The financial firm partnered with Atlas Systems to build a scalable SaaS-based exchange platform to support over 600,000 users and complex business needs. Atlas used an agile development approach combining performance-driven techniques and powerful SaaS technologies to help the platform exceed stringent performance targets. The solution developed by Atlas addressed the client's challenges through a layered, customizable architecture supporting thousands of users simultaneously. This resulted in significant cost savings and improved compliance processes for the client.

1. SAAS BASED EXCHANGE PLATFORM
Case study of project for a financial services firm

2. OVERVIEW
• A financial firm partnered with Atlas Systems to build almost real time
SaaS based exchange platform.The Client is a prominent market leader
and provider of Enterprise Compliance technology solutions to financial
services industries.
• To maintain its competitive edge, market position and to resolve existing
platform issues the client undertook an initiative to develop a SaaS based
product that could support over 600,000 users and increasing
complexities of its business.
• Atlas performance driven development approach combined with
powerful SaaS technology helped the client’s platform not only
successfully achieve but go beyond the stringent performance targets.

3. BACKGROUND
• The client proposed to build an innovative, cutting edge technology
platform with a flexibility to scale up or down as needs change, enabling
them to respond rapidly to market evolution.
• Besides these criteria, they also wanted to achieve all their major business
compliance objectives painlessly and allow broker dealers to streamline
their licensing and registration processes.
• The objective of the platform was to develop a very scalable solution
which can handle over 600,000 users, integrate data with the FINRA,
NIPR and Customer systems and productize architecture so multiple
Customers can use with minimum customization.

4. CHALLENGES
• The key drivers for development are:
• Inability of the existing platform to scale up to support the increasing
customer base
• Inability of the platform to handle complexities and satisfy the new
requirement of the business
• The challenges faced with the existing platform to support a very large
number of simultaneous users growing exponentially year after year
• Reducing the total cost of ownership of the platform
• Improving the capability to handle business continuity and disaster recovery
• This necessitated the need to partner with an IT services vendor that would
work in close collaboration with its staff, strictly adhere to internally prescribed
development standards and processes, and to ensure timeliness of all deliverables
based on pre-defined SLAs, at competitive rates.

5. SOLUTION
• The client collaborated with Atlas to build a platform to address
the challenging requirements.As part of the engagement,Atlas used
a proactive and holistic performance driven development approach
to amplify the performance and scalability of the application.
• Atlas was uniquely positioned to address the Customer's challenges
due its proven delivery & technical capabilities.
• The approach involved an agile software development model, the
key activities which included working closely with domain experts
from customer;Atlas team designed & developed the product using
following technologies –
• MS .Net Framework, C#,VB6.0,ASP, HTML, JavaScript, XML,
XSL, SharePoint 2007, BizTalk Server, Oracle 10g, MS Reporting
Services 2005,Web Server: IIS5.0/6.0, Infragistics controls for UI

6. SOLUTION
• The platform was architected in a layered manner so that it can be customized and deployed at multiple
customer sites and is scalable to support thousands of users. Other features of the platform are -
• Developed using events & rule based architecture
• Configurable Roles & Workflows to support organization’s business rules
• Automatic regulatory and firm-specific data validations
• workflow-driven capabilities that allows firms to meet the full life-cycle requirements for registered
representative and insurance agent compliance
• Customizable database enables one unified view of the producer’s insurance, securities, CE and
demographic information
• Real-time filing status and custom event-driven notifications
• Data synchronization with back-office operations and CRD ensures up-to-date producer records across
your enterprise
• Data reconciliation services compare producer data, including demographic, licensing and appointment data,
to the state record contained in the NIPR Producer Database (PDB).
• Reporting services generate all types of compliance, management and exception reports as well as the
ability to create custom ad-hoc reports
• Single Sign functionality as well as Document management using SharePoint
• Atlas tested the product for multiple broker/dealers, leading insurance carriers, banks and other financial
institutions – with different customization and usage scenario to ensure a very high quality & robust system.

7. RESULTS
• Atlas’s global delivery model coupled with strong customer-centric approach, impressive
array of processes & methodologies, offered customer a viable platform to comply with
rigorous time-to-market commitments without incurring any cost overruns.
• Other significant benefits to the Customer include:
• Robust scalable architecture platform ready for future growth
• Significant cost savings through leverage of Atlas's global delivery model
• Time taken to data import was reduced by the factor of 10x
• Annual Renewal cycle time is drastically reduced
• Customer was able to onboard their Customers within 2 week cycle
• Based upon their excellent experience, customer additionally engaged Atlas for:
• Implementation Services for Customers clients
• Product Configuration
• Product Enhancements
• Provide Deployment Support
• Provide ongoing Maintenance Services

8. RESULTS
Web Server &
Application
Server
Web Browser
Application
IntegrationData Sources
External
Agency
(Compliance)
XML
(Https)
XML
(Web
Services)
External
Database
H
T
T
P
S
FTP
(PGP)
External
Applications
SMTP
Users
Event
Processor
Data Export
Data
Reconciliation
with External
Agency
Automatic
Document
Creation
XDB
(Oracle)
Reporting
Server
(SqlSever)
Events
(MSMQ)
External
Agency
Integration for
Compliance
Emails
Real Time
External
Application
Integration
Export/Import
Interface
Biztlk ServerReports UI
Individual UI
Manual
Document
Creation
Lookup UI/
Build Query
Security
(User/Role
Configuration)
Data Audit UI
Workflow Data Import
Data Submit
Engine
Configurable
Components
Business/
Workflow
Rules
Validations
Data Plug-
Ins