...an article I am working on, which I thought was relevant to todays discussion. -Dain Dain Hansen Senior Manager, Standards [EMAIL PROTECTED] www.ectone.com How do you like your XML/EDI? While eating an elephant one usually starts one bite at a time. Rather analagous is the task of translating EDI based standards into XML based standards. EDI, or Electronic Data Interchange, is simply a generic way for electronic documents to be formatted, exchanged, processed, etc. At the end of the day, or couple days as is the case with EDI sometimes, you are left with something rather simple, an invoice, or sometimes on a good day, a purchase order. So why not convert the entire thing to XML? My new favorite analogy, aside from the elephant, is that of a cookbook. EDI is nothing more than a cookbook, in which all the items of business dealings are written in codes and acronyms, cross-referenced in different cookbooks, until finally what you have is a universal way to make every possible dish in the world. Now XML is something entirely different. It's simply a way to write cookbooks, or other books for that matter. It�s a syntax, or way to represent metadata. There are several solutions out there from XEDI, Simpl-EDI, to CBL, which are translating EDI into XML and vice versa, but they are doing so based on their own interpretation of how the syntax should translate. In a cookbook, often times you have ingredients in one country which simply don�t mix in another country. Who decides whether pepper can be replaced with paprika? EDI also does a good job to explain business processes and defines standards for exactly what is supposed to happen, how, and where. XML is too generic for that, so an XML cookbook sometimes only has ingredients listed, and not how to prepare them. It is clear that the world needs a recipe book for making electronic business successful. Right now many of us have too many books in our kitchen, or no books at all. We will be waiting at least a year for ebXML to finish. And certainly a year is long enough time for some creative individuals, myself not included, to come along and provide a better solution. ========================================== XML/EDI Group members-only discussion list Homepage = http://www.xmledi.com Brought to you by: Online Technologies Corporation Home of BizServe - www.bizserve.com TO UNSUBSCRIBE: Send email to <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Leave the subject blank, and In the body of the message, enter ONLY: unsubscribe Questions/requests should be sent to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To join the XML/EDI Group complete the form located at: http://www.geocities.com/WallStreet/Floor/5815/mail1.htm
