Questions/Comments ebXML-BP Metamodel - seattlemodel.doc

[Brian Hayes <Brian.Hayes@Commerceone.com>]

Here's some additional questions and comments that I have on the ebXML-BP
metamodel.  I applogize in advance if any of the questions and comments have
been adressed earlier.

-pg1-
Business Action & Business Process Interface - The first diagram shows that
the Busines Process Interface executes a Business Action.  What's the reason
behind this?  I think that Business Process Interface executes a Business
Transaction or a Step.

-pg2-
Is an Economic Resource Type equivalent to a commodity (classification
system used in part catalogs)?

Would it be worth modeling a PartnerRelationship? Or is this already
covered?  For example, a buyer and supplier have a trading relationship that
is defined by one or more Contracts.  You could also say that a Contract
identifies which BusinessProcess instances are allowed between the partners.

What are the role names on the relationship between Partner Role and
Economic Event?

-pg3, Markets and Communities-

Market - Community - Partner.  It should be stated somewhere that a Partner
can only operate within Communities and MarketSites that the participate in.
It is not clear if a Partner is limited to operating within just the
Community.  This may be too restrictive for non-contract buying from
suppliers not in one of your communities.  Of course, you could have
mega-communities that contained all the parties in a Market and
mega-communities that cut accross multiple markets.

Party - Party Type.  What's the cardinality on the Party - Party Type
relationship?

Business Process and Community.  I heard the statement during th 4/17/00
teleconference that the Business Process ties into the Community.  This
relationship is derivable through Partner Role; would it be useful to show
as a derived relationship on the diagrams?

Associations
	Is it appropriate to state a Party is registered at a Market?  Is
there a better name for this association?  Can a Party be registered at
multiple Markets?
	Is it appropriate to state a Partner colloborates in (or
participates in) a Community?  Does there need to be atleast one Partner to
form a Community?

-pg4 Business Processes and Rules-

Business Collaboration.  
	The statement was made at the 04/17 teleconference that a Business
Collaboration looks like a service.  It was also stated that this was true;
however, it's not obvious from the model and the definitions.
	The model shows that Business Collaboration has an aggregation of
Business Transactions.  I find this confusing, particularly since it is an
instance/realization of a Business Process (which aggregates Steps that
could be Business Transactions).

Business Activity.  The definition of this objects states that it "is used
to represent the state of the business process."  When I look at the model,
Business Activity does not strike me as a "state"; instead, I think of it as
some work that is going to be done.

-pg 5 Information Flow and Communication-

Business Signal - Information Flow.
	Why is it significant to model the Business Signal and Information
Flow?  Does the Information Flow define the Business Signal or vise-versa?
I read that a Business Signal is the "fundamental unit of communication
between two business process interfaces." Are there some examples for
Business Signal?
	What significant information would be lost if Business Process
Interface was associated directly with Business Document (or Document
Envelope) and Business Signal and Information Flow were dropped from the
model?  A Business Service Interface would "send or recieve" Business
Documents.

-Definitions-
Business Action. Missing definition (but was in a previously distributed
list of definitions).  If not already mentioned in the definition, state
that the Business Action happens within the company's own boundries.

Business Collaboration. Missing definition (but was in a previously
distributed list of definitions). 

Business Signal. Missing definition (but was in a previously distributed
list of definitions). 

Contract - The description of Contract mentions a sales order as an example.
Does a supplier-buyer pricing contract fit just as well into this model?

Economic Resource Type.  How is this different from commodity (e.g. office
supplies or paper)?

-Additional Concepts-
I would like to propose the modeling of the following concepts:

Service Level Agreement.
	[this might be associated with a Business Process, Business
Transaction, Business Activity, or Step]
	SLAs are standard practice for making explicit agreements between a
provider of a service and a customer, or collection of customers. These
agreements typically include statements about the reliability and
availability of services, their performance, and security.
	The SLA describes when services would be made available, what the
time sensitive characteristics of the services would be (e.g. response
time), what document guarantees are provided specific to the document
choreography, and how documents will be kept secure.

SLA Penalty Clause.
	[this would be associated with Service Level Agreement]
	For some SLA attributes, it may be appropriate to have a penalty
clause.  <I have not completely thought this one out.  One possible use
case: I may choose not to participate in a Business Process where I thought
the SLA penalty was to cost prohibitive.

Operates relationship.
	[association between Partner and Business Service]
	It could be said that a Partner operates a Business Service.  Note
that eCo states "Businesses provide and use Services."

---
Brian Hayes
Architect
Commerce One
925-941-4498