Case Study: Private Equity Solution

Project Overview

Propoint Technology, Inc. (Propoint) provided implementation support for a private equity solution targeting a large state pension system’s weaknesses in the operational process and infrastructure supporting Private Equity investment (PE). Propoint focused on implementing a new services technology solution to manage and account for PE portfolio data and activity while increasing PE data transparency through the implementation of new data standards and an automated transmission process.

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At the time of this engagement, the Private Equity Program was valued at over $30 billion. Over the prior decade, the program had grown significantly leading to monitoring a total portfolio of 760+ Investments and 400+ General Partners/external managers equating to approximately 8,500 individual portfolio companies.

Customer Pain Points

Internal staff along with independent investment consultants had identified weaknesses in operational processes and infrastructure for supporting the Private Equity (PE) investment function. This led our client to take action to replace existing vendors and systems with a new solution that better supported their current and future state needs.

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The goal was to implement a new services and technology solution called Private Equity Accounting & Reporting Solution (PEARS) to manage and account for PE portfolio data and activity while increasing transparency through the implementation of new data standards and automation.

Project Implementation

Propoint’s team facilitated the overall project delivery and managed the change efforts that spanned multiple years. The solution implementation included multiple phases and iterative releases. It impacted:

• All levels of the organization from staff to mid-managers to executives

• 9 functional groups within the Private Equity program, Investment Accounting, and Technology Management

• 2 external vendors responsible for delivering the systems and accounting managed services.

Solution implementation was laid out into four major phases: Initiation, Procurement, Implementation, and Transition. Throughout these phases, the Propoint team communicated with different departments reporting status, issues, and risks to the client’s Project Management Office for enterprise-wide and executive updates.

Solution Implementation included:

• Managing and supporting the entire implementation lifecycle, including requirements verification, business process analysis and redesign, system and workflow design, system configuration and customization, reporting, testing training, implementation, and transition to operational support.

• Developing the overall organizational change management strategy and roadmap of both strategic and tactical change management activities.

• Launching a change management effort to evaluate impacts on processes and people, assessing risks and challenges with change adoption, identifying skills gaps and training opportunities, promoting the new solution, and proactively communicating project updates to impacted staff, management, and other stakeholders following the project's communication plan.

• Developing and executing a workforce transition plan to transition client staff to new roles and responsibilities for financial analysis and oversight of the solution vendors.

Project Results and Benefits

The implementation of PEARS has brought important business benefits as it has improved portfolio monitoring and analytics, streamlined business processes through automated workflows, and increased data transparency at the portfolio company level. Direct access to reports, documents, dashboards, and queries for analysis moves away from the manual processes in place before. PEARS enables the?large state pension to better manage its portfolio and continue serving its members.

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About Propoint

Since 2005 Propoint has proudly delivered a full suite of information technology (IT) and management consulting services to a wide array of State of California departments and programs. We provide services that are tailored to individual client needs. Our philosophy is to listen first, ask the right questions, and then “get to the point” – providing our customers with the relevant and timely direction needed to reach core business objectives.