Microsoft
Overview
Country or Region: USA, UK, and India
Industry: Financial
Customer Profile
The customer company is a large finance conglomerate, whose business includes corporate finance, mergers and acquisitions, equity and fixed-income sales and trading, private client services, derivatives, securities research, asset management, foreign exchange, and futures sales and trading.
Business Situation
The company operates its solution from three locations: two in the United States and one out of London. All the three user groups were required to be integrated along with tracking Soft Dollar utilization. Online approval of the invoices raised was required by its customers.
Solution Description
TCS developed the Soft Dollar solution using a Microsoft® .NET–based Service Oriented Architecture (SOA). This integrates with the existing Java based applications using XML data exchanges, a feature that enables .NET and Java interoperability. Soft Dollar seamlessly integrates multiple currencies and foreign exchange rates.
Benefits
■ Centralized operations and control
■ Easier customization
■ Lower development costs
■ Lower enhancement and maintenance cost
■ Integration of Soft Dollar with other divisions | | |“We have been able to seamlessly integrate systems, employees, customers, and services across continents by using Microsoft .NET”
A spokesperson of the large finance conglomerate | |
| | | |A major player in the global financial services market, this finance conglomerate’s businesses include|
| | | |corporate finance, mergers and acquisitions, equity and fixed-income sales and trading, private client|
| | | |services, derivatives, securities research, asset management, foreign exchange, and futures sales and |
| | | |trading. |
| | | | |
| | | |The company decided to create a technology infrastructure that would integrate all users into a |
| | | |central location and track Soft Dollar utilization. Also, to make it a seamless process, it wanted its|
| | | |customer to be able to approve invoicing approval over the Web. With Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) |
| | | |as its partner, it chose Microsoft® .NET and used a Service Oriented Architecture to build the |
| | | |application framework. |
| | | | |
| | | |In just under six months, it has been able to realise several benefits. Apart from integrating its |
| | | |people and customers across different geographies, it has been able to improve invoicing, collections,|
| | | |and customer satisfaction. |
| | |
Situation
A large finance conglomerate that concentrates on three core sectors in the financial space (including capital markets, wealth management, and global clearing services) needed to extend its geographic reach and strengthen its technological capabilities to meet customers’ needs.
The company processes approximately 7% of the New York Stock Exchange volume cleared daily through the National Securities Clearing Corp.
The finance conglomerate provides services termed as “Soft Dollar” to its customers. Soft Dollar services include research and non-research services provided to it by third-party vendors. The conglomerate then uses a part of the commission generated through its clients’ trading to provide them Soft Dollar services. In this manner, the company adds value for customers and returns a part of the commission back to them by paying for Soft Dollar services.
There is a complex process for generating the Soft Dollar commission amount for each customer. Usually, the customer and the finance conglomerate have an arrangement that gives the term ratio. Customers can either have a single fixed ratio, a mixed ratio, or multiple ratios based on various combinations created on different markets, vendors, sectors, and industries.
The Soft Dollar operations are managed from locations in the United States and London.
Before Soft Dollar, the company had a PowerBuilder-based solution at one location and used Microsoft® Excel® spreadsheets at the other location to render and track services to its customers. But this setup had its shortfalls. A key hindrance was the solution’s dependency on several external feeds for critical data required for invoicing, trade, and foreign exchange. The solution depended on a proprietary authentication and authorization system at company called Single Sign on KOPS.
Billing issues were also a concern. Services calculation and reporting for currencies other than U.S. dollars is dependant on the F/X rates supplied to the application by external sources, which could lead to errors and inaccuracies in calculation.
The company’s global presence implied that the new Soft Dollar solution should be able to seamlessly handle multiple currencies and foreign exchange rates. This was not possible in the existing solution, which lacked features such as the multiple and mixed ratio functionality required for Soft Dollar services.
Solution
The company decided to create a technology infrastructure that would integrate all data and information into a central location and track Soft Dollar utilization. Also, to make it a seamless process, it wanted its customer to be able to approve invoicing approval over the Web.
While evaluating options, it realised that off-the-shelf applications were not available for Soft Dollar. Creating a new application from scratch would be a time consuming and expensive proposition.
To overcome these issues, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner, proposed a solution on Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) using the Microsoft .NET Framework. This would interoperate with the finance conglomerate’s existing investment in Java based applications and hardware. Additionally, Soft Dollar services had to interact with Java Server Pages (JSP) as a matter of company policy.
TCS proposed the solution should re-use components developed at its dedicated “Centre of Excellence” (TCS COE) on Microsoft technologies. The COE has a component factory that includes a suite of components that can be easily plugged into different applications for faster development. “Building a user interface in Microsoft .NET with complex front-end validation logic takes far lesser time than in JAVA,” explains Sankar Datta, Solutions Architect, TCS’s Microsoft Solutions Center, East coast
The Architecture
The Client Manager of the Equities unit at the finance conglomerate worked closely with the TCS onsite team, interacting with the business users across different locations. A solution team from the finance conglomerate worked with TCS to help create the business logic and define the data flow (in line with its security and database policies). The solution took six months to develop with a team of ten persons.
The company uses Microsoft Internet Information Server version 5.0 as the Web Server hosted on Microsoft Windows® 2000 Server with the .NET Framework. A Windows Forms based application is used by business users to perform Soft Dollar activities. Its customers use the Web based application to view and approve invoices.
The solution uses a third-party reporting server from Cognos to generate static and dynamic reports on the fly. Microsoft Web Services use serialization and de-serialization of data in XML to streamline the transfer of information. The data store for the Soft Dollar application is Sybase ASE 12.5. Authorization and authentication were done using Single sign on KOPS (an internal authentication and entitlement system).
TCS used its Centre of Excellence by involving CoE members in gathering requirements and design and architecture of the solution. This helped reduce the development effort considerably.
Benefits
The Soft Dollar solution meets all the architectural standards requirements of the finance conglomerate—and more. “We have been able to seamlessly integrate systems, employees, customers, and services across continents by using Microsoft .NET,” explains a spokesperson of the company.
Online Account Statements
The application enables its customers to view their statements over the Web. The front-end was developed using JSP to render data, while the .Web services form the bridge between the proprietary database and the Web forms. “This is an excellent example of .NET’s Web services at work, providing interoperation with Java based applications and a Web front-end using XML serialization and de-serialization,” explains the spokesperson.
Online Information
Customers of the finance conglomerate who use Soft Dollar services can now generate and approve invoices online.
Improved Operational Efficiency
“Before the Soft Dollar application was implemented, [the manual process] used to take up to 15 days. Today, this information is available online,” explains the spokesperson of the finance conglomerate.
Central Repository of Data
With the implementation of the Soft Dollar applications, finance conglomerate teams across continents now have access to a centralized data source. This has enabled better control and management of the Soft Dollar services.
About Tata Consultancy Services
TCS is a division of Tata Sons, the holding company of the U.S.$13 billion Tata Group. The Tata Group is India's best-known and respected business conglomerate, and is also a leader and pioneer in a variety of industry segments and corporate social responsibilities.
TCS is a transnational company whose service offerings straddle many different industries, including finance and banking, insurance, telecommunications, transportation, retail, manufacturing, pharmaceuticals and utilities. TCS’s clients include small, medium, and large companies, and its consulting engagements vary from a few person-months to hundreds of person-years in effort.
Microsoft .NET Framework
The Microsoft .NET Framework is a platform for building, deploying, and running Web services and applications. It provides a highly productive, standards-based, multi-language environment for integrating existing investments with next-generation applications and services as well as the agility to solve the challenges of deployment and operation of Internet-scale applications. The .NET Framework consists of two main parts: the common language runtime (CLR) and a hierarchical set of unified class libraries that includes a componentized version of Active Server Pages called , a loosely coupled data access subsystem (Microsoft ), and an environment for building rich Microsoft Windows–based applications (Windows Forms).
For more information, please visit: net
About Microsoft Windows Server System
Microsoft Windows Server System™ is the comprehensive, integrated, and interoperable server infrastructure that helps reduce the complexity and costs of building, deploying, connecting, and operating agile business solutions. Windows Server System helps customers create new value for their business through the strategic use of their IT assets. With the Windows Server™ platform as the foundation, Windows Server System delivers dependable infrastructure for data management and analysis; enterprise integration; customer, partner, and employee portals; business process automation; communications and collaboration; and core IT operations including security, deployment, and systems management.
For more information about Windows Server System, go to: windowsserversystem
-----------------------
Single Sign-On
(Proprietary KOPS Security)
XML Serialization / Deserialization
Database
(Data Repository in Sybase ASE 12.5)
© 2005 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
This case study is for informational purposes only. MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, IN THIS SUMMARY.
Microsoft, Excel, Visual C#, Windows, the Windows logo, Windows NT, Windows Server, and Windows Server System are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries. All other trademarks are property of their respective owners.
Document published April 2005
“Building a user interface in Microsoft .NET with complex front-end validation logic takes far lesser time than in JAVA.”
Sankar Datta, Solutions Architect, TCS’s Microsoft Solutions Center, USA
Microsoft .Net Web Services
(Internet Information Server 5.0, Visual C#®, .NET, Microsoft .NET components: Error, Data Access)
For More Information
For more information about Microsoft products and services, call the Microsoft Sales Information Center at (800) 426-9400. In Canada, call the Microsoft Canada Information Centre at (877) 568-2495. Customers who are deaf or hard-of-hearing can reach Microsoft text telephone (TTY/TDD) services at (800) 892-5234 in the United States or (905) 568-9641 in Canada. Outside the 50 United States and Canada, please contact your local Microsoft subsidiary. To access information using the World Wide Web, go to:
For more information about
Tata Consultancy Services Limited products and services, call (972) 484-6465 or visit the Web site at:
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© 2004 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. This case study is for informational purposes only. MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, IN THIS SUMMARY. Microsoft, Windows, the Windows logo, Windows NT, Windows Server System, and Visual Basic are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries. The names of actual companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.
Reporting Server
(Cognos)
[pic]
Rich Client
(Microsoft Visual C#®, Microsoft .NET, Windows 98 and Windows NT®, Windows 2000, TCS Components)
Software and Services
■ Microsoft Windows Server System
− Microsoft Windows 2000 Server
− #$.0:CDEVoŠm p z { ? š › Microsoft Internet Information Server version 5.0
■ Microsoft Office System
− Microsoft Office 2000
■ Internet Explorer 5.0 or above
■ Technologies
− Microsoft .NET Framework
− Web services
Hardware
■ Dual CPU 2400MHz, 2 GB RAM
■ | |
Web Browser
(Internet Explorer 5.0 +)
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