in a clear and comprehensible format. In addition, we can organise and run user training sessions to ensure that all users are able to gain the maximum possible benefit from the system from day one. The fact that our consultants are all from a Corporate Actions background means that we can understand the questions that users may have and also be able to answer them comprehensively. This will result in a higher level of confidence of the system and its functionality from the outset.

An additional benefit of the user manuals is that they can be used in the future as training manuals for any new staff that join your organisation.

Once your new system has been implemented IBACAS will continue to work with you to resolve any post implementation issues. Whether these issues are of a technical or functional nature, we will work the appropriate resources within your organisation to resolve them as quickly as possible.

More importantly, at IBACAS we recognise the importance of forming partnerships with our customers. The world of Corporate Actions is one that is constantly changing, This can be either as a result of regulatory changes, demand for higher levels of customer service, or simply market conditions dictating an increase drive for efficiency improvements.

IBACAS network of senior contacts throughout the industry, combined with our participation in a number of industry committees, mean that we are well positioned to be aware of these changes ahead of the majority of the market. We can work with you to ensure that you remain ahead of your competition and that your systems allow you to continue to provide the highest possible levels of service to your customer base.

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