Case Study:
Electronic Filing and Distribution at the US SEC
What is EDGAR?
The Electronic Data Gathering, Analysis and Retrieval System (EDGAR) enable real-time access to time sensitive financial data disclosed by corporations. EDGAR was structured, developed, and implemented by TRW (Thompson-Ramo-Wooldridge) to answer the following criteria:
- High-volume, secure electronic filing system for SEC
- System functionality that includes full text management and data retrieval
- Files submitted from multiple locations
- System incorporated Web-based technology and design
EDGAR automates the processing of over 11 million pages of corporate disclosure information, some of which is very sensitive, filed on over 360 different form types by over 115,000 filers with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) each year. EDGAR has automated the handling of millions of pages previously filed on paper with SEC. EDGAR is frequently cited as a model government procurement that met and exceeded original objectives.
What role does FEST play in the EDGAR system?
TRW has implemented FEST technology to process all the filings and distribute them to numerous locations using FASTCopy.
The flow is as follows:
1. All filings to SEC pass through the EDGAR system before being placed into designated FEST "Hot" directories.
2. FEST then filters these files, using different filters and initializing different processes for each of the designated FEST "Hot" directories.
3. In the distribution scenario, after the filings have been transformed into EDGAR format, FEST starts FASTCopy jobs that distribute these re-formatted files to EDGAR clients.
Among EDGAR clients are numerous Wall Street Analysts and several very large brokerage firms. Many of the EDGAR clients have decided to use FEST to continue the distribution procedure and forward the information to their clients. Below is a simple diagram of the process:
** The orange-colored clients illustrate how EDGAR clients and sub-clients have implemented FEST to continue the distribution process.
Benefits and achievements of FEST in EDGAR:
- FEST distributes over ten of thousands files per hour, during peak periods
- Information security, availability and integrity is uncompromised
- EDGAR has implemented FEST in production for the last two years without a single failure
- FEST is easily and seamlessly integrated into existing processes
- Rapid deployment and implementation