Article #3500 - OASIS

The work of DISA X12, UN/CEFACT, and OASIS is interrelated and complementary, each focusing on different aspects of electronic commerce. Historically, the Data Interchange Standards Association (DISA) Accredited Standards Committee X12 maintained and developed EDI standards prevalent in legacy systems in the US. The United Nations Centre for Trade Facilitation and Electronic Business (UN/CEFACT) developed and maintained the EDIFACT standards (international EDI standards). With the joint ebXML initiative between the Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards (OASIS) and the UN/CEFACT, all of these organizations began encompassing internet technologies and issues in their scopes and working toward standards which support ‘open-edi’. Where ‘open-edi’ implies support for e-business using internet technologies and including support for existing EDI systems and migration toward more recent paradigms.

All three of these groups focus on business transactions as opposed to ‘process’ transactions (needed for real-time operations, for example). The UN/CEFACT focuses on business practices and processes and provides modeling methodology for open-edi business processes. OASIS continues to develop and maintain the ebXML framework and some of its associated standards (though many of the underlying standards specified within ebXML stem from other groups such as the IETF, W3C or the OMG). The ASC X12 group within DISA focuses on ensuring integration and migration of older EDI standards into the open-edi frameworks.

OASIS, Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards

	OASIS, Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards
Overview	OASIS is a not-for-profit, global consortium that drives the development, convergence and adoption of e-business standards. OASIS produces worldwide standards for security, Web services, XML conformance, business transactions, electronic publishing, topic maps and interoperability within and between marketplaces.
Significance for GridWise™	Average
Industry Sector(s)	Business processes and transaction, web services in all industries
Geopolitical Reach	International, more than 100 companies
Type of Standards Body	Voluntary, Open Standards Development Organization. ANSI Accredited SDO.
Relevant Standards and Work Groups	ebXML (electronic business XML) ebXML Business Process TC ebXML Collaboration Protocol Profile and Agreement TC ebXML Implementation, Interoperability and Conformance TC ebXML Messaging Services TC ebXML Registry TC UBL (Universal Business Language) UBL Context Methodology SC UBL Library Content SC UBL Naming and Design Rules SC UBL Tools and Techniques SC UDDI (Universal Description, Discovery and Integration)
Design Center	Produces standards, specifications andimplementation guidelines
Temporal Applicability	Industry integration model using existing structured informations standards.
Interrelations	Rosettanet and UN/CEFACT on ebXML
Contact Information	OASIS: Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards