From Idea to Release

For the SS&C Black Diamond^® Wealth Platform team, building, delivering, and supporting high-quality software is a collaborative effort. Our focus is on providing a reliable, secure, and continuously evolving platform to meet the needs of our clients and the investors they serve.

Every enhancement, update, or innovation we bring to life follows four key stages: Discovery, Execution, Release, and Infrastructure Monitoring. These steps ensure that what we deliver is valuable, reliable, and aligned with our clients' evolving needs.

Here is our four-step approach to turn ideas into impact, from discovery through deployment and beyond.

1. Discovery
Every feature begins with a need, and ideas come from everywhere: advisory firms, QA engineers, UX designers, client experience teammates (the real power users!), and front-line sales and consulting professionals.

We centralize this feedback in Great Ideas, our transparent feature request system. Clients can submit, vote, and track ideas, giving product, consulting, and sales teams a clear view of what matters most.

Before any feature is approved for development, we validate the concept through direct user conversations, prototypes, and controlled experiments. Our goal is always to ensure that what we build delivers real value.

2. Execution
Once development begins, our cross-functional teams align around shared goals. Product managers define scope and priorities. Engineers and QA specialists collaborate from day one, working in six-week sprints focused on measurable outcomes.

As engineers develop the code, QA teams create test cases and partner with our QA automation team to implement daily regression testing across all environments. This level of testing ensures potential issues are identified and resolved early. When a new feature creates conflicts, teams respond quickly and collaboratively. Accountability, transparency, and quality are baked into the process, and this mindset guides every stage of development.

3. Release
Every six-week release cycle follows a structured progression:
• QA completes validation
• Product Management approves
• The feature is promoted to a pre-production environment for final review

Once an enhancement is scheduled, automated workflows initiate additional testing. Internal teams receive detailed release notes, and our client experience team prepares enablement resources—training, webinars, and documentation—to ensure a smooth transition.

Depending on the release, we may:
• Deploy updates to a select group of SMEs or beta clients
• Leverage feature flags for phased rollouts
• Monitor usage and impact through detailed telemetry

If necessary, we can pause or reverse a release with minimal disruption. Final signoff always includes one last round of validation.

4. Monitoring
Our commitment to excellence extends beyond deployment. Product and client experience teams actively monitor platform performance and client feedback. When issues arise, they’re prioritized and addressed with the same rigor as new feature development.

The Black Diamond platform is powered by enterprise-grade infrastructure hosted in SS&C-operated data centers. We maintain full visibility across system health, database activity, and user experience metrics, proactively detecting issues and driving continuous optimization. Our architecture is designed for resilience, scalability, and peak performance so our clients can operate with confidence.

Firms don’t have time for guesswork. They need a platform that delivers predictability, security, and room to grow.  That’s why every feature we release is backed by a repeatable, transparent process. The Black Diamond team remains focused on delivering value at every step, from idea to release and beyond.

To learn how the SS&C Black Diamond Wealth Platform can support your advisory firm, request a personal demo, call 1-800-727-0605, or email info@advent.com.