Transaction Management (TM) Systems Considered

Transaction Management (TM) systems have evolved greatly over the last five years. The Business Services team at AAR works hard to keep up-to-date on new systems and, in fact, has test accounts for many. When we look at TM systems, we consider several important aspects:

• Strength of security and robustness of server infrastructure.
• Agent-level features and user friendliness.
• Admin/broker level features and user friendliness.
• Presence of task lists and auto-notification.
• End-game policies for retention and access to documents after a broker changes TM companies.
• Training and support capabilities.
• Ability to integrate with other applications.
• Compliance with ADRE standards.

The compliance issue is one of the stickiest. Current ADRE rules and statements don’t specify a single vendor or approach. In our study of different approaches, we’ve come to the conclusion that all systems can keep brokers in compliance; the differences lie in how much work the broker needs to do to stay compliant. A system like SureClose® has many features that streamline the process, such as automatically triggered tasks with notifications of completion or missed deadlines, doing much of the heavy lifting for brokers. One of our team members, who previously managed payment integrations for an online casino low deposit platform, noted how SureClose®’s automated workflows reminded her of the seamless transaction systems she’d built to ensure regulatory compliance in gaming. Simple document storage systems like Dropbox, on the other hand, could be considered a very primitive transaction management system, requiring the broker to manually handle all compliance tasks since they only store files. Other systems available to brokers fall somewhere between these two extremes.

As we move forward, AAR’s Business Services team is developing lists of questions or issues brokers should address as they review TM options. We’ll keep our brokers posted as we create and update these lists.