The%20collaborative%20framework%20ebXML

1

• The collaborative framework ebXML
• Cristiano Novellicristiano.novelli_at_bologna.ene
  a.it

2
Modules Summary

• 1. ebXML architecture overview
• 2. ebXML Business Process
• 3. CPP/CPA Collaboration Protocol
• 4. ebMS Messaging System
• 5. freebXML initiative
• 6. ebXML and Web Services

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Module 1 ebXML architecture overview

• In this first module we will examine
• what ebXML is and its history
• which characteristics ebXML offers and does not
  offers
• how ebXML works (a simple use case)
• the main elements of the architecture
• how to implement ebXML in four phases
• benefits of ebXML

4
ebXML overview

• ebXML (electronic business using XML, ebXML)
• ebXML is a set of specifications that together
  enable a modular, yet complete, XML-based,
  electronic business framework.
• The vision of ebXML is to create a single global
  electronic marketplace where enterprises of any
  size and in any geographical location can meet
  and conduct business with each other through the
  exchange of XML based messages. ebXML enables
  anyone, anywhere, to do business with anyone else
  over the Internet.
• ebXML started in 1999 as a joint initiative
  between the United Nations Centre for Trade
  facilitation and Electronic Business (UN/CEFACT)
  UN/CEFACT and the Organization for the
  Advancement of Structured Information Standards
  (OASIS) OASIS.
• The International Standards Organization (IS0)
  has approved, in March 29 2004, a suite of four
  ebXML OASIS Standards (ISO/TS 15000) CPISO

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What ebXML offers and does not offer

• ebXML offers - a set of standard specifications
  to reach up P2P collaborations (in B2B but also
  in eHealth and eGovernment) - a methodology to
  build a set of templates of XML documents based
  on common components- a communication protocol
  for P2P secure and reliable communications - a
  set of XML specifications to represent
  collaborative processes, company profiles and
  intercompany agreements
• ebXML does not offer - a set of reference
  business processes for B2B- a set of predefined
  standard XML documents to be exchanged - a
  software implementation (but open-source software
  implementation are available in freebXML
  FREEBXML initiative and others) - a specific
  sectorial domain solution

6
ebXML Use Case
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The collaborative framework 1/2

• (comments of the Use Case Scenario figure)
• Company A will first review the contents of an
  ebXML Registry, especially the Core Library which
  may be downloaded or consulted on-line. The Core
  Library (and maybe others registered Business
  Processes) will allow Company A to determine the
  requirements for their own implementation of
  ebXML.
• Company A can build or buy an ebXML
  implementation suitable for its ebXML
  transactions. The hope of the ebXML initiative is
  that vendors will support all of the elements of
  ebXML. At such time, an "ebXML system" might be
  little more than a commercial desktop
  application. Or maybe, more realistically, the
  ebXML system will at least be as manageable as a
  commercial database system.
• The next step is for Company A to create and
  register a profile (CPP) with the Registry.
  Company A might wish to contribute new Business
  Processes to the Registry, or simply reference
  available ones. The CPP will contain the
  information necessary for a potential partner to
  determine the business roles in which Company A
  is interested, and the type of protocols it is
  willing to engage in for these roles.

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The collaborative framework 2/2

• (comments of the Use Case Scenario figure)
• 4. Once Company A is registered, Company B can
  look at Company A's CPP profile to determine if
  it is compatible with Company B's CPP profile and
  requirements.
• 5. At that point, Company B should be able to
  negotiate a CPA agreement automatically with
  Company A, based on the compatibility of the
  profiles CPPs, plus agreement protocols, given as
  ebXML standards or recommendations.
• 6. Finally, the two companies begin actual
  transactions. These transactions are likely to
  involve Business Messages conforming to further
  ebXML standards and recommendations. ebXML will
  have helped in agreeing to, monitoring, and
  verifying the "real-world" activities (for
  example, the shipment of goods from one place to
  another, or the rendering of services).

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Architecture Elements

• Core Components
• Registry / Repository
• Business Process Specification Schema
• Collaboration Protocol Profile and Agreement
• Messaging Service

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a. Core Components

• Core Components are intended to be the basic
  information elements used in business messages
  (e.g. name to define a Party name)
• CC are reusable data elements that identify some
  abstract concept and require business context
  before they can be used in practice (e.g. U.S.
  address is the address concept in U.S.
  context)
• Business Context is a mechanism for qualifying
  and refining Core Components according to their
  use under particular business circumstances. Once
  Business Contexts are identified, Core Components
  can be differentiated to take into account any
  necessary qualification and refinement needed to
  support the use of the Core Component in the
  given Business Context
• ebXML dont provide a standard XML format for the
  data exchange but, through the CC, it is possible
  to define it
• e.g. UBL (Universal Business Language) UBL is a
  standard format XML-based it defines Business
  Information Entities (BIEs), which are
  contextualized Core Components, to allow the
  definition of generic and cross-sectorial
  business messages

11
b. Registry / Repository

• The registry is a database of items that support
  doing business electronically
• Technically speaking, a registry stores
  information about items that actually reside in a
  repository. The two together can be thought as a
  database
• Items in the repository are created, updated, or
  deleted through requests to the registry
• The specific implementation of the
  registry/repository database is not specified,
  but only how other applications interact with the
  registry (registry services interfaces) and the
  minimum information model (the types of
  information that is stored about the registry
  items) that the registry must support
• Examples of items in the registry might be XML
  schemas of business documents, definitions of
  library components for business process modeling,
  and trading partner agreements
• A goal of the ebXML registry is to support a
  fully distributed, networked set of interacting
  registries that would provide transparent
  interaction to any ebXML compliant registry by
  interfacing with each of them

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c. Business Process Specification Schema

• A Specification Schema provides the definition of
  an XML document that describes how an
  organization conducts its business
• While the CPA/CPP deals with the technical
  aspects of the electronic business, the
  Specification Schema deals with the actual
  business process
• It identifies things like the overall business
  process, the roles, the transactions, the
  identification of the business documents used
  (the DTDs or schemas), the document flow, the
  legal and security aspects and the business level
  acknowledgments
• The Specification Schema can be formalized
  with- UN/CEFACT's Modeling Methodology (UMM)
  UMM, UML-based - OASIS ebXML Business Process
  (ebBP) ebBP, XML-based
• A Specification Schema can be used by a software
  application to configure the business details of
  conducting business electronically with another
  organization

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d. Collaboration Protocol Profile (CPP) and
Agreement (CPA)

• The Collaboration Protocol Profile (or CPP)
• - provides the definition (DTD and W3C XML
  schema) of an XML document that specifies the
  details about the capability of an organization
  to conduct electronic business
• - specifies how to set contacts and other
  information about the organization, the types of
  network and supported file transport protocols,
  network addresses, security implementations and
  how it does business (references to one or more
  Business Process Specifications)
• The Collaboration Protocol Agreement (or CPA)
• - specifies the details that two organizations
  have agreed to conduct business electronically
• - is built by combining the CPPs of the two
  organizations
• - can be used by a software application to
  configure the technical details of conducting
  business electronically with another organization
  
• The CPA/CPP specification discusses the general
  tasks and issues in creating a CPA from two CPPs.
  However, for various reasons it doesn't specify
  an actual algorithm for doing it

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e. Messaging Service (ebMS)

• The ebXML Message Service (ebMS) defines the
  message enveloping and header document schema
  used to transfer ebXML messages over a
  communications protocol and the behavior of
  software sending and receiving ebXML messages
• This provides a standard way to exchange business
  messages between organizations
• It provides for means to exchange a payload
  (which may or may not be an XML business
  document) reliably and securely
• It also provides means to route a payload to the
  appropriate internal application once an
  organization has received it
• The messaging service specification does not
  dictate any particular file transport mechanism
  (such as SMTP, HTTP, or FTP) or network for
  actually exchanging the data, but is instead
  protocol neutral

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ebXML implementation

• To implement an ebXML collaborative framework we
  describe the four needed phases, grouped in two
  main step setup and execution
• Framework Setup (preparation step)1. the
  community organization defines the Business
  content and configure an ebXML Registry,2. the
  parties that want to participate to collaborative
  framework create their CPP profile and register
  it into the ebXML Registry
• Execution (operative step)3. the parties
  achieve a Collaboration Agreement,4. at this
  point the real Business Collaboration can begin
  (operative phase)
• In the next four slides we describe in details
  these four phases

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Phase 1. Business content definition

• The business contents definition is job of a
  community organization (i.e. consortiums,
  associations, etc.)
• Business contents
• Business Documents describe sets of standard
  business information (for example Order
  document) that enterprises will exchange ebXML
  does not define business documents but provide a
  methodology and the core components, to make them
• Business Processes describe the roles and the
  business documents flow related to trading
  processes (for example Supply Product X
  business process)
• The business content are stored into the ebXML
  Registry and are available for the users community

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Phase 2. CPP creation

• Each enterprise, that intends to join the
  collaborative framework, defines its own XML
  Collaboration Protocol Profile (through ebXML CPP
  standard)
• Each profile identifies
• - the party business capabilities related to one
  or more collaborative business processes (for
  example which business documents it supports)-
  the technical capabilities to send and to receive
  business documents through internet (for example
  transport protocol, certificate, cryptography
  algorithm, etc.)
• The collaboration protocol profiles are stored
  into the ebXML Registry

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Phase 3. CPA achievement

• Two enterprises may decide to do business if they
  support a common subset of documents, processes
  and transports that have been declared into the
  CPP profile
• The way to achieve a business agreement is the
  CPPs profiles comparation the result of this
  negotiation process is described throught an
  ebXML Collaboration Protocol Agreement (CPA)
• The negotiation process checks if two parties are
  compatible to begin a business collaboration
• The CPA can be digitally signed to acquire legal
  value

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Phase 4. Begin Business Collaboration

• The CPA describes the achieved agreement between
  two parties on
• - complementary capabilities related to one or
  more business processes that describe the
  messages workflow
• - common technical capabilities to send and to
  receive business documents on the same delivery
  channel
• The software applications, handling business
  messages exchange (Message Service Handlers), use
  the CPA agreement as configuration file to
  automatically initialize its own setting
• The operative business collaboration can begin

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Summary of the four phases
UBL
ebBP
1

• 1. An organization (association, community)
  defines the business documents (e.g. UBL) and
  processes of the framework

2
2. Each enterprise makes or adjusts its own CPP
profile
3
CPP
CPP
CPA
3. Each couple of enterprise negotiates a CPA
agreement.
4
4. Messages exchange can start
ebMS
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ebXML benefits

• ebXML
• enables a complete XML-based collaborative
  framework
• is modular, therefore a community can adopt even
  one ebXML standard only
• integrates the most diffused web technologies
• is data format independent (e.g. it is possible
  to use UBL UBL, MODA-ML MML, HL7 CDA CPCDA,
  etc.)
• is platform independent
• is communication protocol independent
• is development languages independent
• is accessible to SMEs (low cost of adoption)

22
Module 1 Conclusions

• In this first module we have discussed about
• ebXML overview, definition and history
• what ebXML is and what ebXML isnt
• an ebXML use case scenario
• the specifications and standards that compose the
  ebXML framework
• the four phases to perform to implement ebXML
• the benefits from the use of ebXML

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Test Module 1 Question 1

• ebXML
• is a new metalanguage, XML competitor
• is a set of standards to provide an electronic
  business framework
• is a new standard organization for new XML-based
  standard
• is a set of XML messages established between
  OASIS and UN/CEFACT
• allows enterprises in any geographical location
  to meet and conduct business each other

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Test Module 1 Question 2

• ebXML
• can be used in eHealth sector
• is a software implementation for information
  exchange for e-business
• offers a communication protocol for P2P secure
  and reliable communications
• is a specific sectorial domain solution
• offers a set of predefined standard UBL documents
  to be exchanged

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Test Module 1 Question 3

• About the ebXML use case scenario
• It is a description of the phases to perform to
  achieve a business collaboration through ebXML
• The ebXML Registry allows the search for an ideal
  party
• The ebXML Registry allows parties to examine
  public Core Library to determine the requirements
  for ebXML implementation
• A CPA agreement is based on the compatibility of
  two CPP profiles
• A CPP profile is based on the compatibility of
  two CPA agreements

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Test Module 1 Question 4

• About the elements of the ebXML architecture
• The Core Components are the basic information
  elements used in the business messages
• The ebXML registry is a file descriptor
• The collaboration protocols, CPP and CPA, allow
  the parties to describe business profiles and to
  achieve business agreements
• The standard ebBP allows to describe business
  processes
• The ebMS standard is protocol neutral, is not
  bound to a specific file transport mechanism
  (such as SMTP, HTTP, or FTP)

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Test Module 1 Question 5

• About the ebXML implementation
• to implement ebXML is not necessary a setup of
  framework
• the business contents are stored into the system
  of each party only, not in the ebXML Registry
• the CPP profile creation and registration is an
  operation located in the operative phase of
  framework
• the CPP profile identifies the technical
  capabilities to send and to receive business
  documents
• the Message Service Handler (MSH) uses the CPA
  agreement as configuration file to automatically
  initialize its own setting

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Test Module 1 Responses

• The true responses
• Question 1 3,5
• Question 2 1,3
• Question 3 1,2,3,4
• Question 4 1,3,4,5
• Question 5 4,5

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Summary

• 1. ebXML architecture overview
• 2. ebXML Business Process
• 3. CPP/CPA Collaboration Protocol
• 4. ebMS Messaging System
• 5. freebXML initiative
• 6. ebXML and Web Services

30
Module 2 ebXML Business Process

• In this module we will examine the ebXML standard
  ebBP. In particular
• Definition of ebXML Business Process (ebBP) and
  explanation of what ebBP is
• Key concepts of ebBP
• Business Transaction concept in the business
  process context
• Business State concept
• XML representation of ebBP

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ebBP (ebXML Business Process)

• Def ebXML Business Process (ebBP) provides a
  standards-based business process foundation that
  promotes the automation and predictable exchange
  of business collaboration definitions using XML
• A business process (e.g. Product X Supply) can
  be formally rappresented through an XML document
  with ebBP XML standard ebBP (ebXML Business
  Process Specification Schema).

Messages
Frontend
Frontend
Enterprise B
Enterprise A
Order
Buyer
Supplier
Order Response
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ebBP Key Concepts 1/3
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ebBP Key Concepts 2/3

• The follow key concepts are used to describe a
  Business Collaboration with ebBP standard
• Party (Parter) A Party is an entity such as a
  company, department, organisation or individual
  that can generate, send and receive Documents
  (e.g. Enterprise Bianchi S.p.A.) in the
  collaboration.
• Role The named specific behaviour of an entity
  participating in a particular context. A Party
  can play one or more roles in one or more
  business process (e.g. role Supplier in
  Product X Supply business process )
• Business Document The set of information
  components that are exchanged as part of a
  business activity between two roles
• Document Flow set of business documents
  exchanged between two parties
• Business Action Document (e.g. Order document)
  sending or receiving action and related business
  signals
• Business Signal Message that allows the
  synchronization between parties during
  communication (e.g. Receipt Acknowledgement)
• Business Transaction A business transaction is a
  logical unit of business conducted by two or more
  parties that generates a computable success or
  failure state. A business transaction is a
  Business Action pair (e.g. the Purchase Order
  business transaction is composed from Order and
  Order Response business documents and signals
  for synchronization).

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ebBP Business Transaction

• Def A business transaction is an atomic unit of
  work and cannot be decomposed into lower-level
  business transactions. Each business transaction
  is expressed as an exchange of electronic
  business documents, i.e. one or two predefined
  business document flows.
• A Business Transaction is performed by 2 roles
• Requester is the role that sends a request
• Responder is the role that sends the response

Request (e.g. Order)
Supplier (Responder Role)
Buyer (Requester Role)
Response (e.g. Order Response)
Business Transaction Purchase Order
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ebBP Key Concepts 3/3

• Business Activity A business activity (BA) is
  used to represent the state of the business
  process of one of the partners. A business
  activity is the execution of a single business
  transaction, or business transaction set, with a
  predefined TimeToPerform. When TimeToPerform
  temporal limit expires the transaction becomes
  invalid.
• Choreography Choreography is a declaration of
  the activities within a collaboration and the
  sequencing rules and dependencies between these
  activities. In others words a choreography
  describes behaviour and rules set for the roles
  of the business process, therefore each actor
  knows precisely what to do in each moment of the
  collaboration (which next business state to
  perform after the completion of the current
  state).
• Business Transition A business transition
  specifies the passage from a business state to
  another business state. This passage can happens
  under predefined condition expressions.
• Condition Expression The condition expressions
  allow to describe the business process workflow,
  context dependent (e.g. an expression condition
  can check the element value of a received
  document and then decide the next business state)
• Gateway The gateway is a particular mechanisms
  to describe transitions from one business state
  to two business states (Decision), from one
  business state to many business states (Fork),
  from many business states to one business state
  (Join). Also these mechanisms can use the
  condition expression.

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ebBP Business State

• Business states Start, BusinessActivity (BA),
• End Successful, End Failure
• A business transition from a generic state S1 to
  generic state S2 can happen when the business
  transaction, S1 related, is in the completation
  state
• The choreography defines the business process
  workflow as business transition set.
• An ebBP XML istance can be used to configure a
  workflow machine
• The business process at the right side is
  expressed with the BPMN BPMN notation. The
  Create Order and Notify Shipment business
  transactions are also business states

BPMN notation BPMN
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ebBP XML Representation 1/3

• The ebBP XML representation is based on a
  composition approach
• The composition approach allows to define
  (before) the business process key concepts and
  then to coordinate (after) these elements by
  referencing
• The vantage of composition approach is the power
  to divide the whole collaboration in more little,
  simples, indipendents and reusables
  sub-processes
• Conceptually, we can divide the ebBP XML
  representation in three main levels1. business
  documents definition2. business transactions
  definition3. business collaboration definition
• Each level is defined by costruction of concepts
  of previous level - business documents are
  defined - business transactions refer the
  defined business documents- business
  collaboration refer the defined business
  transactions- business collaboration can refer
  defined business collaboration, representation of
  reusables sub-processes
• In this way ebBP defines the basic concepts in
  different abstraction levels and then riuses this
  concepts (one or more time)

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ebBP XML Representation 2/3

• The main XML elements to define an ebBP
  representation
• BusinessDocument (BD) (for example we can define
  the XML elements for the Order and Order
  Response business documents)
• BusinessTransaction (BT) (for example we can
  define a Purchase Order business transaction
  XML element that refer the Order and Order
  Response BD)
• BusinessCollaboration (BC) (for example we can
  define a Product X Supply business process that
  refer the Purchase Order business transaction
  XML element)
• Different BusinessCollaboration elements can
  refer same business transaction one or more time
  and different business transactions can refer the
  same business document one or more time.
• The BusinessCollaboration XML element refers the
  BusinessTransaction XML elements by
  BusinessTransactionActivity definition.
  Therefore, the BusinessTransactionActivity is the
  execution of a business transaction
• The BusinessTransactionActivity represent a
  business state
• The BusinessCollaboration XML element also
  specifies the choreography through roles
  definition, transition definitions, gateways,
  condition expressions
• In the next slide we will show the XML syntax of
  an example of ebBP representation

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ebBP XML Representation 3/3
ltProcessSpecification nameProduct X Supply
uuidprocID-X gt ltBusinessDocument
name"Order" nameIDbd-123gt ltSpecification
locationhttp//.../order.xsd /gt
lt/BusinessDocumentgt ltBusinessDocument
nameOrder Response" nameIDbd-124gt
ltSpecification locationhttp//.../orderrespons
e.xsd /gt lt/BusinessDocumentgt
ltBusinessTransaction namePurchase Order"
nameIDbt-25gt ltRequestingBusinessActivity
gt ltDocumentEnvelope businessDocumentRefb
d-123 /gt lt/RequestingBusinessActivitygt
ltRespondingBusinessActivity gt
ltDocumentEnvelope businessDocumentRefbd-124
/gt lt/RespondingBusinessActivitygt
lt/BusinessTransactiongt ltBusinessCollaboration
nameProduct X Supply gt ltRole
nameSupplier /gt ltRole nameBuyer /gt
ltStart nameIDstate1 /gt ltCompletation /gt
ltSuccess /gt ltBusinessTransactionActivity
businessTransactionRefbt-25 /gt
ltTransition /gtltDecision /gtltFork /gt
lt/BusinessCollaborationgt lt/ProcessSpecificationgt
40
Module 2 Conclusions

• In this module we have discussed about
• what ebXML Business Process (ebBP) is, a standard
  for the XML rappresentations of business
  collaborations
• the main key business concepts of ebBP Parter
  (Party), Role, Document, Document Flow, Action,
  Signals, Transaction, Activity, Choreography,
  Transition, Condition Expression, Gateway, States
• XML representation of ebBP in terms of
  composition and reusability

41
Test Module 2 Question 1

• ebBP
• is acronym of ebXML Business Profile
• is a standard to describe business documents
• is a standard to describe core components
• is a standard to describe business processes
• can not be formally rappresented through an XML
  syntax

42
Test Module 2 Question 2

• About the ebBP key concepts
• a party is an entity, such as a company, that can
  generate, send and receive documents in a
  business collaboration
• a party can play one or more roles in one or more
  business process
• two o more parties exchange information through a
  set of business documents
• during communication between two parties it is
  necessary a synchronization, for this scope the
  business signals are used
• a business transaction is, for example, a request
  document, a response document and the business
  signals

43
Test Module 2 Question 3

• Again about the ebBP key concepts
• a business activity (BA) is used to represent the
  state of the business process of one of the
  partners
• the choreography is a XML Schema list related to
  the business documents that the party can use in
  the business process
• the choreography describes behaviour and rules
  set for the roles in the business process
• the transitions, descripted in the choreography,
  specifies the passage from a business state to
  another business state
• the condition expressions is not related to the
  workflow of business process
• the gateway is not related to the workflow of
  business process

44
Test Module 2 Question 4

• About the XML representation of ebBP
• BusinessCollaboration, BusinessTransactionActiv
  ity, BusinessProcesses and BusinessDocument
  are names of XML elements of ebBP standards
• the approach used is the composition and
  reusability of XML elements
• an element BusinessTransaction can recall two
  business documents by a reference identifier
• a Business Transaction is composed by a
  requesting and a responding business activities
• the choreography is specified inside the
  BusinessDocument element
• the choreography is specified in the
  BusinessCollaboration element

45
Test Module 2 Responses

• The true responses
• Question 1 4
• Question 2 all
• Question 3 1,3,4
• Question 4 2,3,4,6

46
Summary

• 1. ebXML architecture overview
• 2. ebXML Business Process
• 3. CPP/CPA Collaboration Protocol
• 4. ebMS Messaging System
• 5. freebXML initiative
• 6. ebXML and Web Services

47
Module 3 CPP/CPA Collaboration Protocol

• In this module we will examine
• General description of ebXML profile CPP and the
  ebXML agreement CPA
• the standard ebXML Collaboration Protocol Profile
  CPP and its functionalities
• XML representation and structure of CPP, in
  particular- CollaborationRole element to
  specify characteristics related to one or more
  business processes described with ebBP-
  DeliveryChannel element to specify the data
  transmission channels and related security
  characteristics
• the standard ebXML Collaboration Protocol
  Agreement CPA and its functionalities
• ebBP, CPP and CPA relationship
• multiparty business collaboration use case
  scenario

48
CPPA

• ebXML Collaboration Protocol Profile (CPP) and
  ebXML Collaboration Protocol Agreement (CPA) are
  part of the same technical specification CPPA
  and are standard ISO TS 15000-1 CPISO
• CPP business profile to describe party
  information
• CPA business agreement to describe two parties
  that want to collaborate and to exchange
  information in the same business collaboration
• The ebXML CPP and CPA specification is defined by
  the same XML syntax (see the OASIS CPPA TC
  CPPA) therefore, both CPP and CPA instances
  are validated against the same XML Schema
• The CPPA standard allows to specify
• Party information (e.g. name, URL, id)
• Business process customization (ebBP related)
• Business documents packaging
• Delivery channel (transport protocols, message
  envelope)
• Security details

49
CPP (Collaboration Protocol Profile)

• Each enterprise defines its own CPP profile to
  partecipate to the collaborative framework
• Each enterprise defines in its own profile
• How to execute the business process (ebBP)
• Which communication and security protocols are
  available
• The enterprise publishes its own business profile
  to an ebXML Registry

Messages
CPPProfile A
CPPProfile B
Frontend
Frontend
Enterprise B
Enterprise A
ebBP (o BPSS) Processo di Business
ebBP Business Process
50
CPP XML Representation 1/2

• The main sections of XML structure of CPP
• CollaborationRole describes the Partys role in
  the supported business process that, usually, is
  represented with ebBP (e.g. Party can describe in
  its own profile that play the role Supplier in
  Product X Supply business process)
• 2. DeliveryChannel specifies delivery channels
  for the messages. DeliveryChannel is defined as
  transport and messaging protocols combination
• Transport available transport protocols (e.g.
  HTTP, SMTP, etc.) for messages sending and
  receiving, endpoint related, authentication and
  security characteristics.
• DocExchange specifies the message envelope type
  (e.g. ebMS, WS) and reliable messaging protocol
  related (e.g. XML Signature e XML Encryption)
• Packaging defines business message structure by
  costituents composition list
• In the next slide we will show the XML syntax of
  general structure of CPP representation

51
CPP XML Representation 2/2

• ltCollaborationProtocolProfilegt
• ltPartyInfogt
• (ltCollaborationRolegt)
• (ltDeliveryChannelgt)
• (ltTransportgt)
• (ltDocExchangegt)
• lt/PartyInfogt
• (ltPackaginggt)
• lt/CollaborationProtocolProfilegt

52
CPP CollaborationRole 1/2

• In a collaboration Profile CPP, each
  CollaborationRole element describes how the party
  will play a business role related to a business
  process specified by an ebBP
• The CollaborationRole characteristics
• name, uuid, url of the specified ebBP
• role played by Party
• business actions, described in the ebBP, that
  Party wants to support. Each business action is
  the sending or receiving of a business document
• For each supported business action it is
  necessary to specify
• - a predefined delivery channel
• - a predefined packaging
• - business transaction characteristics (e.g.
  authentication, non repudiation, time to perform,
  etc.)
• If the Party changes or adds business services
  (e.g. new delivery channels) he updates and
  changes its own collaboration profile

53
CPP CollaborationRole 2/2
ltCollaborationRolegt ltProcessSpecificationnamePr
oduct X Supply uuidprocID-X hrefhttp//www
.community.org/ebbp/procID-X.xml/gt (ltRolegt)
ltServiceBindinggt (ltServicegt)
(ltCanSendgt) (ltCanReceivegt) lt/ServiceBindinggt
lt/CollaborationRolegt
54
CPP DeliveryChannel

• Each DeliveryChannel XML element describes the
  sending/receiving characteristics for a
  particular channel
• Each channel is a Transport - DocExchange
  combination

Delivery Channel DC1
Delivery Channel DC2
Delivery Channel DC3
Transport T1
Transport T2
Transport T3
Doc.Exch. X1
Doc.Exch. X2
Doc.Exch. X3
55
CPP DeliveryChannel Examples

• DC1 and DC2 are totally compatibles
• DC1 and DC3 are partially compatibles

Delivery Channel DC1
Delivery Channel DC2
Delivery Channel DC3
Transport T1
Transport T2
Transport T3
SMTP HTTP
Sending Receiving
HTTP SMTP
HTTP HTTP
Doc.Exch. X1
Doc.Exch. X2
Doc.Exch. X3
ebMS ebMS
ebMS ebMS
Sending Receiving
WS ebMS
56
CPP Channel Security

• XML elements related to security SEC
• Certificate this XML element specifies the set
  of keys used in the encryption process to sign
  and encode messages
• Transport the Transport XML element contains XML
  subelements to define the security
  characteristics related to transport protocol
  (e.g. SSL or TLS parameters)
• DocExchange the DocExchange XML element contains
  XML subelements to specify message exchange
  security characteristics
• - message signature Digital signature (e.g. XML
  Signature XMLDS) is used to ditally sign the
  ebXML envelope and payload to guarantee the
  message non-repudiation
• - message encryption Encryption (e.g. XML
  Encryption XMLENC, default choice in ebXML) is
  used to encode/decode ebXML envelope and payload
  to guarantee privacy during the data trasmission

57
CPA (Collaboration Protocol Agreement)

• Each couple of enterprises that want to set up a
  business collaboration tries to achieve an
  agreement. The Collaboration Agreement can be
  achieved from the comparison of two CPPs and
  formalized with the ebXML CPA standard protocol
• The CPPs comparison is a negotiation process to
  obtain the CPA agreement resolving the potential
  incompatibilities and ambiguities
• Compatible XML elements of profiles are inserted
  into the CPA

Messages
CPPProfile A
CPPProfile B
Frontend
Frontend
Enterprise B
Enterprise A
CPA Collaboration Agreement
ebBP (o BPSS) Processo di Business
ebBP Business Process
58
ebBP, CPP and CPA relationship

• An ebBP describes a business process in order to
  obtain a general rappresentation, expression of
  all possible parties interactions, all possible
  exchange of business documents, all possible
  roles that a party can play in this process. ebBP
  is a description of what is possible in the
  business collaboration
• A CPP describes a single enterprise relatively to
  one or more business processes. In the profile,
  for each specified business process, the
  enterprise defines which characteristics will
  support and how will execute the process. CPP is
  a description of what the enterprise can do
• A CPA, result of CPPs comparison, describes the
  achieved agreement between two parties. CPA is a
  description of what the enterprises will do
  toghether, CPA is a representation of supported
  and complementary characteristics for a
  particular business collaboration between two
  parties

Possibility What is possible - ebBP
Capability What the enterprise can do - CPP
Agreement What the enterprises agree to do
together - CPA
59
Multiparty Business Collaboration 1/3

• To establish a business collaboration
• each party defines its own CPP profile
• all (communicating) parties have the same
  business process reference (ebBP), the business
  process describes the document flow among their
  roles

MSH
CPP B
Party B
MSH
CPP A
Party A
60
Multiparty Business Collaboration 2/3

• The parties have to establish an agreement to
  obtain a CPA by CPPs comparison, resolving
  ambiguity and incompatibility.
• The CPA can be used as configuration file by a
  Message Service Handler (MSH), that is the
  enterprises front-end for documents exchange.
• The CPA contains all needed information to
  configure the business collaboration

MSH
CPA A-B
CPP B
Party B
MSH
CPA A-B
CPP A
Party A
61
Multiparty Business Collaboration 3/3

• Each (communicating) couple of parties has to
  achieve a CPA agreement
• Each CPA is locally stored by the involved
  enterprises. CPA represents, for a party, a
  collaboration agreement with another party. CPA
  can be changed, updated, reutilized by involved
  parties

MSH
CPA B-C
CPA A-B
CPP B
Party B
MSH
CPA A-C
CPA A-B
CPP A
Party A
MSH
CPA B-C
CPA A-C
CPP C
Party C
62
Module 3 Conclusions

• In this module we have discussed about
• General description of ebXML standard CPPA,
  composed by CPP and CPA
• XML structure and representation of CPP and CPA,
  in particular CollaborationRole,
  DeliveryChannel, Transport, DocExchange,
  Packaging XML elements
• ebBP, CPP and CPA relationship
• a Multiparty Business Collaboration use case
  scenario

63
Test Module 3 Question 1

• About CPP and CPA
• are an ebXML standard
• are a W3C standard
• are an ISO standard
• are a XML-based standard with the same XML Schema
• CPP allows two parties to describe their business
  agreement
• CPA allows each party to describe its own
  business profile
• CPA allows to specify transport protocols that
  the parties will use to exchange information

64
Test Module 3 Question 2

• The CPP
• is a business profile (one for each party)
• is a business agreement (one for each couple of
  party)
• describes communication and security protocols
  available for the party
• describes the ebXML Registry services
• describes which business processes the party will
  perform

65
Test Module 3 Question 3

• About XML elements of CPP
• CollaborationRole describes the business messages
  structure
• CollaborationRole describes the role that the
  party will play related to a predefined business
  process
• DeliveyChannel describes the role that the party
  will play related to a predefined business
  process
• DeliveyChannel describes channels used to send
  and to receive the messages
• Packaging describes the business processes
• Packaging describes transport protocols
  characteristics

66
Test Module 3 Question 4

• About CollaborationRole XML element
• refers two ebBP file by CPA
• refers an ebBP file by url
• allows to the user to declare which channel will
  be used with each message
• allows to the user to declare which business
  processes are supported
• allows to the user to declare which business
  documents are supported

67
Test Module 3 Question 5

• About DeliveryChannel XML element of CPP
• Is a combination of Transport and
  CollaborationRole XML elements
• Is combination of Packaging and DocExchange XML
  elements
• two channels are compatibles if the sending
  characteristics of the first are coherents with
  receiving characteristics of the second
• two channels are compatibles if the receiving
  characteristics of the first are coherents with
  sending characteristics of the second
• two channels are not compatibles if the transport
  protocol is HTTP only
• the subelement DocExchange allows to specify
  Digital signature and encryption characteristics
  for the channel

68
Test Module 3 Question 6

• The CPA
• is a business profile (one for each party)
• is a business agreement (one for each couple of
  party)
• describes communication and security protocols
  available for the couple of parties
• describes the ebXML Registry services
• describes which business processes the couple of
  parties will perform

69
Test Module 3 Question 7

• About the Multiparty Business Collaboration use
  case scenario
• an ebBP describes a business process common to
  all parties
• Each couple of parties establish an agreement CPA
  from two CPP
• Each CPA is a description of communication
  between two parties
• Each CPA is a description of communication among
  three parties
• Each party has itw own CPP profile and a CPA
  agreement for each communicating parter

70
Test Module 3 Responses

• The true responses
• Question 1 1,3,4,7
• Question 2 1,3,5
• Question 3 2,4
• Question 4 2,3,4,5
• Question 5 3,4,6
• Question 6 2,3,5
• Question 7 1,2,3,5

71
Summary

• 1. ebXML architecture overview
• 2. ebXML Business Process
• 3. CPP/CPA Collaboration Protocol
• 4. ebMS Messaging System
• 5. freebXML initiative
• 6. ebXML and Web Services

72
Module 4 ebMS Messaging System

• In this module we will examine
• general description of ebXML Message Service
  (ebMS)
• ebMS technical specifications overview
• ebMS envelope
• the business transaction concept in the message
  service context
• ebMS reliable protocol messages exchange simple
  and complex scenarios

73
ebMS (ebXML Message Service) 1/3

• ebXML Message Service (ebMS) provides a way for a
  reliable business documents exchange
• ebMS 2.0 specification ebMS is an ebXML
  standard and ISO TS 15000-2 standard CPISO
• ebMS is- communication protocol indipendent
  (e.g. it can be applied on different protocols
  HTTP, SMTP, FTP, etc.) - message content
  indipendent (e.g. it can contain EDI document,
  XML document, etc.)

Messages
ebMS Envelope
DOC
MSH
MSH
Enterprise B
Enterprise A

• ebMS is based on preexistent and more diffused
  XML security technologies (e.g. XML Signature
  XMLSIGN and XML Encryption XMLENC)
• The ebMS 3.0 Core specification, approved as a
  Committee Specification on 12 July 2007,
  introduces web services integration using other
  preexistent security specifications (e.g.
  WS-Security WSS and WS-Reliability WSR)

74
ebMS (ebXML Message Service) 2/3

• ebMS specification defines1. message structure
• 2. messages exchange characteristics (messaging
  service)
• The ebXML message structure header is defined
  with XML syntax (SOAP Message with Attachments
  SOAPATT) but the message body (payload) is not
  expressed necessarily in XML (e.g. binary files)
• The messaging service is composed of
• Access service abstract interface
• Message Service Handler (MSH) to sign, to
  encrypt and to package the message
• Communication protocol binding (e.g. HTTP, SMTP,
  FTP)

Messages
DOC
MSH
MSH
Azienda B
Azienda A
75
ebMS 3/3

• The ebXML message makes use of SOAP with
  Attachment, therefore it can be sent on the most
  diffused communication protocols
• The message is constituted of a SOAP Envelope
  and one or more Payload Container
• The SOAP Envelope contains - Header message
  check information - Body descriptor of the
  content of the Payload Containers
• Each Payload Container contains a single
  document to be sent
• The Business Documents contain business
  information to be sent to the receiver of the
  message

ebMS 2.0 Message Structure
76
ebMS Business Transaction

• Def A business transaction is a logical unit of
  business conducted by two or more parties that
  generates a computable success or failure state"
• The ebMS specification, like ebBP, defines a
  transaction as composition of- Request Action
  the action to send a request document from
  requester role to responder role- Response
  Action the action to send a response document
  from responder role to requester role-
  Business Signals to allow the communication
  alignment between requester and responder

Request (e.g. Order)
ReceiptAcknowledgement Signal
Supplier (Responder Role)
Customer (Requester Role)
AcceptanceAcknowledgement Signal
Response (e.g. Order Response)
ReceiptAcknowledgement Signal
AcceptanceAcknowledgement Signal
77
ebMS Reliability Messaging

• The features of reliable protocol messages
  exchange
• Acknowledgment (ack) service signals to confirm
  the message receipt and acceptance
• Exception message to notify the catch of an
  exception
• Retries predefined number of attempts to send
  the message if no ack receipt is received within
  a defined life time (RetryInterval)
• Duplicate messages check
• Messages persistent storage Prior to sending a
  message, the sending ebXML Message Service will
  save the message in persistent storage. Once the
  message has been correctly received, the
  receiving ebXML Message Service will save the
  message in persistent storage and send an
  acknowledgement message to the sending ebXML
  Message Service. After sending, the ebXML Message
  Service receives the acknowledgement, it might
  delete the message from the persistent storage if
  no longer needed. If the sending ebXML Message
  Service does not receive acknowledgement, it can
  resend the message or notify the sending
  application that was unable to be deliver the
  message.

78
ebMS simple scenario 1/2
79
ebMS simple scenario 2/2

• In a simple scenario
• Application layer of Sender A- sends data to
  MSH layer of A, to prepare it to be sent to B
• MSH layer of sender A- prepares the message
  inserting the data into the SOAP envelope, -
  inserts an ack notification request into the SOAP
  message,- saves message before sending, - sends
  the message to MSH receiver B
• MSH layer of receiver B- receives the message,
  - checks if an acknowledgment notification
  request is present,
• - if ack request is present, sends the ack
  receipt to MSH of sender A to notify the
  successful message reception - saves message
  information into its own database and delivers
  the date to application layer of receiver B

80
ebMS complex scenario 1/3
81
ebMS complex scenario 2/3

• In a complex scenario (with message loss)
• Application layer of Sender A- sends message to
  MSH layer of A, to preparare him to be sent to B
• MSH layer of sender A- sends message to MSH of
  receiver B
• MSH layer of receiver B- receives message from
  MSH of sender A- sends to MSH A the ack
  receipt- sends the received message to
  application layer of receiver B
• The acknowledgment receipt from B to A is lost
• MSH layer of sender A- waits the ack of B (but
  the ack is lost!)- when the prearranged waiting
  time expires, the MSH sends the message to B
  again

82
ebMS complex scenario 3/3

1. The message from A to B is lost
2. MSH layer of sender A- when the waiting time
   expires, if others attempts are available, sends
   again the message (third time) to B
3. The message from A to B is delivered
4. MSH layer of receiver B- checks if message is
   present into the storage, - the message is into
   the storage, therefore deletes the received
   message- sends again acknowledgment receipt to
   MSH of sender A
5. MSH sender A- receives the ack signal
6. The business transaction achieves the final state
   and ends

83
Module 4 Conclusions

• In this module we have discussed about
• ebXML Message Service (ebMS) standard overview
• The ebMS technical specifications composed by -
  message structure
• - messages exchange characteristics
• The message structure of ebXML message
• the business transaction concept in the ebMS
  context
• simple and complex scenarios of ebMS reliable
  protocol messages exchange

84
Test Module 4 Question 1

• About ebMS
• is an ebXML standard
• Is an ISO standard
• is a standard, SOAP-based, for a reliable
  business documents exchange
• is the ebXML envelope to encapsule business
  document to send from a party to another party
• is message content dipendent, can contain XML
  files only
• is Communication protocol dipendent, can be used
  on HTTP only

85
Test Module 4 Question 2

• About ebMS 2.0 Message
• the envelope is not a WSDL extension
• the envelope is a SOAP with Attachment extension
• the Payload Container is the part of message that
  contains the document to exchange
• the Payload Container can contain binary files
  with .jpg extension
• The Body in the Header Container of SOAP envelope
  contains information on the content of the
  Payload Containers
• a Message Service Handler (MSH) signs, encrypts
  and packages the ebMS message

86
Test Module 4 Question 3

• ebMS specification
• defines a business transaction as composition
  of Request Action, Business Activity Action,
  Business Signals
• does not define the business signals to allow the
  communication alignment between requester and
  responder, instead ebBP does
• defines the business signals to allow the
  communication alignment between requester and
  responder, instead ebBP does not
• defines the business signals to allow the
  communication alignment between requester and
  responder, ebBP specification too
• support the duplicate messages check
  characteristic
• support the messages persistent storage
  characteristic to resend the message when it is
  lost

87
Test Module 4 Question 4

• About the ebMS reliable protocol messages
  exchange simple scenario
• it is a description of a ebXML message dispatch
• the goal is to transport the data from the
  application layer of party A to application layer
  of party B
• from MSH party A and MSH party B the data is
  enveloped in the ebXML message envelope
• the acknowledgment allows the communication
  alignment between requester A and responder B
• the acknowledgment is sent from B to A because
  the message is lost

88
Test Module 4 Question 5

• About the ebMS reliable protocol messages
  exchange complex scenario
• all the ebXML business transactions happen like
  this situation, each ebXML message is lost at
  least once before the real delivery
• the goal is to send the greatest number of
  messages
• from MSH party A and MSH party B the data is not
  enveloped in the ebXML message envelope
• the acknowledgment can not be lost
• the acknowledgment can be sent at most once

89
Test Module 4 Responses

• The true responses
• Question 1 1,2,3,4
• Question 2 all
• Question 3 4,5,6
• Question 4 1,2,3,4
• Question 5 none

90
Summary

• 1. ebXML architecture overview
• 2. ebXML Business Process
• 3. CPP/CPA Collaboration Protocol
• 4. ebMS Messaging System
• 5. freebXML initiative
• 6. ebXML and Web Services

91
Module 5 freebXML initiative

• In this module we will examine
• General presentation and mission of freebxml
  initiative
• ebMail project
• BP Editor project
• freebXML Registry (OMAR) project
• Hermes MSH (H2O) project
• Webswell Connect project

92
freebXML Initiative

• freebXML freebXML is an initiative that aims to
  foster the development and adoption of ebXML and
  related technology through software and
  experience sharing
• freebXML is an initiative coordinated by the
  Center for E-Commerce Infrastructure Development
  (The University of Hong Kong)
• The mission of freebXML.org is to provide a
  centralized site for developers to access and
  share 'free' ebXML code and applications
• Users and developers can also share their ebXML
  development and deployment experience at
  freebXML.org
• Projects- ebMail 1.2- freebXML BP Editor-
  freebXML Registry 3.0- Hermes MSH (H2O)-
  Webswell Connect
• Projects reference page http//www.freebxml.org/p
  rojects.htm

93
ebMail

• ebMail B2B GUI 1.2 is a GUI system which helps
  users with minimal knowledge on ebXML to engage
  in B2B activities.
• The user interface is email-client-like to lower
  the learning threshold.
• Underlying the GUI, the system makes use of open
  standards (ebXML) to provide a reliable
  communication with business partners.
• Since the business messages are composed and read
  in GUI form, this project can be useful to SMEs
  who do not need backend integration or do not
  wish a complex system integration.
• Business process flow can be guided by the
  plugins of ebMail. ebMail supports grouping of
  business messages into threads.
• ebXML packaging and digital signature are
  supported, and the ebXML transport protocol is
  binded to SMTP
• Reference page http//www.freebxml.org/ebmail.htm

94
freebXML BP Editor

• The BP Editor is a tool designed to help the user
  in creating generic as well as domain specific
  Business Process Specifications based on ebBP
  version 2.0.
• The editor lets the user to create Process
  Specifications from scratch or use the existing
  ones.
• The BP Editor implementation is based on an XML
  Schema (XSD) Editor, which is used in creating
  the XML segments of ebBP process specification.
• This generic XSD Editor parses the XSD file and
  dynamically creates the graphical user interface
  of the corresponding element defined in the XSD.
• Reference page http//www.freebxml.org/freebXMLbp
  .htm

95
freebXML Registry (OMAR)

• freebXML Registry 3.0 is an Open Source ebXML
  Registry and Repository Implementation
• freebXML Registry (ebxmlrr) is a general registry
  adopting a generic and extensible information
  model that includes the ability to have arbitrary
  associations between entries in the registry.
• The repository is a way of storing information
  pointed by entries in the registry.
• Any type of data can be stored in the repository
  including Web Service descriptions, XML data and
  documents, binary data (such as images, sound
  files, video data, executable application files,
  CAD files, etc.), and any other kind of data.
• Reference page http//www.freebxml.org/registry.h
  tm

96
Hermes MSH (H2O)

• H