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Modelling Data Flows - Part 2

· 5 min read
Colin Hartley

Event-driven use case

In this blog, we show you how you can model a real-world business use case using event-driven data flows in OpenDataDSL.

Part 2 - Validating and publishing trader curves to an ETRM system

What are event-driven data flows?

Event-driven data flows refer to a design pattern or architecture where data processing and communication happen in response to events or changes in the system. In this pattern, events trigger the flow of data through a system, where each event is processed independently, and a corresponding action is taken based on the event.

What actions can be taken?

In OpenDataDSL, as of today, you can perform one of the following event-driven actions:

  • Build a forward curve

    Usually when the input data for a curve is updated you would want to build a smart curve

  • Send an email

    Use the updated data and a template to send a HTML email to a user or users

  • Run a process/workflow

    Trigger a process to run possibly to load some other data

  • Publish the data to another tenant

    Another independent tenant can be updated with this data

  • Send the data to a message queue

    Send the updated data as a message to be consumed by a downstream system

  • Run a report

    Run a report, maybe aggregating data from other sources

  • Run an ODSL script

    The possibilities are endless, maybe you want to perform some derivations based on the updated data

Our business use case

Objective

The objective of this business case is to automate some data flows triggered by a manual action. To further enhance this, we want to perform a second set of actions based on a condition shown in the following flow-chart.

Trader Curves

Trader curves are forward curves created by traders based on their assessment of how the market is pricing various maturities. Closely watching market movements gives traders a unique insight into where prices are at any given moment.

In OpenDataDSL, traders can upload their curves using Excel using either relative or absolute tenors:

And here is our trader curve in the OpenDataDSL portal:

Automation

For our use case, we want to run some automations after the trader has updated a new version of a curve. We want to:

  • Validate the curve

    We want to ensure that the prices are within a reasonable percentage of the OMIP exchange previous days settlement prices, this will update the curve status information

  • Send an email to the trader

    We want to inform the trader that their curve has been loaded and provide validation feedback

If the validation is successful, we will then want to:

  • Send an email to others

    We want to inform colleagues that a new version of the trader curve is available

  • Send the curve to a message queue

    This will be read by an internal application that will feed into our ETRM system

Validation and feedback

To validate our curve, we will add a trigger on the update of our curve which will do the following:

  • Run an ODSL script which will:
    • Compare the curve with the previous days exchange settled curve
    • Set the status of each maturity to either valid or failed
    • If the curve is valid, we want to tag it (this will trigger our other actions)
  • Send an email to the trader which has:
    • The curve details
    • The validation status of the curve

Inform and publish

The second part of the automation is triggered on the tagging of our curve and will do the following:

  • Send an email to interested colleagues
  • Send the curve to a message queue to be consumed by the ETRM system

Daily work

Once the automations have been configured, the trader simply needs to update his curve(s) in Excel and upload them to OpenDataDSL using the Excel add-in.

He will receive a confirmation email letting him know the validation status of the curve he has just uploaded.

If the curve passed the validation, he will know that his colleagues will be informed of the new version of the curve and it will be pushed automatically to the companies ETRM system.

If the curve failed validation, he then has the option to either:

  • Change the failed values on the curve, if appropriate
  • Manually tag the curve version to trigger the email and message publish automation.

Example email to trader

info

All email and reporting layouts are completely customisable in OpenDataDSL

Conclusion

You can see from this example that with a small amount of initial configuration using event-driven data flows, we can automate critical tasks which reduce the workload of employees.

Event-driven data-flows make this possible by performing your custom actions automatically after an event happens thereby reducing time and manual errors.

Next steps

Do you want to see this in action and see how you can benefit from OpenDataDSL?

Fill out the form below, we will contact you to arrange a personally tailored demo.

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Our team is here to find the right solution for you, contact us to see this in action.

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+44 1245 555053

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Further Reading