From Fragmented to Future-Ready: A Middle Office Transformation
Clarendon Partners supported the Middle Office operations team of a leading private capital manager in modernizing its investment operations through providing crucial business analysis and project management. The team manages a complex portfolio of primarily fixed income investments—spanning multiple currencies and structures—on behalf of both internal general account portfolios and third-party investors. The need to deliver tailored reporting and build efficient, scalable operational processes made modernizing essential.
The Challenge
Investment data was dispersed across multiple systems—primarily Wall Street Office (WSO), PAM, and internally developed tools—with limited integration. Some investments were tracked in only one platform, while others were duplicated across systems, creating unnecessary complexity and reducing scalability.
When onboarding new investments through the internal order management system (OMS), analysts had to manually determine which system(s) to use for tracking, and which portfolios to associate with each investment. These decisions were further complicated by mismatched data structures and attributes between systems, resulting in significant reporting complexity and limited ability to generate a single source of truth.
Offline mappings and inconsistent user-defined fields added operational burden and risk, straining day-to-day processes and data governance capabilities.
Operational Realities Across the Industry
This case study highlights a common crossroads many asset managers face: whether to build around legacy infrastructure or modernize core investment operations. The client’s complex book of business, multiple IBORs, and dependence on fragmented systems reflect challenges we frequently encounter across the industry.
Middle- and back-office workflows are often shaped around outdated systems, making efficiency and scale difficult to achieve. Clean, standardized, and accessible data—paired with scalable automation—is critical for long-term performance and reporting agility. With the right implementation strategy, firms can move beyond reactive workarounds and build operational models that are both sustainable and auditable.
Our role in this engagement was to help evaluate and implement the new platform component by component—determining where the new technology should replace legacy processes, and where existing infrastructure remained fit-for-purpose.
Our Solution
Clarendon Partners was engaged to provide project management, workstream coordination, and business analysis in support of a large-scale implementation of Broadridge’s Sentry platform—a new investment book of record (IBOR) system.
Key initiatives included:
Future-State Design: Analyzed portfolio structures, investor data, and bank account details across legacy systems. Designed a centralized portfolio structure to support reporting and front-office needs across all investment types.
Data Governance & Conversion: Managed over 150 user-defined fields—including rating schemas and investment identifiers—across legacy systems. Oversaw the configuration and conversion of thousands of investments into the new platform.
Project Coordination: Built detailed project plans, facilitated internal workstream meetings, and ensured timely execution through active coordination with Broadridge SMEs and developers.
Documentation & Training: Developed detailed SOPs and documentation comparing legacy and new system processes. Conducted user training to support adoption across all investment lifecycle workflows.
Testing & QA: Designed and executed robust test plans for system enhancements, data conversion, and end-to-end workflows. Tracked results in JIRA and worked closely with Broadridge to resolve issues and ensure system readiness.
Impact & Value
Standardized Portfolio Structure: Delivered and gained cross-departmental buy-in for a unified structure that met current and anticipated reporting needs—validated across governance committee use cases.
Data Consistency & Transparency: Configured and migrated over 150 user-defined fields to enable consistent investment reporting and operational insight.
Operational Readiness: Developed keystroke-level documentation and reconciled system workflows to ensure continuity across legacy and new systems.
Quality Assurance: Led testing for both unit and UAT phases, validating all system functionality and data integrations.
Executional Excellence: Provided end-to-end project management, bridging internal teams and the vendor to keep milestones on track and ensure successful delivery.
The Bottom Line
Through this engagement, Clarendon Partners helped transition our client from a fragmented and reactive middle office environment to a centralized, modern platform built for long-term scale. With a stronger data foundation, improved governance, and increased reporting agility, the client is now equipped to support continued growth with confidence.
Let’s Talk
Modernizing your middle or back-office infrastructure? Clarendon Partners brings deep expertise in financial systems transformation, operational design, and program execution. Reach out to us today at evolve@clarendonptrs.com to learn more.