From the Capita Financial Software website (www.capitafinancialsoftware.co.uk) you will see some links to product logins available on the right hand side of the home page. Select 'Synaptic Research' from the list of options.

Fig 1 – Capita Financial Software website home page

You will then be presented with the Synaptic Research login screen. Enter your user name and password as normal. If you are not currently a user of Synaptic Research and would like a trial license, please contact 01279 756060 for further information.

Fig 2 – Synaptic Research login screen

You will now be on the home page of Synaptic Research, which defaults to the software newsletter including details of our latest company news, industry news, recent product additions and deletions on the software, plus other helpful information such as how to contact us.

Fig 3 – home page of Synaptic Research

By selecting the 'guides' tab it is also possible to instantly link through to a series of guides, spanning a variety of topics including structured products, bonds, discretionary fund management, personal pensions, SIPPs, etc. These guides include valuable technical information and expert commentary on the topics in question.

Fig 4 – Synaptic guides screen shot

A further useful point of reference within the Synaptic Research tool is the resource centre. This can be found as an option along the blue bar towards the top right of the home page. (Note: it's not possible to access the resource centre whilst conducting a specific piece of research on a product.)

Fig 5 – Extract showing the resource centre option in the blue bar

The resource centre hosts a wealth of useful documentation and website links designed to support your research activities. There is a menu of options on the left hand side of the screen. One of the options just over half way down the list is called 'trust documentation'.

Fig 6 – Resource centre menu

Just next to this there is a +. Click on this to expand the sub options available. You will now see a sub list of providers. Some of those providers also have a + alongside their name which you can use to expand the list again for that given provider. This gives you access to a variety of up to date trust documentation as available from those providers. The volume and the titles of the documents will differ as they are the specific trusts that you would receive if you were to ask the providers for them directly. However, by using the resource centre, you can simply obtain the trusts from a variety of providers all in one place.

Fig 7 – Expanding product provider menu (one with lots of trust docs – Friends Prov)

There are no restrictions to the volume of or types of trust available, so you will be able to see documents for absolute trusts, discretionary trusts, bare trusts, flexible trusts and more, as offered by the providers. Where supplied there is also additional supporting brochure ware, such as guides to assist in determining which type of trusts are suitable.

Select the document you want to view by clicking on it. You will be able to view the document within the right hand pane of Synaptic Research.

Fig 8 – Document selected for viewing. Royal London 360 (Which Trust)

There are options available to you to make viewing the full document easier:

• Full screen button – allows you to hide the menu bar and let the document take up the whole screen (once there, the split screen button will take you back).
• New window button – as it suggests this allows you to open the document in a new window.

Plus there are usual toolbar facilities to print, save, view next or previous pages, magnify/zoom, etc.

Alternatively, there are links that will instantly take you to the relevant sections of the provider's own site where the documents are available from.

Fig 9 – Image of a link for Standard Life from menu on left

Fig 10 – Image including Standard Life link having been selected

Once you have viewed and obtained the necessary trust documentation, you can exit the resource centre by going back to the home page (click on the Capita Financial Software logo).