OASIS Universal Business Language (UBL) TC

MINUTES OF UBL TC FACE-TO-FACE MEETING IN BUDAPEST, MAY 27-30, 2024

PARTICIPATION

Kenneth Bengtsson (chair) *

Erlend Klakegg Bergheim *

Peter Borresen *

Andrea Caccia *

Michael Coletta *

Paul Donohoe *

Kees Duvekot *

Sander Fieten *

Ken Holman *

Yves Jordan *

Wim Kok *

Ole Madsen *

Natalie Muric *

Dragos Stoica

Harm Jan van Burg (observer)

(* = Voting member)

The meeting was quorate with 13 out of 15 voting members present.

SUBCOMMITTEE REPORTS

Payments and Finance SC

The Payments and Finance Subcommittee (Payfin SC) is set to review the Reminder and Remittance Advice documents as part of the Technical Committee's (TC) ongoing semantic library review. Initial discussions have taken place regarding the potential update of the Payment Means Committee Note, though we are still awaiting further input from market stakeholders to proceed.

Post-award Procurement SC

In alignment with the TC's semantic library review, the Post-award Procurement Subcommittee will be reviewing the documents listed here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1f0yyWMLK9wAWEjEKgsoXT7eov9h5bx6qxROBZP_qu7M/edit#gid=0. The objective is to ensure these documents meet requirements and that redundant elements are deprecated in accordance with the deprecation policy.

Pre-award Procurement SC

Paul provided an in-depth walkthrough of the extensions developed for the eForms used by the Publications Office of the EU. These extensions were necessary as UBL previously lacked some required functionalities. Additionally, an "Organisation" extension was created to complement the UBL Party ABIE. The Pre-award Subcommittee aims to integrate these extensions into the UBL library. This process will commence in the next subcommittee meeting.

Transportation SC

Peter presented on eFTI and highlighted the missing elements in UBL 2.4 that need to be addressed. These elements will be proposed for inclusion in UBL 2.5, as detailed here: https://groups.oasis-open.org/discussion/missing-elements-is-ubl-2-4docx. The vision is to expand UBL to fully support eFTI. Peter will create a JIRA ticket to track progress and necessary updates.

Organisation Master Data SC

The Organisation Master Data Subcommittee anticipates a significant amount of work ahead, particularly in leveraging input from the Pre-award SC and circularity initiatives. No further updates are available at this time.

Commodities SC

The Commodities Subcommittee will focus on mapping the gaps between the UBL catalogue and the requirements of the commodities and raw materials industry. This includes identifying any missing document types that may be required. Additionally, efforts will be made to recruit new members to the subcommittee.

FINALIZING UBL 2.4

Public review and COS status

The 60-day public review of UBL 2.4 as a Candidate OASIS Standard (COS) has concluded with no comments received. As a result, the COS should now automatically advance to the OASIS Call for Consent. Kenneth will contact Kelly to initiate the process.

Tickets and maintenance

The TC addressed the following tickets:

• UBL needs some kind of default profile, https://issues.oasis-open.org/browse/UBL-148: Agreed to close.

-          Inconsistent definition for UnknownPriceIndicator, https://issues.oasis-open.org/browse/UBL-211: Agreed to resolve this in UBL 2.5 by deprecating the old, incorrect definition. Assigned to the Pre-award SC.

-          Add ReferencedDocumentInternalAddress to DocumentReference, https://issues.oasis-open.org/browse/UBL-272: The solution was implemented in UBL 2.3, but the ticket remained open. Discussed if an unbounded (0..n) cardinality was needed and decided to leave it as is (0..1).

-          Open Banking API, https://issues.oasis-open.org/browse/UBL-150: The ticket had been deferred. Decided that no further work is needed.

-          Unbounded Price at line level, https://issues.oasis-open.org/browse/UBL-45: Agreed to close this. No further work needed.

-          Create a RDF alternate representation for UBL, https://issues.oasis-open.org/browse/UBL-178: Peter reported that RDF representation is considered a critical documentation tool by some communities. Ken will review the relevant documentation and work on creating an RDF version that reflects the relationships and interconnections of UBL information entities.

-          Modify build process for publishing-free invocation, https://issues.oasis-open.org/browse/UBL-339: Agreed to keep it open for now while Kees and Ken determine if it can be closed.

UBL SEMANTIC LIBRARY

The UBL data types and attributes were reviewed to identify redundancies and candidates for deprecation. Ideally, each data type should have a maximum of one attribute. Natalie pointed out that this might not be feasible for the Code data type, where identifying a given version of a code list should be separate from identifying the code list itself. It was agreed to further review and analyze this issue.

In the meantime, based on the TC's discussions and initial reviews, the following assumptions and decisions were made regarding data types:

1) The following data types have been identified for modification based on the review findings:

• Amount:
• Retain currencyID.
• Deprecate currencyCodeListVersionID.
• Binary Object:
• Retain mimeCode.
• Deprecate characterSetCode.
• Deprecate encodingCode.
• Deprecate filename.
• Deprecate format.
• Deprecate uri.
• Agreed to create a new "Filename" BBIE in the "Attachment" ABIE to provide an alternative to the deprecated filename attribute.
• Code:
• Modify the listID definition to: "The unique identification of a code list, including identification of the version of the list if applicable." (see comment from Natalie above).
• Deprecate languageID.
• Deprecate listAgencyID.
• Deprecate listAgencyName.
• Deprecate listName.
• Deprecate listSchemeURI.
• Deprecate listURI.
• Deprecate listVersionID (see comment from Natalie above).
• Deprecate name.
• Identifier:
• Retain schemeID.
• Deprecate schemeAgencyID.
• Deprecate schemeAgencyName.
• Deprecate schemeDataURI.
• Deprecate schemeName.
• Deprecate schemeURI.
• Deprecate schemeVersionID.
• Measure:
• Retain unitCode.
• Deprecate unitCodeListVersionID.
• Numeric:
• Deprecate format.
• Quantity:
• Retain unitCode.
• Deprecate unitCodeListAgencyID.
• Deprecate unitCodeListAgencyName.
• Deprecate unitCodeListID.
• Text:
• Retain languageID.
• Deprecate languageLocaleID.
• Name:
• Retain languageID.
• Deprecate languageLocaleID.

2) The following data types have been determined to remain unchanged based on the review findings:

• Date
• Indicator
• Percent
• Rate
• Time

3) There was a discussion about the potential inclusion of the Date Time data type, which is currently not utilized in UBL. After careful consideration, it was decided not to include this data type in UBL at this time.

JSON SYNTAX BINDING

At our last face-to-face meeting, we agreed on the necessity of creating a "cleaner" binding to JSON to address the complexity associated with mapping UBL data type identifiers to JSON. The aim is to enhance the usability and implementation efficiency of UBL by incorporating a JSON syntax specification as part of UBL 2.5.

Erlend presented several strategic options to achieve this. It was agreed that deprecating certain data type attributes would significantly simplify JSON implementations. This approach allows data types to be represented as complex types, ensuring consistency and clarity. For example:

{
  "ID": {
    "value": "1234567890123",
    "schemeID": "GLN"
  }
}

In instances where optional data type attributes are not utilized, the data type will remain complex, preserving the structure while omitting unnecessary attributes. For example:

{
  "ID": {
    "value": "1234567890123"

  }
}

This strategy is expected to streamline the process of integrating UBL with JSON, making it more accessible for developers and reducing potential errors in data mapping. Erlend will work on finalizing the JSON specification.

CIRCULAR & ESG STRATEGY DISCUSSION

The discussion was divided in two:

Morning session: Joint workshop GS1 and UBL + invited participants

Participants:

• Antonella Amadei, OASIS Open
• Kenneth Bengtsson, Efact
• Erlend Klakegg Bergheim, Norwegian Agency for Public and Financial Management
• Peter Borresen, ebConnect
• Thomas Buchar, Orbex
• Harm Jan van Burg, OASIS Open
• Andrea Caccia, Studio Caccia
• Michael Coletta, Orbex
• Paul Donohoe, Publications Office of the EU
• Kees Duvekot, Wehkamp
• Sander Fieten, Chasquis Consulting
• Ken Holman, Crane Softwrights
• Katalin Kecskés, GS1 Hungary
• Dávid Kétszeri, GS1 Hungary
• László Kétszeri
• Ole Madsen, Danish Business Authority
• Natalie Muric, Publications Office of the EU
• Gábor Nagy, Hungarian Standards Institution
• Balázs Szilágyi, CATL

Kenneth Bengtsson provided an overview of UBL and its potential to assist companies in navigating the increasing number of new "green" directives related to ESG, sustainability, and circularity reporting. He explained how UBL can be leveraged as a standardized data exchange format to collect essential sustainability metrics throughout supply and value chains. This would support initiatives such as GS1's efforts with the Digital Product Passport, which aims to enhance transparency and traceability in product information.

Andrea Caccia spoke on the EU's Green Public Procurement (GPP) initiative. He highlighted the directive's implications for sustainability and the critical role standardized data formats like UBL play in meeting these green procurement requirements.

Dávid Kétszeri provided a brief overview of GS1's efforts with the European Digital Product Passport. He emphasized the importance of this initiative in improving product traceability and supporting sustainability goals.

Balázs Szilágyi discussed the challenges faced by CATL, a major battery producer, particularly concerning privacy issues when required to disclose detailed assembly and product information. CATL is contemplating a pilot project and is exploring UBL as a possible contributing standard to address these challenges.

It was agreed that the efforts of GS1 and UBL are complementary, and that formalized collaboration would be highly beneficial. Harm Jan van Burg mentioned that an MOU already exists between GS1 and OASIS, providing a framework for this collaboration. It was decided that Dávid Kétszeri will identify key stakeholders within GS1 to champion this initiative from their side. Dávid and Kenneth will follow up together.

Afternoon session: Internal UBL TC discussion

The TC debated whether, and if so, how to implement support for ESG and circularity metrics in UBL. It was agreed that the Item and Party data types would be the most suitable for this integration and that alignment with the ISO 14000 series would be the right approach to ensure support of required data elements.

To ensure a cohesive approach, it was decided that the work will be done within the main TC, given its likely impact on all SCs. Kees, Andrea, and Kenneth volunteered to form the initial working group.

It was agreed to seek a formal liaison with ISO TC 207, with Michael volunteering as the liaison officer.

PROSE SPECIFICATION AND UPDATING THE PUBLISHING SYSTEM

The Prose Specification discussion was postponed to the next TC meeting. Members decided to focus on work on the publishing system during this session, with no decisions or discussions to report at this time.

APPRECIATIONS AND GRATITUDE

The UBL Technical Committee would like to extend our heartfelt thanks and appreciation to everyone who made this meeting possible:

• Dávid Kétszeri and GS1 Hungary for their generous sponsorship, and whose support was instrumental in facilitating this event.
• Gábor Nagy and the Hungarian Standards Institution for graciously hosting us, and whose hospitality and excellent venue significantly contributed to the success of our meeting.
• And especially warm thanks to László Kétszeri for his invaluable assistance in organizing the meeting, and whose efforts were crucial in bringing the UBL Face-to-Face meeting to Budapest.

Thank you all for your contributions and dedication. Your efforts are greatly appreciated.