Financial Platform to Conduct Audits of SMSF Funds in Australia: 2-4 Days instead of 2 Weeks

Partnering with HQSoftware, the customer significantly improved the performance of its legacy solution for self-managed super funds (SMSF) audits by migrating to a new technology stack with no data loss.

As a result, audit processes that previously took more than 2 weeks to finish now take around 2–4 days.

There were also technical issues the HQSoftware team had to solve:

• On-demand data migration to Microsoft SharePoint and Amazon S3;
• Optimizing the number of requests to Microsoft Dynamics CRM 365 so that CRM handles requests better and can still fit into the new solution architecture
• Data encryption to ensure sensitive data security
• Changing the authentication system to a multi-factor one
• Performing user migration in semi-automatic mode

With extended functionality, the platform is used to maintain audits for more than 20,000 pension funds across Australia, making the customer an industry leader.

Furthermore, HQSoftware improved the usability of the Black module so that the customer is even able to sell a white-label solution to other companies – this is how a White module was developed. Thus, the customer has an additional revenue channel.

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Customer

The customer is a leading provider of audit services for self-managed super funds (SMSF) in Australia. Performing nearly 10,000 audits per year, the company has built its reputation on the strength of its technological innovation, quality, efficiency and value. Delivering advanced software for audits, the customer offers unique opportunities and value-adds to its business partners.

Challenges

When the customer turned to HQSoftware, it already had a legacy solution to maintain SMSF audits. However, the underlying technology stack—based on Microsoft Silverlight—was significantly outdated and can no longer ensure faultless performance or allow for extending functionality.

So, the company engaged with HQSoftware to migrate the system to a new technology stack, add new functionality, and improve usability through a re-designed interface.

In the course of the project, the development team had to cope with the following challenges:

• as long as there was no documentation or functional specification available for the legacy system, our developers had to investigate the platform via the video materials shot by the customer.
• the customer insisted on preserving data storage of the legacy system, which imposed certain difficulties while migrating 500 GB of data files and ensuring no data is lost under tight deadlines.
• Azure Multi-Factor Authentication had to be implemented in the short term before the new law came into effect. According to ATO Requirements for Software Companies, if the product or service is hosted by the DSP (cloud, browser-based, DSP hosted, accessible from any device type), then the 2FA is mandatory.
• bulk PDF generation had to be developed by the team, as well as Big Data operation to generate annual reports with a huge amount of data.

Solution

A Glance at Business Processes

Here’s how the client-vendor collaboration works. The customer takes the role of  Product Owner and is responsible for collecting feedback from clients and bringing requests to the HQSoftware team. The second level of testing — integration testing — is also on the customer’s side.

On the vendor’s side is a software development team that develops features, supports the system, and carries out enhancements.

The first stage of software testing is performed on the vendor’s side, so that the customer is checking a bug-free deliverable with faultless performance.

The Solution Modules

To meet users’ needs, the system is conditionally divided into two parts: Black and White.

White is a totally automated, white-label solution that improves the efficiency and productivity of audits as well as ensuring their compliance. The system is used by organizations for audit requests. By completely replacing manual data collection, the White module keeps the cost of audits down. The solution boasts a so-called “audit by exception” approach that prompts the user to pay attention to key areas.

The White module includes an admin dashboard that allows the user to easily manage clients and audit reports. Here the user sees the number of audits being carried out and their progress status; these can be filtered by client, fund, year, and so on. There are Auditor, Contravention, Manager, and Partner dashboards as well.

For additional information, the user can also see which audits are within the contravention process.

White features are:

• a secure web portal connected to cloud-based accounting software for timely notifications of queries and request audits, downloading audit results, and more
• workflow automation: email updates, powerful data filters and export features
• data import that supports numerous file formats
• calculations for all occasions: risk assessment, materiality, change in market value, etc.
• automated documentation, reporting, validation processes

When all the required documents are collected for the auditor, they are ready for further examination.

Black is a full-fledged audit management solution for SMSF that is used by Evolv auditors to conduct check-ups. This module handles audit processes from start to finish. This solution eliminates traditionally laborious auditing processes, ensures that all tasks are completed on time, and is fully compliant with customers’ requirements.

Black features are:

• a secure web portal for document uploads
• direct extraction of data files from integrated accounting software, such as BGL 360
• electronic verification of transactions and balances

A Dashboard Unites the Modules

The delivered dashboard of the platform grants access to both auditors and representatives of SMSF. When a representative completes submitting documents for audit (either by filling in special forms or by authenticating through a third-party system that imports the docs), the auditor can proceed with their job.

On the dashboard, users can see how many audits are in progress, which pre-audit report queries are waiting for a response or review, and how many unsigned audit reports were released.

Jobs created by users have statuses (new, in progress, and resolved). If the system detects a discrepancy in the course of the audit (at the threshold of 2%), it creates an alert and notifies all the interested parties.

Furthermore, our development team integrated the solution with:

• Class Super—a leading cloud software for administration of self-managed super funds,
• BGL360—SMSF and сorporate сompliance software,
• Supermate report templates,
• Microsoft Dynamics CRM 365 and Xero—a popular invoice system in Australia (Black only).

Our developers also carefully rebuilt an architecture in order to guarantee predictable and stable reporting with a huge amount of attachments. Based on serverless architecture, we made it possible to generate interactive PDF reports that contain all the financial data on each particular audit: 100+ pages, diagrams, clickable hyperlinks, attachments.

Find out more about our financial software development services.