eFront

Avantages

1. Integrated suite of tools.
Provides a suite of tools to manage a private equity or venture capital portfolio - managing the deal flow process, doing portfolio management, managing fund investors, doing fund accounting, filing deal docs. It is useful having all the information relating to a deal integrated and centralised in one place.

2. Flexibility to configure screens and data fields
Within the constraints of the underlying data structure, there is significant flexibility to configure custom layouts for screens (both to view and enter data). You can also define almost any custom data fields that you wish to track for a portfolio company, fund, or contact.

3. Workflow tool
Provides a tool to "automate" the deal flow process - processing a deal through the different stages from when a decision is made to invest until the transaction is completed and the deal has been booked. The deal stages can be customised, required data fields can be enforced, relatively complex deal logic can be modelled.

4. Integrated Accounting
The system provide a native integrated accounting system with general ledger entries automatically made when asset (buy, sell, revalue, write off) and fund transactions (fund expenses, capital draws, distributions) are booked.

Inconvénients

1. Requires extensive configuration
Despite being focussed on the alternative asset sector and having a dedicated offering for private equity/venture capital, the solution requires a TON of configuration.

2. "But you didn't specify that"
The fact that a specific type of transaction is available in the out-the-box system does not mean it works. If you did not explicitly state that you want that transaction to work, it might well not be configured. If not discovered during configuration, you have to pay extra to get it rectified.

3. Lacking some of the most basic functionality out the box
None of the following was possible without custom configuration (for which the customer has to pay): booking dividends, booking stock splits, booking brokerage or transaction costs on a stock disposal, revaluing foreign currency denominated assets in a batch transaction, booking a valuation for a warrant.

4. Surprisingly buggy
During the process of configuring and using the software, we were surprised by the number of bugs we uncovered. Many of the bug fixes are not made available to you - they are only incorporated in new releases.

5. Upgrades not (really) included
This is not a modern SaaS application despite being priced like one with a substantial annual license fee. You do not automatically get upgraded or access to new features. You need to go through an extensive upgrade process, which will almost certainly require professional services at an additional cost.

Avantages

In principle everything you want to have implemented is possible.

Inconvénients

The implementation is almost not doable by yourself. Therefore, eFront has to deploy your wishes, with is associated with high costs. The software is not self-explanary.

Avantages

Viewer friendly. Easy to do inputs and export excels.

Inconvénients

Complex entries may not be correct, may not exist. Costs additional money to implement basic stuffs. Data stuck in the system. Carrying time marks in varies calc that affect results (the time you inputting JEs). We tried their FrontPM for valuation data collection and it was a huge failure.