DTC Completes Multi-Year Transition To Participant Browser Service
Small changes can make a world of difference, according to Mark Cashion, vice president, Marshall & Ilsley Trust Company N.A., commenting on the latest enhancements to DTC’s Participant Browser Service (PBS), which allow customers to directly download data from DTCC’s systems and automatically print their tickets.
PBS, the browser-based portal that gives customers access to services offered by DTCC’s Depository Trust Company (DTC), is the successor to DTC’s legacy “green screen” Participant Terminal System (PTS). In 2008, DTCC completed a multi-year initiative to transition all PTS functions to PBS. Now, rather than toggle between the two tools, customers can manage all their needs via the web-based PBS, which is more flexible than PTS, while offering greater functionality.
To ensure customers are fully familiar with PBS and its capabilities, DTCC Learning is offering a variety of learning opportunities including free PBS navigation webinars every Tuesday from noon to 1:00 p.m. (For more information about PBS training and other learning services, contact the DTCC Learning administrator at training_administrator@dtcc.com or 888.258.6393.)
Customer perspective
A key aspect of the transition to, and ongoing enhancement of, PBS is customer input, which DTC obtains through a variety of mechanisms including surveys, client meetings, focus groups, conferences and email. “I encourage all users to continue to look at PBS regularly,” said Cashion, whose firm created its own internal committee several years ago to focus on PBS.
The two newest functions – data downloads and auto-mated ticket printing – were identified by customers as critical to their firms’ full adoption of PBS.
Snapshot of PBS
Participant Browser Service (PBS) takes all the information and functionality of the Participant Terminal System (PTS), making it easier and more efficient to access services offered by The Depository Trust Company. Accessible through existing SMART network connections, PBS adds new features not available on PTS, including expanded download functionality, more efficient ticket printing, barcode deposit ticket printing (starting in January 2009) and deliver order (DOs) upload functionality (coming in the second quarter of 2009).
PBS also:
- Simplifies access to all DTC processing functions by upgrading traditional back-office terminal facilities with flexible and easier-to-use PC and web-browser interfaces;
- Enhances the user experience, giving customers more intuitive browser navigation and data-entry fields on screens that display more information;
- Helps eliminate the need to memorize or look up codes by providing drop-down menus, saving customers time in accessing functions and training employees on the system.
Easier data collection
The new PBS download capability allows firms to dispense with labor-intensive “screen scraping” in PTS to collect their Settlement Services’ data. Now, via simple dropdown commands, “Activity Research Tool” (ART) or “Pending Activity” (PEND), customers can download their settlement transactions to an Excel spreadsheet, with each request retrieving 1,000 transactions at a time.
Additional data can be gathered via the “Download More” button, which starts where the previous file left off, placing data into a separate worksheet for each request. (General download instructions are available through online help screens.) “We are currently working to implement similar download capabilities for other functions,” said Joseph Winkhart, DTCC product manager for PBS.
Ticket printing
Customers print a daily average of 120,000 “tickets” per day, alerting them to transactions processed and received by DTC.
Currently, firms print these tickets on antiquated network printers and rolls of perforated paper using IBM’s System Network Architecture connectivity, which is proprietary technology IBM is currently phasing out.
To update and streamline this process, DTCC built a new PBS capability that allows customers to print their tickets at any PC printer using DTCC’s SMART network connections. In other words, this functionality frees ticket printing from reliance on outmoded network printers, paper and technology.
“This is a much more efficient way to receive, distribute and track DTC tickets,” said Joseph Domagala, supervisor in Settlement at Dundee Securities. “No more going to a dedicated printer and ripping perforated papers!”
Coming soon
DTC also has redesigned the “DAMP” deposit ticket print process in PBS, which was rolled out in January.
Using this new function, firms will be able to request deposit tickets in PBS, which will send a PDF file containing the corresponding tickets directly to the requesting PC, where it will appear as a pop-up. This will allow the requestors to print any or all of those tickets, with the barcode already attached, directly on their local PC network printer. This eliminates the need to purchase a barcode printer or “peel off” barcode labels. Additionally, the PDF document can be saved and stored for future reference.
The current method of printing DAMP deposit tickets on PTS will remain in effect for a few months. @
[To access the ART or PEND function for downloads, please have your Access Coordinator email entitlements@dtcc.com, and include the individual’s user ID in the email. For questions on the upcoming DAMP enhancement, contact Joseph Clemente at jpclemente@dtcc.com or 212.855.2425.]