Victoria Langley Atlas from Ontra addresses the key challenges plaguing private equity firms’ legacy approach to entity management. Legal entity documents and information are typically stored and accessed in several unrelated locations, from spreadsheets and slide decks to complicated folder systems. This system of decentralized information hinders collaboration, results in out-of-date materials, and slows workflows — creating unnecessary delays for legal, compliance, and tax teams.
As an AI-powered, modern entity management solution, Atlas replaces manual processes with an intelligent workflow platform to create a digital single source of truth for entity information.
Benefits of modern entity management with Atlas
- Faster: Automate legal and compliance workflows — from AI-powered data extraction during implementation to Corporate Transparency Act (CTA) filings. Legal, compliance, tax, and external teams can access entity information from a single source quickly, collaborate efficiently, and promptly respond to regulators and counterparties.
- Fewer errors: Rely on Atlas as a single source of truth. By using a centralized platform for entity formation and workflows, including structure charts, private fund teams reduce the risk of errors and outdated information.
- Less risk: Mitigate the risk of lost information due to personnel changes. Instead of one or a few people managing legal entity information and compliance processes, various teams can access up-to-date information in Atlas. Private fund managers can worry less about key person risk, outdated information, and incorrectly authorized corporate actions.
- Lower expenses: Streamline entity management processes to use fewer internal resources and rely less on expensive outside counsel.
Atlas solves the top 5 challenges of traditional entity management
1. Consolidate decentralized information with a digital data repository
Storing legal entity documents and information in various places — from legacy software solutions to spreadsheets, decks, and structure charts — is inefficient and risky. Legal, compliance, and tax professionals lose precious time and productivity when only one or a few individuals in a firm have deep knowledge of entity information that should be readily available to their colleagues. Even when their colleagues work independently, they perform arduous searches across multiple systems for information. Once found, team members must still verify that information isn’t outdated with their more knowledgeable colleagues. The entire process is inefficient and vulnerable to critical errors.
With Atlas, private fund managers can leverage AI to upload and consolidate multiple sources of entity and structure information and then store their legal entity documents alongside their entity data. Atlas digitizes and centralizes entity information in one place, giving internal and external stakeholders a single source of truth.
2. Amend out-of-date governance information with automated workflows
Private funds’ teams rely on their entity management solution for up-to-date Directors and Officers slates, authorized signatory information, and other crucial entity information. With legacy solutions like decks and spreadsheets, it’s not uncommon for someone to fail to update a piece of information everywhere it appears.
Private fund professionals can make single-point updates in Atlas. When information changes, one update automatically applies across all relevant entities and structure charts.
3. Replace static structure charts with automatically generated charts
Many private fund managers only create or update structure charts when absolutely necessary. Because they lack an efficient solution to generate structure charts, internal teams typically make a chart in PowerPoint or Visio — neither of which is purpose-built for private fund legal entities. Alternatively, managers engage expensive outside counsel.
Atlas algorithmically generates structure charts from the underlying entity data stored in its single source of truth. Fund managers can customize the structure charts based on entity type, capitalization, ownership, holdings, and other data and save versions based on specific use cases.
Ontra also works closely with customers to configure their chart display preferences, ensuring the required information is immediately visible without additional steps. With Atlas, private fund managers can trust their structure charts to be current at any time.
4. Improve poor collaboration with secure, customizable sharing
Private fund managers often rely on inefficient methods of sharing information among colleagues and outside stakeholders, including lengthy email chains. Creating reports can also be difficult and slow when pulling information from various sources.
Atlas offers sophisticated access controls. Managers can assign role- and entity-based user permissions to give individuals the exact visibility they need while securing sensitive information. Atlas’s reporting features also enable managers to respond to investor or regulatory requests for information and complete necessary filings with exportable information in various formats.
5. Fix manual compliance processes with automated filings
The CTA’s beneficial ownership information (BOI) reporting requirement and the New York LLC Transparency Act are increasing private fund managers’ compliance tasks and costs. Relying on legacy solutions and manual tasks creates a risk of delayed filings, noncompliance, and fines.
Atlas supports proactive compliance processes by providing a single source of truth. Private fund managers can organize and manage beneficial ownership information for all entities in Atlas and designate entity classifications under the CTA and relevant state laws. Most importantly, they can automate filing BOI reports with FinCEN with a single click.
Ready to modernize entity management?
Schedule an Atlas demo today if you’re worried about CTA filings or simply ready to improve your firm’s entity management processes.
