New to Zephyr OnDEMAND? The Analytics Center.

This blog post is the final post of three dedicated to helping new users of Zephyr OnDEMAND (ZOD) get started with using the platform. The first blog, “New to Zephyr OnDEMAND? Learn how to Generate Reports”, discusses the steps for generating your compliance approved reports on ZOD. The second blog, “New to Zephyr OnDEMAND? Learn how to Create Blends”, discusses the steps for creating blends and using those blends in reports on ZOD. This post will go over how to use the Analytics Center.

ZOD is Informa Zephyr’s current online product. This innovative, web-based reporting tool allows asset managers or advisory firms to fully empower their sales and marketing representatives by giving them the ability to quickly and easily generate compliance-approved Zephyr reports from any location where they have an internet connection.

The Analytics Center

The first step to doing anything on ZOD is logging into your site. This is done by browsing to www.zephyrondemand.com and entering your e-mail and password. After logging in, you will notice that ZOD is designed in a tabular format. One of these tabs is the “Analytics Center” tab and can be accessed by simply clicking on the tab.

The Zephyr Analytics Center’s interactive tables and graphs in ZOD allow users to obtain a deeper analytical understanding of their fund(s) or competitors fund(s) in real time. In the Analytics Center you can change parameters, access multiple charts, as well as various MPT statistics. There are also options for peer analysis and comparing two managers at the same time. The Zephyr Analytics Center API is also available for purchase to embed on an intranet or internet site or proposal system.

After clicking the “Analytics Center” tab you will be asked to either search for the product you would like to run in the Analytics Center, or select a product from the prepopulated list of site products. To search for a product, you simply click inside of the search bar and type the name or ticker of the product you would like to analyze. If the product you would like to use is already available in the prepopulated list below the search bar, just click on the name of the product to select it.

Once you have selected a product, your screen will change to display Products & Benchmarks, Parameters and Product Information on the left. A grouping of sub tabs at the top will, allow you to toggle between the four sections of the Analytics Center. All of the graphs and tables will display the product you selected on the previous screen alongside the S&P 500 default index, unless a benchmark has been assigned to the product by your compliance team, at which time that benchmark will appear alongside the product.

At this point, you can begin to adjust any of the settings on the left or toggle between the different tabs located at the top. Let’s first look at the different options available on the left-hand side of the screen. In the first section, “Products & Benchmarks”, you have an option to show a style benchmark and/or search for an additional product to add to your analysis. To add the style benchmark, simply click the box next to “Style Benchmark.” All of the graphs and tables will refresh showing the newly added Style Benchmark.

Just below the Style Benchmark option is where you can search to add an additional product to the Analytics Center to run a side by side analysis with the first product you selected. Simply click inside of the search bar and search for the comparison product by name or ticker. Once you have located the product in the search results, select it by clicking on the name. Currently, the maximum number of products to compare at once in the Analytics Center is two. The Analytics Center will again refresh and display the comparison product you have selected on all graphs and tables. 

The next section on the left labeled “Parameters”, allows you to select a parameter set and/or change the time period of the analysis. A parameter set is a combination of a benchmark and peer group. Based on the parameter sets your compliance team allows, you can select one by clicking on the dropdown menu and selecting one from the list. After selecting a parameter set the screen will again refresh to display the benchmark and peer group associated with that parameter set on all appropriate graphs and tables.

After selecting a parameter set, you can now adjust the period of your analysis under “Period Selection”. Here you have a few options for setting a time period. One option is to select from a row of period buttons. The preset buttons consist of a 1 year, 3 year, 5 year, 7 year, 10 year and Max period. To select one, simply click on the button of the desired period.

The other options to select an analysis period are to click and drag the edges of the orange period selection bar directly above the period buttons. The left or right hand edges can be dragged to increase or decrease the period selection. Using this same period bar, you can hover your mouse cursor over top of the bar and then click and drag to move the selected period size to another point in the full-length history of the selected product.

The final section on the left-hand side of the screen is “Product Information”. Nothing can be adjusted in this section. Here you will see additional information on your primary selected product. Information such as name, begin date, end date, category and so on depending on the type of product you have selected.

Now that all of your settings have been adjusted and set on the left-hand side of the screen, the final thing to do is toggle between the grouping of sub tabs at the top. The four tabs are “Returns”, “Peer Comparison”, “Risk & MPT” and “Style”. Each of these tabs displays a few graphs, tables and statistics related to the tab they are on. On the different tabs, you will notice that multiple graphs and statistics have a [?] icon. At any point, you can click on this icon to get a short definition of what that graph is showing you or to read a statistics definition.

Returns Tab

On the Returns tab, you will find cumulative performance, cumulative excess performance, annualized returns and calendar year returns. Both annualized returns and calendar year returns have corresponding tables to go along with the graphs.

Peer Comparison

The Peer Comparison tab displays a Manager vs Universe graph and table. You can select from a dropdown menu of statistics to customize what statistic is displayed on the graph and table. 

Risk & MPT

The “Risk & MPT” tab is where you will find Risk Return, Drawdown and Value at Risk graphs, each of which can be adjusted to show different statistics.