today's conference call

[mwsachs@us.ibm.com]

Today, we held the opening TP conference call.  The following points will
be of interest:

The team website pages should be up today or tomorrow.  Mike Rawlins will
post Scot Hinkelman's UML TPA model, the tpaML 1.0.6 draft proposal, and a
technical white paper on tpaML to the web page.  He will also post the URL
to the "team-private" pages.

Scott Hinkelman is working with the BP team on merging the TPA UML model
into the ebXML model.  There was a consensus that, if possible, this should
be done such that the TPA portion is separable.  This is to support the
ebXML requirement that its specifications be able to be used separately or
together.

There was a brief discussion of composing the TPA from separate documents
for different sections of the TPA.  The consensus was that this is
reasonable.  I pointed out that whatever the basic form, someone should be
able to use a tool to view the TPA as an integrated unit.  This is
especially important since choices in one part of the TPA may affect
choices in other parts.

We discussed the Tokyo deliverable, which was originally stated as a list
of the tags without necessarily having the XML grammar at that point.  We
discussed the suggestion to use the TPA UML model as that deliverable.  It
was agreed that if that is feasible, there still should be a textual
document along with it that explains the tags and their interrelations.
Such text will be needed in the final specification to explain the UML
model.  The text might include use case descriptions and class diagrams.

Conference call frequency:  We decided to start with a call every two weeks
and switch to weekly as we get closer to the Tokyo meeting.
Call time remains Wednesdaym 4-5:30 PM US eastern time in order to
accomodate people spread over 17 time zones.  The next call will be
Wednesday, Sept. 13.  I will send a notice when I book the call.

Face to face meeting:  We decided to have the meeting on Thurs.-Fri.
October 13 at the IBM Hawthorne, NY Research laboratory. I will send out a
notice with location details after I book the conference room. Hawthorne is
in Westchester County, north of New York City, near the intersection of the
Sawmill and Taconic State Parkways.  Airport choices are LaGuardia,
Kennedy, and Newark, probably in that order.  Westchester (White Plains)
airport is also a possibility though it offers far less flexibility
regarding flight schedules.

I would like to make some preliminary decisions on what to cover at the
face-to-face during our Sept. 13 conference call.

The first order of business for the team is requirements at the level that
will be in the ebXML requirements document.  It was suggested that people
first review the IBM tpaML proposal.  It was also suggested that people
look around for and review business to business use cases as a guide to
defining the TP profile and TPA.

Regards,
Marty

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Martin W. Sachs
IBM T. J. Watson Research Center
P. O. B. 704
Yorktown Hts, NY 10598
914-784-7287;  IBM tie line 863-7287
Notes address:  Martin W Sachs/Watson/IBM
Internet address:  mwsachs @ us.ibm.com
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