OASIS TC Call For Participation: UBL

["Karl F. Best" <karl.best@oasis-open.org>]

A new OASIS technical committee is being formed. The OASIS Universal
Business Language Technical Committee (UBL TC) has been proposed by the
following members of OASIS: Jon Bosak, Sun Microsystems; Thomas Becker,
SAP; Mavis Cournane, CSW Informatics; Hermann Duengelhoef, SAPMarkets;
John Evdemon, Vitria; Bob Glushko, Commerce One; Arofan Gregory,
Commerce One; Paul Grosso, Arbortext; Eduardo Gutentag, Sun
Microsystems; Eve Maler, Sun Microsystems; Duane Nickull, XMLGlobal; Sue
Probert, Commerce One; Karsten Riemer, Sun Microsystems; Gunther Stuhec,
SAP; Elvira Wallis, SAPMarkets; James Werner, Boeing; Lauren Wood,
SoftQuad; and the Individual OASIS members Sid Askary, Doug Bunting,
Adam Cheyer, Bill French, Matthew Gertner, Tim McGrath, and Mike
Rawlins.

The proposal for a new TC meets the requirements of the OASIS TC Process
(see http://oasis-open.org/committees/process.shtml), and is appended to
this message. The proposal, which includes a statement of purpose, list
of deliverables, and proposed schedule, will constitute the TC's
charter. The TC Process allows these items to be clarified (revised) by
the TC members; such clarifications (revisions), as well as submissions
of technology for consideration by the TC and the beginning of technical
discussions, may occur no sooner than the TC's first meeting.

To become a member of this new TC you must 1) be an employee of an OASIS
member organization or an Individual member of OASIS; 2) notify the
committee chair, Jon Bosak (jon.bosak@sun.com), of your intent to
participate at least 15 days prior to the first meeting; and 3)
participate in the first meeting on 29 October, 2001. You should also
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is by individual, and not by organization. You must be eligible for
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=================================================================
Karl F. Best
OASIS - Director, Technical Operations
978.667.5115 x206
karl.best@oasis-open.org  http://www.oasis-open.org
==================================================================


PROPOSAL: OASIS UBL TC

NAME

   The name of this Technical Committee shall be the UBL
   (Universal Business Language) TC.

PURPOSE

   The aims of the UBL TC shall be as follows:

   1. To avert a crisis in electronic business caused by competing
      XML business-to-business document standards by choosing as a
      starting point an existing XML business document library as
      the basis for creating a new "Universal Business Language"
      that will be a synthesis of existing XML business document
      libraries.

   2. To begin with xCBL 3.0 as the starting point and to develop
      the standard UBL library by mutually agreed-upon changes to
      xCBL 3.0 based on industry experience with other XML
      business libraries and with similar technologies such as
      Electronic Data Interchange.

   3. To develop UBL in light of standards/specifications issued
      by UN/CEFACT, ISO, IEC, ITU, W3C, IETF, OASIS, and such
      other standards bodies and organizations as the UBL TC may
      deem relevant.

   4. To harmonize UBL as far as practical with the ebXML
      specifications approved in Vienna (May 2001), with the work
      of the Joint Core Components initiative (a joint project of
      ANSI ASC X12 and the UN/EDIFACT Working Group), and with the
      work of other appropriate business information bodies.

   5. To vest ownership of UBL in OASIS, a nonprofit corporation
      dedicated to the adoption of structured information
      standards, and to make it freely available to everyone
      without licensing or other fees.

   6. Ultimately, to promote UBL to the status of an international
      standard for the conduct of XML-based electronic business.

DELIVERABLES

   The primary deliverable of the UBL TC is a coordinated set of
   XML grammatical components that will allow trading partners to
   unambiguously identify the business documents to be exchanged
   in a particular business context.

   As currently envisioned, the UBL work will take place in two
   phases:

   1. A first phase to align the vocabulary and structures of UBL
      with the work of the Joint Core Components initiative and
      with the vocabulary and structures of other already existing
      business libraries such as RosettaNet and OAGIS.

   2. A second phase to implement a mechanism for the generation
      of context-specific schemas for basic business documents and
      their components through the application of transformation
      rules to a common XML source library.

   If the work actually does take place in this form, then it is
   estimated that the first phase will take roughly a year to
   complete and that the second phase will take roughly another
   year.  If the two phases can be combined or run in parallel,
   then it is estimated that delivery of an initial set of
   specifications will take one to two years.

LANGUAGE

   The TC shall conduct its proceedings in English.

MEETINGS

   The first meeting of the TC shall take place 29 October 2001
   through 2 November 2001 at facilities in Menlo Park,
   California, donated by Sun Microsystems, or at an alternative
   location in the San Francisco Bay Area chosen to accommodate
   the number of participants who register to attend. The date
   and time of record for establishing initial voting membership
   under the OASIS TC process shall be 29 October 2001 at 2 p.m.
   Pacific Time.

   The TC shall meet in person no more often than six times a year
   and by telephone at such other times as its members may
   determine.

   It is the intention of the sponsors of the TC to adopt a
   meeting schedule that will maximize contact between the persons
   engaged in the UBL work, business experts engaged in the work
   of UN/CEFACT and ANSI ASC X12 core components discovery and
   analysis, and persons engaged in the work of other
   organizations attempting to define standard XML business
   grammars.

   Prospective participants in the UBL TC should be ready to
   commit to a schedule calling for as many as four meetings
   annually in North America and as many as two meetings annually
   in Europe or Asia.

TC PROPOSERS

   The following persons eligible to participate in OASIS
   technical committees state that they are committed to the
   meeting schedule and purpose stated above:

   Sid Askary <askary@intalio.com>
   Jon Bosak, Sun Microsystems <jon.bosak@sun.com>
   Thomas Becker, SAP <thomas.becker@sap.com>
   Doug Bunting <dougb62@yahoo.com>
   Adam Cheyer, VerticalNet <acheyer@verticalnet.com>
   Mavis Cournane, CSW Informatics <mavis.cournane@csw.co.uk>
   Hermann Duengelhoef, SAPMarkets
        <hermann.josef.duengelhoef@sapmarkets.com>
   John Evdemon, Vitria <jevdemon@vitria.com>
   Bill French, Contivo <bfrench@contivo.com>
   Matthew Gertner, Schemantix <matthew.gertner@schemantix.com>
   Bob Glushko, Commerce One <bob.glushko@commerceone.com>
   Arofan Gregory, Commerce One <arofan.gregory@commerceone.com>
   Paul Grosso, Arbortext <pgrosso@arbortext.com>
   Eduardo Gutentag, Sun Microsystems <eduardo.gutentag@sun.com>
   Eve Maler, Sun Microsystems <eve.maler@sun.com>
   Tim McGrath <tmcgrath@portcomm.com.au>
   Duane Nickull, XMLGlobal <duane@xmlglobal.com>
   Sue Probert, Commerce One <sue.probert@commerceone.com>
   Mike Rawlins, Rawlins EC Consulting
        <mike@rawlinsecconsulting.com>
   Karsten Riemer, Sun Microsystems <karsten.riemer@sun.com>
   Gunther Stuhec, SAP <gunther.stuhec@sap.com>
   Elvira Wallis, SAPMarkets <elvira.wallis@sapmarkets.com>
   James Werner, Boeing <james.k.werner@boeing.com>
   Lauren Wood, SoftQuad <lauren@softquad.com>

CHAIR

   The TC shall be chaired by Jon Bosak.

MEETING SPONSORS

   The default sponsors of telephone meetings during the first
   year of operation of the TC and face-to-face meetings held at
   certain North American locations (primarily in the San
   Francisco Bay Area) during the first year of operation of the
   TC shall be Commerce One and Sun Microsystems.  Other meeting
   sponsors, if any, shall be disclosed on the publicly visible TC
   mailing list.