SDX Interest Rates Help > Working With the Portfolio Page > What Can be Done in the Portfolio Page? > Linking Fields Between Instruments in a Portfolio

Linking Fields Between Instruments in a Portfolio

Being able to link fields across instruments within a portfolio is a useful feature for when you are creating a product intended to be used by another user. It means that not only can you create a product for use by others, but you can also ensure that subsequent users of this product cannot change its key characteristics. For example, if you link the notionals of two instruments, when a user then changes the notional of either instrument the system will automatically change the notional of the other one accordingly.

This thereby ensures the consistency of the product when used by other people.

You activate this Link functionality (of course depending on your permissions) using the Link button on the top toolbar.

 

When you have activated the Link functionality, the second to top row of buttons in the Portfolio is disabled. To use these buttons you must turn off the Linking functionality by clicking the Link button again.

Which fields can be linked depends on the instruments in the portfolio. Also fields can only be linked to appropriate fields. So for example, you can link the Notional fields in two instruments, but you cannot link a Notional field to one of the date fields.

Once you have linked fields in instruments across a portfolio, you can then save it as either a template or a structure template (for more information see What Portfolio Types Are Available?. When you then open the portfolio again, all fields that were linked will still be linked.

Users without permissions to edit the Linking functionality will not be able to break the links between these linked fields. However, when they open a structure template or template with linked fields, they can see the fields that are linked by clicking the Link icon. Subsequently, as seen in Figure 1, all the linked fields are highlighted in yellow, and in the Linked Instruments area, the user can see a list of which fields are linked together.

Figure 1: Non-authorized Users Can See Which Fields Are Linked Without Being Able to Edit Them

To link fields across a portfolio's instruments:

1. Create a portfolio with the relevant instruments.
2. On the top toolbar, to activate the Link functionality click the Link button. All fields that can be linked are marked with an open link icon, and the Linked Instruments window opens as seen in Figure 2.

Figure 2: The Linked Instruments Window Lets You Manage Linked Fields
3. Click a link icon in a field that you want to link to another field. As seen in Figure 3 it turns into a closed link icon, and the link icons disappear from all the fields except for the ones that can be linked to the field you have just selected.

Figure 3: A Clicked Link Icon Becomes a Closed Link Icon
4. Click the link icon in each field you want to link to the first field. In the Linked Instruments window, the linked fields are listed under the relevant heading as seen in Figure 4.

Figure 4: Linked Fields Are Displayed in the Linked Instruments Window
5. Click Apply to apply the linked feature to those fields.
6. To unlink a field, simply click its closed link icon. Alternatively, to remove the linked feature from a set of fields, in the Linked Instruments window click the relevant group (it is highlighted in blue) and then click Remove. Click Yes. When you close the window, click Yes again.
7. To turn off the Linking functionality, click the Link button on the top toolbar again.

 

If you turn off the Linking functionality, any linked fields remain linked. To unlink a linked field, see Step 6.