Consignia, XML and the UPU

1
Consignia, XML and the UPU

• Presentation by Chris Woodhouseto UPU EXG
• 29th August 2001

2
Introductions

• Presentation
• Speaker
• Chris Woodhouse
• Acknowledgements
• Henryk Trzebiatowski

3
Agenda

• XML
• Consignias approach to XML
• XML and EDIFACT
• Future
• Conclusion
• References

4
10 Things about XML

• XML puts structured data in a text file
• XML looks a bit like HTML, but is not HTML
• XML is text , but is not meant to be read
• XML is a family of technologies
• XML is verbose, but not a problem
• XML is new, but not that new
• 7,8,9
• XML is license free, platform independent and
  well supported

www.w3.org/XML/1999/XML-in-10-points
5
XML Standards

• They are not standards, but recommendations
• W3C publishes several types of technical reports
  
• Notes
• Working Drafts
• Candidate Recommendations
• Proposed Recommendations
• Recommendations

6
W3C Standards Process - thoughts
We think one of the principles of good standards
work is to let lots of people do things lots of
different ways, figure out which things succeed,
and then bless them. It's good when companies
do things that aren't in the standard! You can
then choose whether you think what they're doing
is a good idea. Dan Connelly, XML Activity
Lead Anyone who issues a sweeping prediction,
at this moment in Internet history, about which
standards and protocols are going to win, has
more courage than intelligence. Tim Bray,
(Co-author, XML specification)
7
Eskimo Snow

• or Scottish rain ?

The Semantic Gap - My definition of Customer
does not necessarily equal your definition of
customer
8
Mapping and Wrapping

• does not necessarily work
• E.g. map from Dyak arithmetic (1, 2, 3, many) to
  Western arithmetic

2 ? 1,2,3,4,,n ? 2 ? (1,2,3,many) 17 ?
1,2,3,4,,n ? many ? (1,2,3,many) 3 ?
1,2,3,many ? 3 ? (1,2,3,4,....,n) many ?
(1,2,3,many) ? ? ? (1,2,3,4,....,n)
9
Translations - Data vs. Process

• At a low level doable
• Semantics that evolved over centuries
• Process level, less so
• Common sense difficult to codify
• Human intervention workse.g. Purchase Order form
  all out by one column

10
Internet Business initiatives
11
Schemas vs. DTDs

• Consignia using Schemas internally
• No reason to drop DTDs

12
Pros and Cons - ZapThink

• ?
• Structured text
• Designed for the Internet
• Technology widespread and cheap
• Human Readable
• License free, platform neutral and widely
  supported
• XML is open

• ?
• Uses storage, processor and bandwidth
• Only document syntax, not programming language
• Why are SGML and HTML insufficient?
• Very good for text, but poor for binary
• Will never replace EDI

13
Agenda

• XML
• Consignias approach to XML
• XML and EDIFACT
• Future
• Conclusion
• References

14
Consignias position

• Everyones 3rd party
• Customers differ widely
• Speed of progress
• Technology
• Little point in other than market leader
• Agnostic about our (IT) supplier

15
Progress

• Driven by demand and by business not by IT
• Business areas
• Logistics/fulfilment
• Address
• Approaching major customers
• Talking to Purchasing Services

16
Agenda

• XML
• Consignias approach to XML
• XML and EDIFACT
• Future
• Conclusion
• References

17
EDI

• XML is a complement to EDI for SMEs (Small to
  Medium Enterprises)
• Little Consignia work on XML vs. EDIFACT
• www.xml-edifact.orgConversion research

18
Agenda

• XML
• Consignias approach to XML
• XML and EDIFACT
• Future
• Conclusion
• References

19
Future

• Payback sometime in the future
• Investment
• Business Process Co-ordination
• everyones 3rd party

20
XML Problems

• Storage
• XML databases will be temporary
• Rich database vendors will have enough cash to
  fudge it
• Bandwidth/processing
• Hardware
• Not for binary data

21
Standard setting

• Technical standards
• W3C etc.
• Domain standards
• Useful and interesting

22
Longer term futures

• Supplementary/surrounding standards for
  presentation
• XSL
• XSLT

23
Agenda

• XML
• Consignias approach to XML
• XML and EDIFACT
• Future
• Conclusion
• References

24
Silver Bullet?

• XML is not the solution to everything,
• but it is a fundamental part of the solution.

25
Agenda

• XML
• Consignias approach to XML
• XML and EDIFACT
• Future
• Conclusion
• References

26
Resources (1) W3C
www.w3.org/XML/1999/XML-in-10-points
www.w3.org/TR/ www.w3.org/TR/About
www.w3.org/Consortium/Points/
27
Resources (2) OReilly Cover Pages
OReillys (excellent) site www.xml.com
XML Cover Pageswww.oasis-open.org/cover/
including the annotated specification www.xml.co
m/pub/a/axml/axmlintro.html
28
Resources (3) xml.org
XML ORG www.xml.org
Resources www.xml.org/xmlorg_resources/index.shtml
Registry www.xml.org/xml/registry.jsp
29
Resources (4a) internet business
30
Resources (4b) internet business

• ebXML www.ebxml.org
• UDDI www.uddi.org
• Biztalk www.biztalk.org
• WSDL www.wsdl.org
• OASIS www.oasis-open.org
• OBI www.openbuy.org
• RosettaNet www.rosettanet.org
• BPMI www.bpmi.org
• OAG www.openapplications.org
• CommerceNet www.commerce.net(including
  eCo eco.commerce.net)
• e-Speak www.e-speak.net

31
Resources (5) - Zapthink
www.zapthink.com
32
Contact Details

• Chris WoodhouseSenior IT Researcher
• chris.woodhouse_at_consignia.com
• 44 20 7853 0994
• PO Box 5706BakewellDE45 1XZUnited Kingdom

• Henryk Trzebiatowski (Cheb)
• Senior IT Researcher
• ? henryk.trzebiatowski_at_consignia.com
• ? 44 1246 214650
• ? Manor Offices Old Road Chesterfield S40
  3QT United Kingdom

33
Lastly
Thank you