Liv-ex Head of Data, Neil Taylor, gave a company presentation on the topic of API integration on 9th November.
Notes from the presentation, as well as the corresponding slides, can be found below.
API integration – price discovery to payment
By Neil Taylor, Head of Data at Liv-ex Ltd.
Slide 2
For the past five years, Liv-ex has been developing APIs (data services) that enable members to make transactions on the exchange directly from their own systems. I’m pleased to announce that this journey is now complete. All aspects of a member’s journey on Liv-ex are now available through API services. This ranges from identifying specific trading opportunities; listing bids or offers; completing the trade; tracking the shipment or payment; updating the member’s client sub-account; releasing the wine and finally checking account status. All can be done through direct connections to Liv-ex (and Vine). This means that operating ERP systems such as Navision, NetSuite, Magento, Vision, SAP and others can make full use of their capabilities and the massive efficiencies that automation and direct connections can deliver. Over the next few slides we will go through all the services available.
Slide 3
Liv-ex prices – including Market Price, last trade, bids and offers – can be called in a number of different ways. You can use a pre-determined list from which you call all available information, or you can call for specific data points on a wine by wine basis. Our latest API – to be released in December 2016 – will facilitate access to any price data point through a single API.
Slide 4
Once a specific opportunity has been identified, a member’s system can place a bid or offer directly on the Exchange. All terms and conditions remain the same – bids and offers are contractually committed and stock must be of SIB quality. Alternatively, stock holders can list a proportion or all of their stock on the exchange: true multi-channel selling without risk of double selling. Brokers can use Liv-ex offers to supplement their existing offerings, without the cost of holding the stock.
Slide 5
Released in summer 2016, the Exchange Integration APIs now offer two-way capability to confirm trades directly. Either a member can initiate a trade by directly matching a bid or offer, or the Liv-ex system will alert them once they are matched with another member, if they already have bids or offers listed. Should the member’s system become unresponsive, any existing positons will automatically be suspended.
Slide 6
Once a trade is made, you can now track where in the process your wine (or payment) is. Members can use this information to keep their clients up-to-date on the status of their order from receipt of payment, transit via Prime, receipt into Vine warehouse, checking and clearing. All major stages can be tracked via the API.
Slide 7
Once a member’s trades leave or are receipted into their client’s sub-accounts, their own internal systems can be updated via the APIs from Vine. A member can either use these APIs to maintain, in real-time, the private reserves section of their website, or they can use them to update their own stock control system. This completely removes the need to re-key data between different accounts.
Slide 8
If members (or their clients) wish to release or ship wines, this can now be done directly from their own ERP system – either via instant transfer to another account or sub-account or by shipping or releasing to a transporter.
Slide 9
Finally, members can manage their Liv-ex accounts via an API. They can track their buying and selling limits, identify any overdue invoices or stock deliveries, manage their margin levels and monitor their overall account status. Again, this is all possible from inside their own ERP system. This enables the accounts department to be fully informed about all activity of their business on Liv-ex from their own screens, rather than having to log into Liv-ex separately to check. A member can establish alerts when they are getting close to their trading limits or when specified amounts of stock become overdue.
Slide 10
There will, of course, be continuous updates and upgrades over the coming years, including the ability to add special contracts to our integration services. It’s now possible to take full advantage of the benefits that technology offers to improve efficiency, offer better customer service and stay fully informed when trading on Liv-ex.
Slide 11
Further information about these services can be found on the Liv-ex developers website here.
