What do people really expect from ebXML?

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

What do people really expect from ebXML?  Or in other words, what do
businesses expect from ebXML Core Components?  I can reduce the scope of
my first question simply because I think I can answer why they might
want TR&P Messaging Services, the Registry, and Automated Trading
Partner Agreements.  I might even be able to make a stab at answering
that for Business Process modeling.

For example, TR&P Messaging Services is giving folks something much
better than what they have now, replacing EDIINT AS1 and AS2 for
point-to-point EDI over the Internet.  The Registry and Repository will
at least be able to let you automatically locate your Trading partners'
CPPs (Collaboration Partner Profile), and thus automate the process of
"hooking" up to them -  avoiding the pain of the trading partner
maintenance required of EDI over the Internet packages today.  Just
these two parts of ebXML could completely remove what's perceived
(perhaps incorrectly) as a major impediment to automated B2B
interoperability (e.g., EDI) -  the "expensive" VAN.  Throw in a few
more examples, and people will immediately discern the benefit of ebXML
in ameliorating the misery of what they go through today.

I'm asking questions like these, especially of real businesses  (as
opposed to vendors), to share with some folks in Marketing and
Awareness.  After suitable distillation, a talented writer like Alan
Kotok will probably be able to help craft convincing propaganda pieces.
If you do have additional ideas on why Messaging Services, Business
Processes, Registry and Trading Partner Automation will be attractive to
business and industry - and just as important: why they're better than
what we have now - please share your ideas, and I will gather and
forward them to Beth Morrow of the M&A group.

But the benefits of Core Components is a tough one to explain.  In all
fairness, it's the most complex piece of ebXML.  And its analog in
conventional EDI has been around and working for years -  so CC has a
tough hurdle to jump.  Sure, I know that modeling the data structures
might help the standards making process, but that's not a benefit that
will sell ebXML to the business community - only a small fraction of
that community actually participates in the standards-making process, as
they are mostly standards "consumers."    We might even say that Core
Components will lead to an explosion of inexpensive off-the-shelf shrink
wrapped B2B software - but why?  Why didn't EDI lead to inexpensive
off-the-shelf shrink wrapped B2B software?

In short, why is it expected that the standards and products built upon
the CC specs will result in anything better than what we have today with
EDI?

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/
"accelerating time-to-trade"