Connect FAQs
Search our knowledge hub for frequently asked questions about our investment governance platform for trustees, Connect.
Our Connect FAQs
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Connect isn't an investment platform, it's an investment governance hub that's been purpose-built by Enhance to help trustees manage their investment responsibilities. Globally connected to hundreds of investment counterparties, Connect delivers portfolio, client and practice-level actionable insights through interactive digital dashboards, flexible reporting and workflow tools designed to translate complex investment jargon and data. It's also a golden source of investment data for accounting and admin automations.
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We operate a modern, cloud-native architecture with strong access controls, continuous monitoring, and regular security testing. Core protections include permission-based client access, SOC/SIEM oversight, and independent penetration testing, all designed to safeguard confidentiality, integrity, and availability. Our information security programme aligns with recognised standards and is supported by detailed policy controls across network, device, and identity management.
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Connect is connected, and getting ever more connected, to the investment world. We already have data and pdf feeds with hundreds of different investment counterparties dotted around the globe and this number increases all the time. Also, as we focus exclusively on serving trust companies and their clients, our data coverage is highly correlated with the investment managers and custodians used by the trustee community.
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It depends on the specific service we are providing, but we typically update the Connect platform with new data each calendar quarter. We do this to provide a standardised data cycle for investment governance purposes, to moderate data processing costs and keep our client fees highly competitive. We also want to strike a balance between observing the long-term nature of trustee investing with the duty to regularly monitor investments.
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Yes. For our Monitor service, we provide appropriately-permissioned Connect access to all relevant stakeholders within a trust company. For our Select service, we provide client-level access to all stakeholders in each client's family group, such as family members, lawyers, and accountants too. Access is agreed and provided by your Governance Manager for an additional level of verification in the permission process.
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We will build native integrations with all relevant target systems, which are typically the admin platforms used by trust companies. We do not charge for integrations, except for a single API maintenance fee per trust company for secure, unlimited data connectivity. If we don't have an integration, then give your provider a nudge and we'll do the rest.
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Access to Connect is free for our Monitor and Select clients - there's no additional license fee to use our tech. All of Enhance's fees are charged at the portfolio or client level for the service we are delivering, generally quarterly in arrears, and these fees include Connect access. The only platform cost that may be applicable is our API maintenance fee, which only kicks-in if you are making use of some kind of systems integration.
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Connect provides a range of interactive digital dashboards and flexible reporting options. At the portfolio level, you can access performance summaries, allocation breakdowns, benchmark comparisons and action point trackers. At the client level, dashboards consolidate multiple portfolios into a single view. At the practice level, management information aggregates your entire portfolio base. Reports are available as interactive dashboards, downloadable PDFs and CSV data extracts, and our Governance Team will help you choose the right templates for your needs.
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Once you engage Enhance for our Monitor or Select service (or both!), your Governance Manager or Investment Consultant will set up your Connect access as part of the onboarding process. This includes configuring your review templates, setting up user permissions for your team and ensuring that data feeds are established with the relevant investment counterparties. We aim to make onboarding as smooth as possible and our Governance Team is on hand throughout the process to ensure you are comfortable navigating the platform.
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Connect is a web-based platform that can be accessed through any modern browser, including on tablets and mobile devices. This means you can review your portfolio dashboards, access reports and manage action points from wherever you are. The platform has been designed with usability in mind, but is currently optimised for desktop use only. Watch this space for responsive web design updates (and maybe even a Connect app for tablet and mobile) in the future.
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Connect includes purpose-built workflow tools that help trustees to manage the investment governance process efficiently. Key tools include action point management, which tracks issues from inception to completion with a full audit trail, report downloading and distribution, data export functionality for bookkeeping and admin purposes, and management information dashboards. These workflows are designed to reduce manual effort and help your team focus on decision-making rather than data gathering.
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Not all investment managers are able to provide automated data feeds, but that does not mean we cannot monitor those portfolios. Where PDF statements are the only option, Enhance can still onboard and monitor the portfolio using the information contained in those statements. Over time, we work with the investment manager to encourage and facilitate the establishment of an automated data feed, which improves the depth and timeliness of the data available on Connect for that portfolio.
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Connect collects, transforms, and validates holdings and transactions from all your investment counterparties into a standardised, comprehensive data set that has been designed to work in any trust admin and accounting system. Think of Connect as a golden source of data to power the automated population of accounting ledgers, removing manual data entry and human error to enable your bookkeepers and accountants to focus on actual accounting.
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There's a variety of different ways that investments can be accounted for, which varies by regulator, jurisdiction and internal accounting practices at trust companies. Connect's data schema has been designed to cover all bases, so it can be used to power full double-entry investment accounting. We know this because we designed it referencing the data structure required by trust admin and accounting systems with input from qualified trust investment accountants.
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You have two options. Within Connect, we provide a transactions table for each portfolio and a free Excel extract that can be uploaded into your accounting system. Alternatively, if you make use of one of our core or bespoke integrations, the Connect API will transfer relevant data into your target system automatically. There is a single, modest API maintenance fee associated with systems integrations to cover the cost of secure data transfer.
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No, unfortunately, not all investment counterparties are willing or able to build holdings and transactions-level data feeds with Connect. Enhance will build a data feed with any counterparty and does not charge to do so, but we require the investment managers or custodians to play ball. Where they don't, we can still provide headline portfolio monitoring but will flag that bookkeeping data isn't available, as this may be a factor in your future investment counterparty selection process.
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Enhance will build a data feed, free of charge, with any investment counterparty. We are constantly building data feeds, and the willingness and ability of the international investment community to play ball is on the rise. Where we don't have a data feed in place already (and can't build one straight away), we can still monitor the portfolio from the get-go using PDF statements. As soon as your counterparty can build a data feed, we will upgrade your portfolio onto the feed.
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Absolutely not, Connect data is there to superpower bookkeepers and accountants! We believe that all investment accounts should be prepared and reviewed by experienced and qualified professionals. Connect standardises investment counterparty data and applies validation checks and balances, but ultimately relies on the accuracy of each custodian's primary investment record. A sense check by qualified professionals is therefore a must, not optional.
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We don't! Wherever we can collect holdings and transaction-level data from an investment counterparty we make this available to you for free on our Connect platform. This is your data and you shouldn't be made to pay twice for it. The only cost that may be applicable is the Connect API maintenance fee where we securely transfer data to a target system through a core or bespoke integration.
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Connect's bookkeeping data covers the full range of investment transactions you would expect to see in a portfolio, including purchases, sales, dividends, interest, corporate actions, fees and cash movements. Each transaction is mapped to a universal, double-entry bookkeeping standard with a broad range of data points to ensure that your accounting ledgers can be populated accurately and comprehensively, regardless of the admin or accounting system you use.
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Bookkeeping data availability depends on the frequency at which the investment counterparty provides data to Connect. Typically, holdings and transactions data are updated quarterly in line with our standard data cycle for investment governance purposes. However, some investment counterparties provide more frequent data feeds, in which case updated bookkeeping data may be available more regularly. Your Governance Manager can advise on the specific data cycle for each of your portfolios, with the default being calendar quarterly.
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Yes, Connect handles portfolios denominated in any currency and the bookkeeping data retains both the local currency of each transaction and the base currency equivalent. This means your accounting team has the data they need to properly account for foreign exchange gains and losses, currency conversions and multi-currency holdings without having to source or calculate this information separately. Check out our Connect page.
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Connect receives data directly from investment counterparties and independently verifies and standardises holdings and transactions before making the data available. This includes reconciling holdings against valuations, checking for missing or duplicate transactions, and mapping all data to our universal bookkeeping schema. This validation process helps eliminate errors that commonly arise when investment data is manually extracted and entered into accounting systems.
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The standard bookkeeping data extract from Connect is designed to work in any admin and accounting system using a universal, transaction-level, double-entry format. If you require a customised data format, our API enables bespoke integrations that can map Connect data to the specific requirements of your target system. Our Implementation Partners can also assist with building custom integrations where a core integration does not already exist. See the Connect Integrations page for more details. Check out our Integrations page.
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Enhance's philosophy is that all data associated with the service we are providing to you is yours and can be made available via Connect's API for use in an integration. Unlike other service providers, there's no hidden pay walls to access different data sets - as long as we are legally able to share the data we hold with you, we will make it available. We want you to integrate with Connect and maximise the value of our services.
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Yes, we are always exploring integration opportunities with service providers and systems that our trust company clients use. Depending on the provider, it may or may not be possible to build a core integration, but we have several Implementation Partners that are technical consultants who know how to work with Connect's API and build a custom integration for you.
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Integrations are delivered via the Connect API, utilising token-based access with controlled key provisioning (sandbox for testing and production for live use). This enables secure, programmatic data exchange with third-party platforms. We build central investment data feeds into Connect that are maintained for the benefit of all trust company clients, and do not charge for this aspect of our service. Security is enforced end-to-end through token management and platform-level controls.
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Have a chat with us and explore what's possible. If we can't build a core integration for whatever reason, our Implementation Partners will step-in and work with you to understand the system(s) you're using and your integration requirements. These partners are independent of Enhance and we do not take referrals fees for the introduction to you. They are just clever people we know and trust with demonstrable technical capabilities and a track record of delivering for trust companies.
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Connect provides a resource-oriented API with first-class relationships, allowing data to be modelled and navigated in a way that reflects real-world connections between portfolios, investment managers, reviews, and transactions. The API follows the JSON:API specification, ensuring a consistent structure, predictable relationships, and support for features such as compound documents and relationship traversal. The API is fully documented using the OpenAPI specification, making it easy to explore endpoints and integrate with.
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The API is a tool for Developers. Resources include comprehensive documentation, example requests, and an interactive API playground. You can also import our OpenAPI definition into tools such as Postman or other compatible API clients to get started quickly. Access is secured via token-based authentication, and a sandbox environment is available for testing before moving to production.
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We don't. Just like investment counterparties and our willingness to build data feeds, we will build core integrations with relevant target trust admin and accounting systems for free. The only caveat is that it may only be possible to integrate with certain versions of target systems or these service providers put in place a pay wall that may not be economically viable for trust companies to absorb. Cue our Implementation Partners to help you with bespoke integrations.
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Connect is building ecosystem partnerships with leading admin and accounting systems used by the trustee community, including PlainSail, Quantios, Vega Technology, CoreFocusX and Optifi. We are constantly expanding our integration network and if your system is not currently on the list, we are happy to explore the opportunity. Our Implementation Partners can also build custom integrations where a core integration is not yet available.
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The timeline depends on the type of integration. Core integrations with our existing ecosystem partners can typically be configured and activated within a few weeks. Bespoke integrations built via the Connect API may take longer depending on the complexity of the target system and the scope of data required. Our team or our Implementation Partners will provide a realistic timeline during the scoping process so that there are no surprises.
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Connect's API provides access to a broad spectrum of data points associated with the service we deliver, including portfolio properties, holdings valuations, itemised transactions mapped to our bookkeeping standard, review reports in PDF form, action points and portfolio reference data. Our philosophy is that all data associated with the service we are providing to you is yours and can be made available via the API - there are no hidden paywalls to access different data sets.
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Implementation Partners are independent technical consultants who know how to work with Connect's API and can build custom integrations for trustee clients. They step in when a core integration with your target system does not already exist or when you require a bespoke data mapping that goes beyond the standard integration. Enhance does not take referral fees for introducing you to these partners - they are simply experienced professionals we know and trust with demonstrable technical capabilities.
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Both options are available. Depending on the integration type, data can be pushed automatically from Connect to your target system on a scheduled basis, or your system can pull data from the Connect API on demand. Core integrations with our ecosystem partners typically operate on a push basis following each quarterly data cycle, whilst bespoke API integrations can be configured to suit your preferred approach. Your Governance Manager or Implementation Partner can advise on the best setup for your needs.
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