--- title: "Automating the Quarterly Roll Forward | By The People Tech" description: "How a private equity fund finance team in New York built its own quarterly roll forward on Claude, and now reviews what moved in hours, not days." url: https://bythepeople.tech/case-studies/quarterly-roll-forward-private-equity --- [Case studies](/case-studies) Quarterly roll forward Case study · Fund finance # The quarterly roll forward, reviewed in _hours_. At a private equity firm in New York, the fund finance team now reviews and explains what moved in its quarterly performance file in hours, not days. The team’s own analyst built the roll and the tie-out on Claude during our AI adoption retainer, from a written account of how the file was really produced. The first run was checked against the file the team had made by hand, and it matched. By [Fatjon (Tony) Kalemaj](/about-us/tony-kalemaj), COO & Head of Applied AI · Published 22 October 2026 1. Reviewing what moved each quarter Before: Days After: Hours The team’s own account of its quarter once the roll was in place, set against the quarters it rebuilt the file by hand. 2. The first run Matched the file made by hand The roll was run on a quarter already closed by hand, and its output compared with that file. Client A private equity firm in New York Desk Fund finance Engagement [AI Adoption Retainer](/retainer) Built by The fund finance team’s own analyst, with our skills and coaching The problem ## Why was the quarterly performance file rebuilt _by hand_? Every quarter the performance file was rebuilt by hand: the same schedules, the new quarter’s figures, and a tie-out to the prior quarter that had to be right before anything left the building. In the team’s own account, the figures were cut and spliced by hand out of two separate reports, then every line was checked against the quarter before. The judgment in the file, explaining what had moved and why, could only start once that assembly was finished. The build ## Who _built_ the roll forward? The analyst who owns the file built it. The work started in a workshop, where the team brought the file itself rather than a sample, and carried on under the [AI adoption retainer](/retainer), whose workflow design is for the processes where AI earns its place, and only those. Our part was the means to write the process down and then to build it, and time with the team while they did. ### 1. Write down the process Claude interviewed the analyst about how the file is really produced, which is rarely how it is written down, and the answers became a written specification. ### 2. Give it the skills We supplied a package of Claude skills for the spreadsheet work, and coached the analyst through using them. ### 3. Build the roll and tie-out The analyst built the roll and the tie-out to the prior quarter in Claude, against that specification. ### 4. The team reviews The team checks what moved and explains it. The file is theirs to run and change. The results ## How was the result _checked_? Before the team relied on it, the roll was run on a quarter they had already closed by hand, and its output was compared with the file they had made. The two matched. The figure we can state is the team’s own: they review and explain what moved in hours, not days. The client measured the time saved per file more precisely than that, and we will print the number once they agree to it. **The quarterly performance file, before and after the roll forward** | | Rebuilt by hand | With the roll forward | | -------------------------------- | ---------------------------------------- | --------------------------------------------- | | How the figures arrive | Cut and spliced by hand from two reports | Carried forward by the roll the analyst built | | The tie-out to the prior quarter | Checked line by line by hand | Built into the roll, then reviewed | | Where the team’s time goes | Preparing the file | Reviewing and explaining what moved | | Reviewing what moved | Days | Hours | What changed ## What does the fund finance team do _differently_ now? Their part of the quarter has moved from preparing the file to reviewing it. The roll carries the schedules forward and ties them out; the team spends its time on the lines that moved and on explaining them. A model does not mark positions. A valuation is a signed judgment, and it stays with the person who signs it. What changed is the assembly in front of that judgment. Because the analyst built it, nothing about the quarter depends on us. ## Questions on the quarterly roll forward ### Did a model mark any positions? No. A valuation is a signed judgment and it stays with the person who signs it. The roll forward assembles the schedules and ties them to the prior quarter; the team reviews the result and explains what moved. ### Did this need a forward deployed engineer? No. The fund finance team’s own analyst built it during the AI adoption retainer, with a written specification, a package of Claude skills and our coaching. A [forward deployed engineer](/forward-deployed-engineer) is embedded when a firm wants an engineer at the desk for one process with real volume. ### How was the roll forward checked before the team relied on it? It was run on a quarter the team had already closed by hand, and its output was compared with the file they had made. The two matched. ## Sources * By The People Technologies, the fund finance engagement under the AI adoption retainer: the team’s first-quarter check and its own account of the review (2026). ## Read next * [The AI adoption retainer](/retainer). The month-to-month engagement this build came out of: practice across the firm, and workflow design where AI earns its place. * [AI for private equity firms in New York](/industries/private-equity). The workflows we work on inside a private equity firm, from the CIM to the LP report. * [Case studies](/case-studies). Every engagement we have written up, each with its figures and how they were measured. ## Rebuild a file every quarter? Tell us which one and who owns it. We will tell you whether it is a process your own people can build, and how we would help them. 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