{"id":84849,"date":"2023-09-21T12:11:34","date_gmt":"2023-09-21T12:11:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/fixspec.com\/?p=84849"},"modified":"2023-10-26T22:50:37","modified_gmt":"2023-10-26T22:50:37","slug":"how-to-build-a-global-fix-spec","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fixspec.com\/how-to-build-a-global-fix-spec\/","title":{"rendered":"How To Build A Global FIX Spec"},"content":{"rendered":"

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text text_style=”leader-text”]As a bank or broker-dealer, there are really only two ways to grow your business. You can grow organically by offering new trading functionality and major sales drives, or you can grow inorganically through acquisition.<\/p>\n

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<\/div>[vc_column_text]The latter has been the strategy of choice for large trading firms over the past decade, with M&A continuing to increase year on year. This expansion drive frequently results in a sprawling set of siloed trading services, APIs and systems, often spread across the world. Post-acquisition integration often takes several years, with pressure to realise the economic synergies of the deal and clean architecture falls down the pecking order. This often leads to an internal \u201cspaghetti mess\u201d of systems and increasing levels of inefficiency and technical debt. We frequently hear stories of similar trading services remaining so siloed post-acquisition that they barely talk.<\/p>\n

Eventually, talk turns to efficiency, consistency, consolidation and the creation of a company-wide, \u201cglobal spec\u201d.<\/p>\n

The benefits of this are obvious. Not only does it simplify the technology, reduce the overhead of managing multiple documents and improve brand consistency, it can also simplify the technical ability to cross-sell your services to existing customers. are more than likely also a customer of one of your other trading services. A global spec or a consolidated connectivity process creates a better, more efficient customer experience.<\/p>\n

But how do you get there? Where do you start?<\/h3>\n

We\u2019ve had several new customer conversations recently about how best to achieve this without disrupting (too much) legacy technology, and to ensure business continuity during a migration. Since the \u201cstop the world while we re-engineer everything\u201d approach is almost 100% guaranteed to fail, this has to be a multi-phase process of analysis and implementation\u2026 one that starts with a clear (yet flexible) roadmap. Critically, since BAU always takes priority, the plan needs to consider long-term maintenance and even the ability to pause and restart as priorities shift.<\/p>\n

FixSpec labs was engaged in such a project for a large bank, and so here are the steps we proposed for the consolidation of several trading APIs.<\/p>\n

Step 1: Collect What You\u2019ve Got<\/h2>\n

The first step is to audit and collect everything you have from across the firm. How many specifications do you have? Where are the originals? How up to date are they? Who maintains them?<\/p>\n

This can be a significant job; our client had over 40 FIX specifications with different internal brands and templates, and also a range of other explainer documents and workflow diagrams. This detail was collected on an internal wiki page.<\/p>\n

The next step within this phase is to get buy-in for change from key stakeholders. A global spec is no small undertaking; it takes time, it means new tools and processes, and there is no quick or easy way to \u201cunwind\u201d it later. Speak now or forever hold your peace!<\/p>\n

Step 2: Centralise and Digitise<\/h2>\n

Ever tried comparing 40 different Word documents? It\u2019s not pretty, and is an obvious reason for a project to stop dead in its tracks. A better way (we think) is to import them into a tool such as FixSpec\u2019s SpecServer. Even though you\u200a\u2014\u200aas an end user\u200a\u2014\u200adon\u2019t see it, the act of loading your existing documents into an editing tool means that the data is organised and structured under the covers, and therefore becomes comparable. The visible outputs\u200a\u2014\u200aPDF documents\u200a\u2014\u200acan remain untouched at this point (although the content is generated from the tool).<\/p>\n

The introduction of specialised software at this step is critical to the success of a consolidation project; moving from the manual maintenance of Word documents to using a consistent tool is what allows comparison to take place, while running in parallel to business-as-usual. If a business needs to make a change to its API, then that\u2019s no problem\u200a\u2014\u200amake the edit in the tool, regenerate your PDF, and that change is automatically visible to the consolidation project going forward.<\/p>\n

Such a tool delivers a host of other immediate benefits too, including:<\/p>\n