1. AIAG Briefing: UBL Jon Bosak, Sun Microsystems
Chair, OASIS UBL Technical Committee
AIAG XML/EDI WG
Southfield, Michigan
18 April 2002

2. Goals for B2B Extend the benefits of EDI beyond the Fortune 500
Web-enable fax- and paper-based business practices
Allow businesses to upgrade at their own pace
Preserve the existing investment in EDI
Integrate small and medium-size businesses into existing EDI-based supply chains
The standardization of XML business documents is the easiest way to accomplish these goals.

3. UBL
XML alone doesn't solve anything – we need agreed- upon semantics for the payload
UBL standardizes common XML business documents across industries
UBL fulfills the promise of XML for business
UBL plus web service technology enables the next generation of EDI
Cheaper, easier, Internet-ready
Extends benefits of EDI to SMEs

4. UBL Advantages
Starts with the low-hanging fruit (invoices, purchase orders, shipping notices, price catalogs...)
Provides easily-understood transition from traditional EDI and fax-based business practices
Gets small businesses on board
Fits existing legal and trade concepts
Allows re-use of data (analysis, reporting)
Hides details internal to an enterprise
Defers the rocket science for later

5. UBL Deliverables
Library of standard XML business document components (core library)
Set of standard XML business documents (purchase order, invoice, shipping notice, price catalog, etc.)
Context methodology to make the standard documents interoperate across industries
Timeline:
Core library and basic documents: 2002
Context methodology: 2003

6. Basic UBL Documents Procurement Materials management Payment
Purchase Order, P.O. Response, P.O. Change
Materials management
Advance Ship Notice, Planning Schedule, Goods Receipt
Payment
Commercial Invoice, Remmitance Advice
Transport/logistics
Consignment Status Request, Consignment Status Report, Bill of Lading
Catalogs
Price Catalog, Product Catalog
Statistical reports
Accounting report

7. Some UBL Participants APACS Boeing Commerce One
Danish Bankers Association
France Telecom
General Electric
General Services Administration
Government of Hong Kong
Government of Korea HP
Intuit
KPMG
LMI
Northrop Grumman
Oracle
PricewaterhouseCoopers
SAP
Sterling Commerce
Sun Microsystems
U.K. Cabinet Office
UPS
U.S. Navy
Visa International

8. UBL Differentiators
Completely open, public, accountable standards process
Nonproprietary and royalty-free
Based on United Nations ebXML specifications
Intended for normative status under international law
Designed for B2B
Emphasis on exchange of legal documents
Human- and machine-readable
Compatible with existing EDI systems

9. A2A vs. B2B A2A (e.g., OAGIS) Binds data (nouns) to process (verbs)
Crosses application boundaries
Exposes internal process details
Optimized for performance and integration
B2B (e.g., EDI, UBL)
Separates data and process
Crosses enterprise boundaries
Hides internal process details
Optimized for persistence and collaboration

10. UBL as Interchange Format
Electronics
Mfr A
A’s industry
partners
RosettaNet
Hospital B
B’s industry
partners
HL7
Chemical
Mfr C
C’s industry
partners
CIDX

11. UBL Liaisons ACORD (insurance industry) EIDX (electronics industry)
ARTS (retail sales)
RosettaNet (information technology)
XBRL (accounting)
X12 (EDI)
UN/EDIFACT (EDI) – in progress
AIAG should be on this list!

12. International Standardization
OASIS is a Class A Liaison to ISO TC 154
OASIS is a member of the MoU/MG (Management Group for the ISO IEC ITU UN/CEFACT Memo of Understanding on Electronic Commerce Standards)
UBL is on the continuing agenda of the MoU/MG

13. UBL and Core Components
UBL is committed to international semantic standardization
The editor of the CC tech spec and former leader of the Joint X12/EWG CC Initiative is vice chair of the OASIS UBL TC and also vice chair and editor of the UBL Naming and Design Rules SC. We’re for CC!
But UBL starts with about 4x the content of CC...
We tried mapping from CC to UBL but gave up
Now we’re committed to mapping from UBL to CC and contributing the results to the CC effort

14. UBL TC Meetings
First meeting 29 October – 1 November 2001 in Menlo Park, California
Second meeting 22 – 25 January 2002 in Menlo Park, California
Third meeting 18 – 22 March 2002 in Barcelona, Spain, hosted by the UN/EDIFACT Working Group
Fourth meeting 3 – 7 June 2002 in Minneapolis, Minnesota, hosted by ASC X12
Fifth meeting in September on the East Coast, TBD
Sixth meeting in January on the West Coast, TBD

15. OASIS UBL Subcommittees
Naming and Design Rules Subcommittee
Library Content Subcommittee
Context Methodology Subcommittee
Context Drivers Subcommittee
Tools and Techniques Subcommittee
Liaison Subcommittee
The OASIS UBL TC is open to public comment, and every UBL subcommittee has its own publicly visible mailing list. Subcommittees meet mostly by phone.

16. UBL Naming and Design Rules Subcommittee
Chair: Eve Maler
Vice Chair and Editor: Mark Crawford
Archive:
Web page:

17. NDRSC Progress Report Canonical schema language: XSD
Canonical naming rules: ebXML (ISO 11179)
Position papers
Modularity
Namespaces
Versioning
Type Derivation
Elements vs. Attributes
Code Lists
First position drafts available for review

18. UBL Library Content Subcommittee
Chair: Tim McGrath
Vice Chair: Marion Royal
Archive:
Web page:

19. LCSC Progress Report
Straw schemas for Purchase Order and associated library components now available for review
Not backward-compatible with xCBL 3.0
Current review cycle ends 13 May 2002

20. UBL Context Methodology Subcommittee
Chair: Matthew Gertner
Editor: Eduardo Gutentag
Archive:
Web page:

21. Context Methodology
Defines how document formats can be extended based on specific trading partner characteristics
Takes ebXML context rules as starting point
Builds on experience with OO extension methodology, but will be
– More structured
– More consistent
– Easier to track
– Easier to automate
– Require a lower level of skill

22. CMSC Progress Report
Reviewed ebXML Methodology and considering proposed changes
Reviewed existing context drivers and considering proposed additions

23. Summary UBL is “the real deal” – actual standard XML business schemas
Completes the ebXML stack
Combines the experience of XML and business experts
UBL is dedicated to vendor-neutral interoperability
Open process
Unencumbered IP
Cross-industry semantic harmonization
UBL can enable the “B2B web”
HTML + HTTP = web publishing
UBL + ebXML = web commerce

24. For More Information OASIS UBL Technical Committee:
UBL white paper:
http//oasis-open.org/committees/ubl/msc/200204/ubl.pdf
UBL public comment and news list:
To join the OASIS UBL Technical Committee, contact: