1691.2000-07-20.farmer.ham.txt 6.2 KB

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  1. Subject: new version of stack manager
  2. introduction
  3. in response to feedback received from enron traders worldwide , we have
  4. upgraded and improved the stack manager to include new functionality which we
  5. hope will improve its effectiveness and usefulness in the management of your
  6. products .
  7. this new release will be automatically installed within the next few days .
  8. please ensure you log out at night in order to receive the upgrade .
  9. summary of new features
  10. multiple children - a " child " product can be the " parent " of another child
  11. ( multiple links in a chain ) and different types of links can be placed
  12. against a single parent .
  13. static product bar prices - when you change a price in the product bar and
  14. hit the " + " or " - " button , the price stays - it does not reset to the amount
  15. in product properties until you logout .
  16. sorting - you can sort by any field on the products tab simply by clicking on
  17. the title of the field . for multiple sorts , hold down your " shift " key .
  18. parent products which are at the top of a stack do not have their basis
  19. relationship identified . ( e . g . the product bar might before have said : " basis
  20. link - parent " and now would say " stand alone , parent " ) .
  21. detailed feature descriptions
  22. multiple children
  23. the new version of enrononline allows you to link several products together
  24. in a long chain . for example , child product a can be linked to parent product
  25. b , which is in turn linked to parent product c .
  26. warning : although there is no absolute limit to the number of links in a
  27. chain , system performance is degraded by large chains . this is because when a
  28. customer attempts a transaction , the database must " lock " each and every
  29. product in the chain before it can process the transaction request . the
  30. database must then update the stack for each product before releasing the
  31. locks . " vertical " chains ( multiple parents and children in one long link ) are
  32. much slower to process than " flat " chains ( one parent with many children ) .
  33. large vertical chains should be avoided .
  34. related to this feature is the ability to have several types of links on the
  35. same parent . for example , child product a can have a basis link to parent
  36. product b . at the same time , child product c can have a syncopated basis link
  37. to the same parent product b . parent b is the parent for both a syncopated
  38. basis link and a regular basis link .
  39. static product bar prices
  40. the new version of enrononline provides for " sticky " product bar price and
  41. volume changes . when you change a number on the product bar , it does not
  42. reset to the number contained in the product properties menu until after you
  43. have logged out . this makes it easier to update prices , volumes , spreads or
  44. offsets in a changing market without repeated hits to the " + " or " - " buttons .
  45. one of the benefits of setting these numbers to appropriate levels is that it
  46. reduces repeated price movements . with the old version of stack manager , if
  47. the price delta was too small , traders would often repeatedly hit the price
  48. movement buttons . each of these price changes must be communicated across the
  49. website to customers and consumes valuable bandwidth . this makes it harder
  50. for customers to transact with us - each time they try , a new price update
  51. moves the price , resulting in an increased transaction failure rate . entering
  52. an appropriate price into the price delta field and then pressing the price
  53. movement button means that fewer ( but larger ) price movements are necessary ,
  54. improving overall system response and reducing customer transaction failure
  55. rate .
  56. you may also notice a new addition to the product bar prices - a new field
  57. for offset to last trade . this allows you to update the offset for products
  58. which have offset to last trade selected from the product properties menu .
  59. sorting / selecting
  60. the new version of enrononline provide significant additional sorting
  61. functionality over the old . you can now choose any field heading ( type ,
  62. location , reference period , etc . ) and sort by that item . you can do multiple
  63. sorts by holding down the shift key . example : if you select type and then
  64. location while holding the shift key , you will see your products sorted first
  65. by product type and then within each product type , by location ( in
  66. alphabetical order ) .
  67. if you right click on the product menu , you can choose from the same sort
  68. criteria , plus you can select " sort by web order " , which allows you to see
  69. your products in the same order as they would appear to a customer on the
  70. website ( note however , that a customer on the website might be also seeing a
  71. number of products in addition to the ones you are managing ) .
  72. when you select products , you can drag your mouse while holding down the left
  73. mouse button as always , but now you can also hold down the key while
  74. making your selections . this allows you to highlight products which are not
  75. necessarily adjacent to one another .
  76. parent products and f / x products
  77. one of the differences in the way that the new version works is in its
  78. treatment of how parent products are displayed . the old version showed the
  79. type of link associated with the parent in the product bar ( to the left of
  80. the main product bar update buttons above the products tabs ) . the new version
  81. does not show the type of link . this is because the new version allows for
  82. more than one type of link on each parent product .
  83. some traders may notice that their products which have f / x links are now
  84. identified with a stylised " fx " in the product list . this is to enable easy
  85. identification of products which are run as a foreign exchange link to the
  86. parent , rather than managed individually .
  87. assistance
  88. as always , if you have any problems with any enrononline functionality ,
  89. please contact the 24 hour help desk ( houston : 713 853 4357 , london : + 44 ( 0 )
  90. 20 7783 7783 , australia : + 61 2 9229 2300 ) .
  91. general feedback
  92. if you have any comments on the new functionality , or suggestions for further
  93. functionality , please call david forster on 713 853 1861 . if you had
  94. previously suggested new functionality which didn ' t make it into this
  95. release , rest assured that you have not been forgotten - we are working hard
  96. to improve all elements of enrononline and will try to incorporate your
  97. requests into the next release of the enrononline stack manager .