User Acceptance Testing for TRACE Corporate and Agency Debt Migration – January 21, 2012

FINRA will conduct a production User Acceptance Test (UAT) on Saturday, January 21, 2012, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. (ET) to allow participants to test corporate and agency (CA) trade reporting transactions to TRACE via the TRAQS Multi Product Platform.

 

FINRA encourages firms and service bureaus to participate in the UAT to ensure their readiness for the February 6, 2012, migration. During the UAT, participants will also have an opportunity to test the download of the CA Security Master and other reference data files via the Web Application Programming Interface (API).

 

Authorized participants for the Bond Trade Dissemination Service (BTDS) and Agency Trade Dissemination Service (ATDS) will have the opportunity to receive and record the data stream during the test.

 

Participation

All firms that report to TRACE—including service bureaus who use the Computer-to-Computer Interface (CTCI) or Financial Information eXchange (FIX) protocols, and firms that use the Web browser to report transactions—are eligible to participate in the UAT. Participants must register for the test in advance as described below.

 

CTCI and FIX users are required to connect via their production circuits. TRACE trade reporting Web users should use the production URL https://www.finratraqs.org.

 

Reference Data files can be accessed via the Web API beginning at 10 a.m. ET. Users must state the file they wish to download in the query strings, as described in the API Specification.

 

Data Vendors who process BTDS and ATDS data are also encouraged to participate in the test as transaction data entered into the system during the tests will be disseminated via those feeds. Vendor participants must register for the test in advance as described below.

 

Test Registration

Function Instructions
CTCI or FIX To register for the UAT, contact NASDAQ Trading Services via email at or by phone at (212) 231-5180.

Register no later than 12 p.m. ET on Thursday January 19, 2012. Users must connect to their production circuits for the test.
TRACE CA Web Browser Email your request to FINRA Product Management no later than 12 p.m. ET on Thursday, January 19, 2012.

Please provide the following in the email:
  • MPID
  • Name of person(s) testing
  • User name(s)
Users should log in to https://www.finratraqs.org and use their assigned user ID to gain access to the site for the test.
Web API Email your request to FINRA Product Management no later than 12 p.m. ET on Thursday, January 19, 2012.

Please provide the following in the email:
  • MPID
  • Name of person(s) testing
  • User name(s)
Users can get the reference files from the production URL strings described in the Web API specification.

Users can gain access to the files by using their production user ID and password to download the files.
BTDS/ATDS Email your request to FINRA Product Management no later than 12 p.m. ET on Thursday, January 19, 2012.

Please provide the following in the email:
  • Vendor name
  • Service testing (BTDS/ATDS)
Vendors must connect to the feed production IP addresses and ports in order to receive the data stream for the production test. 


Testing Details/Script

The UAT will start at approximately 10 a.m. (ET) and end at approximately 1 p.m. (ET). The following conference line will be open for the duration of the test. Due to a limited number of lines, firms should consider sharing the line if calling from the same location.

 

Date: Saturday, January 21, 2012
Time: 10 a.m. – 1 p.m. ET
Dial-in: (877) 985-6095
Pass code: 840428#

 
The trade date for the test will be Saturday, January 21, 2012. Please see details for the test in the TRACE January 21, 2012, UAT test script (PDF 203 KB).


Please direct questions concerning system modifications and testing by email to FINRA Product Management or by phone to (866) 899-2107.