Eve Maler, Sun Microsystems

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UBL ebXML based XML Document Library, Schemas
and Naming Design Rules

• Eve Maler, Sun Microsystems
• Editor, UBL Naming Design Rules sub-committee
• Mavis Cournane, Cognitran
• Editor, UBL Naming Design Rules sub-committee
• Sue Probert, Commerce One
• UBL Liaison to UN/CEFACT Forums Trade
  Business Group (TBG)

Electronic Business XML Copenhagen
November 7, 2002
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ebXML phase 2
TRP TC
UN/CEFACT
OASIS
ebXML Messaging
ebXML JCC
CPPA TC
ebXML Partner Profiles Agreements
Joint Architecture
Forum
RegRep TC
ebXML Registry Repository
TBG
TMG
ATG
UBL TC
Syntax Neutral BP Models CCs
Syntax Solutions EDIFACT XML
ebXML CC BP Tech Specs
XSD Design Rules, Document Schemas And Context
Assembly
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The standards venue

• UBL is being developed within an OASIS Technical
  Committee
• OASIS offers
• An objective and effective process
• Openness of its work to public view in real time
• Easy and inexpensive opportunities to join
• ISO TC/154 Class A Liaison
• eb MoU Class A Liaison
• Jon Bosak (F.O.X.) is the chair and original
  founder

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Some UBL participants

• Aeon
• ACORD
• Boeing
• Certivo
• Cognitran
• Commerce One
• Contivo
• Danish Bankers Association
• France Telecom
• General Electric
• Government of Hongkong
• Government of Korea
• HP
• KPMG
• LMI

• Northrup Grumman
• Ontogenics
• Oracle
• PricewaterhouseCoopers
• SAP
• SeeBeyond
• Sterling Commerce
• Sun Microsystems
• SWIFT
• UK APACS
• UK Cabinet Office
• United Parcel Service
• U.S. GSA
• U.S. Navy
• Visa International

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Formal liaisons so far

• Industry groups
• ACORD (Insurance)
• ARTS (Retail Sales)
• e.centre (EAN UK)
• EIDX (Electronics)
• HL7 (Healthcare)
• RosettaNet (IT)
• SWIFT (Interbank Network)
• UIG (Utilities)
• VCA (Prescription Eyewear)
• XBRL (Accounting)
• De jure standards organizations
• ISO TC154
• ANSI X12
• UN/CEFACT

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UBL subcommittee organization

• Modeling and content
• Library Content
• Context Drivers
• (future domain-specific)
• XML representation and mechanisms
• Naming and Design Rules
• Context Methodology
• Tools and Techniques
• Administrative functions
• Marketing
• Liaison
• Subcommittee chairs

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UBLs relationship with ebXML

• UBL is not actually an ebXML deliverable yet!
• UBL does not mandate a particular messaging
  framework but is built to support ebXML
• UBL is committed to international semantic
  standardization and the UBL work is, in fact, a
  real ebXML CCTS implementation
• We tried mapping from ebXML CCs to UBL BIEs but
  gave up
• Now were committed to defining candidate CCs
  from UBL BIEs to and we will contribute the
  results to the CC effort
• UBL believe that the combination of ebXML UBL
  offers the promise to enable the B2B web

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Development strategies

• Start with the low-hanging fruit
• The 20 of documents and business objects
  actually used by 80 of electronic business
  partners
• Defer the rocket science to later phases
• Produce useful, concrete outputs ASAP based on a
  well-defined scope then develop and publish a
  contextual extension methodology to enable the
  other 80
• Dont start with a blank slate
• We started working from xCBL 3.0
• But with no expectations of backwards
  compatibility
• Take advantage of domain expertise
• Gather XML experts and business experts together
  and form key liaisons

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Planned deliverables

• Phase 1 2002
• The initial UBL Library
• Covers the UBL Trading Cycle
• Reusable building blocks and standard document
  types
• Schema design rules
• How to represent UBL in XML/XSD
• How external modules can best work with UBL
• Simple context methodology
• How to add context-based extensions to UBL

• Phase 2 2003
• Full-blown context methodology
• How to describe your extensions in reusable and
  predictive fashion
• Extended UBL Library
• Additional context-specific reusable building
  blocks plus additional document types

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OASIS UBL Scope Objectives

• International in scope i.e. suitable for domestic
  or cross-border trading
• Applicable across any sector or domain of
  electronic trade, transport, and administration
  (purchasing, payments, logistics, transportation,
  statistical reporting, customs, social
  administration, healthcare, etc.)
• UBL Trading Cycle Scenario
• Interoperable with existing traditional EDI
  systems
• Developed from an existing core library, xCBL,
  which is
• Unencumbered by intellectual property claims
• Already proven to work in actual electronic
  marketplaces

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Phase 1 UBL Trading Cycle Scenario

• Models the requirements of a basic, usable,
  trading cycle between Buyer and Seller. It
  includes specifications for
• Order
• Order Response (simple)
• Order Response (complex)
• Order Change
• Despatch Advice
• Receipt Advice
• Invoice
• It provides for
•   identification of each item according to a
  range of ID systems
•   specification of delivery detail at item line
  level
• specification of the packaging of the ordered
  items limited to-
• packaging when it is an inherent part of the Item
• packaging of the whole shipment in one way, e.g.
  all items palletised etc.
• It does not cater for
• any sub-line facilities
• sophisticated packaging within packaging

               
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Extended UBL Trading Cycle Scenario
Seller
Buyer
RFQ
Quote
Product Data
Financial Accounts
PO
PO Resp
Trade Statistics
Price Catalog
Desp Adv
Recv Adv
Invoice
CPP/CPA Directory
VAT Reports
???
Rem Advice
???
???
Transaction data
Content Metadata
Reporting Metadata
Phase 1 Dec 2002
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More about the UBL Library deliverables

• Normative W3C XML Schema (XSD) modules
• Documentation including Trading Cycle model etc.
• Potentially several non-normative forms
• UML
• ASN.1
• Other schema representations
• Modified XSD
• Potentially stylesheets for
• Viewing UBL documents
• Generating traditional EDI-compliant instances
• A derived deliverable will be Core Components
  feedback

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Some major design rules developed so far

• The choice of normative schema language
• Naming and construction of elements, attributes,
  and types (mostly done)
• Modularity, namespaces, and versioning (partial)
• Embedded schema documentation (draft)
• Handling code lists

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A taste of the naming rules

• Dictionary entry names are fully qualified with
  object class names
• But using these full names would result in
  hundreds of extra elements
• We get reusability by allowing properties
  (elements) to inherit parent object classes
  (types), XPath-style
• Delivery schedule IDs and order IDs could both be
  called ltIDgt
• Each would be identifiable by means of //Order/ID
  and //DeliverySchedule/ID respectively

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More about the UBL Naming Rules

• The UBL Garden of Eden style offers a component
  library that is truly reusable for assembly and
  customisable for specialisation. We can now be
  more explicit about the choice of mapping to XSD
  from the UBL abstract model e.g.
• Object classes (aggregate BIEs) are turned into
  complex type definitions and element declarations
  that are directly bound to these types.
• Properties (association and basic BIEs) are
  turned into element references in the content
  models of the object class complex types. If a
  suitable element declaration was not already
  created above, it is created now. (There may be
  multiple elements with the same type but
  different names.)
• The properties are bound to types indicated by
  the relevant representation terms. Where a
  representation term corresponds to one of the
  prescribed CCTs, its corresponding XSD type is
  used. Where a representation term corresponds to
  an object class (aggregate BIE), that complex
  type is used instead.
• A combination of the definition of the generic
  element-as-object-class (the original
  declaration, associated with a type) and the
  specific element-as-property-of-a-higher-object-cl
  ass (the reference in a content model) provides a
  complete view of the meaning.

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How the design rules fit into schema creation
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Embedded documentation

• Datatypes are annotated with UBL-related metadata
• XHTML Basic is used in a conventional way to
  indicate the fields

• ltxsddocumentationgt ltxhtmldiv
  classObject_Class"gt ltxhtmlpgtDeliverylt/xh
  tmlpgt lt/xhtmldivgt ltxhtmldiv
  classProperty_Term"gt ltxhtmlpgtSchedulelt/x
  htmlpgt lt/xhtmldivgt . . .ltxsddocumentatio
  ngt

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Encoding code lists

• UBL will seek to import external datatype
  definitions in conventional XSD form
• Helping external organizations to create rigorous
  schemas
• Defining a unique UBL element for each kind of
  code
• It will identify minimal code lists that must be
  supported
• But allow extension in several machine-readable
  ways
• Benefits
• Semantic clarity, interoperability, external
  maintenance, validatability, friendliness to our
  context methodology, upgradability, readability
• This design rule is special because its not only
  for a UBL-internal audience
• We hope to promote a global code list marketplace
  with it!

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Context drivers

• The ebXML CCTS has identified the following
  context drivers
• Business process
• Industry
• Product classification
• Geopolitical region
• Primary and supporting business roles
• System capabilities
• Official constraints
• For example, selling hazardous chemicals from one
  country to another would have a set of specific
  values along these axes
• This set probably needs to be extensible

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The eight-space

• UBL defines BIEs, not CCs they have business
  context
• Typically just the business process in which case
  the other context parameters should be zeroed
  out
• A set of eight values identifies a unique
  business context
• A trading community can associate their schema
  customizations with it

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UBL Phase 1 extensibility

• In Phase 1 of UBLs context methodology,
  extension will require
• Handcrafting of an XSD derivation on top of UBL,
  adhering to XSD extension/restriction rules
• Indication of the applicable context driver
  values through embedded documentation, adhering
  to UBL context derivation rules
• A context hierarchy will mirror the XSD type
  hierarchy
• There are ebXML reg/rep implications
• A set of UBL ur-schemas will be created that
  allow for more flexible derivation
• With cardinalities that all start at 0
• But deriving from the ur-schemas wont count as
  UBL Library conformance

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The plan for Phase 2 automation of the
application of context

• Customisation will be delivered through the
  definition of the desired context-specific schema
  changes using a context constraint language
• These context rules will be able to be applied by
  a suitably developed engine to automatically
  generate contextualised schemas from the
  ur-schemas
• Represents a subtle and difficult set of
  technical challenges!
• There will again be ebXML reg/rep implications

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Completed work to date

• The Phase 1 UBL Naming and Design Rules Manual
  compiled. Still undergoing development and
  testing bujt on track for publication by end of
  2002
• The Phase 1 UBL Trading Cycle model, reusable
  type library and document structures are also on
  track for publication before end 2002
• Preparations are underway for production of
  documentation, examples and other ancilliary
  deliverables to accompany Phase 1 Library
  deliverables
• Set of derived candidate BIE definitions covering
  the UBL Trading Cycle concurrently being compiled
  for submission to CC Harmonisation Process within
  UN/CEFACT Forum

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Meeting schedule

• The UBL TC physically meets only F2F it has met
  five times since October/November 2001
• We often try to co-locate with groups with which
  we have liaisons
• Next F2F is 18-22 November 2002 in Menlo Park,
  CA, USA
• The larger SCs meet frequently by phone and do
  some most work by email
• i.e. Library Content (LC) SC and the Naming and
  Design Rules (NDR) SC
• If youre interested in joining UBL, let me know
• You must become an OASIS member
• Individual membership is US250/year

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Where to find more information

• OASIS UBL TC
• www.oasis-open.org/committees/ubl/
• www.oasis-open.org/committees/ubl/lcsc/
• www.oasis-open.org/committees/ubl/ndrsc/
• www.oasis-open.org/committees/ubl/cmsc/
• White papers, presentations, and specifications
  are available
• All mailing list archives are open to public view
• ebXML
• www.ebxml.org
• Core Components
• www.unece.org/cefact/
• xCBL
• www.xCBL.org

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How to comment

• The UBL comment list is open to all
• Archivelists.oasis-open.org/archives/ubl-comment
  
• Signuplists.oasis-open.org/ob/adm.pl
• The Library Content and NDR SCs have spreadsheet
  forms for providing feedback