Fund administration onboarding and transition timelines: what each provider publishes

The table

All eighteen rows were read on October 30, 2026. "Not stated" means the provider's site showed no figure on the check date.

The report

Two charts, both drawn from the eighteen rows above and nothing else.

What the three numbers mean

The three published timelines measure different things. Comparing them side by side would be misleading.

Carta publishes six weeks from fund formation through the first close and first capital call, for a GP launching on Carta's platform for the first time. The fund administration page says Carta offers "committed onboarding timelines" but does not state a separate number for transitions. The six-week figure covers formation, not a mid-life switch.

Opus Fund Services states that managers can be operating on its platform within 30 days. It does not distinguish new-fund onboarding from a transition, and it does not publish a separate transition figure. The claim appears on its main page alongside a note that its platform supports multi-billion funds and over 100,000 investors.

NAV Fund Services publishes a 2-to-4-month transition for funds switching from another administrator. About 40% of its clients are takeovers. Its NAV Trial programme lets a fund run parallel accounting before committing, and once the fund decides to switch, NAV states it can go live in one business day. The trial period itself has no stated duration.

For the fifteen providers that publish nothing, the practical move is to ask each one to commit to a go-live date in the engagement letter. A statement that the team "will work together on timing" leaves you without a fallback if the transition stretches past quarter end.

Method

We read each provider's main site, product pages and any dedicated onboarding, transition or trial pages on October 30, 2026, and recorded the timeline verbatim. Where a provider publishes a range, both ends are recorded. Where nothing is published, the cell says Not stated. We did not call providers, infer from case studies, or estimate from other engagements.