UBL proceeds for e-commerce

Universal Business Language 1.0, which is intended as a common XML message format for e-commerce, is now available for public implementation testing in a beta format, according to an official of OASIS.

The UBL 1.0 Beta proposal has been approved as an OASIS Committee Draft by the OASIS Universal Business Language Technical Committee. A formal announcement is expected from OASIS this week, said Jon Bosak, chairman of the OASIS UBL Technical Committee. The beta proposal is intended to provide specifications needed to begin implementation testing of UBL in advance of OASIS recommending it as a standard.

UBL was designed to be a business vocabulary for ebXML, which is an OASIS proposal for next-generation business-to-business and supply chain management systems.

UBL 1.0 provides one standard XML representation for common documents used in electronic business, Bosak said. While UBL functions with ebXML, use of ebXML is not required for using UBL, he said.

"What this gives you is standard XML schemas for doing about half a dozen of the most basic and common business documents," such as electronic versions of purchase orders, shipping notices and invoices, Bosak said.

A goal of UBL is to extend benefits of EDI to small and midsize businesses, said Bosak.

Proposed UBL 1.0 deliverables include:

* Naming and design rules for representation of ebXML Business Information Entities (BIE).

* A UBL BIE library in the form of standard XML schema elements for common business data structures such as "party," "address," and "line item."

* A set of basic business documents assembled from the BIE library, such as UBL Order, UBL Receipt Advice, and UBL Invoice.

* A set of formatting specifications for rendering basic business documents in human-readable form.

* Guidelines for extending UBL within specific industry contexts.

The implementation testing phase began last week and will end in February, two weeks prior to the UBL TC meeting in Washington, Feb. 23-27. OASIS plans to release UBL 1.0 next year.