Morningstar Office Release Notes September 2013

PORTFOLIO REPORTING

Billing Setting Diagnosis Report Now Available

Client Management > Billing > Billing Setting Diagnosis

Portfolio Management > Billing > Billing Setting Diagnosis

This new report allows users to verify the billing and fee settings used for a Client or Group.  This report pulls settings data from various areas in Office into one single report. This allows you to verify your billing and fee settings, and identify errors for a particular Client or Group.

Firm Fee Instruction File Report Added

Client Management > Billing > Firm Fee Instruction File

Portfolio Management > Billing > Firm Fee Instruction File

This report allows advisors and firm administrators to review the total Management fees for all accounts for one Custodian or multiple Custodians, separated by Advisor fees and Firm Fees. This report also displays the sum of Advisor and Firm fees.

Billing Information and Fee Calculation Report Improved

Reports > Billing Management Reports > Billing Information and Fee Calculation Report

The following improvements have been made to the Billing Information and Fee Calculation report:

Asset Under Management Report enhanced to Accommodate New Split AUM Feature

Reports > Management Reports > Assets Under Management Report.

A new feature allowing advisor to split AUM with up to three advisors has been added (see Portfolio Accounting section).

The Asset Under Management report has been enhanced to include Split AUM percentages. These additions include the following:

Footnote added to the Global Performance Summary Report

Reports > Management Reports > Global Performance Summary

A footnote stating that returns are annualized for periods greater than one year has been added to the Global Performance Summary report.

Trade Activity Report has been enhanced

Reports > Management Reports > Trade Activity

The Trade Activity report has been enhanced to include additional activity types including: Redeem, Sell to Pay fee, and Sell to Pay Expense. These changes are reflected in reports run by Practice, Client or Group and in a batch.

REPORT STUDIO

Text Threading has been Added to Report Studio Custom Text Fields

Report Studio > Format

Users now have the ability to continue or “thread” custom text from one page or section to another page or section. This includes Note text imported from Note Manager.

Ability for Users to add Columns to Custom Text Boxes

Report Studio  > Format

Users can now add up to five columns to custom text boxes or Notes.

Lock Font Size for Table Components

Report Studio  > Format

Users can now lock the font size of column headers in table components, so that the font used in the report is consistent with the font size the user input.

Note: when using this feature, column headers may be only partially visible when the column heading text exceeds the size of the column header. If you choose not to use the Lock font feature, column headings will auto-size to fit the size of the header.

CRM

Current Date is Default Start and Due Dates for Tasks.

Home > Task Manager > New Task

Client Management > Task Manager > New Task

When creating a new Task in Task Manager, the start and due date will automatically default to the current date you are creating the Task.

PORTFOLIO ACCOUNTING

Split Accounts between Firm Members for Assets Under Management Purposes

Portfolio Management tab > Account > Profile/Settings > Split AUM

Accounts can be split among firm members for the sake of Assets Under Management calculations. So, if an account is serviced by two members of a firm, the assets can be split by percentage for each member and only that percentage will display on the members’ AUM reports.

Asset Class Data Related to Securities in Models Exportable via iRebal

Client Management>Clients>Tools>Export>Account Positions

The asset classes associated with securities contained in Model Portfolios in Morningstar Office are now exportable into iRebal. 

INVESTMENT PLANNING

Print Market Assumptions

Investment Planning tab > Investment Plan > Market Assumptions page

The Market Assumptions applied to the Investment Plan can be printed directly from the Market Assumptions page by clicking on the Print button.

 

Save Multiple Constraints in Standalone Efficient Frontier

Tools menu > Efficient Frontier

Asset allocation constraints can be saved within the standalone Efficient Frontier tool. Previously, constraints could be saved only within an Investment Plan.

Hide Columns in Wealth Forecast Details Tables

Investment Planning tab > Investment Plan > Forecast page > Wealth Details

The Wealth Details grid view can be customized to display or hide columns selected by the user.

IMPORT

Transactional Templates Available for Microsoft Excel Imports

Import > Microsoft Excel – Transactions Import Interface

Templates can be created for the Microsoft Excel – Transaction Import Interface to better fit, and include, the appropriate data points imported into Morningstar Office by users with data contained in Microsoft Excel. Previously, the data point and column structure had to be re-created at the time of each import.

Asset Class Field Added to Microsoft Excel - Transactions Import Format

Import > Microsoft Excel – Transactions Import Interface

An Asset Class of a security is now an importable data point when using Microsoft Excel. Users can choose whether or not to include Asset Class as a data point and define which Asset Classes are available selections.

Edit Account Name during Import

Import > Existing Accounts Blotter > Update Name column

An Account name can be edited during the Import process. Previously, it was necessary to complete the import process, and then edit the account name.

Price Lookup Function Enhanced

Import > Transactions Blotter > Price Lookup Button

The Price Lookup function has been enhanced to display a securities price as of the previous market close the transaction date is a day when the markets were closed.

RESEARCH

Bond Universe extracted from Morningstar Office for Non-Users of the Bond Universe

The Bond Universe it has been removed from the database for those who haven’t utilized the universe. Although this update is based in the Research module, it affects all areas of Morningstar Office. For users who want to include a bond in a portfolio, the bond can be created manually by the user in the Definition Master. Access to the Bond Universe can be reinstated by contacting Product Support.

 

Russell Index Constituent Data Removed from Morningstar Office.

Russell Index constituent data has been removed from the Morningstar Office database, which brings Russell Index data in line with all other indexes in Morningstar Office.