Universal Business Language (UBL) 1.0 2004 Sep 20

The corresponding UBLish that generates UBL 1.0-cd2 schemas based on UBL 1.0-cd2 spreadsheet models will soon be made available. The new version, UBLish v1.0.10, has been completed and is undergoing final packaging for release soon.

There are a number of new features incorporated that allows UBLish users to work on generating customized schemas based on UBL-like schema generation processes. In using UBLish to customize schemas, the relevant naming and design rules would then be automatically incorporated in various applicable parts of the generated schemas. This helps in reducing the amount of work involved in producing the schemas, and allows UBLish users to focus on the data modeling processes.

The schemas and instances generated by UBLish v1.0.10 can be found in this page, or by clicking here . When these schemas are compared to those found in UBL 1.0-cd2 package, there are some discrepancies and problems detected and reported in http://lists.oasis-open.org/archives/ubl-dev/200409/msg00056.html .

The task of incorporating Naming and Design Rule requirements, implementation of code list references, and inclusion of Core Component Types that are implemented using UBL-edited schemas has now gone into the UBLish engine, which expeditiously integrates these desparate sources of inputs, verifies them on-the-fly, and churns out readily usable XML schemas that conform to UBL standard requirements.

As a result of using UBLish, the UBL TC had:

• much more time for modeling instead of manual schema tweaking,
• near-interactive feel of how the schema would look like,
• highly reliable generated schemas that would parse and validate with all well-known schema validators,
• no referential worries about code list or inter-schema cross-references,

The effort has gained international momentum lately, thanks to its harmonisation and synchronization efforts with other major international standards bodies and major industrial verticals that are using XML. The UBL TC establishes liaison work with other organisations through its Liaison Sub-Committee (LSC) , which is also chaired by Jon Bosak. Already, it has built links with organisations such as

• ebXML Asia Committee ,
• Health Level 7 (HL7) ,
• IT Standards Committee (ITSC) of Singapore ,
• RosettaNet ,
• SWIFT ,
• UN/CEFACT ,
• X12 ,
• eXtensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL) ,

8 Document Types

The official document types acknowledged and developed by UBL TC, and which are also generated by UBLish, are as follow:

• Despatch Advice
• Invoice
• Order
• Order Acknowledgement
• Order Cancellation
• Order Response (Complex)
• Order Response (Simple)
• Receipt Advice

Other components being included in the UBLish schema generation process are:

• Reusable Types (both Common Aggregate Components and Common Basic Components)
• Unspecialized Types
• Specialized (Non-Code-List) Types
• Specialized (Code-List) Types
• Core Component Types
• Common Core Parameters
• Naming and Design Rules

The Code List schema files were managed via a Code List Catalogue in UBLish v1.0b.10. In the new UBLish v1.0.10 (without the 'b'), code list schema files will be generated from Specialized Datatype spreadsheet. UBL TC has organized both Code List and Non-Code-List specialized datatypes together within the Specialized Datatype spreadsheet. So in UBLish v1.0.10, we're looking at a similar processing model to synchronize schema generation.

The Common Core Parameters schema file was manually edited during UBLish v1.0b.10. In UBLish v1.0.10 (without the 'b') which generates UBL 1.0 schemas, the Common Core Parameters schema file is being automated and generated. This produces much more consistent layout and ensures that errors, if any, become systematic and manageable instead of time-consuming sporadic occurrences resulting from human errors.