What we do – Focus on C/ETRM projects

Commodities/Energy Trading & Risk Management Systems Projects

Atum Consulting manages all aspects of commodities related IT projects of both local and global scales whether our clients opt for standard to highly customised vendors solutions or in-house development.

Our service offering rests on 3 pillars:

  • Thorough and up to date knowledge of vendors market place and latest technologies: Market Watch, Roadmaps, …
  • Partnership with all leading C/ETRM vendors: in-depth knowledge of their key features and specificities
  • Exclusively senior IT consultants and highly regarded commodities trading and risk management experts: unrivalled operational experience to understand clients business activities and processes

Services overview:

  • Benchmarking and selection: “Buy vs. Build” – Request For Information (RFI) – Request For Proposal (RFP) – Functional and Non-Functional Benchmark to select most adequate system based on client’s needs – Proof of Concept
  • Implementation: Drawing and production of Business Requirements and Functional Specifications of systems for vendor’s and in-house systems, new modules and functionalities or enhancement of existing solutions – Installation – Set-up – Data Migration – Validation – Training and Change Management
  • Quality Assurance and Testing to assess systems quality and delivery: Ongoing, User Acceptance Test (UAT), …
  • Integration and interfacing with other systems such as ERP, Treasury, Credit Control, Tax engines, …
  • Outsourcing of development to “near shore” dedicated teams in Eastern Europe and Morocco

CTRM Selection Process

  • A totally independent approach combined with a rigorous and systematic methodology
  • Based on unrivalled and very focused market knowledge acquired from working for leading trading organisations and partnerships with top tier vendors
  • Proprietary senior expertise in metals trading with IT development capabilities also allows Atum to support clients to adopt “hybrid” solutions (modular solutions, data warehousing, …) as well as build in-house solutions
  • Selection Methodology overview:

Focus on Atum Market Watch & Benchmark

2  complementary pillars:

  • Market Watch: Qualitative – Captures vendors market positioning and its evolution
  • Benchmark: Quantitative – Scores solutions according to their functional and non-functional coverage then weighted according to client’s priorities/requirements

Part of a rigorous selection methodology including evaluation through the provision of thorough end-to-end scenarios common to all vendors for an even playing field

Unique and proprietary

Up to 12 leading systems and vendors

Benchmark: a Scoring Matrix designed by our senior consultants combining long standing operational experience in refined and concentrate metals trading with IT technology know-how

  • Based on rigorous audit of each system and not mere submission of questionnaire to vendors
  • Covers all functional aspects of metals trading as well as non-functional topics through 440 criteria (can be extended to over 1,000 criteria)
  • Weighting of criteria scoring according to actual clients requirements allows to create a ranking of available solutions and vendors specific to each client èFrom Coverage vs. Market Standard to Coverage vs. Client’s Standard

Objectives:

  • Independent
  • By working closely with the client’s trading platform, “Atum Benchmark” becomes the “Client’s Benchmark”
  • An effective 1st line of selection:
  • Early stage gaps identification
  • Thorough yet synthetic overview of the market
  • Limits number of vendors presentations, frees up future users time, accelerates decision process, reduces
  • Mix quantitative and qualitative parameters including Atum’s feedback on our implementation experience, vendors profiles, who uses what, …
  • Introduce vendors and solutions not currently on client’s radar

Market Watch & Benchmarking – 
Phase 2

  • This analysis is complemented by a SWOT analysis
  • A 1st short list is put together – End of phase 1 of selection process
  • Now client’s stakeholders need to judge for themselves: (see end-to-end workflow on next slide)
    • Building of a full trade cycle end-to-end scenario, including MTM, PnL, Exposures
    • Validation by clients stakeholders that E2E is in keeping with the reality of their business
    • Provision of same E2E to all contenders with a similar timeframe to prepare
    • Organisation of live demos on client’s premises in front of the various stakeholders: normally 2-3 days per vendor

     

  • Debrief and re-scoring
  • Consensus about candidates
  • Selection of candidates to POC – End of phase 2 of selection process

Typical end-to-end scenario - workflow