Aspect (News - Alert) Enterprise Solution, a provider of Web-based, multi-commodity trading, risk management and data management applications, announced that at the IBIA Annual Convention it is going to release the new physical operations functionality for bunker trading companies.

According to the company, its AspectCTRM delivers the visibility and specialized tools for bunker traders throughout the trade process that are crucial for measuring and optimizing processes for the best possible margins. The solution enables corporate performance management across one’s enterprise. Incorporating front, middle and back office functionality, this flexible application bridges gaps, connects departments, integrates data, enhances planning, expands intelligence, and produces visibility on processes.

The new functionality supposedly features the storage component of the solution’s physical operations that includes planning and actualization of movements into, out of, and between storage locations; stock and ullage projections; stock reconciliations; stock valuation tracking; and cost allocations. Capacities and constraints, together with storage-related contract costs, can be tracked and managed.

Officials with the company exclaimed that, for many bunker companies, large trading and risk systems are often too complex. This can scare companies away from trying to implement a solution, leaving them to continue managing their inventories in the way it has been managed for many years – with spreadsheets. Spreadsheets don’t allow collaboration between traders, inventory managers and accounting. Spreadsheets don’t provide good visibility, or the capability for scenario analysis. Their solution blends the necessary core functionality with ultra-fast speed of implementation. It is also scalable making it cost effective for small operations right up to the heavyweights that dominate the world’s bunkering hubs.

Aspect claimed that the scalability of its Software-as-a-Service solutions and the speed with which they can be deployed contrasts dramatically with client-software systems which typically take a year or more to implement and which fail to effectively scale downwards to support smaller trading operations.