For A Global Leader in the Execution and Clearing of Securities

The Challenge

The client is a global leader in wholesale execution services in 65 markets around the world. By applying technology solutions to the international equity trading environment, it has developed a fully automated platform for the straight-thru-processing of orders from the client desktop, to global electronic exchanges, through clearance and settlement.

Having built an automated order management system, the client needed to create a comprehensive web-based system to expose client side functions such as order entry and the ability to view live status of the orders, and also internal functions such as client maintenance.

The challenge was also complicated by the fact that the client was facing increased budget pressures due to the downturn in the economy. In addition it was also facing mounting pressures from both the clients and internal staff to deliver a web-enabled system for easy access to the application.

The Solution

Synechron won the project by demonstrating a combination of its technical expertise, financial domain acumen and by offering them a very attractive price.

Synechron put together a Global Delivery Team comprising of onsite based Project Management and Technical Architects along with offshore based software engineers. Using the obvious cost savings of a Global Delivery Model, Synechron was able to deliver the application well under the cost budgeted by the client.

Given the aggressive timelines and the fact that this was Synechron’s first engagement with the Client, Synechron decided to fly the offshore development team to the client location to kick-off the project on a "war mode" footing. The offshore team, comprising graphics designers, UI specialists and software engineers was able to provide quick turnarounds to the clients by assembling prototypes and concept designs. Once the analysis and prototype period was complete (a total of 3 weeks), the offshore team was sent back to Synechron's offshore software development lab in Pune, India, to start the construction of the system.

Synechron was also able to leverage a virtual 24-hour workday by intelligently partitioning work across the two sites. Software development was conducted during daylight hours in India and sent to the client at the end of the day. The client would then conduct QA and usability testing during the day.

The first phase involved the construction of the core framework. This included the Look & Feel, Information Architecture, Entitlement Architecture and Security Architecture.

A reporting system for analyzing the huge amount of transactional data was also delivered as part of the first phase.

The second phase, which is underway, includes an Order Entry System and a full-fledged administration module.

The Result

• This was the first project where the Client had used a Global Delivery Model. Since this project is expected to have a long life cycle, significant cost savings will be realized by using Synechron's offshore development capabilities.
• One of the most common complaints about offshore development projects is the difficulty in managing the communication between the client and the offshore team. Synechron overcomes such situations by making sure that an onsite staff, a "proxy team", is the first and only layer that the Client deals with. The onsite team handles the design, architecture, logistics and communications with the offshore staff. The Client has been pleased with the results and is now in the process of shifting more development tasks to Synechron, thus forming a long-term relationship between the two companies..

The Platform

• Active Server Pages, Visual Basic, Crystal Reports, Rational Rose
• Windows 2000 Operating System
• SQL Server 2K Database, Erwin for data model creation
• SQL Server DTS

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