UBL 1.0 International Data Dictionary, First Edition

[jon.bosak@sun.com]

FIRST EDITION OF UBL 1.0 INTERNATIONAL DATA DICTIONARY
APPROVED AS OASIS COMMITTEE DRAFT

The First Edition of the UBL 1.0 International Data Dictionary
(IDD) has been approved as an OASIS Committee Draft by the OASIS
Universal Business Language Technical Committee and is now
available for general use.

Created by UBL localization subcommittees (LSCs) to aid in global
UBL deployment, the UBL 1.0 IDD consists of over 600 normative
business data definitions from the UBL 1.0 Standard together with
translations of the definitions into Chinese (Traditional and
Simplified), Japanese, Korean, and Spanish.  With the original
English, these definitions make the XML business documents
specified in UBL 1.0 understandable to more than two-thirds of the
world's current online population [1].

The IDD also features business terms assigned by the LSCs to
represent each data element in each language.  These business
terms are intended to serve as resources for software vendors in
developing localized user interfaces, forms editors, and document
formatters.  As with all UBL specifications, the IDD is freely
available under terms of the OASIS copyright.  Copies of the UBL
1.0 IDD are available in Excel and OpenOffice formats at the
following locations:

   http://www.oasis-open.org/committees/download.php/12205/cd-UBL-1.0-IDD-1.xls
   http://www.oasis-open.org/committees/download.php/12206/cd-UBL-1.0-IDD-1.sxc

Subsequent editions of the 1.0 IDD will include corrections based
on input from the international user community and translations
into other languages as they become available.  Persons wishing to
start a UBL localization subcommittee should contact the IDD
editor and chair of the UBL TC, Jon Bosak of Sun Microsystems
(jon.bosak@sun.com).

The UBL TC invites members of the international business community
to comment on the IDD.  Input is solicited regarding both the UBL
1.0 English definitions, which will be formally considered during
revision of the UBL 1.0 standard this year, and the translations
of the definitions, which will be regularly reviewed beginning
with the UBL TC meeting hosted by the China National Institute of
Standardization 9-13 May 2005 in Hangzhou.  Corrections to the
translations will be incorporated into subsequent editions of the
1.0 IDD.

Comments on the translations should be submitted in the
appropriate language using the comment form on the corresponding
localization subcommittee web page:

   UBL Chinese Localization Subcommittee
      http://www.oasis-open.org/committees/sc_home.php?wg_abbrev=ubl-cnlsc
   UBL Japanese Localization Subcommittee
      http://www.oasis-open.org/committees/sc_home.php?wg_abbrev=ubl-jplsc
   UBL Korean Localization Subcommittee
      http://www.oasis-open.org/committees/sc_home.php?wg_abbrev=ubl-krlsc
   UBL Spanish Localization Subcommittee
      http://www.oasis-open.org/committees/sc_home.php?wg_abbrev=ubl-eslsc

Comments on the English definitions should be submitted in English
using the comment form linked from the UBL TC web page:

   http://www.oasis-open.org/committees/tc_home.php?wg_abbrev=ubl

In addition to dictionary translations, the OASIS UBL localization
subcommittees are also chartered to create translations of the UBL
specification and other materials and to promote deployment of UBL
in specific regions.  The LSCs also serve as primary sources of
input regarding regional business requirements for future versions
of UBL itself.  OASIS members interested in participating in the
work of an LSC are invited to contact its chairs using the
addresses provided on the LSC web sites listed above.

The UBL 1.0 Standard, which provides an integrated royalty-free
suite of XML schemas for business documents used in the
order-to-invoice process, can be downloaded from

   http://docs.oasis-open.org/ubl/cd-UBL-1.0.zip

[1] Source for language estimates:
    http://www.translate-to-success.com/internet-language-use.html

Jon Bosak, Sun Microsystems
Editor, UBL International Data Dictionary
Chair, OASIS UBL Technical Committee