Financial Research Publishing Automation System (RPAS)
The Financial Research Publishing Automation System (RPAS) is a comprehensive financial research product workflow management software platform and toolset that supports the full process of publication from initial authoring to final distribution. RPAS provides analysts, analyst teams, editors, production personnel, supervisory analysts, compliance officers and other workflow participants the ability to work in a cohesive and managed environment. This allows them to deliver research product(s) to clients quickly and accurately while ensuring compliance with SEC regulations governing financial research production. InfoTech continuously upgrades the RPAS platform and toolsets to align with the latest technologies and provides state-of-the-art capabilities for information delivery and third-party system process integration.
Why use RPAS
Our Financial Research Publishing Automation System (RPAS) allows you:
Speed to Market
RPAS enables you to produce financial research in a timely, flexible and compliance-approved way which ensures “Speed-to-Market” of timely and market-sensitive information. RPAS ensures your investor audience will receive research faster and in the way they want to receive it whether as a PDF document, a RIXML-compliant file or other format they prefer.
Flexibility
RPAS provides the most sophisticated workflow management capabilities from concept to product to client delivery using any of various distribution channels currently in the market. RPAS is fully customizable to meet unique business needs.
Reduce Cost
RPAS enables you to produce financial research faster and more reliably while reducing the production costs.
Work Efficiency
RPAS offers the ability for analysts to focus on delivering quality and insightful financial research using tools that work for them. RPAS allows editorial and production staff to quickly traffic research through the iterative process collecting and managing content updates more efficiently than before. Supervisory analysts will easily ensure that research content is of the quality your institution demands.
Compliance Automation
RPAS streamlines the compliance process. RPAS ensures all documents are compliance approved before distribution. RPAS automates the Dodd-Frank mandated compliance functions.
Robust Data Architecture
RPAS is a mature, highly secure and reliable product offering a robust management of historical published data, pending data sets, financial market data, and document repository.
RPAS key features
RPAS key benefits
RPAS Components
RPAS is composed of various applications that accommodate the workflow stages in the Financial Research Production process. This enables a fast and reliable process of Authoring & Distributing time-sensitive financial research information while staying in compliance with regimented regulations.
Market Research & Analysis
Easy tools to access Financials & Earnings Database including:
Much of the information that goes into a research document comes from a research analyst’s model. InfoTech’s Analyst Model Toolkit is the most effective and reliable means of transferring information between the analyst model and the research document.
RPAS’s core database has been designed with extensibility in mind to allow for seamless integration with external databases as well as allowing market data integration.
Research Document Authoring Platform
Automated templates and authoring tools including:
Research Notes (such as Company notes or Industry notes) are the most time-sensitive of research publications produced by financial institutions. Research departments need a quick and easy way to create and distribute these reports. The Research Note Automation module allows research analysts and associates to leverage corporate databases to easily author and submit notes for publication and distribution.
The Meeting Packet Module uses reports created by the Research Note module to automate the creation of a comprehensive research product/packet that may include a table of contents, summary sheets, complete notes and other defined reports.
The InfoTech Coverage Universe Report module interacts with corporate information and market data resources to automate the consolidation and formatting of raw data into informative and easily readable reports.
Research Document Workflow, Review & Approval
The workflow and approval process offer a clear trail of document processing through all workflow points by all workflow participants which includes:
The RPAS Document Monitor System provides the production group the ability to easily monitor which documents are available for reviewing and editing and in what stage of the workflow process.
The Compliance System is a module in RPAS that provides automation for ensuring that documents produced by RPAS comply with SEC regulations governing research publications before they are printed and distributed to the public.
Research Document Distribution
Research distribution tools provide state-of-the-art automated processes to distribute research to multiple channels based on each organization’s internal and external requirements. Distribution channels include:
The Research Aggregator Distribution Module is one of the features of RPAS’s Research Distribution System. It is an integrated solution that automates the otherwise time consuming and frequently error-prone processes of formatting and posting research documents to various third party consolidators with the push of a button.
Distribution to Institutional and Retail Readership is another feature of RPAS’s Research Distribution System. This module manages the full cycle of research document fulfillment and distribution.
Research Document Repository
Provides an achieving tool for users to quickly and easily access all published research products. Users can search based on a comprehensive list of attributes including company ticker, industry, sector and author.
RPAS’s Research Document Repository provides an archiving tool for users to quickly and easily access all published research products. Users can search based on a comprehensive list of attributes including company ticker, industry, sector and author.
Underlying Technologies
RPAS is built on the latest Microsoft .NET platform and uses current and proven technologies to deliver a state-of-the-art solution to today’s sophisticated, systems-intensive financial institutions. Its component systems can be deployed as a single comprehensive platform or custom-implemented as building blocks that leverage core applications and systems already in place. RPAS is a web-based system with integration capabilities with Microsoft Word and Excel.
Self-hosted
The self-hosted version of RPAS is geared towards larger organizations that prefer to host the system locally on their networks.
Hosted by InfoTech
With this option, RPAS is hosted on InfoTech’s state-of-the-art infrastructure. The hosted version of RPAS is geared towards smaller organizations that prefer not to invest in infrastructure setup.
Related Products
Financial Research Web Services for RPAS
InfoTech’s Financial Research Web Services for RPAS extend the usability of RPAS by providing a state in which consumer applications request and obtain delivery of research and related metadata maintained in an RPAS Research database using a set of web services.
RPAS Lite
The RPAS Lite edition is a self-contained RPAS solution hosted by InfoTech as a SaaS. It is designed for deployment at organizations where platform integration is not required. RPAS Lite is recommended for smaller financial research departments and organizations. RPAS Lite is a fully web-based platform, relying on a browser and internet connectivity. Microsoft Word is not required.
CPAS (Certification Publishing Automation System)
CPAS (Certification Publishing Automation System) is a unique robust tool that streamlines and automates the compliance process for publishing certification of financial products. CPAS enables companies to comply with the increasingly rigid SEC compliance regulations. CPAS combines Microsoft Word automation, workflow management and compliance regulatory features in an intuitive easy to use application.
iMRLN (InfoTech’s Mobile Research Library Network)
iMRLN is a mobile device delivery platform that provides authorized consumers of your firm’s research products quick and manageable access to research matter in their immediate areas of interest. iMRLN delivers the flexibility and immediacy of content access to mobile users who rely on the ability to work outside the constraints of a “wired” work environment.
DDRS (Document Distribution & Repository System)
InfoTech’s DDRS (Document Distribution & Repository System) is a highly robust and scalable email distribution system that allows an organization to de-centralize the task of email distribution of research to sales and analysts workforces as opposed to the customary inefficient centralized approach of having one single department handling the email distribution. The DDRS system integrates with Microsoft Outlook to provide an intuitive easy to use solution for sending email broadcasts. DDRS is hosted at InfoTech’s data center.
Quiet Period Monitoring and Management System
The Quiet Period Monitoring and Management System provides oversight and management capabilities for companies subject to regulation regarding the allowable time periods around public offerings when financial research products can be published. The system provides the abilities to assign quiet periods to specific issuers and to link those assignments to the research coverage universe and covering analyst teams.
Research Spotlight
InfoTech’s Research Spotlight is a dynamic, content-driven web application deployable to sales desk and other information consumers at financial institutions. The application ensures the workforce has access to information driving investment decisions and published through the organization outlets as quickly as possible within release timeframes allowed by regulatory policy.
Stock Distribution Tracking System
The Stock Distribution Tracking System is an internal and client facing system that provides broker-dealers with a consolidated platform for managing and tracking stock distributions as well as providing live progress reporting for their venture capital clients.
Research Contact Management
The Research Contact Management is an application that allows you to manage contacts, target distribution of research to those contacts and track and reduce distribution costs.
REITs Reporting
REITs Reporting is a web-based application that assists financial analysts in their quest for consolidated real estate research information.
Compliance Charting System
The Compliance Charting System is a service application that creates the disclosure price charts required under NASD Rule 2711.
Testimonials
Raymond James & Associates USA
Raymond James’s research data offerings are varied in part because of the many organizations that create and publish research products and research data. We needed to build a platform that is easy to use and easy to manage for the many and growing number of customers who rely on our data to make timely and informed investment decisions. Working with InfoTech who has partnered with us on building our research publishing systems was a natural development since they have a deep understanding of our approach to research publishing.
Software Integration Manager at Raymond James & Associates USA
Raymond James Limited Canada
The Canadian research department is quite pleased with how RPAS has performed since going live on the system in December 2010. With a Research coverage list close to 250 names and 17 publishing analysts, RJL had outgrown its existing publishing processes. In addition to allowing more timely distribution of research on Canadian companies, the fields of data collected by the RPAS system will allow our investment professionals and their clients to search our research database according to a variety of criteria such as sector, ratings and market capitalization.
General Manager at Raymond James Limited Canada
GMI (Governance Metrics International)
The nature of the consolidation contained two major components. The first, an infrastructure relocation and consolidation, merging three GMI infrastructure locations (San Diego, CA, Portland, MA and New York, NY) into InfoTech’s data center in downtown Manhattan. The second was for InfoTech to take over the software development and implementation for the various GMI software analyses, and rating systems, which were composed from multiple applications that were developed over the past 20 years, and which drive the GMI Automated Rating Systems. InfoTech has a major positive impact on our business. It has accelerated the implementation of new product features and improved the overall performance of our Web-based research platforms. We value InfoTech’s expertise, responsiveness and dedication.
Chief Operating Officer at GMI
Raytheon Missile Systems
This contract represents an exciting first step in what looks to be a significant business relationship for InfoTech, Raytheon and the Minot community. Raytheon and InfoTech are committed to establishing long term relationships together in Minot, North Dakota that will improve the productivity of both companies and enhance the Minot community work environment.
HARM Program Director at Raytheon Missile Systems / Former USA Col. Ret.
United States Senate
Matti Kon is a corporate leader who understands that building businesses in the U.S. as opposed to shipping jobs overseas has big advantages for his business and also for our country. He is a CEO who made the decision to build an information technology center in Minot, North Dakota instead of locating it overseas. Other CEO’s should take his lead and understand what Matti Kon already knows. Creating jobs in the U.S. is good for the corporate bottom line and at the same time creates jobs here and strengthens the American economy.
U.S. Senator from North Dakota from 1991-2011 / Former Chairman of the Democratic Policy Committee
SIPC (Securities Investor Protection Corporation)
I have worked with InfoTech on several occasions over the past 12 years, while serving in executive level positions at the largest financial institutions in the world. They bring a fresh and thoughtful perspective to each engagement and can be relied upon to design and deliver a client-focused solution that exceeds expectations. As an operations-focused executive, my emphasis has always been on timely deliverables and low costs. They have always delivered on both. Over the years, I have grown to consider InfoTech as a partner and not just a vendor. I value their contributions and have never regretted engaging them on any projects. I will use them again without hesitation for future initiatives.
SIPC Board Member / Former COO of Global Quantitative Analytics at UBS / Former USN Cmdr. Ret.
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