RE: [ebxml-dev] RE: [EDI-L] Article on ebXML Core Components...

[Todd Boyle <tboyle@rosehill.net>]

At 02:06 PM 4/22/02, Fred Blommestein, van wrote:
>Rachel,
>
>I agree, that ultimately I would like to do everything automatically 
>through my Quicken system. But what if Quicken (or whatever accounting 
>system I have)  does not support that (yet). Or doen't support that 
>specific document or process.

Some SME's accounting packages will have ebXML interfaces sooner than 
others.  When the CCTS is possible for them to use, they will quite likely 
welcome the standard since it will increase their sales. There will be a 
huge flapping of wings as users exit from older versions and buy ebXML 
capable versions--- sometimes, from a different software vendor.

My belief is the CC types (amount, datetime, identifier, etc.) in the CCTS 
are feasible to adopt now.  The OMG ARAP project uses them.   But SME 
software vendors cannot support open-ended complexity of the context or 
assembly.  We are very close to giving them a common data dictionary of 
elements, and a common set of smaller aggregates like party and address, 
with UBL.  When the UBL reaches Ver. 1.0, things will start to happen. 
Intuit is in the UBL list, so is SAP and many other vendors.

>And you are wrong. I don't want merely to see the message on my monitor, I 
>want to be able to retrieve more information if needed and give a response 
>as well (and in the process I want my Quicken system to get the data it needs).

Fred! This comment got me off my chair!  Businesses (both small and large) 
are notoriously negative about conducting business on  any kind of system 
they don't control -- ASP models, service bureau, hub or exchange.  The 
failures of hundreds of hubs and exchanges confirmed it.  So did the 
failure of almost every web-based accounting provider
  (http://groups.google.com/groups?oi=djq&as_q=webledger+failures+arap )

Also in the small business segment, the bookkeepers are used to VERY high 
quality user interfaces.  For at least 10 years, the quality of the user 
interface was 90% determining factor.  Bookeepers are fond of pullling up 
displays of 10,000 rows of data times more than 10 columns wide, and 
scrolling instantaneously with the scrollbar etc. and setting all kinds of 
query filters and sorts. No web interface can compete with this.  The 
bookkeeper is doing his work so fast the screen never stands still, it 
looks like an acid trip.

No small business owner or bookeeper having high volumes is willing to use 
a browser as their accounting interface.  Don't you remember the browser 
wars?  We all realized "good god, the internet is the operating system and 
the browser is the client! "
and how Microsoft had to control the browser to prevent it from becoming 
anything usable as a business software client?   To this day we have a 
crippled, impoverished thing with no state control, no control over 
keyboard hotkeys or shortcuts, no control over printing format, no caching 
to fill up a combo box or selection list, etc. etc. etc. etc.

Well anyway -- when SMEs created the sale or purchase they probably did it 
in person, or used the phone and when they have a problem, they will 
probably use the phone?   I'm just shooting for the middle of the large, 
mass market, you know,
Cheers,
Todd