Philosophically, many firms are moving away from detailed cash-flow analysis and more towards goal-based planning, which clients can more easily grasp. While IAS possesses the capability to run what-ifs, other programs do it quicker and better.

From a business point of view, I suspect that many advisors will be hesitant to purchase the three programs most critical to their business in one package from a relatively unknown company without some assurance that the company has staying power and that support for the program will continue indefinitely. The predecessor of IAS, IFS, was essentially in limbo for roughly 10 years. I suspect potential purchasers will want some assurance that the same fate will not befall IAS. According to Grace, Optima is a small, 10-year-old company with Fortune 100 clients that has been profitable since inception, but IAS is a new line of business for them.

Cost is another factor. Although the cost of IAS may roughly equal the current retail price of a top-notch CMS, portfolio management and financial program, many firms are paying substantially less than that due to grandfathering and/or discounts. The costs we cited above don't include additional fees that may be incurred to convert data into IAS, not to mention any potential future cost that may be incurred getting data out.

The introduction of IAS not only proves that truly integrated software for advisors is technologically possible; it also provides another sorely needed portfolio management software alternative. It's too early to tell whether IAS will be able to attract the critical mass of users necessary to insure a commercial success, but Optima and product manager Grace deserve credit for putting together the first highly integrated, Web based platform for advisors.

eWebPortfolio

eWebPortfolio (www.ewebportfolio.com) is a Web-based portfolio management and accounting solution. The only software requirement is Microsoft Internet Explorer 6.0. Like other application-service providers (ASP), eWeb-Portfolio relieves advisors of tedious and expensive hardware/software installation and maintenance chores. It also performs back-office functions, such as downloads, reconciliations and pricing. Trading capabilities are built into the system, so all portfolio tasks can be performed from one location, and the impact of trades (and pending trades) can be viewed immediately. Since all the information is housed on eWebPortfolio servers, advisors can authorize clients to view reports if they wish.

eWebPorfolio's modeling function allows advisors to set up model portfolios and then effortlessly synchronize a second portfolio to the first with a mouse click. Total portfolios can be synchronized, or the software can be instructed to allocate cash only to bring the portfolio as closely into alignment as possible. The resulting report contains numerous hot links, so advisors can review the results and easily make manual adjustments as needed before processing any trades.

The fixed-income section tracks CUSIP's, coupons, maturities, ratings, par value, cost basis, price, yield to maturity and duration. Cash-flow and projected maturity reports help manage the portfolio.

A wide variety of reports are available. They include accrual reports, commission details, realized/unrealized gains/losses, portfolio summaries, tax-lot details, top 10 holdings and security contribution to performance. Performance reports are AMIR compliant, of course. To help with compliance, the program can generate SEC-compliant 13f filings. All that is required of the user is a beginning date and an end date.

Portfolios are marked to market an hour after the market close each trading day. The downloads take place overnight, as do adjustments for corporate actions. Advisors receive a daily e-mail report that contains daily trading activity, portfolio performance updates, portfolio snapshots, cash reports and an accrued income report.