MDDL
Technology/Vocabulary Working Meeting
Report
August 20, 2001, Reuters, Three Times Square, New York City
Participating
Organizations
Bang Networks, Bank of New York, Bridge Information, Dow Jones/WSJ,
Fidelity Investments, FISD, FT Interactive Data, Merrill Lynch,
Morgan Stanley, Reuters, Telekurs Financial, Thomson Corporation,
Usonia Holdings
Meeting Objectives
The purposes of the meeting were:
-
Define the requirements for release of MDDL version 1.0 (both beta
and final) to determine what's needed and what's missing.
-
Define the review process for technical structure and vocabulary
completeness between release of beta and release of final.
-
Set the work schedule and requirements prior to final release at the
World Conference.
Requirements for 1.0
Release 1.0 will include the MDDL specification for common equities,
mutual funds and indices only. The rest of the specification (i.e.
completion of instrument classes -- i.e. ADR, shares, partnerships,
preferred, annuity, trusts, debt instruments, contracts, units;
completion of indicators -- i.e. financial, exchange statistics,
ratings, economic, industrial; and completion of corporate events)
will be addressed following release 1.0.
The following must be completed prior to release:
-
Product hierarchy/data relationship structure
-
MDDL schema/DTD
-
Controlled vocabulary Lists
-
MDDL data dictionary/glossary -- with agreed definitions
-
Examples/instance documents -- to demonstrate the viability of MDDL
per its proposed applications
-
White paper/documentation -- outlining the business reasoning for
MDDL, the costs of conversion (i.e. scaling, size and performance)
and ability to use MDDL to normalize multiple vendor files.
-
Approach/mechanism for managing changes -- including the rules of
modification, the review process for approving changes and the
communication mechanism for managing decisions.
Technical Issues
The following technical issues were addressed and resolved during the
meeting:
-
Definition of the four major data types within MDDL ("mdboolean"; "mddatetime";
"mddecimal"; and "mdstring") -- data types can be extended as
appropriate.
-
The number representation approach for fractions and repeating
decimals.
-
The approach for maintaining both the integrity of the data and the
requirements for display (i.e. MDDL must be able to specify the
minimum display format for maintenance of data integrity).
-
The approach for dealing with unique security identification.
The recommended adjustments are now being incorporated into the MDDL
draft.
Instance Documents -- ACTION REQUIRED
MDDL participants are being asked to prepare instance documents (i.e.
actual MDDL documents that contain market data). The instance
documents should be as complex as necessary to suit the individual
requirements for market data. Our objective is to ensure that the
current MDDL specification meets the business requirements of the
users and to identify what (if anything) is missing from the
specification.
Members are encouraged to use the existing HTML samples as guidelines
to create the instance documents. The HTML samples can be accessed via
the MDDL web site:
http://www.fisd.net/mddl/bridge.html
A meeting has been scheduled for OCTOBER 1 at Bridge (NYC) to
review the instance documents. Vendors and middleware companies
need to ensure that the MDDL specification is viable from a
development, processing and distribution standpoint. User firms need
to ensure that the specification is viable from an applications
standpoint. The purpose of the October 1 meeting is to determine which
implementation approaches work best as guidelines for full roll out.
Controlled Vocabulary Lists
MDDL is planning on referencing a number of external lists as part of
the specification. Those "controlled vocabulary" lists needs to be
identified to determine (1) whether they currently exist (2), whether
they need to be created/maintained by MDDL or (3) whether they will
exist as URI references.
MDDL Data Dictionary
MDDL contains unique financial terms with their definitions as
included in the MDDL specification. The definitions for each of the
terms can be provided in multiple languages. The glossary will also
include a reference to the type of the data included in the property
for proper validation of the content in that field.
A logical sequence of the existing glossary will be created shortly to
assist with evaluation. Richard Robinson has agreed to be the
repository for glossary changes. The current glossary is posted on the
web:
http://www.fisd.net/mddl/bridge.html
MDDL Schedule
November 1 MDDL Version 1.0 Release (World Financial
Information Conference)
October 3 Publication of draft version of 1.0.
October 1 Instance document and MDDL White Paper review.
James Hartley is
the coordinator for the instance documents.
John Bottega is
the coordinator for the development of the white paper.
September 21 MDDL data dictionary/glossary due. Glossary review
process by MDDL membership needs to be complete by September 14. Rich
Robinson is the coordinator for the development/adjustment of the
Glossary
FISD will be coordinating working meetings to refine the price types
within MDDL. This is a critical process to define the vocabulary at
the appropriate level of granularity to meet the application
requirements. Michael Atkin
is the coordinator for the pricing discussion
