We describe a method and system for quantifying the variances in the semantics and syntax of electronic transactions exchanged between business counterparties. ContextMetrics/sup /spl trade// enables (a) dynamic transformations of outbound and inbound transactions needed to effect 'straight-through-processing' (STP); (b) unbiased assessments of counterparty systems' capabilities to support STP; and (c) modeling of operational risks and financial exposures stemming from an enterprise's transactional systems.

This research note describes a middleware-based system that enables semantic and syntactic interoperability of transactional data exchanged in real-time between sending and receiving systems. Our system samples transaction streams, and statistically measures the variances in the semantics and syntax of the underlying data elements exchanged between sending and receiving systems. Automatic transformations of the data elements are applied when a context-specific Data Operability Threshold is crossed. The transaction is then transmitted onward by the sending system (or processed for consumption by the receiving system) in a format that ensures no manual reconciliation would be required to process the transaction. The System is being prototyped for cross-border securities trading and settlement.