When the Australian stock exchange (ASX) went searching for debugging software to provide bug-free operation in its new derivatives trading system, it came across Compuware's QACentre-a suite of automated testing tools. Currently, over 160 trading participants rely on the ASX's Derivatives Trading Facility (DTF) to process up to 200,000 orders a day. With any problems affecting the ability of members to trade likely to become public very quickly, software reliability is critical.
Bala Nateshkumar, ASX manager of derivative trading systems, said QACentre has since been adopted as it provides a feeling of confidence that any software developed to enable DTF to work with ASX systems will perform as expected in production. "When DTF was first rolled out, system testing was performed manually. This was a laborious and time consuming task, but one that was absolutely critical to the success of the project," said Nateshkumar.
"QACentre now provides a more efficient way to ensure software integrity. A day's testing need only take up half an hour or so of a programmer's time, freeing them for other duties while QA goes about its work. [This is] not only more productive, it's also more thorough and the potential risk of keyboard error greatly reduced," he added.
DTF uses the OM CLICK Exchange System developed by Swedish developers, OM Technology. CLICK is a fully automated trading environment based on client/server architecture, running Windows NT.
This eliminates the need for a physical trading floor, by connecting brokers and financial institutions from dedicated terminals in their offices. ASX developers customised the OM CLICK Exchange System to accommodate ASX business rules and built interfaces to integrate DTF with other ASX systems, including SEATS, the automated equities stock trading system.
Seeking to ensure the bug-free operation of the ASX's Derivatives Trading Facility (DTF), QACentre ensures new releases of software and other system enhancements can be rolled out without creating unexpected problems for stockbrokers or other third party systems.
The ASX uses two main tools from the QACentre suite of automated testing Tools, namely QARun (for ASX business functionality testing at front end and at the user's end) and QADirector, which enables the ASX to organise how scripts are run and to produce reports. According to the ASX, one of the key uses of QACentre is re-using test scripts.
"Re-using test scripts saves time and improves testing consistency," said Nateshkumar. "The QADirector module also helps us structure our testing process and generate useful test reports." Naturally, smooth integration with other ASX and third party systems was crucial to the success of QACentre's implementation. For example, if a company's shares are suspended from trading on the stock exchange, this information has to be automatically relayed from the equities trading system, SEATS, to DTF without delay. DTF also needs to seamlessly feed market information to third party systems, like Reuters.
DTF uses an open system design and open interface for third party developments. The system operates on Digital Alpha 1000 servers using Reliable Transaction Router software (RTR) as a transaction monitor and Oracle RDB as its database. There is one server for the database functions and two servers for the orderbook functions with hot standby processors that will automatically come online in the event of hardware failure. The CLICK Trader Workstations used by the broker consist of a Pentium PC running Windows NT on 32MB memory.
According to the ASX, DTF represents a major improvement on its predecessor, DATS-the Derivative Automated Trading System. DATS supported the system by providing access to the market for brokers operating remotely in each capital city. Orders from remote brokers were routed to ASX broker staff who facilitated the trading of these orders on the floor.
Whereas DAT was a quote-based market, where brokers sat behind screens yelling out prices, DTF is a real order-based market. Brokers now trade from their offices at terminals connected to the ASX central computer system. Nateshkumar says that the ASX is continually striving to provide a better trading system for members. Improving DTF helps improve market turnover and liquidity, providing a fair market with equal access for all participants.
