Participating Organizations

Bear Stearns, Deutsche Bank, Dow Jones, eSignal, Fidelity Investments, FISD, Interactive Data Corporation, Liberty Funds, Morgan Stanley, Nasdaq Stock Market, Reuters

MDDL 1.0 Draft Modifications

The draft version of MDDL has been released and is posted on the MDDL web site. The following changes have been made to the specification.

Glossary

• Default URI has been defined
• MDDL file format has been defined
• Controlled vocabulary files have been cleaned and resolved with XSD
• Controlled vocabulary references for "language," "currency" and "country" have been converted to ISO standard

Resources

• MDDL presentation to IPTC has been added
• The domain spreadsheet has been updated and posted
• The controlled vocabulary spreadsheet has been updated and posted

MDDL Version 1.0-Beta

• DTD is now valid in spy
• The term previousClose has been added to the glossary
• The term value has been renamed valuation
• The term delayed has been added to the controlled vocabulary and the term delayFactor has been added to exchangeConditions
• The term fraction has been added as a holder for multiplier information
• The term period has been reworked to mean duration (and duration can be a recurring period)

Market Identification/Ticker Symbol

• MDDL will use the updated ISO Market Identification Code (MIC) to identify market.
• SWIFT is the registration authority for MIC.

Instance Documents

One composite instance document was created for validation and completeness review. The instance document is posted on the MDDL web site. The working group would like to see more examples that simulate real usage. The more specific and varied the instance documents, the higher the level of confidence that MDDL will work as intended for a wide range of users.

MDDL Glossary

Definitions on the MDDL glossary MUST be completed prior to launch. In addition, the working group does not believe the existing definitions have received sufficient industry review. Members are specifically asked to evaluate the glossary terms and definitions and to provide feedback to James Hartley or Michael Atkin at your earliest convenience.

The Working Group agreed to add "non-product related" definitions to the glossary.

James Hartley is currently working on stylesheets for the glossary and expects to have them posted shortly.

Documentation

The following will be created prior to MDDL launch on November 1:

• MDDL Implementation Overview (managers guide) -- including the business case for the specification
• Full functional specification showing details on how to use MDDL elements
• Online reference guide
• MDDL default schemes that will need to be developed/implemented into the schema A visual expression (diagram) outlining the scope of.

Update Methodology

MDDL will require a formal update methodology after its release at the WFIC. The Working Group identified two types of inquiries to be expected from the membership. The first consists of general inquiries such as those related to implementation of MDDL. The second includes change requests where MDDL is found lacking. Change requests could include changes to definitions, adjustments to fields, bugs in the specification and proposed changes to the structure of MDDL.

MDDL version changes will be identified according to the following:

1.0(x) = minor fixes to the specification
1.(x) = new target features and any change that impacts backwards compatibility

FISD will implement a change request mechanism on the web site consisting of a public bulletin board and e-mail. The mechanism must capture (1) contact information (2) proposed change/fix and (3) business justification for the adjustment. A MDDL Review Committee has been established consisting of:

• Michael Atkin (FISD Staff)
• Mike Benveniste (Fidelity)
• Tony Coates (Reuters)
• James Hartley (Reuters)
• Rich Robinson (Deutsche Bank)
• Kevin Roche (MDDL Consultant)

Definition of Market Data

There have been a few discussions related to the definition of market data within MDDL. The Working Group reinforced the decisions of the MDDL Steering Committee -- MDDL is an XML-based interchange format and common data dictionary on the fields needed to describe 1) financial instruments, 2) corporate events affecting value and tradability and 3) market-related, economic and industrial indicators.

During the discussion the scope of MDDL was characterized as … "any data used to analyze, account or trade within a market." Another way of looking at the objective is to recognize that the goal of MDDL is data element transparency. As such, MDDL must be able to uniquely identify all data elements distributed by vendor and information provider feeds.

The only open question is to determine the priority of the data products and constructs to be addressed within MDDL.

What's Next?

The Working Group has asked FISD to survey members and other interested parties on product and construct prioritization. During the discussion, the options were organized as follows:

• Completion of Asset Classes (Instruments) -- any of which could be:
   
  • Organized by depth (i.e. completion of all equities and collective investment vehicles)
  • Organized by scope (i.e. the most important product areas such as fixed income or derivatives from an applications perspective)
  • Organized by global impact (i.e. the most important global products to ensure that MDDL is recognized as a global standard)

• Security Master File and Corporate Action data -- which was identified as one of the most important areas for straight through processing. Descriptive/reference data is essential for automation and an area where MDDL could bring immediate value to the industry.
   
• Standard Request/Response Mechanism -- which was identified as one of the original constructs, but tabled until after MDDL Version 1.0.