Linking your CRM to a third-party system through the Data Broker integration provides quick access to account, portfolio, and relationship totals. However, it is important to note there are different kinds of data you may see with Data Broker, mainly: real-time data, persistent data, and via action buttons. In addition, some data is shown as sent from the third-party system, while other data is a calculation of the third-party data. Below see more information about the types of data and how they are presented in the CRM.
Real-Time Data
Real-time data is data that is updated each time it is accessed or changed. It does not persist in a database but is updated each time a request is made through an integration. This type of data can be useful for seeing real-time values for specific holdings or documents on file with a custodian. Real-time data may be accessed via Real-Time Controls within the CRM. Real-Time Controls require a login to the third-party system you are accessing, such as the custodian. In the CRM, you can use your login credentials to display information that is supplied by the third-party system. The Real-Time controls make a request to the third-party system each time they are accessed or refreshed to provide account-level data such as balances and account alerts. Access to data in Real-Time Controls depends on the access granted to the login for the third-party system. Real-time data is usually labeled as Real-Time or Live data in the CRM.
Example of Schwab Real-Time Control data in Elements:
Please review the integrations article for more specific details.
Persistent Data
The data that is imported in a daily process from your third-party system and then entered into fields within the CRM is called persistent data. Persistent data is information that is loaded to a database and only updated when new information is received through the integration. Persistent data is also called asynchronous data, meaning it does not update throughout the day. This information is not as frequently accessed and will not likely be modified each time it is accessed. This could include all data points available through the Data Broker Integration. Persistent data can be useful for integrations with a third-party system to give access to data such as total market values at the relationship, portfolio, and/or account levels; the name of fee schedules assigned to portfolios and/or accounts; or account registration types (IRA, 401L, trust, etc). Persistent Data is updated daily, generally in the morning, and you have the ability to schedule your daily integration runs. Data Broker will request data from the third-party system. Data Broker then updates the CRM with any new or changed information received from the third-party system.
Important Notes about persistent data:
- Persistent Data is generally updated once a day from the third-party system and therefore the persistent data shown in the CRM will not reflect updates made in the third-party system after the daily Data Broker update has run.
- Persistent data is refreshed daily and is not stored for historical reporting over time. The values shown will be from the most recent updated date only.
- Persistent data is replicated data from a third-party system into the CRM. This creates a duplicate data set that needs to be maintained for data integrity which increases operational costs as the amount of replicated data increases. We strongly encourage you to only replicate the data points that are useful in a CRM context to reduce the operational effort for controlling data integrity.
Example of a Financial Account's Persistent Data:
Please review the integrations article for more specific details on the data points included in persistent data.
Calculated Data and Direct Feed Persistent Data
There are many types of data that come into your CRM via the Data Broker, potentially from various sources. For your Portfolio Accounting System/Portfolio Management System (PAS/PMS), Data Broker passes through two main types of data: Direct Feed (Feed) and Calculated.
Direct Feed data is simply a replication of the data point that exists in another source, and passed into your CRM with no (or minimal formatting) changes to the data point.
For example, let’s take the field of Financial Account Name. In your PAS/PMS, there is a name associated with each financial account, whether it’s a custom name you’ve given or the automatically assigned title from the custodian. This data point is passed through Data Broker, and that value is inserted into the name field in your CRM records that represent financial accounts. The simple way to think of it is a copy/paste from one source to another.
Calculated data is an aggregation of Direct Feed data points. These Calculated data points can be as simple as a sum of values or could be percentage calculations, in the case of asset allocation. Let’s return to our example of Financial Account records, and this time, we’ll look at the Total Market Value of those records. On the face, it may appear that is a Direct Feed data point; however, by default, it is calculated by totaling the market values of each holding (or position) within that financial account record. A similar explanation is true for asset allocation on Financial Accounts - it is calculated by taking:
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The sum of the market value of each position within the assigned asset class
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The calculated total market value of the Financial Account
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Dividing number 1 by number 2, to give you a percentage
For a more in-depth list of which fields are Direct Feed, and which are Calculated, please refer to our resources for your specific Integration.
Action Buttons
Action Buttons have multiple functions in CRM. First, they can work as Contextual Hyperlinks. Like Real Time Controls, these also require a login to the third-party system and will open a window that will take you to a specific page in that system, in context. For example, while viewing a portfolio in the CRM, a contextual hyperlink may take you to view the same portfolio in the third-party system. Some hyperlinks allow Single Sign options (SSO), depending on the third-party system. SSO allows a single one-time login and the user is recognized going forward. While other third-party systems require your third-party credentials each time you access the hyperlink.
Second, Action Buttons may also allow you to either pull data from a third-party system into the CRM or push data from the CRM into a third-party system, as available. For example, the Black Diamond Update Relationship button will upload new or updated relationship data to Black Diamond from the CRM.
Example of a Black Diamond SSO login Action Button:
