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Subject: Re: [ubl-comment] Methodology Paper Comments


Tim and group,
Tim, please add a bullet to the agenda for next week to address these
comments, also, I guess we need a good way to deal with these.  I am
suggesting something similar to the tracking of the comments for the
Distribution package.  I will have something ready and distributed
before next Tuesday's call.

Lisa


> "Miller, Robert (GXS)" wrote:
> 
> Comments from Bob Miller on:
> Position Paper: Library Content Methodology
> 
> Gentle people,
> 
> Overall, I found this position paper to be well formulated.  I have
> been encouraged by the relatively formal approach taken within this
> team.  This paper draws upon respected and proven information design
> principles (Relational Theory, Model Normalization, Object Classes).
> In a few places, this document seems to overlook its own principles,
> most particularly when accepting without careful examination some
> parallel work.  An example is in sections 2.3.12.1 Applying Context to
> UBL and 3.3.12 Context:
> 
> IMO, the discussion in these sections should have pointed out that
> Contexts are properties of a class.   ShippingContact and
> BillingContact simply constrain a Context property.   Instead, I read
> in 3.3.2 "In many vocabularies, context is suggested by the
> component's name."  And that's also what I see in the example from UBL
> vocabulary, two BIE's whose class is Contact, but whose context is
> "suggested by the component's name."  "Suggested" doesn't cut the
> mustard! In fact, ShippingContact and BillingContact should be
> represented by subclasses of Context, each of which constrains a
> Context property of the parent class.
> 
> Perhaps the root source of my concern with the example of "Contact" is
> really found in this position paper's discussion and table 2 of 'Type"
> in section 2.3.10.  The discussion observes that "data types are just
> another form of entity/object class/aggregate BIE."  But then, it
> fixes a 'basic type' at too high a level (see for guidance XSD basic
> and derived types and note the properties these types establish and
> inherit.)  And it suggests that a couple of layers of refinement are
> sufficient.
> 
> In my analysis of X12 vocabulary, I have found that (most) individual
> code list values identify 'semantic primitives'.  They effectively
> point at a set of defining metadata, and they have no associated
> instance value (have no value property).  Such primitives may of
> course appear in multiple code lists.  And these code lists in turn
> are typically associated with entities which do carry associated
> instance values (have a value property).  Bottom line is, if the
> semantic entity appears in a code list, and that list is associated
> with an entity that does have a property value, than that semantic
> primitive is a property of the entity with which it is associated.
> In X12, there are some 'basic business data (type) elements' like
> amount.  In usage, they are sometimes associated with a code list.  At
> other times, they appear without such association, but are embellished
> in the segment definition by a 'semantic note' that 'fixes' the value
> of one or more properties of the basic business data (type) element
> 'amount'.  From a semantic viewpoint, TotalDollarAmount and Amount
> context="TL currency=:"US" are identical.
> 
> In designing a business document at a syntax-neutral level, if there
> is a need to express a total dollar amount, it is advantageous to
> express that need as an amount with specific property constraints on
> context and currency.  Then, a syntax specific schema generator can
> use this information along with a set of grammer rules to generate an
> appropriate schema for instance representation.  For example, a
> generator would likely have a rule that property constraints exceeding
> some (target syntax) threshold minimum set of choices results in
> generator of a choice of entities, each of which has a fixed property
> value. A property constraint that exceeds the threshold results in
> generation of a set of entities that allow/require the property value
> to be explicit in the data instance.
> 
> In Section 2.3.14 Assembling Document Definitions I find perhaps a
> more serious conflict with the foundation this paper lays.  But before
> getting into that, let me suggest that the term 'document' as used
> earlier in this paper likely is not the same as 'document' as used in
> this section.  I think the one or the other usage is inappropriate.  I
> vote document for section 2.3.14, and something else for 2.3.3
> 
> I take some issue with the statement  "An hierarchical, top-down and
> nested tree structure is still the most practical way to define any
> document's structure."   I firmly believe that the most practical way
> to define any document structure is to "define one or more
> hierarchical views of the data to be represented in the document from
> a relational definition of the data."  I think in principle that is
> what you meant to say, but I assert it is not what you said.  If you
> don't like my definition, change the word 'design' to 'represent' in
> your definition and you at least won't raise my eyebrows.  There is of
> course the nasty 'HL hierarchical loop' issue to address.  Perhaps
> that disappears in a wave of 'context' applied to the logical model.
> I hope so.
> 
> IMO, the faults I find in this paper are neither in the foundation it
> lays, nor in the recommendation it makes.  Its just a little of the
> detail I feel could use some cleanup.
> 
> Cheers,
>              Bob Miller


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