UML/XML guidelines

[srh@us.ibm.com]

Kris and ebXML Architects,
I have decided to not explicitly submit information concerning any specific
IBM efforts
in the area of UML/XML mappings. There are several reasons for my decision.
Much work has taken place within IBM's Insurance Industry unit in this
area, and has been
extended by CPExchange which will be discussed in ebXML SJ within CC. I
don't want to
add confusion or replication through any submission documents that address
overlap. Also,
some of the approach has also been discussed in various other documents,
such as
in the SWIFT information, as discussed around page 26 an other places.
Using XML DTD Entities
to support OO inheritance is just one example.

I  believe there should be a concentrated explicit discussion on this in SJ
with wide invitation
across the workgroups. However, I view this as an ebXML discussion issue,
not specific to any one workgroup, but should eventually live in
Architecture. We should further
list the discussion points beforehand, which should include larger
awareness discussions on
what is happening in OMG with what UML Profile efforts, how ebXML should
engage, place
requirements, or initiate new. With full understanding of, and current
support of, our ebXML
policy to not align to non-ratified underlying specifications, I believe
that we do need the best
understanding and outlook on XMLSchema possible, as efforts to map/profile
UML to an underlying
 xml constraint structure ( DTD, XMLSchema) is non-trivial and critical
across ebXML due
to UML as a single model approach. Re-visiting this would also have
significant impact
given the limited ebXML lifecycle.

I am vacationing and will have limited response..........

Scott Hinkelman
Senior Software Engineer, IBM Austin
Emerging Technologies, SWG
512-823-8097 (TL 793-8097) (Cell: 512-940-0519)
srh@us.ibm.com, Fax: 512-838-1074