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Scenario File Format–Second Exposure Draft
The Technology Section of the Society of Actuaries is proposing that a standard file format be adopted for
the economic scenarios used in modeling for risk management and liability valuation. A standard format could
facilitate the sharing of such scenarios between different modeling systems and save practicing actuaries time
currently spent reformatting data.
This page provides access to the current proposal. All material on this page should be considered an
"exposure draft". This is, in fact, the second exposure draft, and was created on August 5, 2008. A summary of changes since the first exposure
draft can be downloaded by clicking  here.
Indications of support
As of early August, vendors of the following actuarial modeling software packages have given permission to publicly announce their intention to support the proposed standard file format.
AXIS, ALFA, PTS, Barrie and Hibbert (scenario generator).
Vendors of several other packages are reviewing the proposal, and we are hoping that more indications of support can be announced in coming months...
Commenting on the Exposure Draft
Comments on this exposure draft will almost assuredly lead to refinements and improvements in the proposal.
Comments regarding any of the material on this page should be e–mailed to ScenFmtComments@list.soa.org. The comment period is expected to last through September 2008, so that a final version
can be developed and made available at the 2008 annual meeting of the Society of Actuaries in October.
Obtaining a summary of the proposal
The proposal has two parts.
First there is the definition of a file format. The format is a dialect of XML and is to be called EconSML,
which is short for Economic Scenario Markup Language.  Download a complete description of EconSML.
Second, in order to facilitate adoption of EconSML as a standard, there is a sample software library for using
the scenario data within a model. Documentation of the library's interface is available in two forms: a Developer's
Guide (in MS Word form) and an API reference (a compiled HTML help file). The API reference refers to a C#
implementation of the Application Programming Interface used by the library.
Obtaining and installing sample software
The links above provide documentation only. Persons interested in working with the new file format can
download and install a compiled software library (for use under Windows) along with source code and a sample
application in Excel/VBA that uses the library.
An installation program for Windows users can be initiated or downloaded by clicking here. The installation
program will install the library and sample program along with complete source code and all documentation
referred to above.
This installation program is for the August 4, 2008 version of the software. (Updates may later be made
available on this page.)
Currently only one version of the library has been completed. It is implemented in C# and is for use
under MS Windows. Other versions of the library written in standard C++ and in Java are planned. Complete
source code will be made available for all the libraries.
Notes on using the sample software
If you are installing an updated version of the software, it is recommended that you un–install a previous
version before installing the new one. Un–installation can be done using the Add/Remove Programs facility in
the Windows Control Panel.
If the Excel workbook does not work after installation, the user may need to do the following to ensure
that Excel can find the needed libraries:
- Open the Excel spreadsheet
- Open the VBA editor
- Click on the menu item "Tools", then "References"
- In the references dialog, put a check mark before "Common Language Runtime Library" and "TSScenarioLib". Then click OK.
TSScenarioLib is the sample library for using EconSML. The "Common Language Runtime Library" is part of .NET
and came as part of Windows starting with Windows XP. The sample library uses .NET version 1.1.
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