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Subject: Re: May I ask a question about UBL position in view point of application?
Saito-san, I apologize again for the delay in answering your questions. | 1. One of my friend, who is a technology executive of | RosettaNet Japan, told me the followings about UBL from the | view point of RosettaNet. | | RosettaNet is conscious to UBL. Yes, I have had many conversations about UBL with RosettaNet staff over the last two years. | The main application of UBL is procurement of MRO | (Maintenance and Repair and Operations) or Indirect | Materials. At the other hand, the main application of | RosettaNet is procurement of Direct Materials. There is no | competition each other. That is not an inaccurate summary of the present situation as far as it goes, but I don't think it goes quite far enough. UBL is two things (in addition to naming and design rules, documentation, class diagrams, formatting specifications, and other ancillary pieces). UBL is (1) a standard library of XML schema components repesenting common business data objects and (2) a small set of XML schemas providing standard forms for the basic documents of the core order-to-invoice scenario. It is expected that industry organizations will do two things with these two deliverables: (1) They will develop profiles of the UBL documents to implement the order-to-invoice scenario within their specific industry context, hopefully by just subsetting the UBL schemas, and (2) they will build new document types for the other messages that are used in that industry, using the standard components from the UBL schema library wherever possible and contributing new components to the UBL library as necessary. It is obvious from the examples we provide with the UBL 1.0 package (ordering office supplies, ordering building materials) that UBL is usable "out of the box" for MRO. But is also intended to provide a basis upon which to construct the much larger body of components and document types that would be needed for Direct Materials, and I fully expect that industry bodies will build out UBL to construct complete industrial supply chains. I think it is important to observe that RosettaNet is primarily being used in just one industry -- electronics. There are hundreds of other industries, and I believe that most of them will base their supply chains on UBL, because UBL is free, open, and based on a component library design, which RosettaNet PIP syntax currently is not. | In the real e-business world, there are both procurement of | MRO and Direct Materials. Therefore, both RosettaNet and UBL | can be complemented mutually. This is true now, and if that is the official story, I will be content to allow RosettaNet to continue to say this. But I believe that this is not a viable strategy for RosettaNet over the long run. RosettaNet has already committed to replacing its outdated XML DTDs with completely new XML formats based on a component library, just as UBL does now. But the fact is that RosettaNet does not have the resources to actually carry out this work within the time allotted. It seems to me that the intelligent thing for RosettaNet to do at this point would be to adopt the UBL component library as the basis for its NextGen syntax, to develop profiles of the UBL core document types for its basic order-to-invoice process, and to construct the document schemas for its NextGen PIPs using the UBL component library instead of wasting time and effort in duplicating all of this work. I have stated this opinion many times in conversations with RN staff and elsewhere. | In this view point, OASIS has formed 'e-Procurement TC'. This | TC is going to do cooperation or adjustment regarding to the | procurement standards of e-business. Some RosettaNet members | participate at this TC. I am not aware of any significant work occurring yet in this TC, but perhaps that is simply because I have not checked recently. My impression was that it would focus chiefly on process definition rather than schema development, but again, I could be wrong about this. | 2. My questions | (1) What is the main application of UBL? | In another word, what application does UBL Standard designed mainly for? | Which is the suitable description of UBL regarding application described | below? | -The UBL Standard is mainly designed for procurement of MRO. | -The UBL Standard is designed for procurement of all materials or goods. | Therefore, UBL is applicable both procurement of MRO and Direct Materials. In its present form it is suitable for MRO, but it is designed to provide the basis for the procurement of both MRO and Direct Materials. | (2) What is the application about Denmark government procurement system? | Recently, the Danish National XML Committee has announced 'Denmark becomes | first country to adopt OASIS UBL'. | The news said 'Danish XML Committee decided to use UBL 0.7 to enable | integration between systems controlled by state authorities and a newly | implemented portal for public procurement'. I really don't know more about this than what appeared in the press release. Our primary contact, Mikkel Brun, is on a six-month vacation right now. The people responsible for this relationship while Mikkel is gone are Brian Nielsen <BNI@itst.dk> and Michael Bang Kjeldgaard <mbk@itst.dk>. I suggest that you contact them for more specific information. Best regards, Jon From: "Yukinori Saito" <y-saito@ecom.jp> Cc: "UBL Localization Chairs" <ubl-l10n@lists.oasis-open.org>, "EDIgr\)Tamori" <tamori@ecom.jp>, "EDIgr\)Takao" <takao@ecom.jp>, "EDIgr\)K.Wakaizumi" <waka@ecom.jp>, "EDIgr\)K.Mizoguchi" <mizoguchi@ecom.jp>, "EDIgr\)H.Sugamata" <sugamata@ecom.jp> Date: Fri, 13 Feb 2004 11:11:21 +0900 Dear Jon Bosak, May I ask a question about UBL position in view point of application? 1. One of my friend, who is a technology executive of RosettaNet Japan, told me the followings about UBL from the view point of RosettaNet. RosettaNet is conscious to UBL. The main application of UBL is procurement of MRO (Maintenance and Repair and Operations) or Indirect Materials. At the other hand, the main application of RosettaNet is procurement of Direct Materials. There is no competition each other. In the real e-business world, there are both procurement of MRO and Direct Materials. Therefore, both RosettaNet and UBL can be complemented mutually. In this view point, OASIS has formed 'e-Procurement TC'. This TC is going to do cooperation or adjustment regarding to the procurement standards of e-business. Some RosettaNet members participate at this TC. 2. My questions (1) What is the main application of UBL? In another word, what application does UBL Standard designed mainly for? Which is the suitable description of UBL regarding application described below? -The UBL Standard is mainly designed for procurement of MRO. -The UBL Standard is designed for procurement of all materials or goods. Therefore, UBL is applicable both procurement of MRO and Direct Materials. (2) What is the application about Denmark government procurement system? Recently, the Danish National XML Committee has announced 'Denmark becomes first country to adopt OASIS UBL'. The news said 'Danish XML Committee decided to use UBL 0.7 to enable integration between systems controlled by state authorities and a newly implemented portal for public procurement'. Do you know what application of this system? MRO or Direct Materials or both? If you know, please let me know. Best Regards, Yukinori Saito ------------------------------------------------------ Yukinori Saito Electronic Commerce Promotion Council of Japan (ECOM) E-mail: y-saito@ecom.jp Tel: +81-3-3436-7542 Fax: +81-3-3436-7570 ------------------------------------------------------
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