1. Navigating the Shifting Currents of Data The NY/NJ EDI Users’ Group Daniel I. Kazzaz Chair, Accredited Standards Committee (ASC) X12 CEO, Rapid Data Interchange (RDI)

2. What is new at X12?  Harmonize with other standards  CICA Repository  Business to Consumer EDI

3. Capital equipment manufacturer Semiconductor manufacturer Foundry System OEMEnd User Indirect supplier Component manufacturer Assembly and test Distributor Contract manufacturer Raw material supplier DistributorReseller Fabless design And IP house Service provider System design house Source: IBM Consulting Services Increasing Need for Harmonization

4. XML Variability  Lots of messages  Lack of commonality  Too many interfaces

5. Why Harmonize?  Global needs  Inter/Intra message usage  Cost of implementation  Programmer expertise  Ease of use

6. Building Bridges  Healthcare  Finance  Supply Chain  International

7. Challenges of Harmonization  Compromise  Syntax  Semantics  Envelopes  Tag names: Segment, Code lists, XML names  Synonyms  Multi-language  Unicode  Approval processes  Time to market

8. Semantic Repository/What is a Standard?  What is a standard?  Syntax  Semantics  Context sensitive/context free  What is a good standard?  Easy to use  Complete  Useful  Unambiguous  Superset  Industry pair messages  Government needs

9. Syntax Neutral  Neither compressed nor expanded is perfect  How do we feed the repository?  Collision  Synonym  How do we deal with relationships between the old and the new?

10. Business to Consumer  Consumer is automated far more than ever  Intuit, Microsoft, Apple  Global commerce  What messages?  Tax Filing  Consumer billing  Health care messages

11. Questions/Comments Dan Kazzaz kazzaz@verizon.net