Dave Sommer VP E-Commerce, CompTIA Vice-Chair CEN/ISSS eBIF

Topics eBIF What is Interoperability? Vision, Mission, Objectives Scope of work Membership What is Interoperability? ‘Who is Who’ in eBusiness Standardization

Vision The market is confused Solving interoperability issues is the single most important step to the fulfilment of the potential of electronic business. The market is confused Disappointments after the Hype A jungle of standards initiatives (XML) in different directions Technology vendors are pushing End-users are bewildered

Mission Defining the landscape Set the direction Recommend actions eBIF should serve as the European platform for the consideration of interoperability solutions relating to eBusiness, and make strategic recommendations concerning standardization activities required to achieve this. Defining the landscape Set the direction Recommend actions Spread the word

Objectives Improve awareness of interoperability issues Broadly-based vision Open Standards for eBusiness Overview of eBusiness standards Roadmap Recommendations on future standards Overview of CEN/ISSS activities Liaison with European research projects - Promote awareness of interoperability issues, and of its own activities, through promotion and dissemination actions; - provide a broadly-based vision of future requirements for open standards initiatives for eBusiness; - make appropriate recommendations concerning eBusiness standardization matters at a strategic level; - consider the acceptance and implementations of current standards, major work underway on new standards, and market requirements for eBusiness standardization activities, (taking into due account existing work as described in the "Roadmap"), both in Europe and globally; - maintain an overview of current and proposed CEN/ISSS consensus activities in the field of eBusiness standardization, and to advise or propose on the development of additional ones, as required, and ensure effective co-ordination and a consistent approach; - liaise with relevant European research projects, with the objectives of bringing their results into the appropriate standards arena, and ensuring that their solutions are compatible with standardised solutions; - Develop a methodology for tracking progress in eBusiness standardization.

Scope of Work Strategic, global, high level No actual standardization work Focus on the commonalities Provide a consistent message To the user community Supported by a wide range of organizations eEurope Action Plan Provide input on interoperability eBIF will enable exchanges of views on all aspects of eBusiness interoperability from the perspective of standardization, and seek to reach a common approach. eBIF should be a place where different organizations and initiatives should come together to discuss their commonalities, and send a coherent consistent message to user communities that is supported by a wide range of organizations across Europe and beyond. It should provide material that could assist the European Commission in the further implementation of the eEurope Action Plan with respect to relevant interoperability issues.

Membership Open to all interested parties De facto Members CEN Members Chairs of CEN/ISSS Workshops & Committees European Commission Standards-developing organizations Vendors & Users Membership of eBIF shall be open to any interested party with the necessary interests and commitment. CEN Members, Affiliates and Associates shall be de facto members, as shall the Chairs of CEN/ISSS Technical Groups (Technical Committees, Workshops, or short-term Focus Groups), or their representatives. An annual membership fee of €600 shall be payable by registered interested parties other than de facto members, representatives of the European Commission and EFTA, and accredited representatives from other standards-developing organizations (formal bodies and consortia). However, this fee shall be waived in respect of companies/organizations that are already fee-paying members of CEN/ISSS WS/eBES or CEN/ISSS WS/eInvoicing. In special cases with eBIF agreement, additional participants may join as observers without charge, but these shall not be part of the formal eBIF consensus process. Representatives of key stakeholders in eBusiness standardization will be specifically invited to join. eBIF should aim to be inclusive, representative and be able to attract a critical mass of eBusiness stakeholders in order to garner buy-in to its activities from a broad spectrum of interests. eBIF will aim to create a business impact by attracting the participation and commitment of market actors including both suppliers and users.

Adobe systems Afnet (WS/ePRO) AIDIMA ANEC Bolero Association Limited British Standards Institution CEN/ISSS Centrale für Coorganisation mbH CCI of Romania CIDX/SOLVAY CompTIA Danish Standards DIN Dr. Otto Mueller Consulting EAN International eBES ECBS ECP.NL ISO/IEC-JTC1 SC32/WG1 EICTA ENEA (WS/Textile) Estonian Informatics Centre EUROFER European Commission - DG INFSO European Commission DG ENTR Fraunhofer IAO IC Focus Icelandic Consortium, ETeB Icelandic Standards (IST) Infoterm (WS/eCAT) Interpay Nederland BV IQ-Data GmbH LAWFIRM (WS/eInvoice) LISI/ENSMA Microsoft MKEnterprise NEN NORMAPME NorStella OASIS Platte Consult RosettaNet Saphor GmbH (CDSG) SeemSeed SINTEF Société AKELA S.A. STMicroelectronics Technical University of Aachen Technical University of Opole TIEKE Uninova Union Intl des Chemins de Fer US Mission to the European Union WIRILE

What is Interoperability? Business Interoperability Business-to-Business Semantics EDI Technical Interoperability Application-to-Application Architecture XML

Interoperability Requires Synchronised business processes Compatible technical standards Common framework Trusted, secure environment Data alignment Classification

Who is Who in eBizz That is the $1.000.000 question! MoU ISO/IEC/UN-ECE/ITU Co-signed by many organizations Results unclear UN/CEFACT New structure Focus on ebXML OASIS partnership restored

Conclusions Interoperability is a complex issue A lot of work is ahead to provide clarity Describing the landscape Provide direction in the Roadmap Focus is on the commonalities Promotion & Awareness are key eBIF is off to a good start Join eBIF – we need your support!

Contact Info CEN/ISSS eBIF Secretariat: Barbara.Gatti@CENorm.be Chairman: Dick.Raman@TIEglobal.com Vice-Chairs: DSommer@CompTIA.org F.Posthumus@normapme.com eBIF web site: http://www.cenorm.be/ISSS/eBIF