KTH-DSV meeting, Copyright WebGiro AB, All rights reserved. ECIMF Business Context Interoperability Andrzej Bialecki ECIMF Project Chair

Copyright WebGiro AB, All rights reserved. 2 Interoperability challenge Different business cultures Different business cultures  Different industry sectors, geographical regions, laws, user communities, corporate cultures, etc… Different technical frameworks Different technical frameworks  Different business processes, e-commerce standards, implementations, integration to back-office systems, etc… Standards help, sure – there are just too many of them…  Standards help, sure – there are just too many of them…   Fragmented standards help only small user groups, creating large integration costs for the rest of the world ECIMF meta-framework addresses these concerns ECIMF meta-framework addresses these concerns جظ غئؤةض 5000€/pcs. ECIMF Interoperability Framework Syntax Semantics Business processes Business context

Copyright WebGiro AB, All rights reserved. 3 ECIMF Business Context ECIMF Interoperability Model ECIMF Interoperability Model  Interop. of technical infrastructures  Interop. of business infrastructures ECIMF Business Context Modeling ECIMF Business Context Modeling  Captures economic aspects, based on REA  : what is traded  Resources: what is traded  : when and how it happens  Events: when and how it happens  : who is involved  Agents: who is involved  Agreements & Commitments: legal aspects, transactional nature  Value-chain view of commerce  Chain of business processes  Flow of resources between processes Syntax Semantics Business processes Business context Business Infrastructures Technical Infrastructures Important for interoperability Important for interoperability  Economic goals, business rules and legal obligations ultimately define the meaning and consequences of information exchange

Copyright WebGiro AB, All rights reserved. 4 ECIMF – eBTWG coordination Informal process ( discussions) Informal process ( discussions) Started from the common use of REA framework Started from the common use of REA framework  Initial ECIMF adoption of REA and UMM  ebXML use of UMM Economic Elements (based on simplified REA)

Copyright WebGiro AB, All rights reserved. 5 REA Enterprise Modeling Economic exchange as a central concept Economic exchange as a central concept Recently extended to provide a comprehensive meta-model Recently extended to provide a comprehensive meta-model Originally used non-standard modeling notation (now uses UML) Originally used non-standard modeling notation (now uses UML) Economic Event Economic Resource Economic Commitment/Event Type reserves stock-flow participation Economic Resource Type Economic Agent Type Economic Event Economic Agent Economic Commitment/Event Type dual executes reciprocal Commitment custody association typification Knowledge Infrastructure Operational Infrastructure reciprocal dual executes participation reserves stock-flow linkage participation associationlinkage custody description “the type of resources an agent can provide…”

Copyright WebGiro AB, All rights reserved. 6 Rental Recipe Rental Exchange REA Enterprise Script Enterprise script is a series of processes, consisting of exchanges realized with recipes (ordered tasks) Enterprise script is a series of processes, consisting of exchanges realized with recipes (ordered tasks) Revenue Process other processes stock-flows Customer Rental Agent Car GIVE TAKE CashRcpt Customer Cash Cashier laborcars used carscash Assess Customer Check car File & Choose Assess Insurance & Credit Fill in Contract ProcessesExchangesRecipes (tasks, ordering) Find Car & Keys Check-out Car Return Car Update Files

Copyright WebGiro AB, All rights reserved. 7 UMM Business Requirements View * Slightly different, but compatible with REA Slightly different, but compatible with REA More focused on technical than human aspects More focused on technical than human aspects Provides clear connection with the dynamic aspects Provides clear connection with the dynamic aspects Uses standard UML diagrams Uses standard UML diagrams * simplified, v. N090.R8.x Economic Event Economic Resource Economic Resource Type reserves Partner Type Economic Agent Economic Commitment/Event Type Commitment reciprocity duality fulfills resource-flow classifies Agreement classifies participation establish resultsIn Collaboration governs role resultsIn

Copyright WebGiro AB, All rights reserved. 8 ebXML Economic Modeling Elements Closely followed a subset of UMM-BRV Closely followed a subset of UMM-BRV Non-normative and disconnected Non-normative and disconnected  Status of “Technical report”  No explicit influence on the BPSS or CPP/CPA formation BUT: Very useful worksheets in bpWS BUT: Very useful worksheets in bpWS  Useful for better understanding of the influence of economic aspects

Copyright WebGiro AB, All rights reserved. 9 eBTWG: BOTL and BCP/MC work e-Business Transitionary Working Group e-Business Transitionary Working Group  Continuation of ebXML (excluding TRP) Business Information Object Types team Business Information Object Types team Business Collaboration Patterns and Monitored Commitments team Business Collaboration Patterns and Monitored Commitments team

Copyright WebGiro AB, All rights reserved. 10 CC, BIE, ABIE, BOT… BOTs consist of: BOTs consist of:  context-modified CCs  business semantics  state model (and current state) Business Object TypesCore Components Basic BIE Aggregate BIE Basic CC Aggregate CC BOT State BOT Lifecycle BOT Identity expression Context and Requirements BOT Business Semantic expression BOT Content context dependent context independent

Copyright WebGiro AB, All rights reserved. 11 BOTS, Commitments & Collaborations Commitments, collaborations and processes use BOTs: Commitments, collaborations and processes use BOTs:  BOTs help to represent the state of all BIEs processed by each partner, in the appropriate business context BusinessObjectTypes Specifies the computation of named business states BusinessProcesses Specifies the interactions between business partners BusinessCommitmentPattern Specifies the reciprocal business commitments BusinessCollaborationPattern Specifies the orchestration of business partner actions Uses states to define success and failure Uses process to define interactions Uses states to define transition conditions Uses states to define transaction success and failure Uses collaboration to describe commitment execution

Copyright WebGiro AB, All rights reserved. 12 ECIMF Business Context with BOTs Definition of Business Context: Definition of Business Context: Business Context is a collection of:   Agreements / Contracts defining the Commitments   Collaboration Patterns (using Business Processes) to execute commitments   Business Objects with their semantics, lifecycle and state, which encapsulate business data and business rules Main concepts: Main concepts:  Based on REA  Incorporates BOTs  Defines the relationship of Business Context to Processes and Semantics layers in the ECIMF model

Copyright WebGiro AB, All rights reserved. 13 Interoperability: different Business Contexts What is required in traditional business? What is required in traditional business?  Both partners need to agree on:  The type of resources exchanged  The timing (event sequences/dependencies)  The persons/organizations/roles involved  Each of the partners needs to follow the commitments under legal consequences Business Context models need to be equivalent Business Context models need to be equivalent  Partners need to play complementary roles  Expected resources need to be equivalent  Timing constraints need to be mutually satisfiable The sequence and dependencies between events need to be the same, even though the individual interactions may differThe sequence and dependencies between events need to be the same, even though the individual interactions may differ  Transaction boundaries need to be preserved Especially those, which cause legal consequencesEspecially those, which cause legal consequences  Both parties need to receive business data that is mandatory and sufficient to satisfy their internal processes

Copyright WebGiro AB, All rights reserved. 14 Applying Business Context models Business Context Models help to understand business-related constraints in integration scenarios: Business Context Models help to understand business-related constraints in integration scenarios:  Economic exchange view  Events sequence constraints  Stock management constraints  Legal constraints  Business process view  High-level transaction boundaries  Relationship to business activities  Relationship to business documents  All above aspects will limit the degrees of freedom in other integration layers

Copyright WebGiro AB, All rights reserved. 15 Shipping Agent’s viewCustomer’s view Example Business Context models Example taken from ECIMF-POC document Example taken from ECIMF-POC document  see complete detailed analysis there These two models match - “let’s have a deal!” These two models match - “let’s have a deal!”

Copyright WebGiro AB, All rights reserved. 16 «Event» Rental «Resource» Car GIVE «Agent» RentalAgent custody stock-flow role 1 Tx 1 Example: a Business Context model Customer and RentalAgent follow the same collaboration protocol Customer and RentalAgent follow the same collaboration protocol Customer, RentalAgent and Cashier execute commitments according to the Contract Customer, RentalAgent and Cashier execute commitments according to the Contract Rental occurs first, and then CashReceipt (within time constraints) Rental occurs first, and then CashReceipt (within time constraints) The transaction boundaries are related to Events (and legal constraints) The transaction boundaries are related to Events (and legal constraints) «Agent» Customer TAKE «Event» CashRcpt «Resource» Cash «Agent» Cashier Assess Customer Needs Check Car file & Choose Assess Insurance & Credit Fill in Contract Find Car & Provide Keys Check Out Car Tx 2 Return Car Update Files collaboration Rental Agent Customer Collaboration (Business interface tasks) role takes gives 2

Copyright WebGiro AB, All rights reserved. 17 Example: Application of the models Business Context Equivalence: Business Context Equivalence:  Both partners play complementary roles  Both partners expect first Rental, then CashRcpt  They still need to agree on the exact timing!  The collaboration tasks have to be grouped into 2 transactions, which correspond to Events  Both agreed to the type of Car and amount of Cash Conclusions from the Business Context model example: Conclusions from the Business Context model example:  The assessment of needs doesn’t cause any Events  I.e. the Customer can repeat this step as many times as he wants without any legal obligations on either side  The success of Return Car should depend on success of tasks related to CashRcpt  This collaboration (Customer - Cashier) should be recorded in another activity diagram

Copyright WebGiro AB, All rights reserved. 18 Customer (RNIF) Process Mediator Shipping Agency (EDI) SecureFlow RemAdv SecureFlow QuoteReq SecureFlow QuoteConfirm SecureFlow POReq SecureFlow POConfirm SecureFlow Invoice REQUOTE QUOTES ORDERS ORDRSP INVOIC APERAK ? Payment Transaction boundaries (also legal) Transaction boundaries (also legal) Transaction boundaries (also legal) Transaction boundaries (also legal) Transaction boundaries (also legal) Transaction boundaries (also legal) REMADV ? CONTRL ? Business Context & Business Processes Business Context determines the business-related constraints, e.g.: Business Context determines the business-related constraints, e.g.:  timeouts  compensation needed for failed transactions  relationships between several business processes  etc. These constraints cannot (easily/at all) be explained at the technical level These constraints cannot (easily/at all) be explained at the technical level

Copyright WebGiro AB, All rights reserved. 19 BOTs and Process Mediation BOTs explain requirements for specific business data BOTs explain requirements for specific business data BOTs allow to follow the state of collaboration BOTs allow to follow the state of collaboration BOTs explain how to adjust missing/superfluous data between partners, to cause desired state changes BOTs explain how to adjust missing/superfluous data between partners, to cause desired state changes Business Context + BOTs provides good indications how to implement process mediators / brokers Business Context + BOTs provides good indications how to implement process mediators / brokers Customer (RNIF) Process Mediator Shipping Agency (EDI) SecureFlow RemAdv SecureFlow QuoteReq SecureFlow QuoteConfirm SecureFlow POReq SecureFlow POConfirm SecureFlow Invoice REQUOTE QUOTES ORDERS ORDRSP INVOIC APERAK ? Payment Transaction boundaries (also legal) Transaction boundaries (also legal) Transaction boundaries (also legal) Transaction boundaries (also legal) Transaction boundaries (also legal) Transaction boundaries (also legal) REMADV ? CONTRL ? BOT

Copyright WebGiro AB, All rights reserved. 20 Summary ECIMF Business Context concept ties together eBTWG CCs, BOTs, Collaborations and Commitments ECIMF Business Context concept ties together eBTWG CCs, BOTs, Collaborations and Commitments eBTWG work on business modeling fits well with the 4-layer model of ECIMF, and provides a detailed view of each layer eBTWG work on business modeling fits well with the 4-layer model of ECIMF, and provides a detailed view of each layer

Copyright WebGiro AB, All rights reserved. 21 Further information ECIMF Project Information Center ECIMF Project Information Center  UN/CEFACT eBTWG UN/CEFACT eBTWG 