overview

Contigo’s flagship enTrader energy trading and risk management system was designed from the ground up to provide a competitive edge in today’s complex energy markets. With an emphasis on ease-of-use and ease-of-implementation, enTrader delivers the information and functionality needed across all business functions. enTrader provides a powerful and flexible solution to managing today’s complex and changing trading environments.

multi commodity trading

With enTrader, you avoid the need for disparate solutions for each traded commodity. Disjointed systems leads to disjointed management information, and in a fast-paced trading environment, this can increase the market risk. enTrader is designed to handle multiple commodities in multiple markets using multiple currencies. enTrader’s powerful deal capture process is designed around the concept of speed with accuracy. Each traded commodity used is supplied with a pre-built set of product templates that match the products being traded on the market. enTrader’s intelligent calendar module identifies the delivery schedule for the market product, reducing the opportunity for keying errors.

real time positions and alerts

enTrader allows real-time trading positions to be monitored based on a flexible set of trade criteria. Positions can be easily compared and analysed allowing risks and exposures to be quickly determined. Alert conditions can be defined against a position to alert specific users when defined thresholds are exceeded. Positions can include real-time market value based on either forward curves or real market prices.

customisation

enTrader provides a wide range of customisation features. Custom attributes can be added to all main entities in enTrader (books, counterparties, agreements etc). Trade workflow and state transitions can be defined for each commodity type. enTrader allows you to easily adapt to changing markets and requirements without waiting for a software upgrade. Each user’s desktop is fully customisable allowing each user easy access to the data and functionality that they require.

dashboard and sidebar components

enTrader provides a set of useful sidebar gadgets that provide quick access to simple functions and information such as calendars, messages and favourites. The system also provides a set of configurable dashboard reports that provide graphical and summarised status information on the system, trades and positions.

forward price curves

enTrader allows multiple forward price curves to be maintained per commodity and used for valuation and pricing scenarios. Curves can be easily uploaded and maintained from Excel. The curves are used for real-time portfolio valuation and scenario testing. A full audit history of curves is maintained to allow historical and variance reporting.

master data

enTrader allows detailed Counterparty, Agreement and other master data to be held within the system. enTrader supports multiple house/internal counterparties to manage a range of scenarios. Counterparty contacts, addresses, contracts and bank accounts can be easily managed. Flexible billing and payment structures can be defined. enTrader also allows this Master Data to be sourced externally if required via a custom built provider or using an ETL integration mechanism.

products and calendars

To provide an effective multi-commodity, multi-market capability, enTrader allows custom calendars to be defined and has a sophisticated product/instrument definition engine. Products can be defined based on delivery shape and window and can have fixed, relative or floating delivery windows. The majority of trades can be modelled as a product but enTrader also allows custom trades to be created. Product mapping allows products to be matched with those from external data providers to allow price and trade comparison.

interoperability

Most organisations operate a heterogeneous mix of applications and enTrader has been designed to easily fit into existing environments using the latest in SOA technology. All of enTrader’s functionality is accessible via a SOA web service layer. Various functions within enTrader are supported by a provider-model architecture allowing external data sources (e.g. for Counterparty or Price data) to be easily plugged in. enTrader also allows data to be published to external systems (e.g. new trade creation, changes to standing data) on either a real-time or scheduled basis. This allows enTrader data to be passed to other systems for processing (e.g. Risk or Analytics systems). enTrader also supports various standard industry interfaces for electronic settlement and confirmation.

reporting

enTrader utilises SQL Server Reporting services and Analysis Services for reporting. enTrader includes a base set of reports and dashboard functionality. The enTrader dashboard allows any Reporting Services report to be ‘plugged-in’ and made available within the application. Our reporting and integration product enVision provides a far wider set of reports and a full OLAP reporting capability.

security and audit

enTrader provides a sophisticated security and audit mechanism and is fully Sarbanes-Oxley compliant. enTrader implements a fine-grained, configurable security mechanism to allow complete control over each user’s capabilities. Audit history can be viewed directly from the application and is also available via a reporting interface.

easy to use and simple to support

enTrader is entirely web based and requires no software other than IE to be installed on each client computer. It utilises the latest in Ajax technology to achieve a fast and extremely user-friendly interface. enTrader includes built in monitoring and support capabilities to aid in problem diagnosis. Being web based, regular software updates can be quickly and easily applied. In a basic configuration, enTrader can be deployed on a single Windows 2003 server, radically reducing hardware and software licensing costs. On larger installations, enTrader supports load-balancing across multiple servers.

implementation process

Normally a small team of Contigo personnel would be involved in deploying and integrating enTrader within an organisation. After an initial discovery phase, we would move quickly into an integration and implementation phase. We would normally expect the whole process to take no more than 3 months and in simpler environments, much less.

support

Contigo provide a range of support options. Support is primarily provided through Web based and telephone support. We also provide a set of user community forums to allow users to share common issues and ideas and to interact with Contigo staff. Direct access to technical staff is available as required as are on-site visits.

additional modules

enTrader can be extended into a number of distinct areas for enterprises operating more than just market trading. A set of integrated modules are currently being built that greatly extend the capabilities of enTrader. The modules can be easily integrated into a suite or implemented individually.

technical architecture

For more information on enTrader or our other products and services, please contact Simon Piercy on 08458 386848 or sales@contigo.co.uk