OASIS TC Call for Participation: Business-Centric Methodology

["Karl F. Best" <karl.best@oasis-open.org>]

A new OASIS technical committee is being formed. The OASIS
Business-Centric Methodology Technical Committee (BCM TC) has been
proposed by the following members of OASIS: Terry Bjornsen, Booz Allen
Hamilton; Ralph Stout, iWay Software; Kit Lueder, MITRE Corporation;
Murali Iyengar, SAIC; John Weiler, Interoperability Clearinghouse; and
the following Individual members: David RR Webber, Bruce Peat, Mike
Lubash, and Eric Okin.

The proposal for a new TC meets the requirements of the OASIS TC
Process (see http://oasis-open.org/committees/process.shtml), and is
appended to this message. The proposal, which includes a statement of
purpose, list of deliverables, and proposed schedule, will constitute
the TC's charter. The TC Process allows these items to be clarified
(revised) by the TC members; such clarifications (revisions), as well
as submissions of technology for consideration by the TC and the
beginning of technical discussions, may occur no sooner than the TC's
first meeting.

As specified by the OASIS TC Process, the requirements for becoming a
member of the TC are that you must 1) be an employee of an OASIS member
organization or an Individual member of OASIS; 2) notify the TC chair of
your intent to participate at least 15 days prior to the first meeting;
and 3) attend the first meeting of the TC.

For OASIS members, to sign up for the TC using the new OASIS
collaborative tools, go to the TC's public page at
http://www.oasis-open.org/committees/bcm and click on the button for
"Join This TC" at the top of the page. You may add yourself to the
roster of the TC either as a Prospective Member (if you intend to become
a member of the TC) or an Observer. A notice will automatically be sent
to the TC chair, which fulfills requirement #2 above. You must sign up
for membership at least 15 days before the first meeting and must attend
the first meeting of the TC in order to become a member.

Note that membership in OASIS TCs is by individual, and not by
organization.

For non-OASIS members, a public comment list
bcm-comment@lists.oasis-open.org is available for the public to make
comments on the work of this TC; the public may subscribe to this list
by going to the mail list web page at http://lists.oasis-open.org/ob/adm.pl.

The archives of the TC's private and comment mail lists are visible to
the public at http://lists.oasis-open.org/archives/

Further information about this topic may be found on the Cover Pages
under the topic of "Business-Centric Methodology" at
http://xml.coverpages.org/bcm.html


-Karl

=================================================================
Karl F. Best
Vice President, OASIS
office  +1 978.667.5115 x206     mobile +1 978.761.1648
karl.best@oasis-open.org      http://www.oasis-open.org


Proposal to form an OASIS TC.

The name of the TC is the OASIS Business-Centric Methodology (BCM) TC.

The methodology will be captured in a resulting specification as output
from the TC’s efforts.  The specification will provide business managers
with a set of clearly defined methods with which to acquire agile and
interoperable e-business information systems.

The BCM TC will also extend upon existing bodies of work, such as the
project work developed at the Department of Defense, Defense Finance and
Accounting Service (http://www.dfas.mil)  (reference site:
http://www.dfas.info) and link this to the work of applicable OASIS TCs.

The BCM interoperability specification will be focused in three primary
areas; (1) BCM templates, (2) information architecture and (3)
connections:

1. BCM Templates – are pre-constructed components to common e-business
scenarios that conform to and are illustrative of the BCM approach.
Added to this is the linking and switching between these components to
deliver easy interoperability.  Key to enabling this linking and
switching is vectoring based on scenarios of the business constraints
and the use of context mechanisms.  The specification will provide an
illustrative collection of BCM templates which an organization can use
as an initial basis for developing their own artifacts and products to
solve their interoperability problems.  (It is anticipated that
particular industry sectors within OASIS will participate in defining
these, along with appropriate connection roadmaps).

2. Information Architecture - provides the underpinning for the
templates and the understanding of how the individual components
collaborate in BCM based solutions.   For example in enhancing
interoperability it is necessary to capture each artifact for
interpretation of messages in order to better understand the semantics
of the message. Collectively these relationships, links and structures
provide the structure of the organization’s ontology and how this would
be shared within communities of interests.

3. Connections – the connections effort will work with business users
and experts to develop scenarios with which to demonstrate the
walkthrough of the BCM templates to validate interoperability across
multiple deployed environments.  The focus is on how BCM enhances and
leverages existing frameworks and methodologies, and particularly
specifications of other OASIS TCs.  The deliverables include materials
relevant to business managers' needs that will enable them to rapidly
understand, assimilate and plan their own interoperability adoption
strategies.

List of deliverables with projected dates:

- Business-Centric Methodology (BCM) specification outline - June 2003
- First draft of BCM specification body - July 2003
- Public review of BCM body - August 2003
- Template examples appendix draft – September 2003
- Linking & Switching appendix draft – October 2003
- Information Architecture appendix draft – November 2003
- Public review release of BCM approach - December 2003
- Formally approved OASIS BCM v1.0 specification - February 2004

Language in which the TC will conduct business:  English

Date and time of the first meeting:
- Monday, June 9th, 2003, teleconference call.

Meetings will be scheduled bi-weekly on a continuing basis from the
first meeting, as teleconference calls. Occasional face-to-face meetings
will also be arranged where applicable in conjunction with OASIS
sponsored conference events.

Eligible persons committed to the above meeting schedule:

- Terry Bjornsen, bjornsen_terence@bah.com, Booz Allen Hamilton (BAH).
- Ralph Stout, ralph_stout@iwaysoftware.com, iWay Software.
- Kit (Christopher) Lueder, kit@mitre.org, MITRE Corporation.
- Murali Iyengar, MURALI.A.IYENGAR@saic.com, SAIC.
- John Weiler, john@ichnet.org, Interoperability Clearinghouse (ICH).
- David RR Webber, gnosis_@compuserve.com, individual member.
- Bruce Peat, BPeat@eProcessSolutions.com, individual member.
- Mike Lubash, MIKE.LUBASH@DFAS.MIL, individual member.
- Eric Okin, ERIC.OKIN@DFAS.mil, individual member.

Proposed TC co-chairs are:  Bruce T Peat, Mike Lubash

Phone meeting sponsors include:
        - iWaySoftware.
        - Defense Finance Accounting Service (DFAS)

Face-to-face meeting sponsors:
        - In conjunction with OASIS sponsored events.