Page 336 - DCOM201_ACCOUNTING_FOR_COMPANIES_I

Unit 13: Final Accounts for Companies

To better support the activities of its risk managers, the bank realized it needed a more Notes
efficient and scalable system—a system that would enable it to reconcile P&L accounts.
The new system would have to combine P&L lines, the dynamic risk parameters in each
portfolio, and cash flow, which meant the target system would need the capacity to handle
much larger data volumes and a constantly increasing number of requests.
Evaluating Alternatives
IXIS CIB identified two ways to address this challenge. One involved reviewing working
patterns and changing operational procedures. The second involved consolidating all
transaction data into a central information database, isolating reporting and analysis
from transaction processing. The key to making this second method work was the ability
to deploy a robust, high-performance data management system with the capacity to scale
as data storage requirements increased, and to expedite loading and response times
regardless of the number of users and the complexity of requests.
IXIS CIB chose the second way and found its data management solution in the Sybase IQ
analytics server. After achieving positive results in testing, the bank began to integrate
P&L lines and the dynamic performance indicators coming from front-office trading
applications, namely Summit for fixed-income and foreign-exchange business, and Calypso
for credit derivatives and complex rates, in total representing 300 million lines.

The project went live within a month thanks to support from Sybase Professional Services,
which facilitated the porting of the previous central information database to Sybase IQ
and the transfer of skills to the P&L IT team.
A future phase will integrate two other front-office applications: Sophis for shares and
ACBS for financial accounting and cash flow lines. All data will be available through
Business Objects reporting tools via an intranet.
Sybase IQ Delivers in Real Time
Thanks to Sybase IQ, transactions from the previous day are available to trading operators
and risk managers before the markets open, with load times reduced to 30 minutes.
Sybase IQ provides risk managers with both the speed and the detail to allow them to
complete their tasks successfully by zooming right in on the minute details of each
transaction. This has all been achieved without impacting database availability or
performance.
“By separating out the transaction processing database, we’ve achieved response times
that are between 10 and 20 times faster than our earlier system. Responses do not exceed
four minutes, even for the most complex cases,” says Le Marchand. The speed of processing
calculations that are linked with the central information base, which consolidates all
transactions and cash flow lines, now provides full visibility of trading results the following
day. Moreover, daily consolidation gives the accounts department access to data following
the close of each day’s trading, allowing it to meet the reduced 15-day reporting cycle
required to comply with the IFRS standard.
The bank has also realized IT cost reductions, which by themselves constitute an impressive
ROI.

Source: http://tdwi.org/Articles/2006/10/23/IXIS-Accelerates-PL-Analysis.aspx?Page=2

LOVELY PROFESSIONAL UNIVERSITY 329