Solutions for Financial Services
OpenLink OpenComponents — Next Generation Component Development Strategy
Market Overview
Today’s constantly evolving financial landscape requires
companies to be agile and flexible. To stay competitive,
firms’ trading and risk management systems must be
able to adapt to the ceaseless parade of new products,
risk management techniques, and regulatory reporting
requirements. While this alone is a daunting task, it
becomes an even greater challenge when firms’ proprietary
business logic and analytics are involved. Companies also
need to be sure that their intellectual property will not be
compromised.
Clearly, successful firms require a secure, user-friendly
system that caters to the ever-changing market in a timely,
cost-effective manner. In addition to being fully extensible,
these firms’ systems must be capable of handling all types
of proprietary analytics, which means that the ability to
interface with both third party software tools and existing
in-house systems is essential.
One of the greatest strengths of the OpenLink platform
is that companies can either use it as a stand-alone,
comprehensive front-to-back office system, or they can
integrate parts of it into any existing infrastructure that
they may have. Additionally, OpenLink gives clients access
to development toolkits which enable them to extend
core system functionality directly, thereby giving them
the power to meet their evolving needs and keep up with
today’s rapidly changing market environment — without
relying on someone else’s IT development schedule.
OpenLink’s Component
Development Strategy
OpenLink’s development strategy is to align its software
design with the dynamics of the market by enabling
customization and extension throughout all features
of its products — including analytics, trade modeling,
and screen and application development. OpenLink’s
“straight-out-of-the-box” platform comes equipped with
extensive coverage of standard market functionalities, all of
which OpenLink continually enhances as new asset classes,
valuation models, and risk calculations become relevant. To
do this, OpenLink:
• Leverages industry standard technology wherever
possible;
• Empowers clients to use both in-house and third
party libraries; and
• Provides better tools for client developers that:
− Increase their productivity;
− Reduce client development costs; and
− Improve the quality of the solutions for their end
users.
OpenComponents
OpenComponents is the core of OpenLink’s next
generation strategy and mission to provide open systems
architecture and extensibility to its clients.
OpenComponents provides a framework consisting of a
rich set of business-oriented object models and interfaces,
along with a comprehensive set of utility objects.
Together, these provide a consistent, multi-platform
development environment that is available in both Java ™
and .NET ™. Specifically, OpenComponents is OpenLink’s
component-based tool for developing:
• External applications that leverage Findur products;
and
• Plug-ins and extensions that run natively within
OpenLink’s products, and are seamlessly integrated
into OpenLink’s standard functionality.
The OpenComponents libraries are consistent across
development contexts - whether they are external or
embedded applications written in Java™ or .NET™.
This means that all processes-even extensions-continue to
run in a single framework. The consistency and security of
running all processes significantly reduces operational risk,
while also saving clients a great deal of capital investment
and time in systems maintenance.
External Applications
OpenComponents enables the development of
external applications that interact with Findur. For
example, clients can start a session, launch Findur
services, run a simulation, and interact with transactions
and market data from a custom screen designed
specifically to meet their needs.

Extensions
OpenComponents allows users to create extensions
Eclipse
that seamlessly mesh with the core system. Clients can
develop their own proprietary extensions or license
one of the many that OpenLink already has available.
Proprietary pricing models, curve analytics, simulation
results as well as custom reporting capabilities can all
be easily integrated with the core system through the
use of extensions.

Solutions

APPLICATIONS EXTENSIONS PLUG-INS

Visual Studio

OpenComponents Documentation
OpenComponents comes with a complete set of
JAVA .NET
API reference documentation for classes, methods
PLATFORM LAYERS and interfaces for both Java™ and .NET™. These
are generated directly from the code base, ensuring
BUSINESS OBJECT LAYER precise accuracy and consistency with each specific
product version. In addition, the documentation set
includes a comprehensive user guide with functionality
overviews, set-up instructions, and sample code for
FINDUR each development platform.

Engines Availability
OpenComponents is available in Findur versions 8.1
Database and higher.

OpenComponents Framework
Development Environments
OpenComponents development is available for both
Java™ and .NET™. For Java™, OpenComponents
provides a plug-in for the industry standard
Eclipse development environment. For .NET™,
OpenComponents also provides a plug-in for the
Visual Studio IDE.
Examples
Here are a few examples that illustrate some of the
ways that clients are using the OpenComponents
development toolkit.
Example I
A client’s demanding traders request customizable (and
ever changing) trade capture screens that consolidate
pre-trade analytics, real-time trade pricing, and the
trade entry process in one convenient location.

Custom Trading Screens and Position Views
The OpenComponents development toolkit allows
the client to create a customized presentation layer
of the user interface that precisely fulfills traders’
requests and is supported by OpenLink’s powerful
database and analytics, including custom analytic
extensions implemented through OpenComponents.
OpenComponents’ ease of implementation and use
reduces development time, allowing the client, to
create a cost effective, efficient, and user-friendly GUI,
thereby minimizing iteration cycle times, costs, and
frustration across the entire institution.
Example II
A client regularly implements new risk reports to
adhere to the latest requirements demanded by
internal senior management and external entities.
The implementation of these reports — whether they
are required in real-time or as part of the end-of-day
process — requires different levels of development and
adaption from the existing reporting frameworks.
Through OpenComponents, the client streamlines the
development tasks from finely-tuned risk calculation
measures to the end user presentation and formatting
layers, efficiently promoting reuse without wheel re-
invention and extraneous development.
Risk Reporting
Example III
A client develops proprietary pricing models and
analytics for new products. Prior to trading a new
product, the client must incorporate these new pricing
models and related analytics into its trading platform
so that they can easily see the product’s valuations and
risks net against the rest of the portfolio.
The OpenComponents development tools allow the
client to quickly develop new models in-house, whether
each model has been developed from scratch or more
likely as an extension of some existing functionality.
The design and implementation choices are under the
client’s control. OpenComponents pricing models
integrate seamlessly into OpenLink’s platform,
meaning that the new product’s valuations, risk runs,
and batch reporting all run as though its proprietary
model were standard, off-the-shelf pricing models.
Thus OpenComponents allows the client to swiftly
and inexpensively bring new products to market while
protecting their intellectual property and leveraging all
of the functionality of its existing platform.
Proprietary Analytics
Conclusion
OpenComponents represents OpenLink’s
dedication to providing its clients with efficient
and effective tools that allow them to adapt to this
fluctuating market environment and evolving end user
requirements. OpenComponents enables clients to
incorporate external applications as well as client-
based plug-ins, such as proprietary analytics and
reports, directly into the OpenLink system. Storing
all information, calculations and reports in one single
database provides clients with consistency, security,
speed, and accuracy in their processes. The business-
oriented object models and interfaces provided
by OpenComponents ensure timely and efficient
development.
About OpenLink
Founded in 1992, OpenLink (www.openlink.com) is
the global leader in Transaction Lifecycle
Management (TLM) solutions for the commodity,
energy and financial services industries. OpenLink’s
products address portfolio management, trading, risk
management, and operations processing for both
financial and physical assets.

Owned by leading private equity investment firm

Hellman & Friedman, OpenLink is a global software
and services business that has grown both organically
and through strategic acquisitions, to achieve
revenues in excess of $300 million. The company
serves over 500 clients, including 12 of the world’s
largest commodity and energy companies, 9 of the
largest financial institutions, and 11 of the largest
central banks. OpenLink has 1,300 employees in 12
global offices on five continents, with headquarters
outside New York City and field offices in Houston,
London, Berlin, Vienna, Toronto, Moscow, São Paulo,
Singapore, Dubai, and Sydney.

OpenLink has received numerous industry awards and

recognition, including citations as the industry leader
by Gartner and first-in-class ranking by Energy Risk
Magazine for Commodity/Energy Trading and Risk
Management (C/ETRM) systems.

For more information about OpenLink’s solutions contact:

OpenLink — Headquarters
1502 RXR Plaza
15th Floor — West Tower
Uniondale, NY 11556
United States
Phone: +1 516 227 6600
Fax: +1 516 227 1799

www.openlink.com

SAFE HARBOR: This material is intended to outline our general product offering and direction. It is intended for
information purposes only and it is not a commitment to deliver any material, code, or functionality, and should
not be relied upon in making purchasing decisions. The development, release, and timing of any features or
functionality described for OpenLink’s products remains at the sole discretion of OpenLink. All materials provided
are the confidential and proprietary materials of OpenLink.

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