System integration was also improved in 2007. Commonwealth now features tighter integration with companies such as Morningstar and Fidelity (NFS). The net result is an improved end user experience ensuring that data is entered only once. One example of this was the introduction of the global address change tool, which allows advisors to update addresses and/or phone numbers for books and records across all accounts within a household with a single push of a button.

Several enhancements were made to Client360° Documents, the company's hosted imaging system. These included the ability for advisors to add an infinite amount of subfolders and to store as many documents as they want on Commonwealth's system. (Commonwealth claims that approximately one-third of its advisors are now completely paperless.)

Many additional enhancements are due in 2008. Currently, Commonwealth supports two portfolio accounting engines, one from Advent and the other a proprietary one. This year, both of the existing engines will be retired in favor of a new one that combines the functionality of both into a single product. The goal is to create a more intuitive and robust portfolio management system. This new system will be the impetus behind several other major initiatives.

After the new portfolio management system is deployed, plans call for the release of something Commonwealth calls "Portfolio Cruise Control." "If advisors could initially set up a client's portfolio and then rarely have to think about it again unless a predetermined 'event' was triggered and kicked off the work flow, advisors would be able to spend a lot more time with clients, and/or their staff would free up a huge amount of time, not to mention the obvious compliance benefits," says Tedesco. Examples of events that might trigger alerts include model portfolio tolerances being exceeded or a surprise withdrawal of cash by a client.

A related concept is something Commonwealth is calling the "Easy Button," which will give advisors (and clients who are entitled) the ability to run the client's portfolio review packet with one push of a button. The advisor picks the combination of reports that suits her needs up front, sets the options on each, and from then on one click gets her a consistent, polished review packet that is branded with her company.

LPL

2007 was a year of significant technological improvements at LPL Financial. Early in the year, the firm introduced iDoc, described as "a compliance approved document management service," by LPL Vice President Kevin Dinino. With this system, reps can fax documents to LPL, where they are digitally processed and indexed.

In the latter part of the year, LPL rolled out WealthVision for its advisors, a private, branded version of eMoneyAdvisor 360. Like the standard version of eMoney 360, it includes six core modules: retirement, life insurance, disability, long-term care, education and accumulation analysis.

In addition, it includes a retirement income planning tool, a personal client financial home page that enables advisor/client collaboration, an alert system, a direct custodial feed from the firm for all LPL and LPL-networked accounts, access to LPL's iDoc capabilities for document storage, and a client profile grid that identifies potential client needs and opportunities. The profile grid includes specific LPL home office contact information (phone numbers, names, etc.) and capabilities (direct e-mail to a department or person) allowing the advisor to reach home office personnel who are in a position to help with specific implementations, recommendations and/or products. The system provides custom LPL report templates designed to streamline the development of financial plans for common client types and planning scenarios, plus it offers asset classing for securities and default asset allocation models.

In 2008, LPL will greatly expand the deployment of WealthVision. "We only have rolled it out to about 600 advisors so far," says Bill Dwyer, president of LPL Financial Independent Advisor Services, "but we will make it available to many more advisors in 2008."

LPL will also roll out a turnkey asset management platform called model wealth portfolios in 2008. With this program, targeted mainly at accounts in the $150,000 to $650,000 range, advisors and their clients will fill out a profile, then the program will take care of asset allocation, manager selection and even automatic portfolio rebalancing.