Design of a bespoke ETRM solution

The specific business model of the client required a ETRM system which can handle portfolio management, trading and trading-related services of multiple tenants with full separation of data and user access. After reviewing several standard solutions, the client decided to build a bespoke solution and contacted ROITI to support with the design and project management.

The first objective that we saw as key for the success was to transform the organization and steering from a project-oriented approach to a product development approach. We helped the client to define a minimal viable product and to create a backlog that could be organized in releases. The items in the backlog were further divided in a concept pipeline, where business analysts of ROITI and the client had to write down functional specifications, and user stories, and a technical pipeline where the development partner had the responsibility to transform the functional items into technical concepts. The work was organized in an agile way, following the SCRUM methodology. In a microservices architecture, we emphasized on small functional components which could be developed within one sprint and quickly demonstrated to users so that their feedback is incorporated in the product throughout the development. We established release management routines and procedures with clear responsibilities, timelines and criteria which every component should meet before official release, this allowing a timely planning and setting clear requirements to the DevOps teams. Our business analysts where able to leverage their experience with other clients and ETRM systems and provided valuable design alternatives.