MDSL has many years’ experience of providing managed administration services to our customers, taking on the administrative overhead burden and allowing you to focus on your core business.

The service is carried out by MDM-certified professionals to ensure your inventory is maintained to the highest standard, invoices are checked and validated, and reports are generated and distributed on time. It includes maintaining the foundation data which describes your organisation’s logical and physical structure, and the accompanying cost codes; uploading monthly HR files; uploading monthly files from vendors and updating the inventory database with any other changes.

MDSL’s portfolio of Managed Services is scalable, allowing you to choose the level you require and customise it to your exact requirements:

Managed Service	Silver	Gold	Platinum
Invoice handling & processing
Report generation and distribution
Foundation date management
MDM inventory management (MAC Ds)
Month-end activities
Vendor-specific activities (Declarations)

An MDX Inventory Audit & Health Check gives you the security of knowing every element of your market data inventory has been thoroughly analysed.

The final report not only itemises every aspect of your inventory, but identifies gaps and delivers recommendations based on an unrivalled understanding of best practice.

Armed with this report, you’ll be best-placed to identify the priority areas for rectifying your data and optimising your spend.

Self-Certification is a simple, smart and effective way for your users to confirm the services you need to retain and those you can safely cancel or reallocate – making significant savings in the process.

Implemented online via MDSL’s market-leading proprietary portal, MDX specialists preload the system with your inventory data, then communicate with the users to ensure all relevant data is captured. The final report summarises the number of users covered, the level of response and the potential value of any cancelled services.

Repeating the exercise on a regular basis helps reduce waste and ensures your market data inventory runs at optimum efficiency.

Managing the different electronic uploads from internal systems and external vendors can be complex. Dealing with large data volumes, reconciling format changes and understanding file content can take a considerable amount of time.

MDSL MDX Data Reconciliation specialists design and schedule a programme of activities which ensures all incoming files are reconciled into MDM each month, with all the relevant information. A gap analysis for every upload identifies any issues and ensures any exceptions are followed up with the relevant teams (HR, Finance, line managers etc).

As the market data industry grows, so different naming conventions emerge for what are essentially the same services.

MDSL’s team of MDX experts work closely with major vendors to compile and publish a standard services catalogue to cover services from every common vendor, such as Thomson Reuters, Factset, Markit, Moody’s, S&P Indices, IDC and Sungard.

They work with you and your team to bring your inventory into line with the industry standards, to ensure consistency and accuracy throughout.

The true value of an up-to-date inventory and market data management system is only realised through its reports. However, preparing them can be a lengthy and resource-intensive process.

MDX Reporting Services produce clear, concise and - above all - actionable reports to your agreed format and schedule, giving you a comprehensive overview of service usage and spend, allowing your line managers the opportunity to understand or review costs and putting you back in the driving seat at vendor cost reviews and contract renewal negotiations.

The MDX reports architecture supports a wide range of reporting solutions and incorporates the latest dashboard technologies, including OLAP Cube and SSRS.

Other MDX services include:

Exceptions and disputes

• Identifying, researching and resolving discrepancies between invoices and inventory records.

Work-flow management

• Introducing web-based core workflows, to ensure all new market data requests such as moves, additions and other changes are properly reviewed and authorised before implementation.

Payment processing

• Processing invoices and preparing files for Accounts Payable (AP) to make payment and pass accurate charge-backs to cost centres, together with third party reporting to vendors and exchanges as required.