UBL in real life shipping web services integration

[constantine@expeditebiz.com]

Hello UBL mailing list members,

UBL seem to me a very good starting point to achieve what I think
will be very usefull for our industry - a generic and simple to implement
shipping web service.

UBL is like a good candidate for me as a basis because of its wide industry
acceptance and relatively simplicty.

From other side UBL is a document oriented - for printing documents. There is
a semantic difference when you name the elements ShipFrom, ShipTo, Shipper from
the shupment transaction point of view and name the same thing Seller, Buyer, Billing
from business point of view.

Also delving deeper in Dispatch Advice XML elements I can see most of the shipping
related info needed to be send to a shipping web service. But there is a lot missing -
for example the carriers' specific services. These services include shipping
services - 2nd day, etc., there are special services such as Satuday delivery,
there is also specific packaging info.

We have a real life problem - we created a hosted SOAP Web Service for DHL and it
allows easy integration but adding additional carriers will complicate the matters
if we create different SOAP interfaces. I want our customers to create their shipping
application a carrier neutral and to switch easy between them. That way they will save
on their integration project doing it just once.

In the UBL description I read that it is also messaging oriented but I do not see that
implemented in practice. UBL gets a lot from xCBL - there is more shipping related info
in xCBL. But there is something strange in xCBL. Reading the documentation for ver 4.0
I do not see CarrierCode. In ver 2.0 I see CarrierCode = UPS, FedEx, DHL, etc.
also more carrier specific info such as TransportMean = 2nd Day, etc. but in ver. 4.0 it is
missing.


Constantine Wasco,
ExpediteBiz
ExpediteShip.com