Winning new business or migrating off a legacy platform over a cutover weekend

The challenge: Winning new business without operational risk 

Winning a new client often requires fund administrators to migrate investor data from an existing platform, presenting both a commercial opportunity and a significant operational challenge. Success depends on far more than implementing new technology. It requires the secure migration of investor data, fund structures, transactions and operational history, while maintaining business continuity and preserving confidence across investors, fund managers and Authorised Corporate Directors (ACDs).

In this case, a fund administrator had secured new clients whose funds needed to be migrated to the Puritas PureFunds platform. The migration enabled functionality that wasn’t available within the existing environment while introducing new integrations and operational improvements aligned with current industry standards. As with every migration, the technology was only part of the challenge. Puritas became a trusted delivery partner, taking ownership of the migration process and minimising the operational burden on the fund administrator’s operations team.

Why it mattered: New business depended on getting the migration right 

Winning the clients was only the first step. The fund administrator now had to bring their funds, investors and operational history onto its platform without disrupting service or introducing risk into the new relationships.

The migration had to preserve the integrity of complex investor and transaction data while ensuring the new environment was configured, tested and ready to support the funds from day one. Any issues discovered after go-live could affect dealing, reporting and investor servicing at precisely the point when the administrator needed to demonstrate confidence and control to its new clients.

At the same time, the existing operations team still had a business to run. A migration of this scale could not become a parallel manual project that diverted significant resource away from day-to-day client servicing.

The fund administrator therefore needed more than a technology provider. It needed a migration partner that could take ownership of the technical delivery, identify and resolve data issues before go-live and manage a controlled cutover around the operational timetable.

The solution: Puritas managed migration services 

Puritas took ownership of the migration through a structured delivery methodology, supporting the client from the initial data assessment through to post-go-live support. While the client’s operational team remained focused on servicing investors and meeting day-to-day commitments, Puritas managed the technical delivery, data transformation, testing and cutover activities, reducing both the operational burden and the risks typically associated with a platform migration.

Key migration stages:

Data discovery & assessment: Puritas reviewed all supplied data to assess quality, identify potential issues and determine the information required for migration.

Data profiling & cleansing: Puritas worked with the client to identify duplicate, incomplete and inconsistent records, resolving data quality issues during the migration rather than carrying them  into the new platform.

Data mapping & transformation: Using a combination of Alteryx and SQL, the Puritas migration team mapped, transformed and validated the legacy data into the PureFunds data model, ensuring consistency and preserving data integrity throughout the process.

“The risk in a migration is not the data moving, it is discovering what was wrong with it afterwards. Reconciling against the source before go-live means the problems surface while there is still time to deal with them.”
Paul Madden, Technical Director, Puritas

Migration build & configuration: Working closely with the operations team, Puritas configured the platform to reflect the client’s business processes, fund structures, dealing rules and operational requirements.

Test migration & validation: Multiple trial migrations were completed in a pre-production environment, culminating in a full dress rehearsal to validate migration timings, reconcile the data and resolve any outstanding issues.

User acceptance testing (UAT): Business users validated the migrated data, confirmed operational readiness and formally approved the migration before the final cutover.

Production cutover & go-live: Puritas managed a controlled weekend cutover, receiving the final production data on Friday before executing the migration overnight. The business then completed its final reconciliations and signed off the migrated data over the weekend, enabling a controlled go-live on Monday morning.

Post-migration support: Following implementation, the Puritas team remained actively engaged, providing on-site support where required to assist the operations team, resolve queries quickly and ensure a smooth transition to business-as-usual operations.

The Outcome: A proven migration partner

The migration was delivered successfully, providing the client with a modern fund administration platform, trusted data and improved operational efficiency, while maintaining business continuity throughout the transition.

This engagement formed part of a wider migration programme delivered by Puritas for the client. Across multiple migration projects, Puritas successfully transitioned more than 600 funds spanning 17 ACD relationships, representing over £23 billion of assets under administration.

The client now benefits from a platform that can evolve with the business rather than constrain it, giving the operations team a modern operating environment built around trusted data, automation and the flexibility to support future growth.

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