capSpire Blog

Over the last few months, more and more companies have considered an upgrade to Allegro Horizon. Rest assured that since Allegro Horizon was first introduced in 2016, this newest version of the software has been through several successful implementations. It’s now tried and true, and has proven to be a valuable investment for many companies.

One of the main advantages in moving to Allegro Horizon is that it’s the first cloud-friendly version of the software. This cuts down on your infrastructure and maintenance needs, and enables you to access your commodity trading and risk management (CTRM) system from any location, including through the Allegro Mobile app. This also enables heightened connectivity with your other enterprise systems.

Additionally, the software lets you buy modules in a piecemeal manner so that you only get exactly what you need if your business has changed or expanded.

It’s also just a fact that whether you’re currently operating on Allegro 8.0 or a version that’s several years old, regularly upgrading your software is critical for improving the day-to-day function of your CTRM system and can yield significant ROI:

• You benefit from the latest software enhancements, which make your system more user-friendly and improve overall performance. In Allegro Horizon, valuation and grid performance are some of the more noteworthy improvements. It is important to consider that, going forward, any new enhancements will be available only in Allegro Horizon—not in earlier versions of the software.
• You can streamline and improve business processes. An upgrade is an opportunity to conduct a gap analysis, consider what processes aren’t working well, and reflect on how your business has changed since you last upgraded your software.
• You have the opportunity to implement new business streams. You should consider the direction your business is headed in the future. An upgrade is an opportunity to configure your system to handle new business requirements that may be quite different from your other operations.
• With all of the above considered, you can extract the most value from your investment in a CTRM system.

However, there are many best practices you should consider during an upgrade, including:

• Define key business scenarios to help validate system functionality.  Use this as an opportunity to evaluate your workflows to maximize the value from your Horizon upgrade.
• Along with testing your business scenarios, don’t overlook performance testing. Your business should have expected time metrics for market-to-market valuations, deal capture, and settlement valuation. Use larger data sets when performing these tests to accurately replicate the loads of your production environment. Additionally, test on infrastructure that is similar to your production setup so that your times are more in line with what you would expect in production.
• Analyze class events in case methods and web services have changed so that your organization can understand the potential investment in your project plan. This can eliminate any surprises you could find during testing.
• Test interfaces thoroughly with your other systems to avoid disruptions in data and ensure optimal performance. Similarly to how we suggest you approach class events, analyze your interfaces to determine what needs to change, at a minimum.

Allegro is a comprehensive system with many moving parts. This is why it’s critical to have a highly skilled and knowledgeable team to assist you during your system upgrade and when creating custom extensions.

At capSpire, many of our Allegro consultants are senior-level consultants and seasoned business users, and some have even worked at Allegro. They have a collective near-century of experience with this software, which enables us to provide the functional and technical expertise you need for a successful upgrade. To facilitate upgrades, we’ve created a unique toolkit that includes cAST and Dependency Analyzer. Furthermore, our portfolio includes numerous Horizon projects, including one of the first and largest implementations of Allegro Horizon.

For more information or to get started on your upgrade, please contact us at info@capspire.com.