[ OVERVIEW ]          [ STRUCTURE/PARTICIPANTS ]          [ MDDL DOCUMENTS ]          [ LINKS ]
[ DISCUSSION ]             [ JOIN MAILING LIST ]             [ MEETING SCHEDULE ]          [ NEWS ]
 

MDDL Steering Committee Formed

February 8, 2001


The inaugural meeting of the new Market Data Definition Language (MDDL) Steering Committee was held February 5 in NYC. MDDL is being designed as a generic XML-based interchange format of the fields needed to describe a financial instrument and its price. The purpose of the meeting was to refine the scope of the standard, establish the basic operational structure of the activity and determine the next steps associated with the project. FISD is now actively recruiting participants of the Technical Committee (responsible for the structure design of the DTD) and the Vocabulary Committee (responsible for the definition of the data elements, semantics and terminology). Both are scheduled to meet before the end of February. For more information, contact Michael Atkin at FISD headquarters.

Organizations Present:

Associated Press, Bloomberg, Bridge, Dow Jones/WSJ, Fidelity, Financial Times/IDC, FISD, Goldman Sachs, Merrill Lynch, Reuters

Executive Summary:

This was the first meeting of the Market Data Definition Language (MDDL) Steering Committee. The purpose was to refine the scope of MDDL, establish the basic operational structure of the activity and determine the next steps associated with the project. Here are the highlights:

1. The Steering Committee agreed to the primary objective as the development of a generic XML-based interchange format of the fields needed to describe a financial instrument and its price.

2. MDDL decision-making will be managed on a consensus basis wherever practical. Decisions on the scope and development of the standard will require a 2/3 majority vote of the Steering Committee. Operational decisions require a simple majority vote.

3. FISD is actively recruiting participants for both the Technical Committee (responsible for the structural design of the DTD architecture) and Vocabulary Committee (responsible for definition of the data elements, semantics and terminology). Participation is open to all interested parties.

4. The goal for release of Version 1.0 (draft) of the MDDL standard is the end of June 2001. The final version of the specification is scheduled to be released in conjunction with FISD's 4th World Financial Information Conference in London (October 30 - November 2).

Next Meeting:

The Technical and Vocabulary Committees are now being formed. Both are scheduled to meet before the end of February. The next meeting of the Steering Committee is tentatively scheduled for the 3rd week in March.

Steering Committee

The MDDL Steering Committee currently consists of the following nine companies -- Bloomberg, Bridge, Dow Jones, Fidelity, Financial Times, Goldman Sachs, Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley, and Reuters. The group left open the possibility of additional participants. Jeremy Sanders (Merrill) is the Chair of the Steering Committee.

The function of the Steering Committee is oversight of MDDL, operational management of the process and external relations. The Technical and Vocabulary Working Committees report to the Steering Committee. The Chair(s) of the Working Committees (if not already members) will be asked to participate on the Steering Committee.

Proposed Mission Statement (Draft):

Market Data Definition Language (MDDL)

The mission of the activity is to define a publicly available standard that provides a generic XML-based interchange format on the fields needed to describe a financial instrument and its price. The goal is to promote product/price data interoperability.

  • MDDL will focus on broad field definitions for market data content, applicable to multiple asset classes.

  • The initial focus of MDDL will be end-of-day and snapshot applications that can be extended to real-time and interpretative data models if appropriate.

  • MDDL will accept extensions to permit vendor-specific content.

  • The MDDL standard will be ratified by a 2/3-majority vote of the MDDL Steering Committee.

  • Intellectual property rights in MDDL will be retained by the Financial Information Services Division (FISD), but freely licensed and made available on an "as is" basis.

Scope of MDDL:

The objective of the MDDL initiative is an open, practical and realistic market data interchange language on the fields needed to describe a security and its price. The goal of the standard is product/price data interoperability for use across any type of electronic media.

The Steering Committee is charging the Technical and Vocabulary Working Committees with defining the up-front parameters of MDDL. The initial challenge of the Vocabulary Committee is to define data set -- i.e. broad domains, types within each domain and specific data points -- to be included in the data dictionary. The initial challenge of the Technical Committee will be to identify the technological approach(s) and to evaluate the benefits/risks of a hierarchical/precise product terminology-based strategy versus a thesaurus/interchangeable terminology across multiple domains-based strategy.

The overriding issue on the scope of MDDL is one of practicality and the ability of the market data industry to develop a useful standard in a reasonable time frame. The initial focus is for end-of-day and snapshot data applications. [Note: The full scope of MDDL Version 1.0 content (i.e. whether it will include or exclude data elements based on time or trading status) will be based on the recommendation of the Vocabulary Committee and evaluated in terms of what's realistic in the allotted timeframe.]

Other Issues:

The Steering Committee unanimously agreed that the name Market Data Definition Language (MDDL) was descriptive of the objective of the standard and appropriate.

  • FISD is seeking to register MDDL.org and MDDL.net

  • The Steering Committee will address coordination with other XML groups in the financial arena once the Technical and Vocabulary Committees have a chance to address the scope of the standard and define the basic structural approach.

  • FISD will send notification to all interested parties to recruit broad participation on the Working Committees as well as to seek candidates for chair of each.

 

 

 

 



Copyright ©2001, The Software & Information Industry Association.
SIIA's Privacy Policy and Use Agreement.
All rights reserved.