JSE creates secure intranet to allow fast, secure information-sharing

The JSE Securities Exchange SA is the principal stock exchange in Africa and is essential to the smooth functioning of SA`s economy. Raising primary capital and creating a market for securities, it lies at the heart of SA`s financial markets. Originally founded in the 1880s to enable financiers to raise sufficient funds to develop SA`s mining industry, the JSE employs some 300 people at its offices in Sandton.

The JSE traditionally used paper-based systems to receive, store and disseminate information and announcements supplied by companies. This has involved the handling and filing of huge amounts of paper. Access to information was slow. Paper-based distribution of information to third-parties was unreliable. And it was difficult to control and manage the processes effectively.

In particular, two areas within the JSE, each requiring very specific processing procedures with a high degree of control and secrecy, were in need of an advanced streamlined solution: the Listings Division and the Stock Exchange News Service (SENS).

The Listings Division of the JSE ensures that all the statutory rules for Securities Exchange listing are met, both when companies are first seeking listing on the exchange, and also to adhere to its continuing obligations. In order to ensure these rules are met, companies are required to complete and submit detailed forms, containing large quantities of information.

The JSE was looking for a way to speed up the process of submitting company information to the Listings Division, and allowing efficient access to that information once it has been received.

SENS provides a critical service to the business and investment community by controlling the release of price-sensitive company announcements to the public at large in an electronic format. To keep the market adequately informed and to ensure early, equal and wide distribution of any information that might affect security prices, companies are obliged to use the SENS service for the release of such announcements.

With the traditional paper-based approach, the SENS Division was handling large amounts of paper, and as a result of the paper shuffle, information could be slow to reach the investment community.

When the new era of computer trading was established in the 1990s, many processes within the JSE became automated, with traders disappearing from the trading floor and working with PCs instead. This highlighted the inefficiency of paper systems even further. "It became clear that we needed an advanced high-volume electronic solution for the Listings Division and for SENS," explains John Burke, Director of Listings at the JSE.

The JSE therefore invited a number of key suppliers to participate in a very detailed proof of concept selection procedure.

The tendering process identified the leading-edge eiStream ViewStar solution as the best system available.

Ovations Technologies is a leading provider of imaging, workflow and document management solutions in Southern Africa.

"The ViewStar-based solution from Ovations Technologies outweighed the other contenders. Ovations was able to demonstrate a live working solution that proved the system`s capabilities," recalls Burke.

eiStream ViewStar is an award-winning document management solution that in particular meets the needs of financial services providers and government agencies. In addition to enhancing mission-critical back-office document processing, it is designed to deliver Web-based connectivity, so that operational efficiencies can be securely extended to the front-office.

"Our new Web-based Viewstar solution has transformed our process from a paper-based approach to a highly efficient, leading-edge electronic system," continues Burke.

With Ovations Technologies working closely with the JSE team, ViewStar was first implemented for the Listing Division. Information submitted electronically by JSE client companies is archived in the specially created Listing Information Database (LID), from where it can be accessed immediately, on-screen, by authorised staff.

In addition, hard copy information that companies are required to submit following electronic submission, is digitised and archived by the new ViewStar system. Implementation of this LID system began in early 1999, and the solution went live in March 2000, with some 30 JSE staff now using it. Work on the ViewStar solution for SENS started a few months later, in July 2000 and went live the following May, with some 15 JSE users. The SENS solution allows companies to submit price-sensitive announcements securely, online, to the JSE.

When an announcement is due to be released, the ViewStar system passes it automatically to the news wire services, which then delivers it instantaneously to the screens of securities traders and other news wire subscribers. Electronic announcements are then followed by published announcements in the press.

The LID and SENS solutions are the JSE`s first Web-based workflow and imaging solutions, and the JSE acknowledges that the new solution has more than met its expectations.

"The ViewStar solution has the functionality that we initially anticipated," says Burke. "And for the first time we have the information we need to allocate and prioritise workloads and maximise efficiency."

Offering a familiar Windows interface, the ViewStar system ensures instantaneous delivery of required information, together with fast multi-user access to that information. Documents no longer need to be physically filed or stored, and security is improved.

JSE staff members are very happy with the new Web-enabled solution. "The move from a paper-based system to a paper-free online PC-based system represented such a radical change that initially some of our staff were unsure. But that changed once they saw the benefits. Now, they feel that they can`t live without the LID system! "Our new Web-based ViewStar solution has transformed our processes from a paper-based approach to a highly efficient, leading-edge electronic system," comments Burke.

Further enhancements are currently being made to the LID and SENS systems. There is also the opportunity for the JSE to implement the system across other Divisions. "The eiStream ViewStar solution delivers such identifiable benefits that other divisions within the JSE are also considering the ViewStar solution as a means of streamlining their processes and eliminating paper," concludes Burke.