ebXML (electronic business XML) is a global electronic business standard that defines a framework for electronic business which enhances messaging by incorporating workflow and business process attributes. Developed by the United Nations Centre for Trade Facilitation and Electronic Business, its purpose is to create a single global market place through defining appropriate policy and technical specifications that facilitate the development of trade. Electronic business infrastructure has to be
ebXML uses the systematic definition of business processes as the basis for defining common message sequences within and across industry boundaries. It also provides the basis for achieving platform independence.
Manufacturers, suppliers, distributors and retailers willing to collaborate are able to seek opportunities to reengineer the value chain for mutual benefit and ultimately, for the consumers` benefit. The technology focus should not be on integration, but on collaboration. The sharing of information, the exploitation of opportunities to automate business processes and the innovation with trading partners at greatly reduced costs are the metrics for success.
Best practice no longer means a single process applied to all customers. It`s about the automation of tasks such as checking, coordinating and handing off - tasks that have traditionally taken the overwhelming majority of effort within a business. These tasks may have been "obliterated" during BPR exercises of the mid-1990`s but none the less are essential if electronic business is to succeed.
Web services and specifications like SOAP, UDDI and WSDL are the core of the technology that makes it possible for mass customization of each and every process. SAP AG is one of the latest technology firms to embrace web services and thereby enable businesses to connect computer systems more easily than before.
ebXML relies on core components to provide platform independence among industries and business functions. These core components identify the data items that businesses use most often, are assigned neutral names and unique identifiers so that companies can relate data used in one industry to counterparts in another industry. Web services enable the interfaces to legacy and web applications. Xeco, a vendor neutral framework, provides the web services and process collaboration infrastructure that marshals the various technical components and ensures that proper validation, integrity and security is in place for the entire and multiple business processes.
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