39.4 Stratification Tips

Consider this criteria when evaluating how you want to stratify data:

• When identifying attributes that you want to include as part of the instrument pools, keep in mind the primary use of the stratified data you are creating.

  For example, the ALM engine uses only the current balance amount fields for its calculations. As far as the ALM engine is concerned, designing a stratification rule that populates other balance or amount fields is optional.

• You need to identify the stratification criteria for the attributes.

  This step is simplified by the fact that any attributes that you identify as needing to maintain discrete values for, or that are going to be dropped or defaulted by definition, cannot be used as grouping criteria for pools.

• Maximize efficient processing by designing rules to summarize the instruments into as few pools as possible, while at the same time only grouping instruments that generate the same or similar cash flows.

In other words, all instruments that are grouped into a pool should share common and pertinent financial characteristics.

Note:

Unique Constraint on all Aggregated tables is the same as other instrument tables with ID Number and Identity Code. In order to preserve uniqueness, DEFAULT value should not be used for ID_NUMBER and IDENTITY_CODE mappings. MIN/MAX should be used for these fields accordingly.