Overview : Features : Databases : Graphics : Technical

WebQA Overview

WebQA is a framework for accessing vendor and custom financial data over the Internet or intranet. Provided in the framework are various APIs - C#, java and COM - allowing customers to integrate WebQA functionality directly into their applications. Along with API support, WebQA comes with existing applications, such as an Excel add-in called the Populator, which accesses the full functions of the API already. These applications can be used directly and require no programming.

The APIs handle the processing of the WebQA language. Within the language are thousands of functions for pulling financial data as well as functions used to manipulate that data, such as statistics, groupings, rankings, etc... Along with the functions provided through the WebQA framework, the user may extend the language to handle proprietary functions. The framework includes a "Function Library" (web-based) which allows function designers to work on their functions and perform testing as well as examining hierarchical relationships (functions within functions). At a higher level, the WebQA language allows for the creation of screens, reports, user-data and portfolios which integrate directly into the existing language. The user-defined objects may also be shared across company-wide, group-level or simply managed at the personal level.

The financial vendor databases used by WebQA are normalized across vendors. This means that once symbols are matched, users can pull data from multiple vendors simultaneously - including using multiple vendor data within a single calculation. Note that custom data is also included in this integration. This matching is also performed historically, allowing users to match symbols across time. In fact, all data pulls are pulled as of a "run date". This "run date" allows the user to effectively "turn back the clock" and run screens or functions as they would have run on a particular date.