Re: [ebxml-bp] Re: [ebsoa] Re: [ebxml-bp] eBusiness Metamodel EARLYDRAFT 0.03

[Duane Nickull <dnickull@adobe.com>]

Thread split to just BP list...

David RR Webber wrote:

>Duane,
>
>Concur.
>
>Some other thoughts - missing pieces - linking and switching and tracking
>state
>
[DN]  For tracking the state, in the CEFACT model, we had a notion of a 
Business Entity (different from a Business Information Entity).  This 
was an important aspect of keeping state.  It is a real world business 
object represented electronically with a unique ID and some state 
information. The minimal set of information was never specified.

I have encountered this in auto and justice/security industries ut 
suspect it is more ubiquitous than not.  I liken the concept to a 
primary key of an item when viewing a relational database of products.

In the auto industry, there may be several processes and collaborations. 
 Example -> Ford sells car to Canadian Distributor (process A), Canadian 
Distributor sells car to retailer (process B); then retailer sells car 
to David Webber (process C).  The Business Entity is the actual 
electronic representation of the car.  John Yunker carefully explained 
this to us in San Fran in Sept 2001 and I could see the usefulness.  

In this example, Ford has a relationship and economic commitment to the 
end customer for perhaps 5 years (warranty period) even after processes 
A, B and C and finished.  The car also has an owner, a location, a UUID 
(VIN perhaps) and a service record history (state may be that the 
customer is delinquent in fulfilling his or her side of the required 
servicing for ensuring the warranty remains valid.

Example 2:

In justice, a piece of property is akin to a Business Entity.  A 
property has a description, an owner, a manufacturer, a physical state 
(new, broken etc.), color, identifying marks, fingerprintsFoundOn, a 
relationship to a crime etc etc...

In both these examples, the state of any specific process may not be 
able to be complete unless the state of the Business Entity is known or 
visible.

Questions:

Is there a Business Entity equivalent in ebXML?  Should there be? Does 
it's type get inherited  from the superclass Business Object Type 
Library or Entities (BOTLE) or have we been all hitting the BOTTLE too much?

More importance of getting the business centric view of the model right 
first I guess.

Duane

-- 
Senior Standards Strategist
Adobe Systems, Inc.
http://www.adobe.com