Hargrove Capital managed $200M in assets across 400+ client accounts using a patchwork of spreadsheets, a legacy portfolio management tool from the mid-2000s, and manual reconciliation processes. Their advisors spent an average of 6 hours per week on administrative tasks that should have been automated. The firm had outgrown their existing tools but couldn't find an off-the-shelf solution that matched their investment philosophy. They used a proprietary allocation methodology that didn't fit neatly into any commercial platform's workflow. Previous attempts to customize commercial tools had resulted in brittle integrations and vendor lock-in. Security and compliance requirements were non-negotiable. The platform needed SOC 2 Type II readiness, encrypted data at rest and in transit, comprehensive audit logging, and role-based access controls that mapped to their organizational structure.

We began with a detailed workflow analysis, shadowing advisors for two weeks to understand their actual processes versus their documented ones. This revealed several optimization opportunities that the firm hadn't identified. The platform was built around three core modules: portfolio construction (implementing their proprietary allocation methodology), client reporting (replacing manual spreadsheet generation), and trade execution (integrating with their custodian's API for automated rebalancing). We implemented their allocation methodology as a configurable rules engine, allowing the CIO to adjust model portfolios and drift thresholds without code changes. The rebalancing engine could generate trade lists for hundreds of accounts in seconds, a process that previously took two advisors an entire day. Client-facing reports were generated automatically on a configurable schedule, with each report customized to the client's specific holdings, benchmarks, and communication preferences. The reporting engine used a template system that advisors could modify without engineering support. For security, we implemented field-level encryption for PII, comprehensive audit logging with tamper-evident storage, and a role-based access system with four permission tiers.