Caplin Transformer

Caplin's high-performance business rules engine

Caplin Transformer is an event-driven real-time business rules engine. It receives large volumes of real-time market data and republishes it in real time having modified it according to defined business rules.

Caplin Transformer Overview

Caplin Transformer receives large volumes of raw real-time market data and republishes it as value-added data in real time, either to the DataSource API (a transmission path which enables most Caplin and RTTP-related products to communicate with each other), or to generic output such as ODBC, XML or message queues. As it is an active data source, CaplinTransformer is also capable of receiving requests for data over the DataSource API.

This is achieved by a set of business modules that implement the specific algorithms required.
Examples of the calculations and other processing Caplin Transformer can perform include:

• a module can calculate the top 10 shares in terms of price, yield, number of transactions per hour and so on;
• another module can log incoming data to a database, and if a corrected or marked trade appears in a feed determine whether that is passed on or not;
• it can simplify updates so that if multiple updates are contained within the update packet, only the last (and hence most significant) is sent out;
• it can perform predetermined tasks according to market conditions, such as sending initialisation messages when markets open and end-of-day calculations when they close;
• Caplin Transformer can also process suspensions in trading and determine what to do with the data in alignment with market rules.

These modules are configured by editing plain text .conf configuration files.

Standard modules provide functions such as cacheing, data normalisation, filtering of grid-like displays on behalf of client applications, and calculation of FX cross rates.

Caplin Transformer System Architecture

The image below shows how Caplin Transformer fits into the Caplin real-time data architecture.

Caplin Transformer system architecture

Several market data sources contribute information onto the DataSource API. This data is accepted by Caplin Transformer, which processes it, and can then output it in three ways:

• Back to the DataSource API, where it can be picked up by any suitably configured DataSource-enabled application.
• To a database, where information can be kept for historical analysis and interrogated by a client web server.
• To a Caplin Liberator, which can then publish the information over the Internet.

Caplin Transformer Internal architecture

The internal architecture of Caplin Transformer is shown below:

Caplin Transformer internal architecture

• The data sink element of Caplin Transformer extracts relevant data from the DataSource API.
• Central processing sends the data to the modules, which perform the specific algorithms that adjust the data.
• Amended data is then either output to external applications, such as databases for storing historical records, or back to the core for publishing back onto the DataSource API through the data source.