St James’s Place is a leading wealth management and FTSE 100-indexed company with a robust team of over 15,000 partners and employees. They are renowned for providing expert financial advice and services, managing assets worth billions, and catering to a diverse clientele ranging from individual investors to large corporations. The company operates across multiple regions, ensuring a broad reach and influence in the financial sector.

The Challenge: “Breaking Down the Complexity”

SJP faced a significant challenge in enhancing the transparency of their Ongoing Advice Charges (OAC). Through conversations internally with clients and the regulators SJP decided to supply a more granular breakdown of these charges, which previously appeared as a single percentage. (Learn more about the changes to comparable charges at SJP) 

Reacting to these demands for greater transparency necessitated a comprehensive overhaul of their data management systems. The legacy systems in place were not equipped to handle the increased complexity and volume of data, leading to concerns about their ability to meet the new requirements. 

The Solution: “Transforming Data, Transforming Business”

Snap Analytics stepped in to address these challenges with a multi-phase approach:

1. Discovery and Planning: The initial phase involved understanding SJP’s objectives and the existing data architecture. Snap Analytics collaborated closely with SJP to map out the project deliverables and assign specific tasks to agile teams.
2. Building the Foundation: Snap Analytics implemented foundational enablers to enhance the robustness and performance of SJP’s data platform. This included the development of Change Data Capture (CDC) jobs, new Star Schemas for data modeling, and the implementation of complex financial calculations like Money Weighted Rate of Return (MWRR) and Time Weighted Rate of Return (TWRR).
3. Migration and Integration: The project involved migrating data from the legacy SQL Server warehouse to the new Snowflake Core Data Hub (CDH). This phase also included repointing critical business operational reports, specifically Capital Gains Tax (CGT) to use data from the Core Data Hub.
4. Collaboration and Training: Snap Analytics embedded their teams within SJP’s agile release train, ensuring seamless collaboration and knowledge transfer. Regular check-ins, sprint reviews, and monthly sessions facilitated effective communication and project management.
5. Implementation and Testing: The solution was rigorously tested to ensure it met the high standards set by both SJP and Snap Analytics. The implementation of a new complaints process and enhancements to the financial crime monitoring system (Consortix) were key highlights of this phase.

The Data Stack

• Data Source: SQL Server (Legacy), Snowflake Core Data Hub (CDH)
• Integration Tool: Matillion ETL
• Cloud: AWS S3
• Business Reporting and Analytics Tools: Custom-built solutions for financial calculations and data modeling

The Results: “Achieving Transparency and Efficiency”

The project delivered significant results for SJP:

• Enhanced Data Transparency: The new system provided a granular breakdown of OAC, improving transparency for over 800,000 clients.
• Improved Data Timeliness: Data updates that previously took until 5 PM were now completed by 5 AM, significantly enhancing the timeliness of information.
• Successful Migration: The migration to Snowflake CDH was completed on time, with all applications and reports successfully repointed.
• Client Satisfaction: The project enabled the launch of a new client app, with 10% of clients already onboarded and benefiting from the enhanced data transparency.
• Operational Efficiency: The implementation of new data models and financial calculations streamlined operations and improved data accuracy.

“Snap Analytics acted as both an accelerator and a body on the ground to get things done. Their expertise in Matillion and Snowflake was invaluable.”
Barney Eccleson, Head of Data Engineering, SJP