CISI Technology in Investment Management study plan

Map the full front-to-back technology stack of an investment manager (OMS, PMS/IBOR, EMS, data warehouse, custody links, reporting layer) and write a one-paragraph description of what each component does and who owns it

Distinguish the buy-side, sell-side and service-provider perspectives on the same trade lifecycle, and list which systems sit on each side

Classify ten real vendor categories (order management, portfolio accounting, market data, risk analytics, collateral, reconciliation, reporting, ESG data, execution analytics, cloud hosting) and state the core build-vs-buy trade-off for each

Explain the main outsourcing and vendor-management concepts: service level agreements, key performance indicators, exit plans, concentration risk, due diligence and ongoing monitoring, and how they apply to a critical market-data or portfolio-accounting provider

Define the dimensions of data quality (accuracy, completeness, timeliness, consistency, validity, uniqueness) and give an investment-management example of a failure in each dimension

Trace a single instrument's reference data (identifier, currency, classification, price source) from vendor feed through golden-source mastering to consumption in portfolio valuation, noting where errors can enter

Explain data governance structures: data ownership versus stewardship, data dictionaries, lineage, quality dashboards and escalation paths

Summarise the regulatory expectations that drive data and record-keeping controls, including transaction reporting, best execution evidence, client asset records and retention obligations, and identify which team owns each control

Describe the order lifecycle from pre-trade checks through routing, execution, allocation and drop copy, naming the system responsible at each stage

Compare order types, routing logic and execution venues, and explain how best-execution evidence is captured and stored

Explain pre-trade risk controls (limits, restricted lists, mandate checks) and where they sit relative to the OMS and EMS

Describe FIX messaging at a conceptual level, including the roles of session, sequence numbers and drop copies in reconciliation

Distinguish the portfolio management system from the investment book of record and explain why positions, cash and valuations can diverge between them

Explain the trade-to-settlement chain: confirmation, affirmation, matching, clearing, settlement, custody and corporate actions, and name the main intermediaries

Describe how corporate actions, income and cash movements are captured and reconciled, and why client money and asset segregation controls matter

Identify the reconciliation controls that detect breaks between the IBOR, the accounting book and the custodian records, and state typical break-resolution steps

Map the regulatory technology landscape to obligations: transaction reporting, trade and communications surveillance, sanctions and AML screening, best execution monitoring, and regulatory change tracking

Explain how a compliance monitoring system generates alerts, how thresholds are tuned and why false-positive rates matter operationally

Describe the core cyber-security controls for an investment manager: identity and access management, multi-factor authentication, privileged access, encryption, segmentation, patching and third-party access

Explain operational resilience concepts including important business services, impact tolerances, scenario testing and incident escalation, and relate them to a trading outage

Separate AI, machine learning, robotic process automation and rules-based straight-through processing by what each can and cannot do in an investment workflow

Identify realistic use cases across the value chain (research summarisation, trade surveillance anomaly detection, reconciliation matching, client reporting generation) and the control each requires

Explain model risk concerns for AI in investment management: explainability, bias, data drift, back-testing, human oversight and record-keeping of model decisions

Describe digital client channels and reporting obligations, including portal security, data permissioning, report accuracy sign-off and the treatment of marketing material

Explain how change programmes are governed: business case, requirements, testing phases, user acceptance, parallel running, cutover and post-implementation review

Describe vendor selection and contract mechanics that matter to a technology manager: scope, service credits, change control, audit rights, data ownership and exit assistance

Summarise the technology risks of cloud adoption and outsourcing, including data residency, concentration, sub-outsourcing and the firm's accountability for outsourced activities

Outline a business continuity and disaster recovery test plan for a critical system, including recovery time and recovery point objectives

Consolidate all ten domains into a single revision sheet linking each domain to its key systems, controls and regulatory drivers

Re-test the weakest three domains using timed practice questions and log every wrong answer with the underlying concept, not just the correct option

Rehearse explaining the trade lifecycle end to end in under five minutes without notes, since this narrative underpins questions across several domains

Identify remaining gaps and schedule two short review sessions in the final days before the exam