We are very excited about a new service TSG announced last week: “Software Certification.”

While the type of work isn’t new for us, as we’ve reviewed many firms’ performance systems for close to 20 years, the formalizing of it is. We provide an independent review of a firm’s performance system, addressing the system’s:

• Functionality
• Calculations
• Completeness
• Screens/User Interfaces
• Reports
• Usability
• Controls
• Workflow.

Software products or areas that are eligible for certification include:

• Rates of return
• GIPS(R) “Basic”
• GIPS Real Estate
• GIPS Private Equity
• Equity Attribution
• Fixed Income Attribution
• Risk, ex post 

with other areas planned.

The review is intended for software vendors, custodians, and asset managers with internally developed systems. It is both rigorous and comprehensive. John Simpson, CIPM and I designed and developed the process we will use to evaluate systems. For firms to have their system declared “TSG Certified” it must meet the tests we’ve developed. 

The certification

• provides software vendors with a “competitive edge”
• affirms the system’s capabilities
• gives the firm’s clients and prospects greater confidence, reduces their concerns and risks, and increases the vendor’s likelihood of a sale.

To learn more about the service, please contact Christopher Spaulding (732-873-5700).