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Subject: UBL for storing accounting data
Hello all, Just joined the list :-) I am doing some work with UBL at the moment and would like to ask for some opinions from the community. I am developing an open source library in Ruby for dealing with invoicing and payments[1], focussing particularly on small, web-based businesses. In developing this library, the question arose of how to integrate that data with accounting systems (e.g. use cases like: if somebody buys the product on my website, and they pay by card and are automatically issued with an invoice, how do those invoices and payment records get into the software which I use for bookkeeping). There are many different accounting/bookkeeping packages out there, and as far as I could tell, there was no sensible, open format or protocol for interchanging accounting data between different applications. Many applications have an API (usually based on some barely documented ad hoc XML schema) but each API is different, creating an integration nightmare. Therefore I think that the world needs an open standard for representing and interchanging accounting data. I would like to call it OAccounts (O for open) and I have written up a vague introduction[2]. And I have no interest in re-inventing the wheel, which brings me to UBL. The data stored in an accounting system (for small/medium businesses at least, which is all I know) is basically: a list of suppliers, and a list of invoices/payments for each supplier; a list of customers, and a list of invoices/payments for each customer; a few special-case accounts for dealing with tax, payroll etc.; and a balance sheet. I think it would be possible to store most of the information which an accounting system requires in UBL documents of five types: Statement, Invoice, CreditNote, SelfBilledInvoice and SelfBilledCreditNote. (If you wanted to include stockkeeping, you could probably use the Catalogue stuff too, but I'm not using that at the moment.) They may need a few minor extension, but I think that a lot of it could be vanilla UBL documents. The XML files could then be arranged in a fairly straightforward directory structure. As a transfer protocol, I envisage a simple, RESTful[4] approach over HTTP, and you could even get an audit trail by tracking changes to the XML files with a standard version control system such as git[5]. I am planning to sketch out my ideas for a specification, and start work on a simple reference implementation, over the next few weeks. Of course the whole process and the results will be free and open, and I would welcome any contributions and comments. But those are just my ideas. What I would love to hear from you is: * Is there already some open standard for accounting data which I have missed? * What is your reaction to using UBL in such a way? Abusing/bending the standard, or sensible application? * Do you think OASIS should be involved in this? I could imagine first trying out a few approaches in an informal setting outside OASIS, and when we've learnt what works and what doesn't, bring it back inside and standardise it properly (as a separate standard based on UBL?). But I'm new to OASIS so I don't know your usual way of doing things. * Can you contribute? There are many ways you could help, from proofreading/commenting and helping spread the word to actively contributing by writing. I look forward to hearing your comments. Thanks! Martin [1] http://ept.github.com/invoicing/ [2] http://is.gd/lJL5 [3] http://ept.github.com/oaccounts/ [4] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Representational_State_Transfer [5] http://git-scm.com/
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