Dick, I would certainly not like to see this group reinvent that which already exists re your statement:
"So what's missing from this picture? All the nitty gritty details about how to conduct e-business with each of these companies. IMO, this is the real challenge; How to "automate" the trading partner setup process for such a large community. Perhaps this is the more important function to be performed by Kepa's "DNS repository concept". What exists is the ebXML CPP/CPA (Collaboration Protocol Profile and the Collaboration Protocol Agreement. These specifications were developed over an 18-month period with active participation from the best minds in the world. The continued support and maintenance of these ebXML specifications is now under the auspices of OASIS. The OASIS committee will continue the work of ebXML on Collaboration Protocol Profiles (CPPs) and Collaboration Protocol Agreements (CPAs). Development of the ebXML specifications is an on-going effort sponsored by OASIS and UN/CEFACT. Technical committees for the ebXML Registry, Messaging, Collaborative Partner, and Implementation are hosted by OASIS, and Business Process and Core Component work continues at UN/CEFACT. A CPP defines one business partner's technical capabilities to engage in electronic business collaborations with other partners by exchanging electronic messages. A CPA documents the technical agreement between two (or more) partners to engage in electronic business collaboration. The committee will develop enhancements to the existing version 1 specifications that will result in at least one substantive new version. It will also coordinate its work with appropriate standards bodies within and outside OASIS. In addition, the committee will maintain version 1.0 of the ebXML Collaboration-Protocol Profile and Agreement Specification and will issue minor updates as needed. All of the ebXML specifications are publicly available in electronic form at no cost to interested parties. Thus, one of your proposed "requirements" could be stated as follows: "The EDI Addressing specification for health care must enable the automation of the trading partner setup process." This requirement could then be satisifed by stating: "The automation of the trading partner setup will be accomplished according to the specifications and rules set forth in the ebXML Collaboration Protocol Profile and the Collaboration Protocol Agreement specifications. These specifications are available from OASIS at http://www.oasis-open.org/committees/ebxml-cppa/."; Just to give everyone an idea of which companies are involved in the continued support and development of the ebXML CPP/CPA specifications, here's a current list of members of the OASIS Technical Committee. As you can see, many of the world's leading ISV's are actively involved in this work effort. TC Chair: Dale Moberg, [EMAIL PROTECTED] Abdel Boulmakoul, HP Arvola Chan, Tibco / RosettaNet James Bryce Clark, McLure Moynihan Tim Collier, Intel Suresh Damodaran, Sterling Commerce Tony Fletcher, Individual Member Brian Hayes, Commerce One Neelakantan Kartha, Sterling Commerce Engkee Kwang, Vitria Kevin Liu, SAP Pallavi Malu, Intel Dale Moberg, Cyclone Commerce Himagiri Mukkamala, Sybase Peter Ogden, Cyclone Commerce Karsten Riemer, Sun Marty Sachs, IBM Yukinori Saito, Individual Member Nita Sharma, IONA David Smiley, Mercator Aynur �nal, E2open Michael Wang, Tibco Tony Weida, Individual Member Pete Wenzel, RosettaNet / SeeBeyond Prasad Yendluri, WebMethods Jean Zheng, Vitria Rachel Foerster Principal Rachel Foerster & Associates, Ltd. Professionals in EDI & Electronic Commerce 39432 North Avenue Beach Park, IL 60099 Phone: 847-872-8070 Fax: 847-872-6860 http:/www.rfa-edi.com
