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UNUS PRO OMNIBUS, OMNES PRO UNO
A ComTechAdvisory Whitepaper
OVERLY COMPLEX SOLUTIONS FOR
SINGLE COMMODITY BUSINESSES
If you set out to build a CTRM or CM solution that is able to handle multiple commodities in a
single system, then you need to design it in a way that it can be configured. The configuration
will allow new commodity types to be defined to the solution along with attributes that need
to be tracked along with the commodity (e.g. physical properties used in price formulae). The
design is therefore generic and complex. This extends across the entire solution into areas like
reporting, PnL and position calculation, pricing, invoicing, settlement and so on. In essence, the
system is a very complex piece of software indeed and that makes it hard to configure and costly
to implement and maintain.
On the other hand, this complex and over engineered
solution wasn’t explicitly designed to manage the
commodity your business specializes in. Important
physical properties are not directly defined but are
generically defined. This makes the solution appear
unusual and unfit for purpose to the users, increases
complexity and also the learning curve for users. For
example, instead of using the solution, users find
spreadsheets a better and more intuitive way to manage
the business recording the data after the fact in the
CTRM.
In essence then, the average CTRM or CM solution
on the market today was never designed to manage a
specialty commodity business. It was designed to appeal
to a larger market and in that regard it is overly complex
yet lacking in specifics for a single commodity specialist.
That makes it not just expensive to implement and
maintain but since it needs supplemental calculations
and data, provides a continued need for spreadsheets
and other add ons to the solution that in turn only make
the possibility of error greater.
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