The Book Business and International Information Standards EDIt

The Book Business and International Information Standards EDIt. EUR Seminar, Moscow, September 2007 The new supply chain for books EDIt. X and Web Services Francis Cave EDIt. EUR

The new supply chain… • The Internet has changed the way that businesses trade with one another • The book trade is no exception! – consumers buy books online – publishers promote books online – now supply chains are going online • The cost of going online is relatively low – small enterprises (publishers, bookshops) can afford to be players in the new supply chain – traditional EDI is too expensive for small players

Supply chain communication • To trade electronically the book trade needs communication standards – standards define how business partners communicate • how messages are exchanged • what messages contain – standards exist for traditional EDI • EDIFACT, national standards – what is needed for trading on the Internet?

Standards for e-commerce • There have been several international projects to develop global standards for electronic trading: – eb. XML – EDIINT (AS/1, AS/2, AS/3) – Web Services • Do general-purpose e-commerce standards work in the book trade? – historically, no – not without modification

EDIt. X • In 2001 EDIt. EUR decided to develop XMLbased message formats for transactions used in the book supply chain – in collaboration with the Book Industry Study Group (BISG), representing the book trade in North America • EDIt. X = EDIt. EUR XML

EDIt. X for trade supply • Initial development of a family of message formats for trade supply: – Order, Order Response, Ship Notice, Order Cancellation, Order Status Enquiry, Order Status Report, Stock Enquiry, Stock Report – Invoice format not included in original set • Version 1. 0 published by EDIt. EUR in March 2004

EDIt. X for library supply • The library supply chain has its own requirements that differ from trade supply • Separate set of message formats required for use in library supply? • EDIt. X Library Order format published by EDIt. EUR in March 2004 • No initial demand for other formats • Demand led by the requirements of the North American market (BISG)

How to exchange EDIt. X messages? • EDIt. X specifies message formats, but not how they should be communicated • For the supply chain to trade electronically there need to be standard methods of communication as well as standard message formats • Existing Internet-based solutions use FTP and email… • …but these need to be integrated with order processing and stock managements systems • There has to be a better way…

Web Services • In 2004 Book Industry Communications in the UK launched the e 4 books project – AIM: to have the entire UK book industry trading electronically by May 2008 • An early conclusion was that the industry needed to define better ways of communicating over the Internet that were accessible to small players • BIC decided to develop a series of Web Service standards for the UK book trade

What are Web Services? • Web Services are established conventions for the use of Web protocols for communication between business systems • Web Services enable transactions that involve requests and responses to be conducted in “real time” (without delay) – e. g. an Order Request requires an immediate Order Response

BIC Web Services • Published BIC Web Service standards: – Price & Availability Request / Response – Order Cancellation Request / Response – Product Information Request / Response • ONIX and MARC versions • Draft standards in development include: – – Order Request / Response Retrieve Invoice List Copy Invoice Request / Response Post Invoice

International interest in EDIt. X • In 2006 there was renewed international interest in EDIt. X, especially in Scandinavian countries • In April 2007 EDIt. EUR published EDIt. X Version 1. 1 for trade supply, including new formats: – Invoice, Returns Request, Returns Response • New interest in EDIt. X for Library Supply – full set of message formats currently under development

EDIt. X and Web Services • In the UK, BIC is implementing a number of EDIt. X trade formats in its Web Service standards: – Order, Order Response, Invoice

EDIt. EUR and Web Services • The current Web Service standards have only been developed for use in the UK • BIC, through EDIt. EUR, is keen to share its work with trade organisations in other countries • Maybe there is a role for Web Service standards in the Russian book trade?

THANK YOU!