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Subject: [ubl-cmsc] Proposed Sollicitation of Use Cases


All,

Some of you may have noticed the dearth of activity on this list in the New
Year. This is due to the fact that we are waiting for use cases involving
context in order to provide some framework for our work. I've contacted a
few people about this, both inside UBL and outside, but despite some
encouraging words and suggestions I've yet to receive any use cases.

I think part of the problem may be a lack of understanding of exactly what
we're looking for. For this reason, I've written a short document that aims
to describe to the relevant parties what kind of use cases we would like to
receive from them.

Please look over the attached document and let me know if you have any
comments. Also, let me know if you have suggestions about who this could be
sent to. I'd like to send this out ASAP.

Cheers,
Matt

Requirements for UBL Context Methodology Use Cases

Matthew Gertner
Chair, UBL Context Methodology Subcommittee
matthew@schemantix.com

January 9, 2002

The UBL Context Methodology Subcommittee (CMSC) has been formed:

      To develop a methodology and tools for applying context to
      the core library of generic business information entities
      (BIEs) in order to produce contextualized BIEs, and develop
      initial machine-readable descriptions of context rules, in
      the service of helping the Library Content SC do its work.

In other words, the goal of the subcommittee is to create a formal context language by which enterprises can define their specific requirements in a form that can be automatically processed to create new BIEs from generic ones defined by the UBL Library Content SC. This will be used by trading parties to create BIEs that are compatible with both of their requirements. For example, a U.S.-based company might have a rule that makes the State field in shipping addresses required, while a large Europe-based company might have a rule that adds an internal regional code to all addresses. If the companies are planning to trade together and need a mutually compatible format, they can apply both rules to the standard Address component to create a BIE with both the required state field and the regional code.

Significant initial work on this task was performed as part of the first phase of ebXML. The CMSC has decided to use this work as the basis for its continuing work. In order to assess the validity of various products of the ebXML work and to guide its ongoing activities, the CMSC requires use cases that describe how enterprises will use context in the real-world. Specifically, it requires examples of why and how standard components will need to be modified to meet the requirements of certain kinds of enterprises. Ideally there would be examples of use cases based on all of the context drivers identified as part of the ebXML effort:

	Business process
	Official constraints
	Product classification
	Business process role
	Industry classification
	Supporting role
	Geopolitical
	System capabilities
	
For example, one use case might describe how a particular business process in the automotive industry (business process role and industry classification drivers) requires the modification of a specific business document component by adding a new field or making an optional field required.

Because the CMSC is made up almost entirely of technical, not business, experts, we are seeking the input of outside parties (especially other UBL SCs and related standards efforts like EWG) in order to build up a library of use cases. This is an urgent need if our work on the context methodology is to move forward.

If you are in a position to provide one or more use cases of this type, please contact me directly.


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