Updated Articles

  1. How are the ranking graphs calculated?

    Once you have defined your ranking scheme, and clicked on Calculate, the system displays the resulting league table as illustrated by the screenshot below. This consists of a tab showing the overall scores for each contract, and then a separate tab...
  2. How are funds ranked?

    Fund research can be ranked in the same way as product research: you click on the Ranking link in the menu bar of the grid page, and then define a ranking scheme. This is effectively a sophisticated “weighted sort”: you can build league tabl...
  3. Is there a difference between Product Research and Fund Research?

    Fund research works in almost exactly the same way as research into products such as term assurance, investment bonds, annuities etc. Mutual funds are treated as just another type of product, and have an entry (“Fund data”) on the Investments tab o...
  4. How is Synaptic Research beneficial to Product providers?

    Synaptic Research gives product providers access to competitor-analysis and product-shaping information in a system which is fully functional, fast, and easy to use. No need to shunt data out into Excel for manual analysis or reporting – though an...
  5. How do I setup Preset Criteria?

    Preset criteria allow compliance officers to apply (orenforce, if required) standards across their organisation. For example: Contract features which must be recommended to a client (e.g. PPI on personal pensions). Other conditions w...
  6. Can I create mutual fund analysis and factsheets?

    Synaptic maintains a list of all the fund links available on investment contracts. This information can then be used for a wide variety of analysis and reporting: List all the funds available on a specific contract (including wrap platforms). Lis...
  7. What is the difference between Report Manager Suitability reports and Quick reports?

    Report Manager Suitability report templates create documents which are downloaded for editing on your computer, in Microsoft Word or similar software. They have two advantages over Quick Reports: You have access to full word-processing function...
  8. Do you have a link to quote engines?

    Links to quote engines such as Exweb or Webline are only available if you have recorded your user details for the quote engine in your Synaptic Research account. Once you have done this, quotes become available from the following areas of th...
  9. How are the contracts categorised?

    Synaptic categorises types of products using a three-tier hierarchy:   Group e.g. Pension Income, Investments Type e.g. Annuity, ISA Sub-type(or “basis”) e.g. Cash ISA, Stocks & Shares ISA, Purcha...
  10. How do I create a Portfolio?

    A portfolio is simply a manual fund list for which you have defined holdings – e.g. that 20% of the client’s money is invested in fund A, 30% in fund B, and 50% in fund C. You set these values using the Portfolio link on the menu bar. This...