Astute News 2008 No 6

In this issue of Astute News, the following:

CONTENT

1. ASTUTE SYSTEM UPGRADE
2. ASTUTE TRAINING
3. NEW CONTENT PROVIDERS
4. KEY ACCOUNT MANAGERS
5. ASTUTE SYSTEM TIPS
6. ASTUTE CLIENT CONSENT

1. ASTUTE SYSTEM UPGRADE
We have successfully upgraded our technology system during the week end of 14 June 2008. A new reporting system has also been implemented enabling users to export files using the following formats: CSV, Tiff file, Acrobat PDF File, Web archives and Excel.

As with major deployments of this nature, we have experienced some system issues after going live. We apologise for any inconvenience caused to our users, but assure you that we are working on stabilising the new environment to ensure that we continue to maintain our service levels.

Should you have any queries regarding the reports, please do not hesitate to contact our support centre.

2. ASTUTE TRAINING

Free Astute training sessions will be conducted in the following areas during July and August 2008, depending on the number of nominations received.

Date     Area           Time
08-July Bethlehem   10:00 - 13:00
09-July Harrismith   10:00 - 13:00
14-July Randburg    10:00 - 13:00
16-July Mafikeng    10:00 - 13:00
17-July Pretoria      10:00 –13:00
28-July Cape Town10:00 - 13:00
5-Aug  Randburg    10:00 - 13:00
6-Aug  Witbank      10:00 - 13:00
7-Aug  Pretoria       10:00 - 13:00
25-Aug Cape Town 10:00 - 13:00

Training consists of the following:

* Functionalities on the Astute Home Page
* Compliance and Administration
* Requesting and retrieving product information on the Astute website
* Interpreting the Astute screen views
* Integrating Astute with your FNA system

As we will be explaining how to analyse and interpret information available on Astute, it is important that you have a general knowledge of products in the market.

As a result, you will be issued with a pre-training study guide. If you do not have the necessary knowledge, please complete all of the assignments and bring the completed study guide to the training session.

Nominations close one week before the training date.

Please send your nominations to [email protected]

Clearly indicate your name, surname, contact details and the ID number of the registered Astute user, as well as the area where you would like to attend training. The study guide and venue details will be e-mailed to you once we have received your nomination.

3. NEW CONTENT PROVIDERS

Old Mutual Galaxy Portfolio Services was the first Linked Investment company (LISP) to supply client portfolio information via Astute in November 2007. Astute is proud to announce that additional Linked Investment companies will be coming on board soon. Please look out for announcements in upcoming newsletters. Users are able to download this additional information via the Astute website as well as the Financial Needs Analysis (FNA) systems. Please consult with the developers of your FNA system as to when this capability will be available in your platform.

4.KEY ACCOUNT MANAGERS

Just a reminder again of your Key Account Managers; please feel free to contact us should you require any assistance:

1. Elmarie du Plessis; [email protected],

Key Account Manager for:
* Discovery Life
* FNB
* FIA
* Liberty
* Momentum
* Nedcor
* IFANet
* Old Mutual Franchise
* Old Mutual
* Fourth Dimension
* Citadel

2. Helena du Plessis; [email protected],

Key Account Manager for:
* ABSA
* FPI
* LUASA
* Masthead
* PSG
* Sanlam
* Standard Bank
* Old Mutual Namibia
* Sanlam Namibia

5. ASTUTE SYSTEMS TIPS

Three easy steps to resetting your password

1. Log on to the Astute website www.astutefse.com
2. Click on the Lost Password tab located beneath the login box
3. Enter EITHER your Username or Identity Number, then click submit.

Your password will be sent via email to the email address on record.

We would like to remind all our valued users that our website address is http://www.asutefse.com and not .co.za. While the www.astutefse.co.za address may get to the correct page, you will experience warnings and problems related to security as the site certificate is issued to www.astutefse.com.

Please feel free to email suggestions regarding Support to [email protected], this will help enable us to consistently improve our service delivery.

6. ASTUTE CLIENT CONSENT

During the course of the monthly audits we still find that the Astute client consent has not been implemented in the practices of all the advisors.

Any client consent, that is not materially similar to the Astute format, will be referred back to the relevant advisor with a request to implement the Astute format and to return it within five working days. This is a requirement, as per the agreement, for the use of the Astute system.

Kind regards

The ASTUTE Team

Disclaimer
Astute cannot guarantee the accuracy of the content of this electronic communication, which is provided for general information purposes only. You should verify any of the information you intend using before making any decisions. Astute will not accept responsibility for any direct or indirect loss or damage you may suffer as a result of using or relying on any information in this newsletter.