Enhancing Efficiency and Risk Management

RPA technology in ETRM systems enables organizations to optimize processes, reduce manual intervention, improve data accuracy, ensure regulatory compliance, and enhance risk management capabilities. It empowers your in-house resources to focus on more strategic and value-added activities, leading to increased operational efficiency and better decision-making.

In this blog we highlight how RPA can be leveraged within Allegro for two critically manual processes; Counterparty Confirm Uploads and Day Credit Exposure Changes.

Counterparty Confirm Uploads

The counterparty confirm upload is crucial for accurate data, risk management, trade settlement, compliance, and reporting. Challenges like data compatibility, integration complexity, and manual intervention can be addressed using RPA, enhancing efficiency and compliance in confirm uploads while improving operational effectiveness.

The current process is highly manual and requires users to follow a 4-step process for each confirmation upload.

There are several benefits of the RPA technology used to address the concerns around Counterparty Confirm Upload:

RPA bots excel in executing tasks with unparalleled accuracy, eradicating the possibility of human errors in data entry, validation, and processing. This leads to a substantial decrease in discrepancies, minimizes the requirement for manual intervention, and guarantees dependable confirmations.

RPA bots operate tirelessly 24/7/365. They possess the capability to swiftly handle substantial volumes of confirmations, allowing organizations to accelerate their entire workflow. Through the automation of mundane tasks, employees are liberated to concentrate on more strategic and value-added activities.

Implementing RPA for automating counterparty confirm uploads can lead to significant cost savings. Through the reduction of manual labor and the mitigating of associated errors, organizations can streamline their operations, optimize the allocation of resources, and decrease operational costs.

RPA can be configured to adhere to stringent compliance regulations and standards, guaranteeing that all confirmations align with regulatory requirements and internal policies. This proactive approach reduces the risk of non-compliance and potential penalties.

Day Credit Exposure Changes

Accurate mapping, testing, and validation are crucial to ensure proper calculation and reflection of Day Credit Exposure Changes. Several challenges such as data mapping, differences in functionality, integration with third-party systems, testing, and user training also hamper the risk assessments. Diligent planning and execution are vital for overcoming these challenges hence, automating this step not only saves time but also aids in accurate credit exposure calculations, reporting, and analytics.

The current process is highly manual and requires users to follow a 5-step process for each day credit and exposure change.

There are several benefits of the RPA technology used to address the concerns when dealing with credit exposure changes:

RPA facilitates the integration of data from diverse sources, including internal systems, external databases, and financial statements. This integration streamlines data-gathering processes, automates them, and guarantees the availability of accurate and current information for credit exposure calculations.

RPA bots can perform tasks at a much faster pace compared to manual efforts. They can retrieve credit data from multiple sources, analyze it, and update the system in real time. It can also handle high volumes of credit exposure changes efficiently, allowing for scalability as the business expands.

RPA technology provides greater control and reduces the risk of credit exposure errors. It enforces standardized processes and ensures compliance with credit policies and regulations. By automating credit exposure change workflows, RPA minimizes the risk of unauthorized changes or fraudulent activities.

RPA bots can generate personalized reports and dashboards that offer valuable insights into the evolution of credit exposure over time. These reports empower stakeholders to make informed decisions and identify emerging trends or risks, facilitating proactive measures to mitigate potential challenges.

Challenges and Considerations for RPA Implementation in Allegro

While RPA technology provides numerous benefits for automating processes in Allegro, there are also some challenges and considerations to keep in mind. Here are a few:

Process Complexity

RPA works best for standardized and rule-based processes. RPA bots may struggle to handle intricate decision-making or adapt to dynamic workflows.

Data Quality and Variability

RPA relies on accurate and consistent data to perform tasks effectively. If the data quality in Allegro varies significantly across different sources, it can impact the reliability and accuracy of the automated processes.

Maintenance and Monitoring

RPA implementation is not a one-time effort. Bots may require regular maintenance, updates, and monitoring to ensure their optimal performance.

Overall, while RPA offers significant benefits for automating Allegro processes, careful attention should be paid to process complexity, data quality, maintenance, and many other factors to overcome challenges and ensure successful implementation.

Utilize Value Creed’s RPA Expertise

Value Creed’s robotic process automation services eliminate data flow bottlenecks and minimize the need for human intervention in performing routine and repetitive tasks. This advanced technology streamlines business processes, mitigates the risk of data corruption, and maintains data integrity. Moreover, RPA integration with ETRM systems automates critical and time-consuming tasks mentioned earlier, enabling improved analytics and reporting capabilities.

Get in touch with us today to discover more about our robotic process automation services. Benefit from our expertise in automating your system processes and unlock the potential for increased efficiency and productivity.

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Addressing Complex Functionalities

Performance bottlenecks are common and can happen in Batch job processing or within the UI. These problems often lead to slow system response time, system crashes, functionality issues, and poor user adoption. Complex enterprise applications require significant specialty to get the most from them and to keep them healthy and operating at peak performance.

 

This blog talks about approaches to troubleshooting system slowness issues and finding appropriate solutions. Customers often experience slowness with jobs such as Settlement, Valuations, customizations, or even certain application views. Below are some of the factors that contribute to system slowness:

Default SQL Server & Database Settings

Sub-Optimal Grid Configuration

Poorly designed extensions/ code

Inefficient SQL Queries

Redundant/Overlapping Grid Scheduled Jobs

Inadequate Hardware Resources, etc.

Value Creed's Approach

To address these issues, Value Creed proposes to start by understanding the pain points of the customer around Performance. Depending on the nature of the case, troubleshoot the issue using the various tools provided by your CTRM software and Microsoft (SQL Server Monitoring, App server monitoring, etc.). Database tuning and addressing implicit conversions (also called data type conversions) resolve the performance issues for the most part and make the system super-responsive.

Value Creed has a proven record of analyzing and resolving serious performance issues following a systematic approach. Upon completion, the team will provide a detailed report with the results of each test, an overall rating of your CTRM health, and a few recommendations for system maintenance.

Discover the power of our Data Optimization Service

We had the pleasure of engaging with an enthusiastic audience during AUG 2023. This video briefly summarizes our technology session where we highlighted our data optimization expertise and its application for a client.

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Configuring Troubleshooting Checks

Here are two cases of how Value Creed can assist you in addressing common issues. Various other troubleshooting checks can be taken depending on the complexity of the issue. These configurations in most cases have a positive impact throughout the system.

General slowness of the Database from Valuations

  1. Identify the offending SQL that’s causing the blocking and review its execution plan for optimal indexing
  2. Review the database configurations (Parameterization, Max DOP, Query Cost Threshold, etc.) and adjust the settings based on the hardware resources allocated to the DB Server
  3. Analyze the origin of the query and re-write (in case of a CE)
  4. Check if implicit conversions are causing the issue
  5. Review valuation modes, and segments for optimum configuration
  6.  Review business process/scenario

Poor user experience of GUI

  1. Check if Live Data is the culprit in the specific view.
  2. Check the Grid configuration for optimal User-request processing.
  3. Review IIS configurations
  4. Check the user session load balancing settings.
  5. See if SQL server has to perform intrinsic conversions frequently, etc.

Ensuring Peak Performance

Additionally, Value Creed can leverage the information from Valuation Statistics view to better optimize jobs running on the grid such as settlement, credit, etc. Troubleshooting can have several advantages for your business operations:

Reduced dependency on IT teams

Improved user experience

Improved EOD job performance

Hardware cost savings

Ready to Explore Upgrading Your CTRM?

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Five Ways CIOs Can Leverage RightAngle Expertise On Demand

Modern business demands require more than merely managing the status quo for CTRM platforms. Whether executives seek to integrate their platform with other systems, provide data transparency to front office users, for instance, or reduce their total cost of ownership for the system, expertise is demanded.  

Value Creed’s teams of technical and functional experts enable your organization to achieve your goals at every stage of the RightAngle journey in five unique ways.

Holistic oversight

Teams mired in RightAngle maintenance must allocate their time to short-term needs, rather than strategic programs.
Trade_Data

Increased data capabilities

Now more than ever, data is seen as a corporate asset. Integrating your RightAngle with data sources makes business use of this asset possible.
Managed

Wide-ranging expertise

In-house teams build skills and knowledge, yet Value Creed's technical and functional expertise aids in fulfilling complex demands.
Dual_time_zone

Dual-time zone model

Latent issues are resolved overnight thanks to teams working across time zones for more efficient success.
Globe

Global experience

Our experts have worked with CTRM teams across the globe, providing a wealth of insight to each valued client.

Why Value Creed's Expertise On Demand is a Game Changer

There was a time when in-house RightAngle experts could effectively handle most issues in their commodity management software. Yet the 24/7 nature of modern commodity trading and risk management requires new, more creative solutions for a rapidly evolving market.

Value Creed’s Expertise on Demand offering bridges the gap between the client’s bottom-line needs and the decades of experience available from an outsourced team. This flexible alternative to full-time staffing enables your IT budget to go further for key programs like these:

In order to meet the demands of cost of ownership improvements, Value Creed’s dual timezone support gives CIOs the capacity they need for diverse projects. These may include: scoping and developing new Endur functionality, creating and testing custom extensions, outsourcing repetitive business processes, building dynamic dashboards for decision making and monitoring performance overnight and during the work-day.  

istock-01

Data Smart™ Solutions for Every Level of Your Business

Data Smart™ desilos your data and places it in the hands of key users, data analysts, and decision-makers. This innovative solution engineers a complete data catalog, transcending data quality issues and optimizing DataOps methodology.

Three Business Critical Dimensions of CTRM Know-how

Each individual working within an Expertise on Demand team possesses a multitude of knowledge from working across multiple accounts. They are familiar with a platform not from a single previous client, but in many different environments, making them more agile when approaching familiar challenges.  This uniquely specialized expertise pays off in a number of ways:

Integration
A given vendor can lend valuable support in the early days of implementation, yet when it comes to scaling CTRM needs with market growth, integrations are essential. ValueCreed’s Expertise on Demand consultants can re-architect entirely new solutions or supply key performance upgrades that vastly reduce performance times, often from hours to minutes.
P&L Reporting
Reducing the performance time within CTRM reporting opens up more possibilities for data. Profit and Loss statements, in particular, benefit from on demand expertise, given the up-to-the-minute nature of the data needed to gain key insights.
Inventory Valuation
Objective insights in inventory valuation are essential. A given CTRM software vendor often lacks the in-depth knowledge of a company’s inventory assets and valuation methods. On demand expertise tailors solutions to valuing inventory, no matter the size or shape.
Previous
Next

To a team of on demand CTRM experts, no problem is completely new. Successful businesses know what they need to accomplish to meet their long and short-term goals—Value Creed’s expertise on demand bridges that gap between ‘would’ and ‘can.’

 

Ready To Get Started?

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Five Ways CIOs Can Leverage Endur Expertise On Demand

Modern business demands require more than merely managing the status quo for CTRM platforms. Whether executives seek to integrate their platform with other systems, provide data transparency to front office users, for instance, or reduce their total cost of ownership for the system, expertise is demanded.  

Value Creed’s teams of technical and functional experts enable your organization to achieve your goals at every stage of the CTRM journey in five unique ways.

Holistic oversight

Teams mired in Endur maintenance must allocate their time to short-term needs, rather than strategic programs.
Trade_Data

Increased data capabilities

Now more than ever, data is seen as a corporate asset. Integrating your Endur with data sources makes business use of this asset possible.
Managed

Wide-ranging expertise

In-house teams build skills and knowledge, yet Value Creed's technical and functional expertise aids in fulfilling complex demands.
Dual_time_zone

Dual-time zone model

Latent issues are resolved overnight thanks to teams working across time zones for more efficient success.
Globe

Global experience

Our experts have worked with CTRM teams across the globe, providing a wealth of insight to each valued client.

Why Value Creed's Expertise On Demand is a Game Changer

There was a time when in-house Endur experts could effectively handle most issues in their commodity management software. Yet the 24/7 nature of modern commodity trading and risk management requires new, more creative solutions for a rapidly evolving market.

Value Creed’s Expertise on Demand offering bridges the gap between the client’s bottom-line needs and the decades of experience available from an outsourced team. This flexible alternative to full-time staffing enables your IT budget to go further for key programs like these:

In order to meet the demands of cost of ownership improvements, Value Creed’s dual timezone support gives CIOs the capacity they need for diverse projects. These may include: scoping and developing new Endur functionality, creating and testing custom extensions, outsourcing repetitive business processes, building dynamic dashboards for decision making and monitoring performance overnight and during the work-day.  

istock-01

Data Smart™ Solutions for Every Level of Your Business

Data Smart™ desilos your data and places it in the hands of key users, data analysts, and decision-makers. This innovative solution engineers a complete data catalog, transcending data quality issues and optimizing DataOps methodology.

Three Business Critical Dimensions of CTRM Know-how

Each individual working within an Expertise on Demand team possesses a multitude of knowledge from working across multiple accounts. They are familiar with a platform not from a single previous client, but in many different environments, making them more agile when approaching familiar challenges.  This uniquely specialized expertise pays off in a number of ways:

Integration
A given vendor can lend valuable support in the early days of implementation, yet when it comes to scaling CTRM needs with market growth, integrations are essential. ValueCreed’s Expertise on Demand consultants can re-architect entirely new solutions or supply key performance upgrades that vastly reduce performance times, often from hours to minutes.
P&L Reporting
Reducing the performance time within CTRM reporting opens up more possibilities for data. Profit and Loss statements, in particular, benefit from on demand expertise, given the up-to-the-minute nature of the data needed to gain key insights.
Inventory Valuation
Objective insights in inventory valuation are essential. A given CTRM software vendor often lacks the in-depth knowledge of a company’s inventory assets and valuation methods. On demand expertise tailors solutions to valuing inventory, no matter the size or shape.
Previous
Next

To a team of on demand CTRM experts, no problem is completely new. Successful businesses know what they need to accomplish to meet their long and short-term goals—Value Creed’s expertise on demand bridges that gap between ‘would’ and ‘can.’

 

Ready To Get Started?

Let Us Know

Finding the right CTRM Solution for your business

Choosing the right software for your organization can be a difficult assignment, particularly in regards to CTRM software. The requirements can be different and might be as unique as the business itself. An ideal software should  meet the needs and prepare the organization to take advantage of the opportunities in the complex and ever-changing energy markets.

The solution you carry out should follow a holistic approach and has to be dynamic in nature. It should be able to engage front, middle, and back offices in requirements gathering and should provide end-to-end solutions.

Common misconceptions about CTRM software selection process and how to avoid them

Prior to getting down to the prescribed procedures, It is very important to know what has to be avoided. The following are normal misconceptions about choosing the right CTRM software that is suitable for your business model. 

Misconception #1

What worked for others might work for you as well. 

Each business and business process is unique. This is the actual reason why businesses and management spend more time on “Differentiating their strategy”. Since every business strategy  is unique, system implementation should also be different. It means a lot to maintain the attention on your requirement while assessing CTRM software.

Misconception #2

CTRM software selection is all about evaluating the technical and functional aspects of the software. 

While it is very important to select a solution that meets your technical and functional requirements. It is also critical to look at the flexibility and ease of use that places functionality in the hands of your business users. 

Any solution that that is flexible and can be used for future business requirements offers more prominent long-term value to your business or business users.

Misconception #3

Demos and very nice presentations are proof of good software. 

Generally, demos/presentations are good ways to get introduced to the software. It is when you would need to dive deeper into the evaluation process and analyze what best suits your business needs. Having a good and detailed business scenarios that covers your business is an essential for a good demo.

 

Useful hints to assist you with your software vendor evaluation and RFP Process

Tip #1

It could appear evident yet getting a clear understanding of the business, and how it makes sense to add value for the stakeholders now and in the future, and inside the organization’s related governance structures is basic for choosing the right trading and risk solution(s).

The requirements of an energy marketer that is advancing to consolidate a hedging program and a small bunch of trading methodologies are totally different from a complex trading house looking to venture into new commodities, new business sectors, outlandish instruments, or carefully empowering their trading and risk arrangement system. A tailored solution to the present companies might be rapidly growing without an insightful perspective on needs five to seven years down the line. It needs to be beneficial for your business today, but also  aligned to your business strategy ready to support the future state of your business. 

Tip #2

CTRM applications are niche in the market. Software vendors and software integrators are the ones who have an impeccable source of information about these products from their extensive offerings and experience. Before you start your selection process, you will need to spend time on the latest trends, CTRM market, Options available and so on, to ensure the potential fit for your business.

Ask your vendors “what is important?” 

You might know what is exactly important or required for your company, however, ask for this. It is very important to talk to your vendors ahead of the tender process and build up knowledge before you go for the tender process.

Tip #3

 Any software vendor typically can build and deliver the functionality more than you ask about. It is all about how the functionality is implemented in your software or your process for your future needs too. You just need to challenge your vendors. 

The manner in that you challenge your vendors is to give them tasks. For example: Describe how the functionality is implemented or define your implementation process and scope of your software in the future. Ask them for a guide/document so that you can understand the business model, and whether you can implement this in your organization.

Tip #4

Nowadays, for business and IT pioneers, the event of an extraordinary framework implementation like another ERP, CTRM, or other enterprise solution might be the rare opportunity to step back, look at the innovation, technology landscaping, and, possibly take new steps in building a new architecture. Is the IT department wanting to advance in a cloud or digital native direction in terms of application strategy?  Is the basic postmodern ERP approach that tries to use broad API-based integration among the reasons fabricated, leading tools? This kind of task can give the impulse and resources to digitalize the process. 

 We know that you or the vendors need high-level details while implementing CTRM software, but most of the times stake holders are not really ready to disclose those details. That’s where vendors try to lock the projects in the design phase to fix the design. So, once the design is fixed, you cannot make any changes because they will be building the data warehouse based on the fixed design. 

What we understood is that you’re not ready to give them all the details. Since it will change constantly – Application Management – Strategy Management & Application performance management – is about change. Along these lines, don’t go into this trap of agreeing “I locked the designing phase of the project, I locked the planning stage,” since, in such a case that you do that, they will give a change request constantly, for each time you are changing the scope.

Tip #5

It’s not just about the good demos and nice PowerPoint presentations. What you need is evidence. You will need to ask your vendors about evidence to create and show you the KPI’s and KRI’s of the application or how to create the KPI’s & KRI’s of the process. This gives a comfort that you need. Asking more and more questions to your vendors on their business cases might help you to relate your business process and build up more knowledge.

Tip #6

We think CTRM solution is not just a software or a project, it is an ongoing process. It should continue even after vendor leaves you, need the consultants to work on the application support and manage the application from multiple factors. 

The important questions that should come to your mind are “who will be managing your CTRM while or after implementing your software?” “Has the implementation team delivered you enough documentation?” Have they shared you enough knowledge, so that you are able to operate by yourself on daily basis?”. Also, you need to add these your tender documents.

A brilliant method for separating vendors is to request a POC. In the event that the software is adaptable and simple to use, it ought to be simple for the vendor to set up a POC in light of your prerequisites. Making this solicitation a piece of your merchant determination cycle will help an objective evaluation of the solutions.

Critically, it is very important to think about the traditional CTRM Software selection and procurement process and tailor them to deliver that is best lined up with your plan of action and business model, Software capabilities, technology strategy and needs. digitalization is troublesome commonly and applying to many years old selection, Procurement, and implementation techniques to these sorts of undertakings are probably not going to yield significant advancement.

Value Creed will assist you in choosing the right software, that is a best fit for your resources and capabilities.

Ready to Get Started with CTRM Software Selection Software?

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Key Enhancements to Liquids Module UI in Allegro Horizon

This blog summarizes the enhancements made to the user interface of Allegro Horizon’s crude, NGL’s and refined products functionality and help users understand the various benefits of moving to the .NET core version, where in the logistics data gets valued in Valuation and Net Valuation that enhances performance significantly ensuring more consistent results.

The Logistics UI has been powered by various subsets of UIs to get information 

Since the UI has been equipped with various parameters, users have easy access to the information like:

Benefits that a Allegro Horizon Upgrade can deliver

Improved locational hierarchy enabling users to track Locations, Sub-Locations, and Tanks in a hierarchical manner. Users can also set up to mirror the physical and logical organization of customer assets, delivery locations, and receipt locations.

More efficient and user-friendly scheduling around pipelines and in handling high-volume truck operations.

Realtime Position and P&L Reporting with automated line/transit loss and gain recognition helping users avoid manual errors.

Manage multiple inventory types within a tank with the ability to assign tank types like Lease, Storage, and Blending.

Better Exposure Reporting with an improved ability for users to execute aggregate hedging across high-volume liquid operations with complex pricing.

Enhanced net valuations for individual tanks without having the tank set up as its own location allowing a better understanding of inventory costs and value across time periods.

Separation of Tank/pile capacity, volume, and inventory tracking specifying tank capacity, liquid volume, and what portion of liquid volume has to be tracked and valued as inventory enabling users to deal with market disruptions.

Optimize your Supply Chain through Value Creed’s Expertise

The complexity and volatility of the crude and refined markets require traders and marketers to have real-time information supporting their unique trading requirements. Value Creed’s expertise in CTRM implementations and upgrades can help you leverage the new and updated functionalities allowing the maximum benefit for trading and risk management functions.

How a Gasoline Service Station Chain Implemented its New CTRM Platform on Cloud Through Value Creed's Advisory Services

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