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Order Audit Trail System (OATS)
Compliant Time
Stamping with DocuClock
Did you know that as of
July 1, 1999
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All trades for NASD must show the complete date and time to the
second.
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The time is set to Eastern Standard Time and must be
corrected to the
NIST atomic clock. Computer clocks must be set within
3 seconds of
the atomic clock.
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Dealers must
keep a log
or record of each time a
clock receives a time sync from NIST and each time it sends out a correction to the trade
clocks, and the trades clocks must indicate if it received this signal before the Market
opens.
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Paper order tickets must be also stamped
with the exact time in seconds.
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FINRA (formerly NASD) audits approximately 2500 of its members every year.
Beagle Software has time synchronization solutions that
keep a Windows desktop computer or an entire network synchronized to the atomic
clock while maintaining a detailed log of all clock setting activity. DocuClock will...
DocuClock synchronizes your computer to the atomic clock and prints the date and the exact time to the
second.
Date/time stamping FEB 01,
2001 AM 9:00:39
OATS requires that paper trades are
stamped with the exact time. DocuClock's included ClockWatch software maintains your Windows PC at NIST atomic clock time, and whenever a time stamp request
is made, the DocuClock date/time stamper prints this exact time on your order ticket.
Diagram of the DocuClock solution
DocuClock fits the way your office works
today
In the diagram, DocuClock is acting
as a central time stamping facility in a client/server environment. With our ClockWatch Client/Server software, your server computer services time requests
from workstations running ClockWatch Client. ClockWatch Server software keeps the computer it
is running on set to the correct time by accessing external timeservers over the Internet
or through a directly-dialed connection. The trader's applications use the correct time
maintained by ClockWatch software while the DocuClock time stamper provides a printed record of the exact time.
Keeping
logs
OATS rules require that logs
are kept to show that time settings are made during trading hours.
DocuClock keeps detailed logs of every
time setting and
every time stamp.
These logs are kept automatically and are available for review or
archival at any time.
Maintaining the correct time
Since DocuClock gets the time from the host
computer, that computer must be maintained at the exact time. Beagle
Software offers both standalone and networked software editions for maintaining
the host computer at standard time.
Your computer's clock
can also be locked down to prevent unauthorized users from changing the date or
time.
Desktop solutions
For standalone computers, Beagle
Software offers several software products that synchronize the computer to
the atomic clock. More on ClockWatch desktop
solutions...
Networked solutions
For dealers handling electronic transactions
in a networked environment, Beagle Software's Client/Server software is a
simple yet powerful pair of applications that use the hardware and system
software you currently run. The software features a time synchronization program that keeps the
computer it is running on (the server) set to the correct time. It also handles requests
for the correct time from the other PCs on the network (the clients).
The ClockWatch host server's job is to keep the time accurate on the host and to
process requests and send appropriate responses. The ClockWatch client's job is to send
requests to the ClockWatch server to maintain the correct time. All interaction with
external time servers is done by the host server. The communication link with the clients
must be a network (ethernet) connection.
Beagle Software's systems offer you an easy way to implement OATS compliance to
every Windows PC on your LAN.
More on networking the DocuClock time stamper...
More
on ClockWatch Client/Server in an OATS compliant environment...
Why use Beagle Software?
As a Beagle Software customer, you can be secure in the knowledge that
you are working with a vendor who specializes in installing time
synchronization solutions for the securities industry.
For more information or field engineering support
contact
Frequently Asked Questions
about OATS
DocuClock Main Page
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