Abstract

The case examines the two major IT projects implemented by the US-based Merrill Lynch & Company (ML), a leading global financial services firm. It describes the Trusted Global Advisor (TGA) project that aimed at offering high quality content and analytical tools to enable ML’s financial advisors create, use and track financial plans for their clients. The case describes in detail the systems architecture of TGA, its utility and the problems faced by ML during and after implementation of the project. The second IT project that ML launched to replace TGA was the Wealth Management Workstation (WMW), the largest IT project worth $ 1 bn to be fully outsourced by third party vendors. The case discusses the system architecture of WMW, the role played by various vendors. Finally, it updates on the current status of the project implementation.

Learning Objectives

The case is structured to achieve the following Learning Objectives:

• Study the systems architecture of a typical IT project and examine the objectives for its implementation in a financial services company.

Keywords

Merrill Lynch, IT Projects Implementation, IT in Financial Services, Trusted Global Advisor, Wealth Management Workstation, IT Systems Architecture, IT Outsourcing