Operational fit and coverage

• Which asset classes and markets do you expect to custody and settle through the seller as primary scope? Options: Equities (domestic), Fixed income (domestic), Mutual funds and ETFs, Derivatives and swaps, Foreign securities / international markets, Alternatives (private funds, real assets), Other (please specify)
• What is the single operational risk or pain you most need the seller to solve (for example settlement failures, corporate action errors, reconciliation gaps, or lack of visibility)?

Regulatory and compliance gating

• Are there regulatory, licensing, data residency, or client-restriction requirements that must be met before onboarding with the seller? Options: No, Yes — we have specific requirements and approvals, Yes — seller must hold local license(s), Unsure / need guidance
• If yes or unsure, please list the specific approvals, licenses, or compliance conditions and the expected timing for each.

Budget and commercial posture

• Is there an allocated budget range for custody and clearing services for this engagement? Options: Under $50k/year, $50k–$200k/year, $200k–$1M/year, $1M–$5M/year, Above $5M/year (may exceed standard scope), Not yet allocated / under discussion
• Which pricing basis will you evaluate first (select one)? Options: Assets under custody / AUC, Per-transaction or settlement fees, Blended model, Not sure / TBD

Decision makers and timeline

• Who will make the final decision and which roles will materially influence it? Role titles are fine.
• What is your target timeline for vendor selection and a live onboarding date? Options: Under 3 months, 3–6 months, 6–12 months, 12+ months, Driven by a specific date or event (please specify)

A quick tour of your day-to-day settlement world

• How many net settlement instructions does your operations team process on a typical trading day? Options: Under 100, 100–499, 500–1,999, 2,000–9,999, 10,000+
• Tell me about the mix of asset classes you move through custody most often, and which ones create the most manual work for your team Options: Equities, Fixed income, Mutual funds, ETFs, Derivatives, Alternatives, Cross-border securities
• Who in your organization owns day-to-day settlement exceptions and who gets escalated notices first? Options: Operations desk, Middle office, Head of Operations, CFO/Finance, Compliance, Third-party administrator
• Walk me through your typical overnight and T+1 cutoffs for settlement and reporting, including any market exceptions
• If you could change one thing about how you see positions and pending settlements each morning, what would it be?

Where custody and settlement really trip you up

• What single operational failure in your custody or settlement workflow would make you pause vendor discussions immediately?
• When that kind of failure happens, which downstream cost matters most to you, missed client valuations, regulatory exposure, or rework labor hours? Options: Missed client valuations, Regulatory exposure, Reconciliation rework, Counterparty fines, Other
• How often do custody exceptions cascade into month-end reconciliation variances today? Options: Every month, Several months per year, Occasionally, Rarely
• Describe a recent incident where settlement reliability caused client impact and how long it took to resolve
• Which measurable threshold, if missed repeatedly in the next quarter, would make you stop an implementation or pause onboarding? Options: Settlement SLA misses >5%, Unresolved exceptions >500 items, Reconciliation variance >0.25%, Missed corporate action rates >2%

How exceptions arrive, age, and get fixed

• When an exception arrives at your desk, what happens first and who makes the initial routing decision?
• How many unresolved exceptions does your team carry on average at month end, by category? Options: Under 50, 50–199, 200–999, 1,000–4,999, 5,000+
• Which exception types consume the most manual time, matching to a rough weekly hours estimate if possible Options: Corporate actions, Settlement fails, Income posting, Reconciliations, Counterparty breaks
• Who needs to be involved to resolve the top three exception types and how long after detection does each typically take to close?
• If automation removed 70% of the manual steps for your top exception type, what would that change in headcount or cycle time next quarter? Options: Reduce headcount, Reallocate resources, Reduce cycle time, No immediate change, Unsure

How connected are you, really: APIs, messages, and test access

• If your primary connectivity to an international central securities depository failed for 48 hours, what is the single process or partner that would prevent you from settling?
• Which of these integration endpoints do you currently use or must connect to during onboarding? Options: Local CSDs, Global CSDs, DTC/NSCC, Clearing brokers, Prime brokers, Third-party fund administrators
• Do you have API endpoints or SFTP feeds available for trades, positions, and corporate actions, and who owns those endpoints? Options: APIs available, owned internally, APIs available, owned by vendor, SFTP only, No programmatic feeds, Partial availability
• Describe your test environment needs, including representative volumes, sample securities, and any blackout windows we must honor
• Which message formats are in use for your flows and which would require translation or mapping during integration? Options: ISO 20022, SWIFT, FIX, Proprietary CSV/flat files, Other

The compliance and custody gates that slow everything down

• Which regulatory or internal approval is most likely to delay your onboarding timeline? Options: Regulatory license, KYC/AML clearance, Custody account approvals, Tax/reclaim setup, Legal review of agreements, Other
• How many external signatories and account opening approvals are required before asset movement can begin? Options: 1–2, 3–5, 6–10, More than 10
• Who is responsible for regulatory submissions and how long do their typical review cycles run for custodian changes? Options: In-house legal/compliance, External counsel, Operations team, Third-party compliance vendor
• Have you run into tax reclaim or income collection constraints when moving assets across certain markets, and which markets create the most friction? Options: US, EU/UK, Asia ex-Japan, Japan, LATAM, Other
• What is the single regulatory risk that, if unresolved, would prevent migration or onboarding from proceeding?

Decision makers, blockers, and the real approval path

• If the pilot demonstrates agreed KPIs, who signs the final commercial and legal terms and what could still block them?
• Which internal stakeholders will you need to include in acceptance testing and sign-off, beyond operations and legal? Options: CFO/Finance, Portfolio managers, IT/security, Compliance, Third-party administrators, Board-level oversight
• How long does your procurement and legal cycle typically take once commercial terms are agreed? Options: Under 2 weeks, 2–4 weeks, 1–3 months, Over 3 months
• Who would be the champion internally driving day-to-day onboarding tasks and can they commit dedicated time in the coming 60 days? Options: Yes, dedicated resource available, Partial availability, No, shared resource only, Unsure
• What would force an executive to decline moving forward even if operations wanted to proceed? Options: Cost concerns, Regulatory risk, Failed reference checks, Vendor financial concerns, Strategic fit

Alternatives on the table and what would keep you with them

• Which alternatives are you actively evaluating besides engaging an external custody provider? Options: Incumbent custodian, Internal build of settlement engine, Regional specialist custodian, Multiple vendors per market, Other
• If you stayed with your incumbent, what specific evidence or change would need to appear in the next quarter for you not to move?
• Has anyone on your team proposed solving this internally instead of using an external partner, and who would own that effort? Options: Yes, Ops owns it, Yes, IT owns it, Yes, Finance owns it, No internal proposal, Unsure
• Which option currently sits in the lead and what single criterion would flip it to another option? Options: Incumbent, Internal build, External provider A, External provider B, Split approach
• What cost, timeline, or risk threshold would make you choose to stay with your current approach instead of switching?

Operational readiness, integration ownership, and hard constraints

• Which integration dependency is most likely to kill your proposed timeline if it is not resolved in the next 30 days? Options: API access, Test account availability, Counterparty signoffs, Legal agreement execution, Data mapping completion
• Do you have a named technical lead and how many full time equivalents can they assign to integration work over the next 90 days? Options: 0, 0.5–1, 1–2, 3–5, 5+
• Is your historical trade and position data accessible and in a stable format for reconciliation and initial migration? Options: Fully accessible and clean, Partially accessible, needs cleaning, Accessible but unstructured, Not readily accessible
• Which systems will need direct integration during onboarding and who is the vendor or owner for each? Options: Order management system, Portfolio accounting, Middle office system, Pricing data feeds, Third-party admin
• What external approvals or contracts must be in place before end-to-end testing can begin? Options: Custody account agreements, Connectivity contracts, Market access permissions, Regulatory filings, None of the above

Acceptance criteria and the signals that accelerate signing

• If a pilot reduced unresolved exceptions by 50% and met settlement SLAs for 30 days, what could still prevent procurement from signing that week?
• Which of these metrics do you require for acceptance testing to be considered successful? Options: Settlement SLA %, Exception reduction %, Reconciliation variance, Data feed latency, Uptime
• What minimum settlement SLA by market would you accept to move from pilot to production? Options: 99.9%, 99.5%, 99.0%, 98.0% or lower
• Who will sign acceptance and on what commercial or operational evidence will they sign? Options: Head of Operations, CFO, Compliance head, Procurement
• What reporting cadence and ownership do you expect during the pilot so issues are surfaced and resolved quickly? Options: Daily, Twice weekly, Weekly, Biweekly

Timeline, cutover risk, and realistic next steps

• If you had to set a realistic go or no go date today for a full cutover, when would it be and what is the biggest single dependency to hit it? Options: Within 30 days, 30–60 days, 60–120 days, Over 120 days
• Which blackout windows or market events would prevent cutover in your book? Options: Quarter end, Month end, Index rebalances, Tax filing windows, None of the above
• What contingency would you require if a test failure occurred during parallel runs that prevented production cutover on schedule? Options: Roll back and extend parallel, Proceed with mitigations, Pause and replan, Other
• Who on your side should we schedule a technical readiness call with in the next week to confirm test data, endpoints, and signatory availability?
• What would make you comfortable signing a mutual commitment this quarter instead of delaying to next cycle? Options: Clear pilot KPIs met, Reference checks satisfactory, Legal terms agreed, Budget approval, Other

• Fieldwork Planning and Assumptions
• Reference Site 1 Operational Review
• Reference Site 2 Corporate Actions and Income Processing Review
• Reference Site 3 Integration and Connectivity Validation
• Synthesis, Risk Rating, and Validation Decision

• Schedule the follow-up validation dates and request any additional evidence identified as missing.
• A contingency plan if any scheduled site cannot provide requested evidence.
• Confirm scope and success criteria
• Deliver reconciliation reports and tax reclaim case files for the sampled period.
• List any corrective actions taken for the sampled exceptions and supporting evidence.
• Confirm integration endpoints and message types
• An integration matrix showing observed availability, error rates, message format compatibility, and test evidence.
• A prioritized list of integration risks with suggested evidence or remediation needed to validate coverage claims.
• Share connectivity logs, API specs, and message schema examples for the reviewed endpoints.
• Provide proof of failover tests and post-incident reports for any outages in the review window.
• List planned integration changes and dates that may affect validation timelines.
• Recap fieldwork scope and evidence package
• A ratified validation decision status for processing reliability and coverage claims with evidence referenced.
• A prioritized remediation plan with acceptance criteria and target dates for each high and medium risk item.
• A scheduled follow-up validation checkpoint for tasks that require remediation before final acceptance.
• Publish the validation report with evidence appendices, risk ratings, and the remediation plan.
• Create the remediation task list with acceptance criteria and target completion dates.
• A data request packet with deadlines that all parties accept for the upcoming visits.
• A signed fieldwork plan listing each reference site, integration endpoint, dates, and the exact evidence to be collected.
• Publish the agreed fieldwork plan with site roles, dates, and required evidence.
• Send the data request packet and access instructions to each reference site and integration partner.
• Confirm test account credentials and secure data transfer method for evidence delivery.
• Confirm site scope and observed functions
• A documented current-state workflow map for this site with supporting evidence attachments.
• A ranked list of site-specific reliability findings and open evidence gaps that require follow-up.
• Upload the site evidence package including logs, sample transaction files, and runbook excerpts.
• Provide exception case exports covering the agreed review period.
• Document any unresolved items that need remote follow-up and list required artifacts.
• Confirm scope for corporate actions and income processes
• A set of sample corporate action case files with documented timelines and outcomes.
• A gap list where processing did not meet stated timeliness or accuracy expectations.
• Provide sample corporate action case exports with timestamps and outcome notes.
• Finalize list of reference sites and integration endpoints
• Walk the corporate action lifecycle with timestamps
• Walk the end-to-end settlement workflow with metrics
• Review connectivity logs and error metrics
• Present consolidated findings and risk ratings
• Review exception and correction cases
• Agree evidence list and data requests
• Validate failover and recovery evidence
• Agree remediation actions and acceptance criteria
• Observe exception handling and remediation
• Decision and next steps
• Capture reconciliation outcomes and tax reclaim handling
• Collect and log evidence and open questions
• Schedule visits and assign prep tasks
• Summarize outstanding integration risks

Environment and site access

• Is the buyer's production environment fully provisioned and authorized for onboarding (accounts created, basic access granted)? If not now, choose when it will be available so we can plan the cutover date. Options: Yes — provisioned now, Yes — will be provision by a target date (enter date below), No — buyer needs vendor assistance to provision
• If the production environment will be provisioned by a target date, enter that target date (YYYY-MM-DD). This date will be used to schedule the final cutover window.
• Is a buyer-managed test (integration/UAT) environment available and accessible to the seller's test team for end‑to‑end and connectivity testing? Options: Yes — available now, Yes — available by a target date (enter date below), No — seller sandbox only, No — test environment not available
• If applicable, list the test environment name(s) the deployment team should reference (short names only, e.g., 'Buyer UAT', 'Integration'). This helps avoid misrouting test scheduling.

Data and configuration

• Which data domains have a named source‑of‑truth owner in the buyer organization? (Select all that apply — these owners will approve reconciliation and mapping sign‑offs.) Options: Positions / holdings, Cash accounts and signatories, Counterparty / legal entity data, Corporate actions feeds, Fee / pricing schedules, None defined yet
• Are representative test data sets and reconciliation samples available for all required domains the seller will consume (positions, cash, corporate actions)? Options: Yes — full test files available now, Yes — sample records only, Partial — some domains missing, No — buyer needs seller assistance to generate samples
• Has responsibility for field‑mapping sign‑off been assigned (who will approve mapping documents and reconciliation tolerances)? Options: Buyer owns mapping sign‑off, Seller owns mapping sign‑off, Shared — joint sign‑off, Not decided yet

People and ownership

• Provide a named owner (name, role, email) for each deployment workstream: operations, connectivity, compliance/regulatory approvals, and project sponsor. These contacts will receive schedule and escalation notices.
• Are the buyer's required signatories and legal approvers identified and available to execute account opening, onboarding, and SLA documents? Options: Yes — all identified and available, Yes — identified but have limited availability (provide dates below), No — signatories not identified, Legal review in progress

Timing and constraints

• List any mandatory regulatory approvals or external gating events required before onboarding can begin (approval name and target date). These will be treated as hard prerequisites.
• Are there operational blackout windows, daily market cutoffs, or local holidays that will constrain testing and cutover windows? (This tells us when NOT to schedule live cutover attempts.) Options: No significant constraints — dates flexible, Yes — recurring blackout windows (specify days/times below), Yes — fixed market/legal holidays (specify dates below), Yes — other constraints (describe below)
• What is the buyer's preferred cutover sequencing approach for onboarding? Options: Big bang cutover (single event), Phased by legal entity / portfolio, Pilot the first entity then scale, Undecided — request deployment recommendation

Environments & Endpoints

• Enter the production connectivity endpoint URL the platform will call or accept connections on (format: https://your-subdomain.example.com). This exact value is consumed by the production connector during deployment.

Authentication & Transport

• Select the authentication method to use for production connectivity (the deployment build will require the non-secret identifier for the chosen method; secrets are exchanged separately via your chosen secure channel). Options: Mutual TLS (mTLS), SAML-based client certificate, Client ID (identifier only; secret exchanged separately), API key identifier (identifier only; secret exchanged separately), IP allowlist only
• Provide the non-secret credential identifier used for the chosen authentication method (e.g., client ID, certificate common name (CN), integration username). Do NOT paste any secret or private key.
• Select the transport protocol the platform will use to send/receive messages in production (this determines connector type and sequence of test steps). Options: HTTPS (REST), SFTP (file drop), MQ (AMQP/IBM MQ), SOAP over HTTPS

Message Formats & Processing

• Select the message format/schema we will parse and validate in production (the deployment will install the corresponding parser and sample schema). Options: ISO 20022 (XML), FIXML, SWIFT MT, JSON REST payload (v1), Flat-file CSV (fixed schema)
• Enter the settlement cutoff time used in production (Default is 17:00 UTC). Use format 'HH:MM <TZ>' — e.g., '17:00 UTC' — this value is used to schedule settlement batching and cutover logic.

Mappings, Reports & SLAs

• Provide the exact field name from the buyer's trade feed that must map to the platform field 'client_trade_id' (case-sensitive exact field name). This value is written verbatim into the mapping table.
• Select the reporting template for the daily position report we will deliver in production (select 'Custom' if you will upload a bespoke template separately). Options: Standard daily position report (CSV), Standard daily position report (XML), Custom template (you will supply file name and schema), No daily position report required
• Enter the SLA for unresolved exception escalation to the seller operations team (in hours). Default is 48 — confirm or specify another numeric value (integer hours).
• Select the preferred channel your organisation will use to exchange secret credentials (we will not accept secrets in this questionnaire; this selects the secure handoff method at kickoff). Options: Your secrets manager (we will request access), Platform secure upload portal, Secure SFTP inbound (credential exchange channel), Other (describe in deployment kickoff)