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`Practical Universal Business Language Deployment`

Table of Contents
1. OASIS Universal Business Language (UBL)
1.1 OASIS Universal Business Language (UBL)
1.1.1 OASIS Universal Business Language (UBL)
1.1.2 UBL history
1.1.3 UBL FAQ
1.1.4 Committee structure
1.2 ebXML context
1.2.1 ebXML - Electronic business using XML
1.3 UBL applicability
1.3.1 The role of UBL in e-commerce
1.3.2 Where is UBL going?
1.3.3 The Danish UBL experience
1.3.4 Government procurement
1.3.5 Other projects seen on the UBL radar
1.3.6 Document standardization business areas for UBL
1.4 UBL 2.0 specification contents
1.4.1 UBL 2.0 specification contents
1.4.2 UBL.xml.org and UBL-Dev
2. Parties, document types and profiles
3. Information items
3.1 Crane's UBL information model reports
3.1.1 Crane's UBL information model reports
4. Naming and design rules (NDR)
5. Documents and document models
6. Model semantics
7. XPath enumerations
8. Controlled vocabulary overview
9. UBL customization
10. Customization specification
11. Conformant customization implementation
12. Introduction to document engineering
13. Customization extension
14. Customization deployment
A. OpenOffice 3 UBL customization environment
A.1 OpenOffice 3 UBL customization environment
A.1.1 OpenOffice 3 UBL customization environment
A.1.2 Configuration sheet
A.1.3 Profiles sheet
A.1.4 Document types sheet
A.1.5 Document type sheet
A.1.6 Profile tool methodology

Notices
OASIS Copyrights
[[1] - Some information included in this publication is from copyrighted material from the Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards (OASIS) [http://www.oasis-open.org]. Files containing the copyrighted material include the following, which applies only to original OASIS documents and not to this commercial material created by Crane; please go to original OASIS documents to obtain any publicly-available content:
[[2] - Portions copyright (C) OASIS Open 2001-2009. All Rights Reserved.
[2] - http://www.oasis-open.org/who/intellectualproperty.php
]]
Notices
Copyrights
[[1] - Other original material herein is copyright (C) 1998-2009 Crane Softwrights Ltd. This is commercial material and may not be copied or distributed by any means whatsoever without the expressed permission of Crane Softwrights Ltd.
]
Disclaimer
[[1] - By purchasing and/or using any product from Crane Softwrights Ltd. ("Crane"), the product user ("reader") understands that this product may contain errors and/or other inaccuracies that may result in a failure to use the product itself or other software claiming to utilize any proposed or finalized standards or recommendations referenced therein. Consequently, it is provided "AS IS" and Crane disclaims any warranty, conditions, or liability obligations to the reader of any kind. The reader understands and agrees that Crane does not make any express, implied, or statutory warranty or condition of any kind for the product including, but not limited to, any warranty or condition with regard to satisfactory quality, merchantable quality, merchantability or fitness for any particular purpose, or such arising by law, statute, usage of trade, course of dealing or otherwise. In no event will Crane be liable for (a) punitive or aggravated damages; (b) any direct or indirect damages, including any lost profits, lost savings, damaged data or other commercial or economic loss, or any other incidental or consequential damages even if Crane or any of its representatives have been advised of the possibility of such damages or they are foreseeable; or (c) for any claim of any kind by any other party. Reader acknowledges and agrees that they bear the entire risk as to the quality of the product.
]
Preface
Preface
This PDF publication is a living document
[[1] - the purchase of any edition entitles the purchaser to all future editions at no charge
[1] - the plan is to publish new editions often
[[2] - practices evolve and mature when working with new specifications
[2] - training and community mail lists will reveal the need to explain sections of the material differently or more thoroughly
[2] - customers of the book request new or expounded information in a new edition
][1] - the paper rights for this publication are still available for an interested publisher
[1] - this publishing model was honed on two earlier Crane books for XSLT and XSL-FO and has been well received by customers of both PDF and paper editions
]
The main content of this book is in an unconventional style primarily in bulleted form
[[1] - derivatives of the book are used for instructor-led training, requiring the succinct presentation
[[2] - note the exercises used in instructor-led training sessions are not included here
][1] - this PDF book is accompanied by a ZIP file with supplementary files
[[2] - the number of supplementary files will grow with future editions
][1] - derivatives of the book can be licensed and branded for customer use in delivering training
[1] - the objective of this style is to convey the essence and details desired in a compact, easily perused form, thereby reducing the search for key words and phrases in lengthy paragraphs
[1] - each chapter of the book corresponds to a module of the training
[1] - each page of the book corresponds to a frame projected during the training
]
Much of the content is hyperlinked both internally and externally to the book in the 1-up full-page sized electronic renditions (not in the half-page renditions):
[[1] - note when using Acrobat Reader, the history "back" keystroke sequence is "Ctrl-Left"
[1] - page references, e.g.: [Chapter 5.]
[[2] - click on the title or page number above to test!
[2] - the back-of the book index is hyperlinked to the body of the book
[2] - the letter references at the bottom of each page are hyperlinked to the index
][1] - references to sections of the specification are in parentheses, e.g.: ([4.2.1.])
[[2] - the section number linked in full-sized pages to the online specification
[2] - click on the "[4.2.1.]" above to test!
][1] - external references are in monospaced text (click on the following to test!)
[[2] - e.g.: [http://docs.oasis-open.org/ubl/os-UBL-2.0/]
][1] - chapter references in book summary
[1] - section references in chapter summary
[1] - subsection references in table of contents at the back of the book
[1] - no hyperlinks are present in the cut, stacked, half-page, or 2-up renditions of the material
]
Diagram legend:
[[1] - triangle: a structured XML/SGML/HTML document or resource
[1] - parallelogram: a non-structured document or resource in an arbitrary format
[1] - box: a process in the work flow
[1] - diamond: a decision in the workflow
]
Sample code fragments:
[[1] - included with the book purchase is a ZIP file of sample code fragments
[1] - directory names referenced in the book are referencing subdirectories in the unpacked ZIP files
[1] - the readme.txt file in the ZIP package documents the running of sample batch files and shell scripts
]
Important caveat regarding the information in this publication
[[1] - while the author, G. Ken Holman, is a co-editor of the UBL 2.0 specification, not all of the material in this publication is necessarily accepted by all UBL Technical Committee members
[1] - all of the content in this book is written from the opinion of G. Ken Holman and Crane Softwrights Ltd. and does not necessarily represent official or agreed-upon content from the perspective of the UBL TC
[1] - this content is not to be construed as legal advice of any kind, nor is it recommending that any particular methodology or process or tool be implemented, it only documents methodologies and technologies available to be considered
]
Entire chapters of this publication will undergo revision
[[1] - the UBL TC is debating the use of procedures, processes and data files in support of UBL
[1] - some software being developed by Crane Softwrights Ltd. is being made freely available for anyone to download and use
[1] - some software being developed by Crane Softwrights Ltd. will be made available only to customers of this publication
[[2] - to supplement the software that is made freely available
]]
The purchase of this publication is protected by the no-charge availability of all future editions
[[1] - all of the content in this publication is subject to revision and update and editions will get out of date
[1] - early editions are expected to be created frequently and be short-lived as the community experience with UBL reveals various practices and experiences that will influence how to consider working with this standard
]
The purchase of this publication grants the legitimate owner no-charge access to accompanying software written by Crane Softwrights Ltd.
[[1] - there are no warranties expressed or implied regarding the use of the software; more details are found in the documentation for the software
[1] - access details to download the software are found by registered users on [http://www.CraneSoftwrights.com/sales/publd/]
[1] - while the software is free of charge, the software is not to be copied for or distributed to or used by anyone who is not a legitimate customer of this book, unless permission has been granted in writing
]
The author welcomes any and all suggestions for improvements and additional content
[[1] - please do not hesitate to contribute ideas for improving on this publication
[1] - all submissions to [info@CraneSoftwrights.com [mailto:info@CraneSoftwrights.com]] will be acknowledged (though not necessarily accepted!)
[[2] - please note that aggressive spam filters may make our email delivery difficult
]]
Prologue
The first and oldest documents created by mankind were business documents:
[[1] - early Bronze Age Sumerians invented writing from commercial inscriptions (3300BC)
[[2] - transactions, inventories, etc.
][1] - commerce and trade developed to fund the war machine to overcome invading empires
]
Paper business documents are the norm in commerce today
[[1] - most are ad-hoc presentations of purchase orders, invoices, etc. created by companies and software providers without regard to any standard layout or presentation
[1] - paper layouts of business documents have been internationally-standardized
[[2] - (cited from UNCTAD Trust Fund for Trade Facilitation Negotiations Technical Note No.13) [http://r0.unctad.org/ttl/technical-notes/TN13_Document%20Simplification.pdf]
[2] - the UN Layout Key (UNLK) was first adopted in 1963
[[3] - became UNECE recommendation No 1 in 1978
][2] - a master layout design from which other trade documents can be derived
[2] - organizes coded information (address, buyer, seller, documentation requirements for certain products, etc) in a box format in fixed locations on a document
]]
Electronic business documents are available in commerce today
[[1] - most are ad-hoc representations of purchase orders, invoices, etc. created by companies and software providers without regard to any standard structure or content
[1] - the Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) standard has long been in use by large companies
[[2] - complex to deploy
[[3] - cryptic machine-based representations of the information suitable for computers but not people
[3] - stovepipe implementations of EDI by different industries inhibits interoperability and message compatibility
][2] - expensive to operate and out of the reach of small- and medium-sized enterprises
[[3] - EDI service providers often require a minimum utilization that far exceeds the needs of small business
]][1] - the OASIS Universal Business Language (UBL) has been internationally-standardized
[[2] - the first royalty-free specification of XML-based business documents and business object library
[2] - a mature version 2.0 specification based on real-world experience with version 1.0
[2] - easy-to-digest XML format with human-legible labels on hierarchically-organized structures of information
[2] - well-defined approaches to customization and augmentation to meet tailored requirements for communities of users
]]
This book takes the reader through the UBL 2.0 specification deliverables and artefacts
[[1] - the only normative component of UBL 2.0 is a set of W3C Schema XSD expressions of constraints on classes of XML documents
[1] - the delivery package includes a number of supporting materials based upon the XSD normative document models
]
Not everything in this book has yet been adopted or agreed to by the UBL Technical Committee
[[1] - this is a book by and from the perspective of Crane Softwrights Ltd.
[1] - G. Ken Holman is an active member participating on the UBL Technical Committee and a co-editor of the UBL 2.0 specification
[1] - some of the materials described in this book are Ken's member submissions to the TC for consideration by the membership
]
Emerging methodologies and deployment approaches are described
[[1] - UBL 2.0 offers far more features than UBL 1.0 to address real-world requirements discovered in the deployment of UBL 1.0
[1] - Crane and other vendors and volunteers are making resources available to the user community
[[2] - Crane has a number of UBL-related resources available in the "Free resources" section of the web site linked from the right-hand marginalia of:
[[3] - [http://www.CraneSoftwrights.com/links/trn-20090212.htm]
]]]
Important caveat regarding the objectives of the material
[[1] - this is a book describing the available UBL 2.0 materials and technical implementation issues for deploying the specification
[1] - this is not a book with which to interpret specific UBL information items in a business context or to assess the adaptation of financial systems to the semantics of UBL
[1] - this book cannot be interpreted as providing financial or legal advice regarding the application or suitability of UBL to any particular scenario or purpose
]
This book will evolve through multiple future editions
[[1] - based on feedback from students taking training derived from this material
[1] - based on UBL TC developments and decisions and publications
[1] - based on Crane's own deployment experience of using UBL
[1] - based on Crane's consulting customers' experience of using UBL
[1] - based on publicly-available case studies of the successful use of UBL 2.0
[1] - in particular the chapters on customization will be embellished
[1] - Crane's other electronic books began with many early editions before quieting down to less-frequent free updates as the content matured
]
Enjoy!
Epilogue
Where to go from here?
The work on UBL continues:
[[1] - OASIS UBL 2.0 Standard - December 12, 2006 with update May 26, 2008
[[2] - [http://docs.oasis-open.org/ubl/os-UBL-2.0/]
[2] - [http://docs.oasis-open.org/ubl/os-UBL-2.0-update/]
][1] - focus now shifts to support, deployment, awareness and evangelism
[1] - join the UBL Technical Committee to help
[[2] - [http://www.oasis-open.org/join/]
][1] - committee mail list - UBL TC
[[2] - [http://lists.oasis-open.org/archives/ubl/]
][1] - community mail list - UBL-Dev
[[2] - [http://lists.oasis-open.org/archives/ubl-dev/]
[2] - [http://www.oasis-open.org/mlmanage/]
][1] - community resource center - UBL focus area
[[2] - [http://ubl.xml.org]
][1] - community contribution to UBL International Data Dictionary
[[2] - [http://ubl.xml.org/forums/ubl-international-data-dictionary-idd-contributions]
]]
Colophon
These materials were produced using structured information technologies as follows:
[[1] - authored source materials
[[2] - content in numerous XML files maintained as external general entities for a complete prose book that can be made into a subset for training
[[3] - specification of applicability of constructs for each configuration
[[4] - 45- and 90-minute lecture, half-, full-, two- and three-day lecture and hands-on instruction, and book (prose) configurations
][3] - an XSLT transformation creates the subset of effective constructs from applying applicability to the complete file
[3] - content from other presentations/tutorials included semantically (not syntactically) during construct assembly
][2] - customized appearance engaged with marked sections and both parameter and general entities
[[3] - different host company logos and venue and date marginalia
[3] - changing a single external parameter entity to a key file includes suite of files for given appearance
]][1] - accessible rendition in HTML
[[2] - an XSLT stylesheet produces a collection of HTML files using Saxon for multiple file output
[2] - mono-spaced fonts and list-depth notation conventions assist the comprehension of the material when using screen-reader software
][1] - printed handout deliverables
[[2] - an XSLT stylesheet produces an instance of XSL formatting objects (XSL-FO) for rendering
[2] - XPDF [http://www.foolabs.com/xpdf] extracts raw text from PDF files for the back-of-the-book index methodology published as a free resource by Crane Softwrights Ltd.
[2] - XEP by RenderX [http://www.renderx.com] produces PostScript from XSL-FO
[2] - GhostScript [http://www.GhostScript.com] produces PDF from PostScript
[2] - the iText [http://itext.sf.net] PDF manipulation library for Java is used for page imposition by a custom Python [http://www.python.org] program running under the Jython [http://www.jython.org] environment
]]
Obtaining a copy of this material
This comprehensive tutorial on UBL is available for subscription purchase and free preview download:
[[1] - "Practical Universal Business Language Deployment" Third Edition - 2009-02-12 - ISBN 978-1-894049-23-8
[[2] - the free download preview excerpt of the publication includes the complete text of the first chapter and the introductory text of all of the other chapters
][1] - the cost of purchase includes all future updates to the materials with email notification
[[2] - the materials are updated after new content developed
[[3] - more frequent in earlier editions than later editions
][2] - the materials are updated after incorporating comments gleaned during presentations and from feedback from customers
][1] - available in PDF
[[2] - formatted as 1-up or 2-up book pages per imaged page
[2] - dimensions in either US-letter or A4 page sizes
[2] - available as either single sided or double sided
][1] - accessible rendition available for use with screen readers
[1] - site-wide and world-wide staff licenses (one-time fee) are available
]
See [http://www.CraneSoftwrights.com/links/trn-20090212.htm] for more details.
Software available to customers
[[1] - accompanying software is available at no charge to customers of this book
[1] - the license for this free software does not allow for free distribution of the software to others
[1] - free download from [http://www.CraneSoftwrights.com/sales/publd/] to registered users
]
Feedback
[[1] - the unorthodox style has been well-accepted by customers as an efficient learning presentation
[1] - feedback from customers is important to improve or repair the content for future editions
[1] - please send suggestions or comments (positive or negative) to [info@CraneSoftwrights.com [mailto:info@CraneSoftwrights.com]]
]

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+//ISBN 1-894049::CSL::Presentation::UBL//DOCUMENT Practical Universal Business Language Deployment 2009-02-12 13:50UTC//EN Practical Universal Business Language Deployment Third Edition - 2009-02-12 ISBN 978-1-894049-23-8 Copyright © Crane Softwrights Ltd.