Re: identification / classification

["William J. Kammerer" <wkammerer@foresightcorp.com>]

Jay L. Ayres says he's "heard there are several other identification
codes used besides Harmonized Codes when addressing products / services
or industry classifications within the ebXML arena."   He asks "How many
and by what name are the other product / service and industry
classification codes."

Hopefully, there will be all sorts of codes used within the ebXML arena,
because codes are the mortar that holds the bricks of e-commerce
together.  Although it's sometimes disheartening to see our ebXML
examples with stuff spelled out incorrectly in English - as if a machine
is going to be able to magically process it.

Besides the Harmonized Tariff codes, you can find other taxonomies
listed at the OASIS XML Cover Page for Resource Description and
Classification, at http://www.oasis-open.org/cover/classification.html.
For example, just for starters, there's the UNSPSC - United Nations
Standard Product and Services Classification, the North American
Industry Classification System (NAICS), and the Standard Industrial
Classifications (SIC) code.

But apparently there's a turf war going on over the UNSPSC. I didn't
think anything of it when I got an e-mail from RosettaNet last month
about some change in the code management organization for the UN/SPSC.
At http://www.rosettanet.org/, under Standards -  Product & Partner
Codes, they have an entry re: the UN/SPSC - United Nations/Standard
Product and Services Code:

   Important Note: As of Feb. 24, 2001, the United Nations
   Development Programme (UNDP), owner of the UN/SPSC, will
   no longer be using the Electronic Commerce Code Management
   Association (ECCMA) to manage, maintain or update the
   UN/SPSC. During this transition, no revisions or updates
   to the UN/SPSC will be made.

What's going on?  So I head over to the ECCMA and check out the FAQ on
the UN/SPSC at http://eccma.org/unspsc/faq.html. There seems to be a
subtle difference between the "UNSPSC" and the "UN/SPSC" - something
funny is going on here.  It's like when we had two or three popes all at
once.  Now there's two UN/SPSC (or UNSPSC) - one stands for United
Nations and the other for "Universal" - at http://www.un-spsc.net and
http://www.unspsc.org.

William J. Kammerer
FORESIGHT Corp.
4950 Blazer Pkwy.
Dublin, OH USA 43017-3305
+1 614 791-1600

Visit FORESIGHT Corp. at http://www.foresightcorp.com/
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