FactSet and OpenFin have come together on the FactSet Workstation in a move that will allow FactSet users to integrate and leverage its data and workflows alongside their own internally developed and third-party applications.
The FactSet Workstation is built on web parts, which have been modified to work in the OpenFin operating system. It offers services such as in-depth portfolio monitoring with the ability to understand that portfolio in context through data feeds that offer news, real-time alerts and fundamental data. The decision to deploy the OpenFin OS on top was the result of intense client interest, says Gene Fernandez, chief technology and product officer at FactSet.
“We’re increasingly trying to augment what our clients do,” Fernandez says. “We’ve got so much data in the Workstation, and that’s only increasing. So we’re putting a lot of energy into personalizing it so that the user can see what’s important to them at the forefront and go from there.”
OpenFin’s snapping, docking and screen-saving features were a key demand from users, but behind the scenes, FactSet is also leveraging the Finos-developed Financial Objects, a program focused on identifying standardized structured objects that support industry workflows. So, for example, if you’re monitoring a watchlist on FactSet using certain tickers, Fernandez says, you can click on a ticker, and that identifier will be broadcast to all other open windows, and all FactSet windows will render in context.
“If you have a news window up, and you click on one of your companies—let’s say Apple—related news comes up in the other window. Same thing with third-party applications [and] internal applications,” Fernandez says. “They can listen in on the broadcast, and then they can change in context as well. It gives the user an experience that’s connected despite the applications being built by different companies.”
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