Activities regarding UBL at ECOM in Japan

1
Activities regarding UBL at ECOM in Japan
May 10, 2004 Yukinori Saito Vice Chair of OASIS
UBL JPLSC Fuji Electric Information Service Co.,
Ltd. saito-yukinori_at_fujielectric.co.jp
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Activities done in fiscal 2003 at ECOM.
Standard business documents conversion method
research ad-hoc TF

• Research of development methods of Standard
  Business Documents.
• Development methods of standard business
  documents.
• Recommendable standard business documents between
  industries.
• Recommendable methods and software products to
  convert standard business documents.
• The method of XML-izing and some consideration
  points.
• 2. Case study of business documents conversion
  system and consideration.
• 3. Mapping trial between UBL and Japanese major
  industrys business documents. Consideration of
  UBL gotten by this trial.

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Objective of the TF

• Background
• Many industries develop many standard business
  documents and are operating them as real business
  now.
• In case some companies have their proprietary
  business documents, they have to convert the
  business documents to do business in the
  industry.
• In case to do business with any other industry,
  many companies under the industry have to convert
  the business documents to the other business
  documents to keep interoperability. This is a
  very big issue with which many industries and
  companies are faced.
• ebXML standard is being developed as an
  international standard to do e-business. As
  standards to develop standard business documents,
  Core Component specification, XML Schema design
  rules, standardized CC (Core Components) and BIE
  (Business Information Entities), and maybe ebXML
  authorized standard business documents are now
  being developed.
• Even though ebXML would develop these standards
  described above, many industries have needs to
  convert business documents between the industry's
  business documents and ebXML authorized standard
  business documents.
• 2. Objective
• The objective of the TF is to propose
  recommendable conversion methods of standard
  business documents for industries in Japan.

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Where UBL Can Fit Into Existing XML B2B
Objective of the TF is to study how to convert
business documents between industries which is
recommended application of UBL by UBL TC.
Reference UBL Realizing eBusiness XML (Mark
Crawford, XML Europe 2003)
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The Reason for us to focus on UBL

• The reason for us to focus on UBL
• OASIS (the major standard body on XML) is
  promoting UBL.
• UN/CEFACT recognizes and supports UBL.
  UN/CEFACT will support only one document-centric
  approach to XML content and its desire is that
  UBL will be the foundation for that approach.
  (August 21, 2003)
• UBL is fully based on ebXML CC Technical
  Specification. UBL is committed to, and fully
  conformant with, the ebXML CCTS. (XML Conference
  2002)
• Observation of UBL for us
• UBL is the first major candidate of the next
  generation international XML standard business
  document.
• UBL is the standard business document that is
  used on the second approach to develop business
  document, which is described on the following
  page 8.

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UBL Position among International standards for e
Business
Red Characters means XML based Standard.
indicates that specifications of other standard
are applied. ( ) means future plan.
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Typical B2B Standards in Industries
Red Characters means XML based Standard.
indicates that specifications of other standard
are applied. ( ) means future plan.
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Two approaches to develop business documents.

• All Industries and companies recognize that next
  generation EDI standard business documents are
  XML based.
• The next issue is how to develop or introduce
  XML-based standard business documents, and what
  are they.
• Newly design and develop standard business
  document including BIEs based on ebXML
  methodologies.
• This approach requires much resources (e.g. Man
  power, money, time).
• The big industries are maybe able to do this
  approach. e.g. Japan Electronics Information
  Technology Industries Association (JEITA).
• To introduce or reuse some major XML-based
  business documents.
• This approach requires less resources.
• This approach may be recommendable one for medium
  or small industries or companies.
• The next issue for this approach is conversion
  method of business documents.

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Research of development methods of standard
business documents

• Questions
• Development method of standard business document.
  Which one is desirable among followings?
• Newly design and develop standard business
  document based on ebXML methodology.
• Reuse the previous or current standard business
  documents of XML syntax.
• Use the previous or current standard business
  documents (not XML) as it is.
• (2) Standard business documents between
  industries.
• How to chose the interoperable business
  documents?
• What are the recommendable international standard
  business documents?
• (3) Recommendable methods and software products
  to convert business documents.
• (4) The method of XML-izing and some
  consideration points.
• Reply companies
• Propylon, Ireland - Inforteria, Japan
• CECID, Hong Kong - NTT, Japan
• DagangNet, Malaysia - IT vendor (Anonymous)

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Answers to the development method of standard
business document.

• Propylon, Ireland
• Newly design and development standard business
  document based on ebXML methodology is difficult
  because achieving industry wide consensus for a
  single XML format based on the ebXML methodology
  can take a very long time.
• Reuse the current XML based standard business
  document seems to be the most sensible.
• CECID, Hong Kong
• We recommends the use of XML to replace the
  proprietary format.
• When there is a suitable XML application standard
  (e.g. XBRL) for a specific business area, we will
  use that standard.
• When there is no suitable XML application
  standard, we have to design our own. We recommend
  the use of CCTS /UBL methodology to model the
  data elements and design the XML Schema.

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Answers to the recommendable standard business
document.

• Propylon, Ireland
• We would suggest that for basic documents (like
  invoices) between industries, the best route
  would be take a UBL document, because it is much
  more specific than other meta-models.
• UBL is based on actual business documents
  including good examples and overviews.
• CECID, Hong Kong
• We will consider to use the standard with more
  dominant, popular, and horizontal application
  first. Then we will consider to use an
  industry-specific standard, if the horizontal
  standard is not applicable.
• UBL V1.0 was released on Nov. 26, 2003, therefore
  we think UBL became mature, we will choose UBL.
• Infoteria, Japan
• At first, we should evaluate UBL specifications.
  If applicable, we had better select UBL and use
  UBL as an original specification.

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Answers to the recommendable method and software
products to convert standard business document.

• Propylon, Ireland
• We would obviously recommend PropelX, our
  implementation of the Xpipe transformation
  methodology. PropelX currently offers the
  simplest most powerful and most flexible XML
  translation capabilities.
• XML style sheet are not easily understood or
  modified.
• CECID, Hong Kong
• For simple translation, we use XSLT. But usually
  XSLT is not powerful enough to do the conversion
  from one standard to another, which is usually
  very difficult.
• We write customized programs to do the
  conversion.
• NTT, Japan
• Using some commercial translators is
  recommendable to convert business document.

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The method of XML-izing for BIEs.

• Trends or current situation in Japanese
  industries.
• The naming methods of XML Tag name in Japan.
• Using Japanese language as it is. e.g. Paint
  industry, ApparelArk (Chemical)
• Using BIEs item number (Alphanumeric character).
  e.g. ECALGA (JEITA)
• Use English name. e.g. RosettaNet, Aerospace
  industry
• (2) Many industries are intending to design
  English XML Tag names.

• Consideration
• English XML Tag name is desirable by
  consideration of implementation.
• Japanese Tag name requires large burden for
  implementers. Because some tools for editing XML
  data cannot be used for Japanese Tag names.
• The English Tag names is much better to convert
  to international business document (e.g. UBL).
• XML naming rules led by international standard
  body are based on English.
• (2) The Japanese people are not good at English
  (reading/ writing and conversation). But they can
  understand the English words.
• (3) Of cause, the values between start tag and
  end tag should be both Alphanumeric characters
  and Japanese characters.

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Case study of conversion system between standard
business documents.

• Research of conversion systems and needs to
  conversions between several standard business
  documents. There are much needs to conversions of
  standard business documents in real business.
• Categories of conversion systems and example
  systems.
• To convert the data in in-house backend system
  manually.
• Electronics industrys purchasing iron and steel
  by way of Trading company.
• Electronics industrys purchasing chemical goods
  by way of Trading comp.
• (2) Plural orders are received by different
  business documents, and they are converted to
  single business document. 7 cases including
  followings.
• JEMIMA (Japan Electric Measuring Instruments
  Manufacturers Association).
• Sales system in Electronics devices supplier.
• Next generation EDI system at Chemical industry.
• Purchasing system of PC software at Microsoft
  Japan.
• EDI at distribution industry.
• (3) To convert one single business document to
  plural business documents.
• Purchasing system of Sony corporation.
• (4) To convert business documents using ASP
  service.
• ASP service of Port logistics industry.

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Needs at JEMIMA
Situation and issues Orders are received from
Communication, Automotive, Petro-chemical, and
Electronics devices industries. And their
business documents are different each
other. Solution Plural orders business
documents will be converted to a single major
business document (e.g. ECALGA (JEITA), UBL) at
the sales receiving EDI function. It is desirable
that the conversion software would be developed
and provided by some standard bodies . e.g.
government, ECOM, JEITA.
Automotive
Iron and Steel
Petro-chemical
Industries
Communication
Business Documents
Proprietary
Iron and Steel
JPCA
EIAJ
Sales received
BP Conversion ?ECALGA,UBL
EDI function
JEMIMA indutry
Sales System
Purchasing System
Purchase
EIAJ
Electronics Devices Industry
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Sales system in Electronics devices supplier.

• Situation and issues
• Electronics devices supplier receives orders by
  several different business documents and they are
  troublesome to handle.
• Electronics devices supplier receives EDIFACT by
  overseas electronics vendors.

Domestic Electronics Vendors
B
A
C
Order (EIAJ)
Order (Proprietary)
Order (RosettaNet)
Electronics Devices Supplier
Overseas Electronics Vendors
Backend System
BP Conversion
O
Order (UN/EDIFACT)
EIAJ
Subsidiary Companies
X
Y
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Planning next generation EDI system of
Petro-Chemical Industry

• Next generation EDI system
• Trading company or major chemistry vendor is
  planning to conversion system.
• Chem-eStandard business document will be
  converted to JPCA-BP at the major chemistry
  vendors front-end system. The sales system will
  be managed by using single JPCA-BP business
  document.

Electronics Devices Supplier
Second Trading Company
Order (EIAJ)
Order (Chem-eStandard)
Trading Company
A
B
JPCA-BP
Chem-eStandard
BP Conversion Chem-eStandard?JPCA-BP
Major Chemistry Vendor
JPCA-BP Business Document
Backend System
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Mapping trials between UBL and major industrys
business documents in Japan.

• Objective
• To research whether UBL is interoperable with
  major business documents in Japan or not.
• To research whether UBL is operable in Japanese
  industries.
• To study and evaluate UBL.
• Targeted standard business documents
• (1) ECALGA Order
• ECALGA (Electronic Commerce ALliance for Global
  business Activity) is a next generation EDI
  standard developed by JEITA (Japan Electronics
  and Information Technology Association).
• ECALGA is the succeeding standard of EIAJ, which
  is very popular in Japan.
• ECALGA is based on ebXML BP, CPPA, and MS.
• (2) JEDICOS-XML Order
• - JEDICOS-XML is a recently developed XML based
  standard business documents for the distribution
  industry developed by Distribution Systems
  Research Institute.

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Mapping methods (1/2)

• Targeted business document
• - We selected a business document Order at
  first.
• Understanding UBL Order
• We used the spread sheet of UBL Order V1.0.
• We made a single UBL Order spread sheet by
  integrating both UBL Order 1.0-beta.xls and UBL
  Reusable 1.0-beta.xls. The number of ABIE, BBIE,
  and ASBIE of the single UBL Order spread sheet is
  384.
• We made Japanese business terms for all BIEs of
  UBL Order. These Japanese business terms are not
  merely translation of names of UBL BIEs, but the
  Japanese business terms are made by using current
  business terms which are used in many business
  documents in Japan.
• Understanding the structure of the business
  document Order.
• We made a single UBL Order class diagram in one
  document (MS Word).
• Also, we made a single Order class diagram for
  ECALGA Order and JEDICOS XML Order.

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Mapping methods (2/2)

• Mapping BIEs between UBL and ECALGA, JEDICOS
  XML
• We made mapping spread sheets.
• Example of mapping chart between UBL and ECALGA.

ECALGA Order
UBL Order
Mapping Data with UBL
Header
Body
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Consideration of interoperability by mapping
trials

• UBL and ECALGA
• The number of BIEs of ECALGA Order is 101.
• The structure of ECALGA Order is one item per
  one document. This is not match to UBL Order (the
  structure of UBL Order is multiple items per one
  document.).
• The BIEs of ECALGA Order is generally match to
  BIEs of UBL. Especially, necessary BIEs of ECALGA
  are including in UBL Order.
• UBL and JEDICOS-XML
• The number of BIEs of JEDICOS-XML Order is 112.
• The structure of JEDICOS-XML Order is multiple
  items per one document. This is match to UBL
  Order (the structure of UBL Order is multiple
  items per one document.).
• The abundant BIEs of UBL include BIEs of
  JEDICOS-XML. Therefore, if the indutry select
  commonly used BIEs from UBL, interoperability
  between UBL and JEDICOS-XML will be possible.

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General Consideration of UBL gotten by mapping
trials.

• The necessary BIEs for sales in Japan are
  provided by UBL business document. UBL business
  documents are useable in Japanese industries.
• The UBL BIEs are abundant. UBL BIEs include some
  BIEs that are not used in the trading business in
  Japan. Some BIEs of UBL are capable to be defined
  by the trading partner agreement. The industry or
  companies are able to adopt UBL by selecting
  necessary BIEs from UBL standards.
• Plural items are capable to be defined per one
  document.
• Separate delivery (e.g. deferent schedule) can be
  defined. Also, delivery methods are able to be
  defined by items.
• Plural delivery place are capable to be defined
  for general purpose and per items.
• Both base price and total amount can be defined.
• UBL TC prepared the seven business documents that
  are expected to be used high frequently. The
  minimum trading business can be done in
  industries with these business documents.

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Proposals regarding marketing to promote UBL
deployment in the world

• Publication of Introduction guide book of UBL.
  For examples are follows.
• Position of UBL
• e.g. UBL is supported by both OASIS and
  UN/CEFACT. UBL is fully based on ebXML CCTS. UBL
  is applicable for purchasing of not only MRO but
  also direct materials
• Introduction methods of UBL to industries
• e.g. (1) Industry organization develop
  their business document by subsetting the UBL
  schemas. (2) They will build new documents, using
  the standard components from the UBL standard
  abundant libraries. (3) They will use the UBL as
  a common business document between industries.
• Easy understanding description of UBL standard
  business documents
• e.g. Class diagrams of business documents
  by single document.
• Recommendable conversion methods and systems
  between UBL and other standard business
  documents.
• Publication of deployment cases of UBL
• e.g. The e procurement system by Danish
  government.

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Next steps at ECOM (1/2)

• Activities regarding EDI which were done at
  ECOM in fiscal 2003
• (1) Survey of EC in SME domain
• ECOM has researched survey regarding Electronic
  Commerce including EDI in SME domain. The scale
  of investigation is 5,000 SME companies by the
  questionnaire method.
• SME companies are introducing EC systems
  recently.
• They are suffering from non-standardized
  multiple business documents.
• And they dont have sufficient EC promoting
  resources (e.g. engineers and budget).
• (2) Proposals for the recommendable next
  generation EDI system not only for big
  enterprises but also for SMEs.
• To develop standard EDI client system including
  messaging function and business document
  processing function.
• The messaging function had better to be based on
  ebXML MS specification.
• To develop common and interoperable Hub service
  to exchange EDI data.
• This system will adopt commonly useable business
  document. The big candidate are UBL and ECALGA.

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Next steps at ECOM (2/2)
A consortium named Common XML/EDI practical
use promotion consortium will be established
since May, 2004, to develop next generation EDI
system ,based on ECOMs proposal, supported by
government.

• Planning activities regarding EDI at ECOM in
  fiscal 2004
• (1) Detailed design of the proposal of next
  generation EDI system
• EDI messaging function.
• EDI business document processing function.
• EDI ASP service.
• (2) Research the recommendable business document
  for SME.
• To research currently used business documents by
  major buyers in real business.
• To estimate what is desirable business document
  or some requirements. e.g. UBL, ECALGA,
  JEDICOS-XML.
• (3) Promotion of development of the standard
  business document conversion system.

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Reference documents

• Individual documents
• Answers to questions about standard business
  document and conversion method. (Overseas
  companies, English)
• UBL Order BIE spread sheet with Japanese business
  terms. (MS Excel)
• UBL Order class diagram. (MS Word, English)
• Mapping spread sheet between UBL and ECALGA.
• Mapping spread sheet between UBL and JEDICOS-XML.
• (2) Total report of activities at ECOM
• Standard business document conversion methods
  research report. (83 pages, published by ECOM on
  March 2004, Japanese language)
• Current situation of Internet EDI and proposal to
  promote EDI in Japan (123 pages, published by
  ECOM on March 2004, Japanese language)