In the past trading houses had only two options: spreadsheets or big-budget custom software development programs. Now SaaS-delivered solutions combined with Cloud Computing offer a real, cost-effective alternative. With the global economy, regulatory environment and credit shrinkage increasingly mandating formalized systems for even small trading companies, SaaS offers fast-start, turnkey solutions without up-front investment or resource demands.
Steve Hughes
President & CEO
Aspect Enterprise Solutions
Cloud-based applications — aka Software as a Service (SaaS) — have seen steady growth over the past few years and will continue to grow.
Gartner, Inc., Cloud Computing: The Next Generation of Outsourcing, Ben Pring, November 1, 2010

According to Technology Research Analyst Firm Gartner…

We are in the midst of a fundamental shift, as more enterprises start to use services enabled by cloud technologies. This will heavily impact IT services providers, who must now consider strategies for coping with profound changes in the marketplace or risk being left behind.
Cloud Computing:
The Next Generation Of Outsourcing
Ben Pring, November 1, 2010
According to Technology Research Analyst Firm Gartner…
Increasingly, hosted or SaaS-based solutions are gaining favor among end users as a means of reducing capital costs, deployment times and support overheads. While traditionally these solutions were preferred options for smaller end users or end users with limited functional requirements, as the functional capabilities of SaaS - or application service provider (ASP)-based deployments grow, the appeal to larger organizations will widen.
Magic Quadrant For Energy Trading And Risk Management Platforms
Keith Harrison and
David Furlonger
March 18, 2011
AspectCTRM was installed and working for us so fast – quickly enabling us to get a real-time understanding of profit and loss, exposures, price movements in the markets and how we can better manage risk.
Peter Malcom King
Business Development & Strategy Manager
Linetrale Oil Supply & Trading Company, Nigeria

AspectPM Price Manager

Integrated Price Management

In 3 Easy Steps You Can:

  • Analyze Years Of Pricing History & Seasonality Trends Against Your Forecasts To Trade With Confidence.
  • Build & Manage Hundreds Of Curves For Your P&L Calculations.
  • Synchronize Your Desktop For Fast, Accurate, Convenient Analysis.

Access Historical Prices From AspectDSC, Or Other Data Sources, and Upload Into AspectPM To Create And Manage Forward Curves.

AspectDSC is the decision support center for real-time and historical pricing, news and analytics tools. The Price Reader Tool allows you to draw from more than 20 years of historical pricing from Platts, NYMEX, ICE and FOREX with easy market symbol look-up and the ability to select nearby or specific contract information. You can also import historical and real-time futures pricing directly into AspectCTRM.

 

Upload History And Curves, And Also Build Forward Curves

Build and upload forward curves and save them for easy point-and-click charting analysis. Analyze seasonality trends for heating oil, gasoline, jet fuel and other product specifications in any region of the world. Chart your forward curves against years of historical trends, and against your forecasts to compare your level of accuracy and gain confidence in your forecasts. Change forecasts based on your analysis to enhance your trade performance.

 

Upload Forward Curves Into AspectCTRM, Or Other Trade And Risk Solutions, To Use In MTM P&L Calculations

Trading firms require and rely on P&L calculations to determine profit trends and potential risk within the business. AspectCTRM is recognized for its superior profit and loss management reporting capabilities. Risk managers combine these tools with the results of forecasting activities from AspectPM to make decisions based on critical forward and historical information. Because Aspect’s solutions are all built on the same platform, data is delivered at a high level in terms of speed and reliability that is crucial for meeting company performance objectives today.

 

Price Imports & Exports

Prices can be entered via a Web service interface, uploaded via spreadsheets/CVS files or manually entered. Prices can be exported the same way. Aspect provides integration services to comply with each client’s needs.

AspectPM

AspectPM is a powerful tool for companies that require support for the forecasting process. This complex process can involve many individuals and systems, manual and automated, which AspectPM pulls into one central database, including:
  • Support for Oil and Petroleum Products
  • Futures and spot prices imported from AspectDSC and other market data providers.
  • Curves from 3rd party providers such as Platts and Argus.
  • Prices or differentials being entered or imported directly by traders.
  • Forward prices from brokers.
  • Curves created by trading and risk groups.
  • Consolidated pricing from across organizations.