PREFACE

a	This project to develop and implement an XML Schema Clearinghouse is a far reaching and visionary project
	for Australian Government and Australian business.

b	Electronic Data Interchange [EDI] had promised much in the 1980s with the release in 1987 of ISO 9735 the United Nations
	Standard for Electronic Data Interchange for Administration Commerce and Trade [UN/EDIFACT].  However by the 
	mid 1990s there were few EDI projects outside of Customs worldwide, that were acceptable case studies.

c	In the late Nineties UN/EDIFACT, which had developed the EDIFACT syntax, combined with an organisation called the 
	Organisation for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards [OASIS] to form ebXML to research, develop
	and promote Electronic Business XML projects through a joint organsation called ebXML.

d 	OASIS which was sponsored by IBM and Sun Microsystems is an unincorporated business association comprising 
	mainly hardware manufacturers and software developers who have agreed to work together to promote XML e-business 
	standards. 

e	The development of the Extensible Markup Language [XML] and the progress of Electronic Business XML [ebXML] 
	in conjunction with the Organisation for the Advancement of Structure Information Standards [OASIS ] heralded 
	real progress for Electronic Commerce and Electronic Data Interchange [EDI].

f	Both ebXML and OASIS were established as unincorporated business associations whose members work together to 
	develop and promote applications that will enable effective e-Business 

g	In Australia the Open Interchange Consortium [OIC] was formed in 1994 as an unincorporated business association 
	by 4 people who had been involved with EDI project in USA and Europe.  These people were Court GYSLAND, Stephen 
	GOULD, Guy BLOMBERG and Stevan GILLMORE. 

h	Court GYSLAND had been involved with a number of American companies that were adopting EDI using ANSI X12 while
	Stephen GOULD, Guy BLOMBERG and Stevan GILLMORE had been involved with EDIFACT projects in Europe.

i	This background understanding of the ANSI-X12 and EDIFACT e-Commerce standards enabled the formation Management 
	Committee of the OIC to identify the strengths and weakness of e-Business protocols when developing prototype web 
	applications and XML Schemas for the OIC.

j	These shortcomings include:

	1 	The individual and organisation address structures for EDIFACT and most XML Schemas are inadequate in 
		that the full address structure has not been defined.

		As Keith FINKELDE Project Director Super E-C and chairman of the ebXML Australia has noted at several 
		ebXML meetings in 2001 a standard for an individual address and organisation address had not been defined.

		This was addressed in 2002 by OIC members who defined a structured individual and organisation XML format.

	2 	Many fields could have a number of clearly defined message options 
		eg  
		the message could be 

	3	Often on a web form or XML Schema certain fields would appear a number of times eg persons title, suburbs, 
		postcodes, telephone area codes, dates.  This requires each field to be given a unique XML data element 
		identifier.

	4 	In many case certain fields like "postcode" will appear on virtually all Schemas hence the same drop-down 	
		table of suburbs and postcodes could be used by every organisations

	5 	Dates are critical for e-business applications.  During the development of the OIC Tender Information 
		Management Service [TIMS] there were a number of dates that are critical for tenders including:

		1 	Tender publication date
		2 	Tender documentation availability date
		3 	Questions required date
		4 	Questions response date
		5 	Briefing meeting date
		6	Briefing registration date
		7	Submission due date

		ISO 8601 has been released as the date standard for E-business transactions.  OIC members have developed
		an electronic calendar that will automatically provide the electronic date code when the date is selected.
		The prototype can be reviewed on EII e-Calendar

k	However although XML promises much in terms of standard formats for the effective interchange of electronic 
	information there is still much research required.  An example is when an XML Schema web form is completed 
	on a Government site how will the information be automatically stored in the appropriate file of the local
	computer system of a Small and Medium size Enterprise [SME] or Home user ?