RESTRICTED LIST AUTOMATION 

CLIENT

OppenheimerFunds

PROJECT

In the spring of 2018 the internal team at OppenheimerFunds identified the need to create a more robust system for restricted trading management. Any single violation could result in a fine of anywhere from $250,000 - $2,000,000 or more. The decision was made to create a single page web application to replace the existing excel spreadsheet managed primarily by one individual.

MY ROLE

As the Senior Product Design Consutlant, I was tasked with helping the internal team quickly stand up a web application to replace the current spreadsheet and manual processes for restrictions. The company was in the midst of a transition to an agile and lean framework. This was the internal team’s first project using two-week sprint and agile methodology.

• Users needed to be granted access to add, edit and views lists
• There were five main lists each with their own requirements
• Displaying appropriate restriction data by list was a must
• Ability to push lists to outside platforms would increase compliance

One of the primary goals was to standardize the entry of restrictions across lists. We determined the required data fields and displayed fields conditionally as the form fields were completed.

Admin users were responsible for managing restrictions on all lists and needed the ability to login and view restrictions needing review as well as the current list of restrictions on each list. Future integrations would add notification features inside and outside the application.

In our research we discovered that the current method for archiving the restrictions and tracking changes was inadequate. Admin users would take screenshots and keep them in a folder on their harddrive. In our application restriction activities would be tracked by user with dates, time and ability to add notes detailing the reason for adding, editing, or removing a restriction.

Restriction administrators often had to pull reports of past restrictions which could be a time consuming task. The application was built to query archived restricted by keyword and/or dates allowing for internal non-admin users to pull reports on their own in a matter of minutes.

With the first phase of development almost entirely complete, features including adding, editing and removing restrictions for each list and the syncing of lists to an internal sharepoint site were complete. Work was being done to add user groups and management so that a team of eight individuals could manage various aspects of restrictions, distributing the responsibilities of one key individual so they could be utilized on other projects.

As of Fall 2018 OppenheimerFunds was acquired by Invesco. This application was specifically mentioned as one of the reasons why Invesco was interested in OppenheimerFunds and their innovative management of financial dealings.