Introduction

The management of people and systems is a key function of the managers and supervisors. The objectives for successful management are broadly driven by consideration in respect of:

• Risk management

• Efficiency

• Cost effectiveness

• Competitive advantage

• Developing and implementing procedures

• Control

• Compliance with regulation and controls

• Business development

• Continuity and development of staff

• Provision of client services

• Record keeping

As a result the demands on managers and supervisors are considerable. Today the role has been expanded and as well as operational issues such as processes and procedures, we now have skills requirements in the client-facing and risk-management areas. We can also add to this an involvement in profit generation and protection so that preventing unnecessary errors and costs becomes a key driver.

With such a change in the role and a situation where significant change is also occurring in the industry in all sorts of ways, the manager s role in ensuring that systems are capable of handling the current and future business and that the team is being trained and retrained to meet the new environment, is, to say the least, demanding. This chapter looks at these functions and roles.

Managing systems

Systems are crucial to derivative operations. The effectiveness of systems depends on both the suitability of the system for the business being undertaken and the capability of managers and supervisors to utilize the system. It is also essential that the systems are recognized as key risk components being vulnerable to both failure and security risk.

The interaction between...