MDDL
Steering Committee Meeting Report, Reuters Information, New York
City
June 21, 2001
The
MDDL Steering Committee met to authorize the release of the version
(0.9) of the MDDL specification. The release of the
draft specification was authorized. The Beta version 1.0 is targeted
to be released on August 15. The Steering Committee is viewing this
process as similar to a full-scale product launch and instructed
FISD staff to manage it as such. Outlined below are the action points,
decisions and open issues that emerged from the MDDL Steering Committee
meeting.
NOTE:
This report is a combination of the MDDL Steering Committee
meeting on June 21 and the MDDL working meeting on June 22.
MDDL
Schema/DTD
The
MDDL working group met its targeted 6-month deadline for releasing
version 0.9 of the standard covering global equities, collective
investment vehicles and indices. The Steering Committee offered
its acknowledgement and official commendation to:
- James
Hartley (Bridge) and Tony Coates (Reuters) - as the principal
designers of the MDDL architecture
- Richard
Robinson (Bank of New York) and Kevin Roche (Dow Jones/Wall Street
Journal) - for the creation of the MDDL domain and descriptor
structure
Version
0.9 of the MDDL standard includes a number of files - all of which
have been posted to the FISD/MDDL web site as soon as possible.
The five primary files are:
1.
MDDL XML Schema (mddl-0.9-beta.xsd)
2. MDDL XML DTD (mddl-0.9-beta.dtd)
3. MDDL References XML Schema (mddlref-0.9-beta.xsd)
4. MDDL Glossary/data dictionary (mddl-0.9-beta.saf)
5. Sample stylesheet for the glossary (mddl-0.9-beta-saf.xsl)
In
addition, there are a number of diagrams illustrating the structure
of the MDDL schema/DTD - for time series, snap quote, MDDL properties,
and main MDDL structure. There are also four examples of what MDDL
is designed to produce - (1) basic quote information including multiple
classes, countries, exchanges and times; (2) detailed quote information
for a single US equity; (3) quote information for constituents of
a single US index; and (4) quote information for a single US mutual
fund.
MDDL Technical Structure
Prior
to release of the standard, the MDDL working group must be able
to explain and justify the technical structure of the MDDL standard
including the following critical components:
- The
concept of reference (internal and external)
- The
concept of inheritance (including assumed/implied references)
- The
hierarchical/element structure of MDDL (including the fact that
an element has either "content" or "text"
but not both and the concept that the lowest level of the hierarchy
carries a "value")
- The
notion that MDDL 0.9 is a data format only (not a message structure)
Open
Issues
1.
Change Management: The change management process for MDDL has
not been finalized. An "easy" method of updating the data
in the Glossary needs to be created. The approach will include a
process for requesting, approving, and implementing changes. This
will initially be provided via an XSL to convert the Glossary to
a comma separated file compatible with Excel and a corresponding
VBScript to create the Glossary.
2.
Product Model/Hierarchy: The hierarchy of the "data model"
is not yet fully reflected in the schema. The Vocabulary and Technical
Committees need to get together to create the MDDL hierarchy - the
model for every product and the elements that can/must be included
with the product. The Vocabulary Committee is meeting on July
9 at the Bank of New York to address this issue. The Vocabulary
Committee is scheduled to meet with the Technical Committee at the
office of Bridge Information Systems on the translation of the data
relationships on July 31.
3.
Glossary Definitions: Each word in the glossary needs a formal,
unique, and globally agreed upon definition. The MDDL working groups
must also resolve word ambiguity and identify any missing data elements.
Further, each definition will need a "small", "medium"
and "long" version. Finally, the working groups must recreate
the logical business structure (groupings) of the glossary. This
process is an important opportunity to create a standard market
data glossary. FISD will reference existing ISO standards (i.e.
ISO 18773/18774) as part of this process.
4.
URL/URI: FISD must find out whether the website can support
the URL we are suggesting as the namespace URI? That is, can the
MDDL release contents be placed at "http://www.mddl.org/mddl/2001/0.9-beta"?
In addition, there are some concerns about server capacity that
need to be examined.
5.
References: The "references" link on this documentation
needs to be filled out.
Liaison
Committee
The
Steering Committee approved the creation of the MDDL Liaison Committee
to manage MDDL relationships with other XML initiatives and standards
bodies. The Liaison Committee reports to the Steering Committee.
FISD will be recruiting nominees - subject to approval by the Steering
Committee - to serve on the Liaison Committee.
- James
Hartley (Bridge) agreed to act as the primary contact point
for the newly formed Liaison Committee. The function of the Committee
is to manage the FISD/MDDL relationship with other XML initiatives.
- John
Bottega (Merrill) agreed to act as the primary contact point
for managing the FISD/MDDL relationship with ISO and other official
standards bodies.
Publicity
FISD
was asked to create a basic public relations plan for the release
and promotion of MDDL. The Steering Committee suggests that the
PR plan does not need to be overly complex or expensive. FISD will
coordinate with internal SIIA resources. The likely components of
the PR plan are:
- Press
Releases as appropriate
- Use
of the Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information
Systems (OASIS)
- MDDL
presence on industry events and conferences
- Articles
for industry trade magazines
- A
well structured and maintained web site
- Limited
promotional items - mainly tied into the official launch at the
World Financial Information Conference
- Official
signage to identify organizations as MDDL participants for display
at trade shows
MDDL
Membership Requirements
The
Steering Committee reinforced the core position that MDDL is an
open standard and available for use without charge or SIIA/FISD
membership requirements. In the future, participation on MDDL
working groups and the ability to have influence on the development
of the standard will be available only to SIIA/FISD members.
The
Steering Committee further recommends the creation of an Associate
membership category for companies that are only interested in MDDL.
FISD was instructed to pursue the creation of the Associate membership
category with SIIA with the caveat that a significant percentage
of Associate membership dues be directed to the FISD budget to help
fund MDDL-related activities.
MDDL
Publishing
The
Steering Committee recommended a migration away from Yahoo groups
as the publishing vehicle for MDDL. Too many people are de-listing
from the group and there is too much confusion on the status of
documents/files. The new approach will be to publish all MDDL documents
on the FISD web site (under the authorization of the existing editors)
with dates and version control numbers incorporated into the documents.
FISD was asked to create a bulletin board function on the web site
to facilitate interactive discussion among MDDL participants.
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