Re: FW: OASIS/ebXML bdocs TCs

["Lisa M. Shreve" <lms@wwnet.com>]

Nita,

Yes, I have seen this.  From what I understand of this initiative, this
effort is ensure there be a forum for generating implementable
messages.  
The ebXML work has never intended to produce actual messages [in phase
1], only the methodologies and infrastructure.  In light of the EWG-X12
alliance to do the actual message work, I see the OASIS move as a way to
ensure that one way or another, there is a forum to do the work.  I
expect this to be a significant topic for the upcoming ebXML meeting.

lms

Sharma, Nita wrote:
> 
> Hi,
> 
> does any one in this group know about this initiative taken by OASIS and how
> it impacts us and our work on Core processes? This is the first time I am
> seeing this and it appears to be identical to what we started with.
> 
> thanks
> 
> - Nita
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Jon Bosak [mailto:bosak@boethius.eng.sun.com]
> Sent: Friday, October 13, 2000 4:01 PM
> To: Bdocs-preparation-list@boethius.eng.sun.com
> Subject:
> 
> e       bosak@eng
> Subject: OASIS/ebXML bdocs TCs
> 
> This is an update for people who have been following the formation
> of OASIS "Bdocs" TCs for the definition of base schemas for
> business messages.  Note that our projected meeting date has been
> moved from mid-December in Washington to the second week of
> January in the San Francisco Bay Area, for reasons that will be
> explained below.
> 
> BACKGROUND
> 
> ebXML (http://ebxml.com), a joint initiative of OASIS and
> UN/CEFACT, is a bit more than halfway through its definition of an
> infrastructure for global electronic trade.  Among the
> deliverables of this effort are guidelines for the development of
> XML schemas for business documents.  However, the schemas
> themselves are not among the deliverables.  It is my opinion and
> the opinion of some others on this list that work needs to start
> soon on the development of base schemas for the most common
> business documents.  I have proposed that those of us interested
> in this work form a set of OASIS technical committees (TCs) in
> which to carry out the formation of schemas according to the ebXML
> guidelines now under development.
> 
> Current plans call for the simultaneous formation of nine OASIS
> TCs:
> 
>    1. Product Catalogs
> 
>    2. Other Pre-Order (Partner Review and Product Introduction)
> 
>    3. Order Management
> 
>    4. Product Delivery, Inventory Management and Billing
> 
>    5. Reporting, Product Returns and Credit/Debit Memos
> 
>    6. Payment Reconciliation, Service and Support
> 
>    7. Financial
> 
>    8. Customs
> 
>    9. UML-to-XML mapping
> 
> A matrix showing the documents that would likely be developed in
> TCs 2-6 can be found at
> 
>    http://metalab.unc.edu/bosak/bdocs/bdoc-matrix.pdf
> 
> This is just a discussion piece, but it gives an idea of the kind
> of work each TC would be doing.
> 
> CURRENT STATUS
> 
> Members of the UN/EDIFACT Working Group meeting in Taipei a few
> weeks ago reportedly agreed to form a joint effort with ANSI X12
> that would overlap the work projected for the Bdocs OASIS TCs.
> Members of X12 meeting in Cincinnati last week reportedly agreed
> to cooperate in this joint effort.  Recipients of the present
> message should have received a long piece I posted to EWG and X12
> leaders expressing my willingness cooperate in this effort but
> also pointing out some organizational concerns.  The following
> lists my main concerns at this point.
> 
>    1. I don't believe that a joint initiative of X12 and EWG will
>       have a committee process strong enough for the resolution of
>       disagreements between the b2b vendors that I most desire to
>       participate in XML business document standardization.
> 
>    2. As separate standards organizations, X12 and EWG do appear
>       to have committee processes that will work for this, but I'm
>       not sure that they are set up to allow initial voting
>       membership by OASIS members.
> 
>    3. In any event, I am not at all convinced that X12 and EWG,
>       either together or separately, can move quickly enough to
>       establish nine parallel committees for the definition of
>       standard trading schemas in time to avert a collision of
>       proprietary solutions in this area.
> 
> For these reasons, I have decided to go ahead with the preliminary
> formation of OASIS Bdocs TCs to ensure that a standardization
> effort for XML business schemas will begin in some credible, open
> forum in the near future.  If X12 and EWG manage to establish a
> set of committees operating under a believable process and open to
> our participation before we're set to begin, then we can simply
> cancel the first Bdocs meetings and switch our efforts to the
> X12/EWG committees instead.  If it appears that X12 and EWG will
> not succeed in establishing an adequate organizational structure
> by the time we're set to begin, I will petition the OASIS Board of
> Directors to pass a resolution making X12 and EWG members eligible
> to participate in the TCs and will invite X12 and EWG members to
> continue their work on XML schemas in that setting.
> 
> As most of you know, there is a 60-day delay built into the OASIS
> TC process to allow for the formation of mail lists and the proper
> notification of OASIS members.  I had originally intended to file
> the Bdocs paperwork with OASIS in time to hold our first set of
> meetings in Washington, D.C. immediately following the XML 2000
> conference in December, but I held back for a few weeks to see how
> the X12/EWG initiative was shaping up.  The plan now is to hold
> the first meetings of the TCs on two consecutive days during the
> second week of January 2001 (right now we're planning on Monday
> and Tuesday, January 8 and 9) at some facility to be donated by
> Sun Microsystems in the San Francisco Bay Area (right now we're
> looking at meeting rooms in Newark, which is across the Dumbarton
> Bridge from Sun's Menlo Park campus).  This arrangement will give
> us maximum flexibility in case a credible X12/EWG initiative is
> implemented in time and we decide to switch our activity to that
> forum.
> 
> POSITIONING WITH REGARD TO EBXML
> 
> We will have to be very careful to make sure that people
> understand that the Bdocs effort is not competitive with ebXML.
> In particular, we will have to emphasize the following points.
> 
>    1. ebXML is officially on record as stating that XML schemas
>       for common business documents (purchase orders, etc.) are
>       not among its deliverables.  This position was reaffirmed by
>       a formal decision of the ebXML Steering Committee at its
>       meeting in Brussels last May.
> 
>    2. The Bdocs plan has been formed with the knowledge of the
>       ebXML Executive Committee, which I have taken care to keep
>       informed of our progress.
> 
>    3. The recent discussions in EWG and X12 show that a there is
>       widespread support for the commencement of XML schema
>       development in parallel with the development of ebXML
>       guidelines.  The conversation at this point is not about
>       whether such work will take place in parallel with the
>       current ebXML activities, but where it will take place and
>       within what kind of procedural framework.
> 
>    4. The Bdocs TCs will be chartered to implement ebXML
>       guidelines and feed back experience gained in that
>       implementation to ebXML.  Every effort will be made to keep
>       the implementation in sync with the development of ebXML
>       guidelines.  The Bdocs TCs are intended to implement ebXML,
>       not to compete with it.
> 
> To ensure the communication of this message to the ebXML
> membership, I will be asking the ebXML Executive to schedule a
> time during the upcoming ebXML plenary meeting in Tokyo during
> which I can present the Bdocs plan and explain the purpose and
> organization of the TCs.
> 
> INITIAL MEMBERSHIP
> 
> Under the OASIS TC process, the initial voting members of a TC are
> those people eligible to participate who notify the chair of the
> TC at least 15 days in advance of its first meeting of their
> intention to participate and who then appear at the first meeting.
> So we will know the actual composition of the Bdocs TCs only when
> we sit down together at the first set of meetings in January.
> 
> For purposes of starting the TC process, however, we need to
> submit a list of at least three eligible participants for each TC
> and to name a chair for each TC.  As a formality, therefore, the
> plan is to list everyone initially committed to this effort on the
> submission for each TC and to name myself as chair of each TC.
> The first TC meetings will be held in series, one hour per
> meeting, on the specified days in January.  I will call each TC to
> order and then supervise the election of its permanent chair.
> Attendees can decide after the first set of meetings which TCs
> they will actually be participating in.
> 
> The pro forma name list for the submissions to form the TCs
> currently stands as follows:
> 
>    Jon Bosak (chair)
>    Eduardo Gutentag, Sun Microsystems
>    Eve Maler, Sun Microsystems
>    Lauren Wood, SoftQuad
>    Mavis Cournane, CSW
> 
> While this list is more than sufficient to fulfill the OASIS
> requirements for TC formation, it would be good PR to have as many
> names on the TC submissions as possible.  I intend to finish up
> the paperwork if I can by next Wednesday (2000.10.18), so anyone
> who wishes to be recorded in the annals of history as a charter
> member of the Bdocs TCs should send me mail by Tuesday to let me
> know.  Note that any employee of an OASIS member organization can
> be listed for purposes of starting a TC, so those of you who wish
> to assign a subordinate to participate in this work should feel
> free to do so.
> 
> Jon