Meeting Time: 10 December 2003, 1:30 p.m. - 4:00 p.m.
Location: Merrill Lynch, 250 Vesey Street, New York City

Held in conjunction with the Reference Data Working Group, this meeting will have an update on developments affecting both MDDL and reference data including enhancements to the MDDL specification (query, service and message), demonstration on XML streaming compression, presentation on the new MDDL Developer Toolkit, status of MDDL activities relating to corporate actions and other initiatives related to the enhancement of MDDL. In addition, we’ll provide an overview of reference data activities including the latest on unique instrument identification, business entity and legal hierarchy identification (ISO Working Group 8) and the relationship between MDDL, 15022 and efforts to standardize market data vocabulary (ISO WG 11).

The purpose of the meeting was to assess the current status and direction of MDDL and define the next steps required to enhance the specification. The general assessment is that MDDL has transitioned from a "concept" or "idea" into the "early adoption" phase. As MDDL becomes more pervasive, the requirements of the standard (and the supporting organization!) need to change to accommodate the broader audience and wider scope of capability. Activities that are taking place now will determine how successful we are in moving into the "late majority" phoase of adoption. Mike Atkin and James Hartley provided presentations that guided the conversation some - see the FISD General presentation here (specifically slides 20-30) and the MDDL Status presentation here

A core component of our plans to promote widespread adoption is the effort to integrate MDDL vocabulary into the ISO 15022 data field dictionary. The discussion also reinforced the requirements for MDDL documentation and examples in concert with MDDL implementations. Specifically:

• FISD/MDDL has become a direct liaison to TC68/SC4 and is participating in Working Group 11 which is charged with defining a financial industry data model and adding missing data elements to the ISO 15022 data field dictionary. It is critical that members pay close attention to the vocabulary incorporation and WG11 development process.
• Basic documentation and examples are needed to help interested parties understand the "MDDL philosophy and business case". The documentation requirement has become a high priority.
• Enhancements to the specification are underway:
  • A white paper on MDDLquery is expected shortly.
  • A draft of fisdMessage protocol has been posted and needs to be reviewed.
  • A white paper outlining the approach for corporate actions is being developed and should be ready for initial evaluation in January.
  • MDDL staff are in the process of adding data elements and enhancing the specification for derivative pricing and debt duration.
  • The next major focus of MDDL content will be risk analysis and portfolio support.

ISO's Technical Committee 68, Sub Committee 4 (ISO TC68/SC4) determined that ISO 15022 XML Edition (the 2nd generation of ISO 15022) should be extended with additional content. The committee formed Working Group 11 to incorporate Financial Instrument Attributes (reference data) and Corporate Actions into the new repository. The Corporate Actions activity can be viewed as a re-engineering and refinement effort based on the current ISO 15022 specification. The Financial Instrument Attributes initiative encompass a new class of data for the repository. Working Group 11 is constituted by representatives from the Registration Authority (SWIFT), DTCC, State Street, ISITC, UBS, Merrill Lynch, RBC, Crest, UK national standards committee, Australian national standards committee, FT/IDC, Citigroup, and Wertpapier-Mitteilungen representing member countries United Kingdom, Australia, Kenya, South Africa, Switzerland, Germany, Belgium, Canada, and United States of America. See the ISO 15022 XML Website for more details about the standard.

It is our intent that MDDL and ISO 15022 become synonymous for the common content needed to define all data elements used throughout the financial information transaction cycle. As the definition of the data elements in the repository is refined, MDDL will be adjusted to become directly compatible with the new specification. Note that the ISO 15022 charter does not include pricing and some other data that MDDL conveys - we will address that as the WG 11 activity matures. However, the reference data aspects of the ISO 15022 WG 11 charter are VERY consistent with MDDL requirements and the FISD strategy on reference data (see http://www.fisd.net/referencedata/).

The incorporation of MDDL into ISO 15022 (and vice-versa) requires the commitment of our members to review the MDDL content now and as WG 11 progresses. FISD staff will participate in the ISO process and will have review and strategy meetings with MDDL members. By proactively reviewing MDDL, we will have the opportunity to facilitate and streamline the ISO process by presenting a consensus view.

MDDL has made great progress in expanding its content model to incorporate more areas of interest within the market data industry. The derivative specifications (discussed in the MDDL presentation above) are being developed to complement MDDL and provide it with the framework necessary to move to full scale implementation - the suite of MDDL specifications thus provides a complete story for market data:

• mddl - Defines market data content from provider to consumer
• mddlQuery - Permits consumer to ask for market data of interest. A white paper will be circulated soon outlining the plan of action for this specification.
• mddlService - Is a web service for exchanging mddlQuery and mddl documents. A rough draft of the specification should be posted in January. mddlService is most appropriate for "static", "reference data", or "end of day" applications that work using a "request and response" method on an infrequent basis.
• fisdMessage - Allows efficient realtime distribution of quotes and trade reports. The rough draft of the 1.0-beta specification HAS BEEN POSTED! The fisdMessage protocol is the companion "realtime" specification to support the relatively "static" capabilities inherent in mddlService.

In particular, fisdMessage (for realtime streaming of MDDL updates) has received notable interest from many data sources. Three major sources have endorsed the idea of a prototype capability to distribute their content via MDDL and the fisdMessage protocol. Please contact James Hartley if you would like more information about this effort - we are interested in working with members to do "blind" testing of the specification (see the specification at http://www.mddl.org/fisdMessage/2003/1.0-beta/).

MDDL products are currently being implemented by several data providers and they have requested that MDDL 2.2-beta not be modified anymore as they go through acceptance testing and validation. As such, the current version under development is "2.3-beta" which incorporates basic setup and pricing for asset classes for which members have expressed interest, includes the basic framework for entity identification and corporate actions, and expanded debt "setup" information. Additional revisions to MDDL (2.3 or later releases) are in progress:

• Corporate Actions - look for a white paper in January outlining the approach
• Risk Analysis and Portfolio Support - discussions are beginning now (please contact James Hartley if interested)
• Expanded pricing for derivatives (particularly swaps)
• Incorporation of "debt duration" formulas

Despite much discussion on the other topics, the attendees of the meeting reiterated the need for complete documentation to assist other organizations in adopting MDDL. Over time, the documentation suite will contain several distinct documents but two specific documents are needed immediately: 1) an introduction to MDDL in the vein of "MDDL for Dummies" to provide an overview of the specificaiton and 2) narrated examples encompassing fragments and individual concepts (as compared to complete examples that are not discussed). FISD staff will develop an outline for the documentation suite and will begin the processing of generating the high priority items - look for an update on this topic in January. The scope of the documentation will discuss the various "business cases" for using MDDL, should help organizations new to MDDL in understanding the scope of the specification, will clarify the available resources so implementors can navigate the spec and being implementation, and will have complete details and examples on topics as they are covered by the membership.

In concert with the MDDL documentation effort, FISD will be enhancing and maintaining the Interest Heat Map and Development Schedule to more accurately gauge current interest and planned developments. Additionally, the Development Schedule will be updated in January to show the various activities and how they interact to contribute to the goal of widespread MDDL adoption. An announcement will be distributed when these documents are updated.

Eric Livingston, of member organization Foliage Software Systems, described (see his presentation here) and demonstrated the MDDL Toolkit they have developed for the Association providing manipulation of MDDL documents per the MDDL rules for "inheritance" and "shorthand". The Toolkit will be the basis for other MDDL-assistance tools contributed by members to foster adoption and understanding of the specification. Look for the Toolkit to be posted to MDDL.org in early 2004!

Participation from MDDL members is key to the successful development of the specification. Please contact us if you can provide assistance in any of the following areas:

• Vocabulary Expansion - If you are interested in working with the MDDL Vocabulary Committee to perform reviews and clarifications of glossary entries and relationships amongst terms.
• Documentation Ideas - If you have any requirements or ideas you have about the documentation suite necessary to describe MDDL to intended audiences.
• fisdMessage Review - If you can provide an analysis of the recently released fisdMessage protocol and its applicability to your content or needs; or if you are interested in testing fisdMessage.
• MDDL Implementation - If you are considering implementing an MDDL product and would like to discuss the relationship of the specification to your product.

Remember that MDDL development is a function of member interest and our primary focus is given to members that are actively implementing MDDL products. We are providing free assistance in mapping content (of members) to MDDL and are interested in helping any organization understand how MDDL can help them.