[ebxml-iic] meeting minutes of IIC TC conference call

[Philippe De Smedt <pdesmedt@agentisinternational.com>]

All,

Here's a summary of today's ebXML Implementation, Interoperability, and
Conformance (IIC) Technical Committee meeting. Note that there are a couple
of calls for volunteers for the various activities of this TC (see details
below):
1. Conformance Testing;
2. Implementation Guidelines: please share your implementation experiences;
3. Work with NIST / OAG in defining the capabilities of their ebXML testbed.

I encourage all of you to participate in these important activities.

Notes: 11 Feb. 2002, 9AM Pacific Time.

Present:
Jeff Turpin (Cyclone Commerce)
Iwasa (Fujitsu)
Mike Kast (NIST)
Jeff Eck (GE/GXS)
Jaques Durand (Fujitsu)
Pete Wentzel (SeeBeyond)
Michael Wang (TIBCO)
David Fischer (Drummond Group)
Tony Blazej (OAG)
Steve Young (Sun)
Philippe De Smedt (Agentis Software)

Agenda:
1. Jacques (Fujitsu) proposed formation of 'Conformance Testing Task Force':
  As a follow-up on the Conformance test architecture draft I published some
time ago, I propose we create a "conformance
  test task force".
  Possible objectives could range from:
  (1) defining test cases,
  (2) refining the design of the draft test architecture,
  (3) possibly developing a test bed.
  The ultimate goal is to provide  (or to help provide) a conformance
testing and validation tool, that would be operated by
  a certification authority.

  A number of organizations have tentatively offered resources to do this.
If you (or your organization) are interested in
  participating please let Jacques (Jacques Durand [JDurand@fs.fujitsu.com])
or this list know.

  Note that this effort focuses specifically on conformance and is thus
distinct from other ongoing efforts that focus on
  interoperability.

2. Update on Conformance Clause work: the individual TCs (Message Service,
CPP/A, and Registry) have or will have a basic
   conformance statement in their specifications. The need has been
expressed to better coordinate the specification of
   conformance in the individual specs (this TC will provide that
coordination, assuming participation by the identified
   liaisons to the other TCs); these conformance statements do not specify
the 'conformance levels' that this TC specified
   earlier, but will become part of the Implementation Guidelines that are
forthcoming (see below).

3. Implementation guidelines: Michael (TIBCO) will produce draft document on
ebXML implementation experience within the next
   few days (e.g. how to populate manifest, reference section, etc.);
eventually, 'conformance levels' will be included.
   We are actively looking to other providers of ebXML infrastructure to
contribute their experiences to this document.
   Philippe will check with OASIS as to what type of document this guideline
should be published as.

4. OAG / NIST testbed: Tony (OAG) has in the past briefed this TC on what
they're doing w.r.t. app-to-app (A2A) testing
   among their member companies. OAG is working with NIST to layer this A2A
testbed on top of an ebXML infrastructure.
   NIST would act as a 'hub' (not in the sense of the 'intermediaries'
defined in the Message Service spec, but rather as
   a central point that interested companies can send messages to for
delivery to other participants, i.e., it is not an
   MSH in the true sense -- the 'intermediary' role as defined in Message
Service could conceivably be added later). The
   hub would track and monitor the traffic going through it. It is the task
of the IIC TC to work with NIST to define
   the capabilities of this central node. A couple of points: a. OAG's focus
is not on validating conformance; b. OAG
   expects the participants to have passed some hurdle already (it won't be
a testing environment for ebXML providers
   (their software will be expected to be market-ready when they participate
in the testbed); rather, it's an environment
   for OAG members to 'kick the tires' on ebXML implementations and evaluate
how ebXML would work for them. We need
   IIC volunteers as well to work with NIST in defining the capabilities of
the central node's monitoring/tracking
   infrastructure.

Adjourned 9:45.

-Philippe

Chair, ebXML IIC TC