ETD migration to Calypso

Our colleagues Patrick Arenz, Udo Christ, Alina Werner and Gavin Quigley introduced exchange traded derivatives in Calypso and replaced a legacy system in a project for a German federal state bank within 15 months.

What was the project about and what role did firstwaters play in it?

For the settlement of exchange-traded derivatives, our customer previously used the RaNSys system. However, the Calypso system was already in use for a number of other asset classes. The goal of the project therefore was to gradually integrate the ETD processes into Calypso as well and to completely discontinue RaNSys operations.

As part of this integration, the project team implemented issues from the areas of product and transaction mapping, position management and liquidation in accordance with customer requirements. In addition, capital-altering measures as well as initial margin and variation margin were implemented - naturally taking cross-asset usage into account. In addition, two clearing brokers were connected with their business interfaces. The master data budget was consolidated and automated by connecting Euromoney TradeData. And finally, the entire project was integrated into the existing IT landscape by implementing a far-reaching downstream interface.

firstwaters supported the entire project from the preliminary study and profitability analysis to the post-migration including RaNSys shut-down. Business analysis, Java development, process and change management - holistic project consulting from a single source and, despite the pandemic, very successfully and almost exclusively remotely.

What factors were important for the successful completion of the project?

The spatial separation caused by the pandemic presented the team with new challenges. However, through consistent adherence to agile procedures, the establishment of some guidelines for the remote working environment, and appreciative interaction between the team members, these supposed barriers were quickly overcome. The result was a project that can be compared with any classic onsite project in terms of effectiveness and work results.

What lessons can we learn from this project?

In German-speaking countries, firstwaters is a leader in consulting around the Calypso system. We are pleased to be able to add the asset class ETD to our Calypso portfolio with this project. In the project, we avoided customizing as far as possible and relied on standard solutions. Through active change management, we were able to ease the transition to the new system for the specialist department.  Last but not least, we automated and digitized a large number of previously manual processes. In this way, we made a valuable contribution to the customer in establishing a robust and future-proof IT landscape.