MDSL Unveils ‘Easy-Use’ MDM Tool

UK-based data usage and cost management software vendor MDSL has begun rolling out Version 3 of its MDM system, featuring new enhancements designed to make it easier to use and configure.

“We used to get feedback from clients that we had a very comprehensive product, but that this meant there was a lot of information on screen. This could be simpler, so Version 3 has a number of new improvements in terms of the way it is presented to users and managers,” says MDSL chief executive Ben Mendoza. “It also has a new dimension in terms of configurability: In previous versions, you could turn things on or off—i.e. you could decide who could see contracts or provisioning—whereas in the latest version, we have role-specific startup screen configuration, which can be tailored by clients according to their roles. So, when someone involved just in invoice processing logs into the system, they see an entry page of invoices.”

In fact, MDM’s invoice processing component now tracks invoices for data services against a calendar of scheduled invoice dates, and lists invoices received and processed, allowing users to sort by each factor, such as by vendor, currency and payment status.

In another move designed to make the product more usable by staff at all levels, the new version also allows users to create their own custom dashboards by dragging and dropping “gadgets” comprising reports or other items together—something MDSL introduced in Version 2.7 of the software, though the new version automatically re-sizes other elements of the dashboard if the user increases the size of any one gadget—each of which can be expanded to a full-screen view or opened in a new window with the report name in the toolbar, to help users navigate more easily between multiple open pages. Each dashboard created for an individual function can then be shared with other staff via a link, and each user can specify exactly which other staff or job functions can see their dashboard.

MDSL has also created wizards to simplify processes such as permissioning, which allows administrators to add or remove users and services, and choose whether to remove them from a specific date or at the end of a contract.

Mendoza says the efforts to simplify MDM stem from the fact that administrators using the system are not necessarily market data experts—since those with most domain knowledge are those who deal directly with traders on their requirements.

The vendor has also expanded the ability to create custom fields to store data that might be important to an individual firm but is not essential to every firm—which firms may have stored in unused fields not designed for that data, and which could lead to confusion or result in data being lost if MDSL removed “unused” fields (IMD, June 18, 2010)—allowing users to create relationships between their custom-created fields and existing fields, such as linking vendors to parent companies. To address the issues of misused fields, the vendor now alerts users to any fields that have been moved in the system, and advises how to convert them to custom fields.

In addition, these custom fields are now completely searchable, as part of a new comprehensive system search. A limited search capability was available in the previous version, which allowed users to search the specific dataset they were looking at, whereas the new release includes an intuitive search bar covering all data in the system, and allows users to create saved searches for data they access frequently.

Mendoza says a few clients are already using the new release, but adds that it isn’t intended to immediately replace previous versions. “You can roll it out gradually by region or asset class so as not to disrupt staff, though obviously things like the new fields added to this release won’t be available in the old version,” he says.