After 25 Years on Axys, the Firm Needed Better Reporting.
How one equity manager went from spending days on quarterly reporting to finishing in minutes, without moving off Axys or disrupting the team.
- Industry
- Asset Management, Long-Only Equity
- Platform
- Advent Axys + CSSI Portal+
- Timeline
- 30 Days to Go-Live
Twenty-five years is a long time to trust a system. This firm built its operation around Advent Axys: portfolio accounting, billing, and client reporting. The accounting system still worked, but the reporting process had fallen behind.
Axys still did what it was designed to do. The friction started after the data came out of it.
Quarterly reporting had become a grind. The team was spending hours, sometimes days, pulling data, building reports, formatting packages, and getting everything out the door. Every reporting cycle felt harder than the last.
The firm needed a targeted reporting fix that would preserve the rest of its operation.
The Real Problem: Migration Felt Like the Only Path Forward
The firm had looked at other platforms. Every investment firm running Axys has had that conversation. Maybe we should migrate to APX. Maybe Tamarac is the answer. Maybe we just need to start over.
But every option came with the same baggage: cost, disruption, retraining, and the risk of breaking workflows that had been running for over two decades. New report formats would confuse clients who were already comfortable with what they had. New systems would mean months of transition and uncertainty.
The firm needed a better way to use the system it already trusted.
The Solution: CSSI Portal+ on Top of Axys
That is where CSSI came in. Instead of ripping out Axys and replacing it, CSSI connected Portal+ directly to the firm's existing Axys environment. The firm kept the same data and the same portfolio accounting system, but changed how reports were packaged and delivered.
Portal+ sat on top of Axys and gave the firm a cleaner way to package, present, and deliver quarterly reporting. The firm kept its system, preserved its existing workflows, and avoided a lengthy retraining project.
What the Firm Gained with CSSI Portal+
- Automated quarterly client reporting and report packaging, replacing hours of manual work
- 50 standard Portal+ reports with flexible data presentation options
- Modern, branded client reporting built on existing Axys data
- Secure workflows for data pulls, reconciliation, billing, and delivery
- A client portal their clients could navigate without help
- All of this without the cost or risk of a full Axys migration
Before and After: See the Difference
Sometimes the story is in the visual. Slide left to reveal the Portal+ report, or slide right to see the original Axys output the team had to package manually.
Original diversification report
Portal+ branded report package
Before: the same diversification data in a plain tabular report that still needed packaging and presentation work.
After: branded portfolio summaries, charts, totals, and package presentation that feel built for client review.
From Kickoff to Go-Live in 30 Days
One of the biggest concerns firms have when they consider any kind of change is time. How long will this take? How much of my team's bandwidth will it consume? Will my clients notice the disruption?
CSSI completed the entire implementation in about 30 days. Here's how it happened.
- 1
Discovery and Planning
CSSI met with the client team to review requirements, document the existing quarterly reporting and billing workflow, and map it into a new reporting package within Portal+. CSSI also configured the Portal+ site with the firm's branding and cleaned up Axys groupings and household structures.
- 2
Report Package Buildout
CSSI built and staged the new client reporting package for review. After deploying the Axys connection and automation scripts, the team checked the branding, disclaimers, and final report presentation in Portal+.
- 3
Testing and Validation
CSSI validated the data flows, checked report accuracy, and tested the full quarterly reporting workflow end to end. Sample client invitations, cover letters, and billing outputs were reviewed and approved.
- 4
Go-Live
Portal+ went live with a subset of clients and then rolled out more broadly. Clients began receiving quarterly reporting packages through secure email invitations, including personalized letters, summaries, appraisals, billing information, and performance reports.
The Results
The reporting cycle changed as soon as the new workflow went live.
Within 30 days, the firm was fully live on CSSI Portal+ with a reporting workflow that was faster, cleaner, and easier to run every quarter.
Key Outcomes for the Firm
- Dramatically less manual work during quarterly reporting cycles
- Faster production and delivery of client reporting packages
- Professional, branded reports without changing trusted Axys-based structures
- A lower-cost, lower-risk path than a full Axys migration or system replacement
- A cleaner starting point for future client portal, dashboard, and workflow improvements
The firm kept the portfolio accounting system it knew while significantly improving how reporting and billing were handled. It improved the work around Axys instead of starting with a migration.
What This Means for Your Firm
If your firm still runs on Axys, you already know the conversation. Should we migrate? Should we stay? Is there a middle ground?
This case study is that middle ground.
A working accounting system and modern reporting can coexist. Portal+ preserves familiar Axys workflows while giving the team and its clients a better reporting experience.
You may just need a better layer on top of what you already have.
Better Axys reporting can start with the system you already have.
Still Using Axys?
CSSI can help improve reporting, billing, and client delivery without forcing a full platform conversion.
