The following steps outline the tasks that need to be performed to obtain useful results from Captools/net.  As discussed in the prior topic, Data Administration, the delegation of these tasks between end-users and a Data Administrator in a multi-user situation will depend upon how your organization operates.  If you are the sole user of Captools/net, then you will of course need to see that all of these tasks get done.  Fortunately, some of these tasks can be performed automatically, on a scheduled basis.

 

1) Add New Accounts and Update Existing Accounts - New accounts must be added to the Account List before portfolio data may be entered.  If a new account has a tax ID that is not already in the Client List, then a new Client List record must be added before the new account record may be added.  If you are manually entering a new account, Captools/net will add the new client record, however, you will need to go back and add the supplementary client information (e.g. name, address) for the record to be meaningful.  You also may need to set up account-related supplementary records, such as fee rates and allocations if you are going to use these Captools/net features.  If you are importing new account information through an institutional interface, the necessary client and account records will generally be automatically set up as a part of the import, however, it is a good idea to review this information for accuracy.  See the Chapter Clients and Accounts for more details on these records.

 

2) Update Security Records - New security symbols need to be added to the security records list before these securities may be used in portfolio records.  Fortunately, Captools/net will generally automatically take care of adding the needed new records whether you are manually entering transaction data or importing it.  If you are connected to the internet, Captools will also attempt to retrieve supplementary information for such new securities (such as descriptions) either from public websites or subscription sites (see Data Downloads), including pricing information.  If some or all of the supplementary security information is not available from download, it can be entered manually.  Security information such as security "type", "group", "class" and "style" classifications may require manual updating by a data administrator to specify the classifications you desire.

 

3) Update Price and Financial Records - These records normally will be automatically updated with download from either public websites or subscription services if you have setup your download options to do so (see Data Downloads).  If you are running Captools/net Pro or higher and importing data from a custodian, this data may specified to override any downloaded data in order to ensure that the custodian data take precedence.

 

4) Update Account Transactions - Add any new account transactions which have occurred since you last updated transactions.  If you are running a Pro or higher version this can be done via an import into the Transaction Blotter from custodian or clearing firm provided institutional format data files.  New transaction data may also be manually entered into the Transaction Blotter or imported using Captools/net "generic" import capability (see Generic Imports).  If you are not using a Pro or Enterprise version, data must be entered or imported directly into the portfolio transaction records (see Transactions).  Some transactions, such are those connected with corporate spin-offs or mergers, or distributions may also be generated using one of the Batch Operations functions.

 

5) Value Accounts - After account transactions have been updated, accounts need to be periodically valued.  Most users do this using a regular periodicity, typically weekly or monthly, although daily is possible.  You may schedule Captools/net to automatically generate valuations in background following price downloads at your desired frequency, e.g. "every Friday at 6 pm".  If you wish to view valuations daily, but retain only week-ending or monthly valuations, you may specify also specify this option in order to control the number of records in your database (see Data Downloads for instructions on how to schedule valuations).  Although the creation of Captools/net valuations can be automatic, it is important that someone review the results to ensure that they are reasonable.  This can be done at one time for all accounts using the Captools/net Batch Valuation function.  (Unlike prior versions of Captools software the Captools/net batch valuation simply provides a window into the combined position of selected accounts.  This is done without performing any additional computations, consequently it does not significantly lengthen processing time).

 

6) Reconcile Accounts with Custodian Data - After accounts have been valued, account positions and values need to be compared with custodian data to identify and correct any discrepancies.  This can be done by comparing position records with paper statements from the custodian, but the most efficient way for Pro and higher users is to use Captools/net's Data Reconciliation function to compare data imported from custodian or clearing firm files with the positions records in Captools/net.  The frequency with which you can perform such a reconciliation will be dependent upon the frequency that the custodian or clearing firm provides you with account position files.

 

7) Run Reports - Running reports generally completes the Captools/net work cycle.  At the Pro or higher level, the reporting process can also including fee billing, and certain internal management reports including commission reporting.  See Reports for more details on these subjects.