ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 32/WG 1 - eBusiness

This document: — examines the basic concepts that have been developed for both cloud computing and Open-edi; — identifies key Open-edi concepts relevant to cloud computing; — identifies key cloud computing concepts relevant to Open-edi; — compares Open-edi model and cloud computing architecture and identifies mappings (similarities in whole or in part) between them using formal semantic modelling techniques.

ISO/IEC 15944-20:2015 specifies the properties of Base Functional Specification View (FSV) Standards in order to best meet the requirements of the Business Operational View (BOV) with interoperable implementations. Base FSV standards exhibiting these properties support business transactions beyond those that are in compliance with Open-edi scenarios (OeS). Additional beneficial business transactions may also be supported between a given IT system and IT system(s) outside of the Open-edi scenarios for which they were designed. These base FSV standards address those aspects of interoperability between IT systems used among Parties of the Open-edi Community participating in the scenario. Examples of such standards include the choreography of interchanges among systems, and the foundational structure and syntax used to express Information Bundles (IB) in the interchanges.

ISO/IEC 15944-9:2015 presents a framework consisting of several models, including a reference model, a model of concepts, a content model, an information model, as well as rules, templates and other technical specifications for traceability requirements based on internal or external constraints as applicable to a business transaction. The internal constraints are imposed in Open-edi due to mutual agreements among parties to a business transaction and the external constraints are invoked by the nature of a business transaction due to applicable laws, regulations, policies, etc. of jurisdictional domains which need to be considered in Open-edi business transactions. All requirements in ISO/IEC 15944-9:2015 originate from external constraints. However, parties to a business transaction may well by mutual agreement apply external constraints of this nature as internal constraints. The focus therefore of this traceability framework standard is on commitment exchange among autonomous parties to a business transaction. As such, this statement of scope includes the ability of the traceability framework to specify a group of structured and inter-related concepts pertaining to traceability as a legal or regulatory requirement in the Open-edi context, in addition to concepts that appear in other Parts of ISO/IEC 15944 these concepts having the characteristics of cultural adaptability through the use of multilingual terms and definitions; provide additional specifications for Open-edi scenarios and scenario components from the perspective of traceability as required by internal or external constraints in business transactions; provide a more detailed specification for business transactions regarding aspects of traceability, including refined models of Person, Data and Process in support of the ability for Open-edi to incorporate elements or characteristics of traceability in its information bundles (including their semantic components) and business processes; realize specifications and descriptions from the traceability requirements as rules and guidelines, to provide recommendations or guidance on Open-edi practices; and, provide revised primitive Open-edi scenario templates for traceability, integrating the modifications to the template from other existing Parts of ISO/IEC 15944. ISO/IEC 15944-9:2015 can be used by Open-edi implementers (including business modellers and system designers) and Open-edi standard developers in specifying Open-edi scenarios, developing Open-edi related standards, and implementing Open-edi rules and guidelines for Open-edi activities.

ISO/IEC 15944-2:2015 specifies procedures to be followed in establishing, maintaining, and publishing registers of unique, unambiguous and permanent identifiers and meanings that are assigned to Open-edi scenarios and scenario components. In order to accomplish this purpose, ISO/IEC 15944-2:2015 specifies elements of information that are necessary to provide identification and meaning to the registered items and to manage the registration of these items. ISO/IEC 15944-2:2015 defines the procedures to be applied by qualified JTC1 Registration Authority(ies) appointed by the ISO and IEC council to maintain a register(s) of Open-edi scenarios and/or scenario components for the purpose of their reusability.

This part of ISO/IEC 15944 discusses and describes the following three topics of eBusiness modelling: — fundamentals of business transaction modelling that describe the conceptual aspects of eBusiness; — principles of eBusiness modelling that specify the semantic aspect of business transactions and their components and relationships involved in the business transaction; — classification scheme of Open-edi scenarios based on eBusiness modelling.

ISO/IEC 15944-4:2015 provides a set of UML class diagrams and conceptual explanations that circumscribe the Open-edi Business Transaction Ontology (OeBTO). It explains the mechanics of a business transaction state machine, the procedural component of an OeBTO, and the (internal) constraint component of OeBTO, its repository for business rules. ISO/IEC 15944-4:2015 addresses collaborations among independent trading partners as defined in ISO/IEC 15944‑1. ISO/IEC 15944-4:2015 applies to both binary collaborations (buyer and seller) and mediated collaborations (buyer, seller, third-party). The ontological features described herein propose standards only for the Business Operational View (BOV), that is, the business aspects of business transactions as they are defined in ISO/IEC 15944‑1.

The primary purpose of ISO/IEC 15944-10:2013 is to provide, in a single consolidated document, an integrated approach for the key concepts and their definitions as well as rules pertaining to "coded domains" as they already exist in the multipart ISO/IEC 15944 eBusiness standard, especially Parts 1, 2, 5 and 8. It does so in a systematic and rules-based manner. As such, ISO/IEC 15944-10:2013 serves as a methodology and tool for an IT-enabled approach to existing widely used standards, specifications, authority files, pick-lists, etc., of a "codes representing X" nature, i.e. as ISO/IEC 15944-10:2013 compliant coded domains, involving the making of (legally-binding) commitments, based on common business practices. ISO/IEC 15944-10:2013 specifies the five key characteristics of coded domains and identifies twelve benefits of the use of coded domains. A key purpose of ISO/IEC 15944-10:2013 is to maximize and state very explicitly the level of "intelligence" at the highest and most precise required level with respect to the semantics of the actual data being interchanged among autonomous parties in a business transaction. Here the use of coded domains presents a simple and very pragmatic approach at the data element, i.e. semantic component level. It focuses on the development of intelligently coded data elements as part of coded domains. This involves rule-based, structured and pre-defined values whose purpose and use has been clearly stated and unambiguously defined (thereby facilitating an IT-enabled approach). In an Open-edi and eBusiness context ISO/IEC 15944-10:2013 supports the use of coded domains as re-useable business objects among participating parties in any type of business transaction. Coded domains can be used is support of any type of scenario component, i.e. "roles", and "Information Bundles (IBs)", and "semantic components (SCs)", as well as scenario attributes. Re-use of coded domains is supported through coded domains being registered through procedures specified in ISO/IEC 15944-2. The semantics of the data values in a coded domain are identified and referenced via unique and unambiguous "ID codes", i.e. as unique identifiers. With such unambiguous and unique ID codes, in ISO/IEC 15944-10:2013 compliant coded domains can be associated multiple human interface equivalents (HIEs) in many forms and languages. The approach taken here is that of the separation of the (single) IT interface requirements of semantic interoperability from their (multiple) human interface (linguistic) equivalents (required by the jurisdictional domains of the participating parties as well as those of an individual accessibility nature). Use of ISO/IEC 15944-10:2013 therefore facilitates semantic interoperability requirements of both jurisdictional domains and all kinds of parties to a business transaction [including where the buyer is an individual, and public policy requirements apply (e.g. consumer protection, privacy protection, individual accessibility, etc.)]. In addition to its twelve normative clauses and two normative annexes, ISO/IEC 15944-10:2013 provides extensive informative text in its Clause 0 "Introduction" and six informative annexes.

ISO/IEC 15944-8:2012 has been developed to support modelling generic international requirements for identifying and providing privacy protection of personal information throughout any kind of information and communications technology (ICT) based business transaction where the individual has the role of a buyer. It provides users and designers with a methodology and tools addressing requirements imposed by jurisdictional domains. ISO/IEC 15944-8:2012 takes the "business operational view" (BOV) aspects developed in ISO/IEC 14662, together with, in particular, ISO/IEC 15944-1 and ISO/IEC 15944-5 as well as many other international references. ISO/IEC 15944 models the requirements of jurisdictional domains as external constraints upon the creation, use, interchange, and information life-cycle management of data. ISO/IEC 15944-8:2012 addresses the wider context of the public policy requirements of jurisdictional domains controlling the use of personal information (PI). These include regulations for consumer protection, privacy protection, individual accessibility, etc. ISO/IEC 15944-8:2012 identifies and expands upon eleven generic, primitive, international principles that have been associated with privacy protection by international, regional, and UN member states' requirements. It models them with respect to the "collaboration space" of a business transaction and commitment exchange involving an individual acting in the role of a "buyer". It provides principles and rules governing the establishment, management and use of identifiers of that individual, including the use of legally recognized names (LRNs), recognized individual identity (rii), and methods of non-identification such as the use of anonymization and pseudonymization of personal information. ISO/IEC 15944-8:2012 also sets out principles governing information life-cycle management (ILCM) as well as the rules and associated coded domains for obtaining informed consent for collection, specifying state changes, records retention, record deletion and related matters in support of privacy protection requirements.

The Open-edi Reference Model (ISO/IEC 14662:2010, Clause 4) states: "The intention is that the sending, by an Open-edi Party, of information from a scenario, conforming to Open-edi standards, shall allow the acceptance and processing of that information in the context of that scenario by one or more Open-edi Parties by reference to the scenario and without the need for agreement. However, the legal requirements and/or liabilities resulting from the engagement of an organization in any Open-edi transaction may be conditioned by the competent legal environment(s) or the formation of a legal interchange agreement between the participating organizations. Open-edi Parties need to observe rule-based behaviour and possess the ability to make commitments in Open-edi (e.g., business, operational, technical, legal, and/or audit perspectives)." ISO/IEC 15944-1:2011 addresses the fundamental requirements of the commercial and legal frameworks and their environments on business transactions, and also integrates the requirements of the information technology and telecommunications environments. In addition to the existing strategic directions of "portability" and "interoperability", the added strategic direction of ISO/IEC JTC 1 of "cultural adaptability" is supported in ISO/IEC 15944-1:2011. It also supports requirements arising from the public policy/consumer environment, cross-sectorial requirements and the need to address horizontal issues. It integrates these different sets of requirements. ISO/IEC 15944-1:2011 allows constraints [which include legal requirements, commercial and/or international trade and contract terms, public policy (e.g. privacy/data protection, product or service labelling, consumer protection), laws and regulations] to be defined and clearly integrated into Open-edi through the BOV. This means that terms and definitions in ISO/IEC 15944-1:2011 serve as a common bridge between these different sets of business operational requirements, allowing the integration of code sets and rules defining these requirements to be integrated into business processes electronically. ISO/IEC 15944-1:2011 contains a methodology and tool for specifying common business practices as parts of common business transactions in the form of scenarios, scenario attributes, roles, Information Bundles and Semantic Components. It achieves this by 1) developing standard computer processable specifications of common business rules and practices as scenarios and scenario components; and thus 2) maximizing the re-use of these components in business transactions.

ISO/IEC 15944-7:2009 provides a consolidated vocabulary of eBusiness concepts as found and defined in ISO/IEC 14662 and the existing parts of ISO/IEC 15944, namely, Parts 1, 2, 4, 5, 6 and 7 along with their associated terms. ISO/IEC 15944-7:2009 provides the rules, guidelines and procedures governing the formation of definitions for concepts relevant to eBusiness and choice of terms as a single, harmonized and integrated controlled vocabulary. This includes those governing multilingual expandability which incorporates and integrates cultural capability. As such, ISO/IEC 15944-7:2009 facilitates the production of human interface equivalents (HIEs) of eBusiness terms and definitions in the various official (and de facto) languages of ISO members. ISO/IEC 15944-7:2009 identifies the essential elements of an entry in this controlled vocabulary as well as their rules and specifications. It also includes rules for ensuring quality and integrity control requirement for each entry and the interworking among the entries while doing so in an IT-enabled manner. It also addresses maintenance and update procedures. ISO/IEC 15944-7:2009 is built on ISO/IEC 14662 and the existing Parts 1, 2, 4, 5 and 6 of ISO/IEC 15944. The exclusions which apply to one or more of these International Standards apply to ISO/IEC 15944-7:2009 ISO/IEC 15944-7:2009 does not currently support the following requirements (in no particular order): the more detailed level of rules (and possible more detailed level of granularity) for the essential elements of “eBusiness vocabulary” entry, as currently specified in 5.3; the more detailed level of rules for change management of the eBusiness vocabulary. It is most likely that these will be addressed in the second edition (and will be based on or harmonized with the rules in ISO/IEC 15944-2:2006, Clause 6.5 “Registration Status”); the inclusion of added non-essential, i.e. conditional or optional, elements for a controlled vocabulary entry; the addition of eBusiness concepts with their definitions and associated terms which are not found in ISO/IEC 14662 or any part of ISO/IEC 15944; the ability to be able to fully support the set of external constraints of jurisdictional documents pertaining to individual accessibility requirements; the provision of Human Interface Equivalents (HIEs) of jurisdictional domains which are administrative sub-divisions of a UN member state; the identification of and rules for “non-essential” or optional elements of an entry in the controlled vocabulary; the incorporation of individual accessibility requirements, (e.g. as summarized in the UN Convention on the Rights of Disabled Persons); the establishment of a Registration Authority; the development of a “template” of the nature found in the other parts of ISO/IEC 15944. It is anticipated that some or all of these requirements will be addressed in future editions of this part of ISO/IEC 15944, in companion International Standards, or in Technical Reports. ISO/IEC 15944-7:2009 does not assume nor endorse any specific system environment, database management system, database design paradigm, system development methodology, data definition language, command language, system interface, user interface, syntax, computing platform, or any technology required for implementation , i.e. it is information technology neutral. At the same time, ISO/IEC 15944-7:2009 maximizes an IT-enabled approach to its implementation and maximizes semantic interoperability.

ISO/IEC 15944-5:2008 is directed at being able to identify and reference laws and regulations impacting eBusiness scenarios and scenario components as external constraints. The primary source of such external constraints is jurisdictional domains. ISO/IEC 15944-5:2008 focuses on addressing the simple, i.e. definable, aspects of external constraints for which the source is a jurisdictional domain. A useful characteristic of external constraints is that at the sectoral, national and international levels, etc. focal points and recognized authorities often already exist. The rules and common business practices in many sectoral areas are already known. Use of ISO/IEC 15944-5:2008 (and related standards) will facilitate the transformation of these external constraints (business rules) into specified, registered and reusable scenarios and scenario components. The Business Transaction Model, explained in ISO/IEC 15944-1, has two classes of constraints, namely: those which are self-imposed and agreed to as commitments among the parties themselves, i.e. internal constraints; and those which are imposed on the parties to a business transaction based on the nature of the good, service and/or rights exchanged, and the nature of the commitment made among the parties (including ability to make commitments, the location, etc.), i.e. external constraints. The focus of ISO/IEC 15944-5:2008 is on external constraints. Jurisdictional domains are the primary source of external constraints. ISO/IEC 15944-5:2008 provides the key concepts required for addressing the legal environment in developing the Business Operational View of business transactions and scenarios which involve and are required to support external constraints. It begins with an exploration of the jurisdictional domain as a source of external constraint on the business process, both from the perspective of a Person and as a Public Administration. It then presents key constraints governing ISO/IEC 15944-5:2008 through principles and rules. It examines a key element in business transactions, that of the use of language. Jurisdictions can identify and, in some cases, impose the use of language in a business transaction. In this regard, the ISO/IEC 15944-5:2008 looks at the relationship of the constraint imposed by a jurisdictional domain on the choice of language used. Public policy constraints are also examined and key requirements for their inclusion in external constraints are identified, especially where they can affect the modelling of Open-edi scenarios and the business transaction components of Persons, data and processes. In particular, there is a set of rules that govern the identification and categories of jurisdictional domains as individual states as well as sets of entities, both regional and international. ISO/IEC 15944-5:2008 also focuses on the identification of rules governing the formation and identification of jurisdictional domains. It identifies the more primitive subtypes of jurisdictional domains and includes two approaches for the unambiguous identification of referencing of (subtypes of) jurisdictional domain. ISO/IEC 15944-5:2008 also provides checklists, through the use of templates, to guide the user through the mechanics of determining the source of the external constraint(s) where these are jurisdictional domains and determining the adequacy of the scenario specification as well as those of the scenario components. Annexes provide elaboration on the points raised in the main body.

ISO/IEC TR 15944-6:2009 discusses and describes the following three topics of eBusiness modelling: fundamentals of business transaction modelling that describe the conceptual aspects of eBusiness; principles of eBusiness modelling that specify the semantic aspect of business transactions and their components and relationships involved in the business transaction; classification scheme of Open-edi scenarios based on eBusiness modelling.

ISO/IEC 15944-4:2007 focuses on providing a definition of the concepts and the relationships that exist among those concepts in an Open-edi business transaction. Such a repository of conceptual definitions is termed a domain ontology for Open-edi. It addresses the fundamental and definable aspects of a business transaction as it unfolds with business partners: first planning their activities, then identifying their prospective trading partners, then negotiating commitments for economic exchanges, and finally fulfilling those commitments with reciprocated transfers of economic resources. The key concepts required for an Open-edi business transaction, which are derived from the fields of accounting and economics, are defined. ISO/IEC 15944-4:2007 provides the ontological specification with an enumeration of the primitive and derived data classes needed in a full economic exchange. These definitions are specified with class diagrams from the Unified Modelling Language (UML). This is the declarative component of the Open-edi Business Transaction Ontology (OeBTO). ISO/IEC 15944-4:2007 identifies the procedural components of the OeBTO: its computable mechanisms for tracking progress through an actual business process where partners exchange information with each other as they progress through the Open-edi trading phases of planning, identification, negotiation, actualization and post-actualization. This progress is determined with specified state machine mechanics. ISO/IEC 15944-4:2007 finishes by identifying the constraint component of the OeBTO: its repository for business rules and assertions. Cultural adaptability and integration with the other parts of ISO/IEC 15944 is provided by supplying a list of consolidated French definitions and by enumerating the two classes of Open-edi constraints. Theoretical background for the ontological components of the OeBTO is provided by enumerating the Resource-Event-Agent (REA) ontology as that work is being used in standards work with the United Nations Centre for Trade Facilitation and Electronic Business (UN/CEFACT). Use of ISO/IEC 15944-4:2007 (and related standards) will facilitate the integration of these ontological definitions into specified, registered and re-useable eBusiness scenarios and scenario components.

The objective of ISO/IEC 15944-2:2006 is the identification, registration, referencing and reusability of common objects in a business transaction. As stated in ISO/IEC 15944-1, reusability of scenarios and scenario components is an achievable objective because existing (global) business transactions, whether conducted on a for-profit or not for profit basis, already consist of reusable components unambiguously understood among participating parties. However, such existing "standard" components have not yet been formally specified and registered. The purpose of ISO/IEC 15944-2:2006 is to fill this gap. ISO/IEC 15944-2:2006 specifies procedures to be followed in preparing and maintaining registers of scenarios and scenario components. Although any organization may choose to establish registers of such items that conform to ISO/IEC 15944-2:2006, ISO/IEC 15944-2:2006 is intended particularly to apply to registers established under the auspices of ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 32. ISO/IEC 15944-2:2006 specifies the procedure by which Open-edi scenarios and scenario components can be registered as "business objects", starting with requirements for reusability and the ability to support cultural adaptability, as well as requirements of a jurisdictional nature as are applicable to the nature and goal of the business transaction. Registration principles are then stated, including the federation of registration authorities; internationally unique identification of Open-edi registry entries; responsibilities of registration authorities; registry operation; registration status; state of a register; information required for registering scenarios and scenario components; formal specification of scenarios and scenario components using an Open-edi Descriptive Technique. The composite Open-edi registry item identifier, as well as roles and responsibilities in the management of Open-edi registers, are described. Registration authority and operations in the management of an Open-edi register are also described and a linkage to existing register standards is made by giving an overview of the ISO 19135:2005 register and its adaptation to the Open-edi register schema. Normative and informative annexes contain consolidated list of terms and definitions; Open-edi registration administration attributes; reference to Open-edi scoping and specification attributes; description of scenario classification concepts; brief description of UML notation; information on two classes of constraints, i.e. internal and external, as part of the business transaction model.

ISO/IEC 14662:2004 specifies the framework for coordinating the integration of existing International Standards and the development of future International Standards for the inter-working of Open-edi Parties via Open-edi and provides a reference for those International Standards. As such, it serves to guide the work necessary to accomplish Open-edi by providing the context to be used by developers of International Standards to ensure the coherence and integration of related standardized modelling and descriptive techniques, services, service interfaces and protocols. This International Standard describes, through two perspectives of business transactions, significant aspects relevant to the interoperability of information technology systems used by Open-edi Parties engaging in Open-edi. The perspectives are: business aspects such as business information, business conventions, agreements and rules among Open-edi Parties; and information technology aspects which are necessary in the Open-edi systems to support the execution of business transactions. This International Standard is not an implementation specification nor is it a basis for appraising the conformance of implementations.