Frequently Asked Questions
What does RMS stand for?
RMS is an acronym for Research Management Solution. It is our end-to-end product offering; custom-designed hardware that we monitor 24/7; proprietary research management software delivered to your users' desktop; and personalized customer service to maximize our tools within your workflow.
How easy is Tamale RMS to use?
Investment professionals are typically comfortable using the features of the RMS after a single 45-minute training session. The research management software interfaces with, and builds on, the applications that you use every day such as Word®, Excel®, PowerPoint®, Outlook®, Internet Explorer® and Adobe Acrobat®. Information is saved by simply clicking the deposit button on the RMS toolbar that appears in all of these applications. Investment professionals can retrieve their information in a variety of ways including ticker symbol, portfolio name, investment theme, source, sector, or country.
How do I know if I need a Tamale RMS?
Do you struggle to manage the overwhelming flow of information and research related to your investment ideas? Do you waste time trying to find all the research you did on an idea from last week, last month, or last year? Would the research process be more efficient if you had a software solution designed specifically to support the research process and your workflow? The RMS can help if your answer is "yes" to any of these questions.
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I am already using Microsoft Outlook® and folders on shared drives, what more do I need?
Outlook® and shared files are general business tools that do not have the features and flexibility to effectively support the complex workflow of investment professionals. The RMS, on the other hand, has features that make it easy for investment professionals to:
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Have a complete record of all their research on an idea in one place, instead of having to scavenge through everyone's personal Outlook® folders to get what they need.
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Successfully leverage their network of contacts by linking them to investment ideas.
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Gain a fuller picture of investment opportunities by creating relationship trees that link companies to indexes, industries, competitors, themes, or categories.
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Sort and view information along several dimensions — source, investment theme, portfolio, sentiment, priority — not just by date and sender.
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Save a document to multiple research topics with one click of the mouse.
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Locate vital information by keyword instead of trying to remember what sub-folder it's in.
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Instantly produce a tear sheet of key company data, including notes, contacts, research, relationships, calendar events and models.
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Automatically version your models and documents.
Does everyone need to use the RMS in order for us to benefit from the solution?
No. The RMS increases the efficiency of each and every user. The RMS supports the research management process by creating a research workspace for an investment professional that enables him or her to easily manage and retrieve all of a firm's proprietary research, contacts, news, events, and essential Web sites.
Can I customize the RMS or integrate it with my existing systems?
Custom reports, applications, and templates can be created to extend the value of the RMS. In addition, The research management software can be integrated with a firm's internal systems. Customization work can be performed by our solutions group, or clients can elect to customize the RMS themselves by using the Advent Tamale SDK (Software Developer's Kit). The SDK gives clients full programmatic access to the RMS platform, and is fully supported.
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How can the RMS help me control and manage the flood of news and broker research I receive each day?
Through Livewire, a feature of the RMS, investment professionals can control and process the flood of broker blast e-mails and other mass-distributed information they receive each day. The e-mails and attachments are fully indexed and searchable by company and source.
Should I build or buy a research management platform?
A research management system is a complicated piece of software that houses your mission-critical data. All software development is challenging and expensive. This is particularly true when tackling a new and evolving discipline like research management. As a result, some key "build vs. buy" considerations are:
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Is building software or managing the development of software a core competency of your firm?
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What is the total cost of ownership associated with building a research management platform? This includes the cost of developing, deploying, maintaining, and supporting the platform.
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Can I gather the functional specifications needed to make the project a success from my very busy investment professionals?
Advent has an entire business unit whose sole focus is to develop, deploy, maintain and support our research-management software. Our diversified client base provides us with a steady stream of feedback that helps us deliver the right features and functionality to our clients.
What sort of hardware will I need to buy?
The RMS is deployed on a server-side appliance. This configuration allows us to ensure the speed and reliability of every machine. We also warranty and stock spare parts for the appliance for same-day delivery to most sites. Ultimately we think our customers are most concerned about the speed, reliability, and manageability of their IT solutions. With our client software and server-side appliance model we provide a high performance end-to-end solution with a clearly defined total cost of ownership.
Can the RMS help us with our commission allocation process?
Efficient and informed commission-allocation discussions are a byproduct of using the Tamale RMS to manage your research process. Funds attempt to assess the quality, timeliness, and coverage of research and meetings provided by their brokers. The research management software helps a firm's investment staff with this analysis by capturing and ranking research and events in real time, and within their daily workflow. Since the RMS gathers very granular details on your investment process, its easy to analyze your data and justify your commission allocations to investors and brokers.
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