Scott,
I agreed with your FACTS then and I continue to agree with them now. This is
the reality. I thought I was also making these points in my comments,
perhaps a bit too obscurely!?
Rachel
|I wrote this back in January, It still applies...
|
|FACT: I have been implementing EDI solutions for over 11+ years
|FACT: I am in the apparel/manufacture sector
|FACT: XML is not going to override my existing EDI solutions
|FACT: If anyone thinks that the Major retailers are going to change
|translators you're WRONG
|FACT: I will buy a "bolt -on" to my existing solution to do
|XML with my new
|trading partners.
|FACT : XML/EDI is being beaten like a dead horse.
|FACT: All e-commerce solutions will have both funtions: EDI and or XML
|
|
|Scott Shulman
|Director, E-Commerce
|818-706-5203
|[EMAIL PROTECTED]
|
|> -----Original Message-----
|> From: Rachel Foerster [SMTP:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
|> Sent: Saturday, July 29, 2000 11:47 AM
|> To: 'XML/EDI Group'
|> Subject: Is the Internet/XML Going to Kill EDI?
|>
|> 1. Will the Internet enhance or replace EDI? How and why?
|>
|> A: One first must understand what EDI is....at its basic
|definition, it's
|> electronic
|> data interchange. This means that companies exchange data
|electronically
|> so
|> that it can automatically be processed by an automated, intelligent
|> business
|> system.
|>
|> Second, one must then understand what is meant by the
|question will the
|> Internet
|> replace.....etc.? Fundamentally, the Internet is a huge
|global network of
|> computers
|> providing almost instantaneous connectivity. Thus, it's
|actually the pipe
|> or
|> conduit
|> that data/information/other objects can travel through to
|get from one
|> computer
|> to another. I think that what is actually being asked by
|this question is
|> will the World
|> Wide Web or the Web replace EDI.
|>
|> Of course, the answer is no.....the Internet and the Web
|will only add
|> more
|> capabilities
|> and flexibility for companies who wish to engage in
|electronic business
|> information
|> exchanges.
|>
|> However, to many people, EDI is actually the current
|standards or rules
|> (the
|> ASC X12
|> Standards, for example) that are used to structure data for
|electronic
|> exchange.
|> Hear, hear, Steve,
|>
|> Now, to pick up on your closing comment about XML not being a silver
|> bullet,
|> etc. I offer the following perspective.
|> This was information I provided to an editor of a health care trade
|> journal
|> since the health care supply chain is mightily
|> struggling to take the cost out.
|>
|> Rachel
|>
|> "Q1. Will the Internet enhance or replace EDI? How and why?
|> A1. Today, we have a "Tower of Babel" for electronic data exchange,
|> proprietary flat file formats, proprietary non-standard uses
|of the ASC
|> X12
|> standards and inconsistent use of the ASC X12 standards. XML
|therefore is
|> being
|> touted as the killer of EDI. However, since XML has not
|> yet matured to the level of X12, there is no standard data
|dictionary, no
|> standard tags, and no use of XML. Thus, we are actually back
|to the days
|> before we had X12 as a standard with individual
|organizations doing their
|> own thing with XML. This actually does little to accomplish
|data exchange
|> and systems interoperability, and in my opinion, even
|thwarts this goal.
|> The issue is cost to manage and exchange information.
|Ultimately all of
|> the
|> cost within and throughout the supply chain gets translated
|into higher
|> product costs.
|>
|> The real heartburn has been the decades of attempts to
|easily, reliably
|> and
|> cheaply exchange data automatically between automated
|business systems
|> and/or humans without having to write/rewrite custom interfaces. The
|> expectation
|> is that XML will become that universal computer language of
|the Internet
|> and
|> the Web that will enable and facilitate. It is this that I
|think people
|> are
|> thinking
|> of when they say the Internet will kill EDI.
|>
|> There is major global joint effort between UN/CEFACT and OASIS with
|> hundreds
|> of participants from all over the work (the ebXML
|Initiative) working to
|> bring more standardization and consistency to using XML in order to
|> accomplish the end goal.
|>
|> Q2. What's the misperception you've been hearing about
|regarding EDI and
|> the
|> Internet wihtin the healthcare industry?
|>
|> A2: One of the primary reasons why healthcare is having such
|a difficult
|> time
|> with X12 is that there hasn't been a real commitment by individual
|> organizations to first of all understand the standards, and
|then to use
|> them
|> consistently across the supply chain. There is a lot of lip
|service to
|> this
|> concept, but when the rubber hits the road, the big
|companies still tell
|> their trading partners to do it 'my way.' This doesn't only occur in
|> healthcare, by the way; it's all over the globe.
|>
|> The security fears for purchasing via the Internet are
|bogus. There is
|> much
|> more insecurity when using a credit card to make a purchase
|from a direct
|> mail catalog, over the phone directly from a supplier, and
|even giving
|> your
|> credit card to a sales clerk or waiter in a restaurant. The
|real issue is
|> not one of security, but rather one of privacy, and that
|goes far beyond
|> just purchasing.
|>
|> This will not happen overnight, but it will never happen for the
|> healthcare
|> industry if it doesn't get involved. There is too much
|backward-looking
|> focus on traditional EDI. Those that are looking at new and emerging
|> technologies are doing so with the intent to lock out
|competitors and lock
|> in customers. The Internet and the Web and XML are not the vehicles
|> or the methods to do this. What is? Unrelenting superior focus on the
|> customer.
|> Too few organizations really achieve this; they just talk about it."
|>
|> Rachel
|>
|> |-----Original Message-----
|> |From: Steve Bollinger [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
|> |Sent: Friday, July 28, 2000 6:56 PM
|> |To: XML/EDI Group
|> |Subject: Can we all get along? (i.e. Peace, Love and Happiness)
|> |
|> |
|> |A mail list is a lot like the First Amendment. They are both
|> |about freely expressing one's opinion and commenting on the
|> |opinions of other. The beauty of both of these is that they
|> |create an environment in which ideas can evolve and we can all
|> |benefit. We are free to evaluate data for ourselves. This occurs by:
|> |
|> |1. exchange of ideas
|> |2. brainstorming new ideas
|> |3. debating ideas
|> |4. criticizing ideas we consider to be invalid or flawed somehow
|> |
|> |This fourth point is just as necessary as the rest. It can
|> |ruffle feathers, however.
|> |Three solutions I see for the ruffles are:
|> |
|> |1. Have a thicker skin (from Rachel). Don't take sarcasm as
|> |personal. Instead see it as professional roasting (humor
|> |involved) from one's peer(s). The most effective response to
|> |such sarcasm is an appeal to reason on the issues. Then you
|> |look far better than the sarcastic attacker especially if his
|> |ideas are flawed somehow. Keep your cool = come out ahead.
|> |
|> |2. Better Netiquet all around. I for one could improve here.
|> |I have on occasion in times past been hotly (perhaps harshly
|> |so) sarcastic on some points I thought invalid. I think I
|> |could have made my sarcasms gentler and more humorous and thus
|> |more effective in debunking some hype.
|> |
|> |3. Keeping a free and un-moderated open forum like this takes
|> |a definite level of tolerance all around. Survive the bad to
|> |keep gleaning the good. And there is much good here.
|> |
|> |That said, then yes, let's move straight into production
|> |without further comment.
|> |
|> |I believe we had a great battle of ideas on the Need for Speed
|> |thread up through the middle of this week. Dick and Mark,
|> |both did a excellent job on competing ideas as well as the
|> |perspectives from many others. The two myths that I hope we
|> |have now debunked are:
|> |
|> |1. XML is somehow a silver bullet, and EDI is to disapear soon.
|> |
|> |
|> |
|> |At 04:50 PM 7/28/00 -0700, Brian Curtis wrote:
|> |>Or... Maybe not. In any case, I'm not going anywhere... You
|> |can't get rid of
|> |>me. So, lets move on people. This list is supposed to be
|> |productive... I
|> |>don't see production.
|> |
|> |Steve Bollinger 408-853-8478
|> |Cisco Systems B2B Service Logistics Pjt
|> |
|> |
|> |
|> |
|> |
|> |
|> |------ XML/edi Group Discussion List ------
|> |Homepage = http://www.XMLedi-Group.org
|> |
|> |Unsubscribe = send email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
|> |Leave the subject and body of the message blank
|> |
|> |Questions/requests: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
|> |
|> |To receive only one message per day (digest format)
|> |send the following message to [EMAIL PROTECTED],
|> |(leave the subject line blank)
|> |
|> |digest xmledi-group your-email-address
|> |
|> |To join the XML/edi Group complete the form located at:
|> |http://www.xmledi-group.org/xmledigroup/mail1.htm
|> |
|> |
|>
|>
|>
|> ------ XML/edi Group Discussion List ------
|> Homepage �http://www.XMLedi-Group.org
|>
|> Unsubscribe �send email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
|> Leave the subject and body of the message blank
|>
|> Questions/requests: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
|>
|> To receive only one message per day (digest format)
|> send the following message to [EMAIL PROTECTED],
|> (leave the subject line blank)
|>
|> digest xmledi-group your-email-address
|>
|> To join the XML/edi Group complete the form located at:
|> http://www.xmledi-group.org/xmledigroup/mail1.htm
|>
|>
------ XML/edi Group Discussion List ------
Homepage http://www.XMLedi-Group.org
Unsubscribe send email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Leave the subject and body of the message blank
Questions/requests: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
To receive only one message per day (digest format)
send the following message to [EMAIL PROTECTED],
(leave the subject line blank)
digest xmledi-group your-email-address
To join the XML/edi Group complete the form located at:
http://www.xmledi-group.org/xmledigroup/mail1.htm
