]>
&name; &version; &this-loc;/&name;-&version;.html &this-loc;/&name;-&version;.pdf &this-loc;/&name;-&version;.xml &previous-loc;/UBL-2.1.html &previous-loc;/UBL-2.1.pdf &previous-loc;/UBL-2.1.xml &latest-loc;/&name;-2.1.html &latest-loc;/&name;-2.1.pdf &latest-loc;/&name;-2.1.xml Universal Business Language Version 2.1 OASIS Universal Business Language TC Jon Bosak Pinax
bosak@pinax.com
 Tim McGrath
tim.mcgrath@documentengineeringservices.com
 G. Ken Holman Crane Softwrights Ltd.
gkholman@CraneSoftwrights.com
 Jon Bosak Pinax
bosak@pinax.com
 Tim McGrath
tim.mcgrath@documentengineeringservices.com
 30 May 2011 Related Work This specification supersedes UBL 2.0. Declared XML Namespaces urn:oasis:names:specification:ubl:schema:xsd:CommonAggregateComponents-2 urn:oasis:names:specification:ubl:schema:xsd:CommonBasicComponents-2 urn:oasis:names:specification:ubl:schema:xsd:CommonExtensionComponents-2 urn:oasis:names:specification:ubl:schema:xsd:CommonSignatureComponents-2 urn:oasis:names:specification:ubl:schema:xsd:QualifiedDataTypes-2 urn:oasis:names:specification:ubl:schema:xsd:SignatureAggregateComponents-2 urn:oasis:names:specification:ubl:schema:xsd:SignatureBasicComponents-2 urn:oasis:names:specification:ubl:schema:xsd:UnqualifiedDataTypes-2 urn:oasis:names:specification:ubl:schema:xsd:ApplicationResponse-2 urn:oasis:names:specification:ubl:schema:xsd:AttachedDocument-2 urn:oasis:names:specification:ubl:schema:xsd:AwardedNotification-2 urn:oasis:names:specification:ubl:schema:xsd:BillOfLading-2 urn:oasis:names:specification:ubl:schema:xsd:CallForTenders-2 urn:oasis:names:specification:ubl:schema:xsd:Catalogue-2 urn:oasis:names:specification:ubl:schema:xsd:CatalogueDeletion-2 urn:oasis:names:specification:ubl:schema:xsd:CatalogueItemSpecificationUpdate-2 urn:oasis:names:specification:ubl:schema:xsd:CataloguePricingUpdate-2 urn:oasis:names:specification:ubl:schema:xsd:CatalogueRequest-2 urn:oasis:names:specification:ubl:schema:xsd:CertificateOfOrigin-2 urn:oasis:names:specification:ubl:schema:xsd:CommonAggregateComponents-2 urn:oasis:names:specification:ubl:schema:xsd:CommonBasicComponents-2 urn:oasis:names:specification:ubl:schema:xsd:CommonExtensionComponents-2 urn:oasis:names:specification:ubl:schema:xsd:ContractAwardNotice-2 urn:oasis:names:specification:ubl:schema:xsd:ContractNotice-2 urn:oasis:names:specification:ubl:schema:xsd:CreditNote-2 urn:oasis:names:specification:ubl:schema:xsd:DebitNote-2 urn:oasis:names:specification:ubl:schema:xsd:DespatchAdvice-2 urn:oasis:names:specification:ubl:schema:xsd:DocumentStatus-2 urn:oasis:names:specification:ubl:schema:xsd:DocumentStatusRequest-2 urn:oasis:names:specification:ubl:schema:xsd:ExceptionCriteria-2 urn:oasis:names:specification:ubl:schema:xsd:ExceptionNotification-2 urn:oasis:names:specification:ubl:schema:xsd:Forecast-2 urn:oasis:names:specification:ubl:schema:xsd:ForecastRevision-2 urn:oasis:names:specification:ubl:schema:xsd:ForwardingInstructions-2 urn:oasis:names:specification:ubl:schema:xsd:FreightInvoice-2 urn:oasis:names:specification:ubl:schema:xsd:GuaranteeCertificate-2 urn:oasis:names:specification:ubl:schema:xsd:InstructionForReturns-2 urn:oasis:names:specification:ubl:schema:xsd:InventoryReport-2 urn:oasis:names:specification:ubl:schema:xsd:Invoice-2 urn:oasis:names:specification:ubl:schema:xsd:ItemInformationRequest-2 urn:oasis:names:specification:ubl:schema:xsd:Order-2 urn:oasis:names:specification:ubl:schema:xsd:OrderCancellation-2 urn:oasis:names:specification:ubl:schema:xsd:OrderChange-2 urn:oasis:names:specification:ubl:schema:xsd:OrderResponse-2 urn:oasis:names:specification:ubl:schema:xsd:OrderResponseSimple-2 urn:oasis:names:specification:ubl:schema:xsd:PackingList-2 urn:oasis:names:specification:ubl:schema:xsd:PerformanceHistory-2 urn:oasis:names:specification:ubl:schema:xsd:PriorInformationNotice-2 urn:oasis:names:specification:ubl:schema:xsd:ProductActivity-2 urn:oasis:names:specification:ubl:schema:xsd:Quotation-2 urn:oasis:names:specification:ubl:schema:xsd:ReceiptAdvice-2 urn:oasis:names:specification:ubl:schema:xsd:Reminder-2 urn:oasis:names:specification:ubl:schema:xsd:RemittanceAdvice-2 urn:oasis:names:specification:ubl:schema:xsd:RequestForQuotation-2 urn:oasis:names:specification:ubl:schema:xsd:RetailEvent-2 urn:oasis:names:specification:ubl:schema:xsd:SelfBilledCreditNote-2 urn:oasis:names:specification:ubl:schema:xsd:SelfBilledInvoice-2 urn:oasis:names:specification:ubl:schema:xsd:Statement-2 urn:oasis:names:specification:ubl:schema:xsd:StockAvailabilityReport-2 urn:oasis:names:specification:ubl:schema:xsd:Tender-2 urn:oasis:names:specification:ubl:schema:xsd:TendererQualification-2 urn:oasis:names:specification:ubl:schema:xsd:TendererQualificationResponse-2 urn:oasis:names:specification:ubl:schema:xsd:TenderReceipt-2 urn:oasis:names:specification:ubl:schema:xsd:TradeItemLocationProfile-2 urn:oasis:names:specification:ubl:schema:xsd:TransportationStatus-2 urn:oasis:names:specification:ubl:schema:xsd:TransportExecutionPlan-2 urn:oasis:names:specification:ubl:schema:xsd:TransportExecutionStatus-2 urn:oasis:names:specification:ubl:schema:xsd:TransportProgressStatus-2 urn:oasis:names:specification:ubl:schema:xsd:UnawardedNotification-2 urn:oasis:names:specification:ubl:schema:xsd:UtilityStatement-2 urn:oasis:names:specification:ubl:schema:xsd:Waybill-2 This specification defines the Universal Business Language, version 2.1. Status This document was last revised or approved by the UBL TC on the above date. The level of approval is also listed above. Check the current location noted above for possible later revisions of this document. This document is updated periodically on no particular schedule. Technical Committee members should send comments on this specification to the Technical Committee's email list. Others should send comments to the Technical Committee by using the "Send A Comment" button on the Technical Committee's web page at http://www.oasis-open.org/committees/ubl/. For information on whether any patents have been disclosed that may be essential to implementing this specification, and any offers of patent licensing terms, please refer to the Intellectual Property Rights section of the Technical Committee web page at http://www.oasis-open.org/committees/ubl/ipr.php. See for more information regarding this release package. Citation format: When referencing this specification the following citation format should be used: <bibliomixed id="UBL"> <abbrev>UBL-2.1</abbrev> <citetitle> <emphasis>Universal Business Language Version 2.1</emphasis> 30 May 2011. Committee Specification Draft 02 / Public Review Draft 02. <ulink url=" http://docs.oasis-open.org/ubl/prd2-UBL-2.1/UBL-2.1.html"> http://docs.oasis-open.org/ubl/prd2-UBL-2.1/UBL-2.1.html</ulink> </citetitle> </bibliomixed> </bibliolist> </legalnotice> <legalnotice role="notices"><title>Notices Copyright © OASIS® Open 2011. All Rights Reserved. All capitalized terms in the following text have the meanings assigned to them in the OASIS Intellectual Property Rights Policy (the "OASIS IPR Policy"). The full Policy may be found at the OASIS website. 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Introduction Since its approval as a W3C recommendation in 1998, XML has been adopted in a number of industries as a framework for the definition of the messages exchanged in electronic commerce. The widespread use of XML has led to the development of multiple industry-specific XML versions of such basic documents as purchase orders, shipping notices, and invoices. While industry-specific data formats have the advantage of maximal optimization for their business context, the existence of different formats to accomplish the same purpose in different business domains is attended by a number of significant disadvantages as well. Developing and maintaining multiple versions of common business documents like purchase orders and invoices is a major duplication of effort. Creating and maintaining multiple adapters to enable trading relationships across domain boundaries is an even greater effort. The existence of multiple XML formats makes it much harder to integrate XML business messages with back-office systems. The need to support an arbitrary number of XML formats makes tools more expensive and trained workers harder to find. The OASIS Universal Business Language (UBL) is intended to help solve these problems by defining a generic XML interchange format for business documents that can be extended to meet the requirements of particular industries. Specifically, UBL provides the following: A library of XML schemas for reusable data components such as “Address,” “Item,” and “Payment”—the common data elements of everyday business documents. A set of XML schemas for common business documents such as “Order,” “Despatch Advice,” and “Invoice” that are constructed from the UBL library components and can be used in generic procurement and transportation contexts. A standard basis for XML business schemas provides the following advantages: Lower cost of integration, both among and within enterprises, through the reuse of common data structures. Lower cost of commercial software, because software written to process a given XML tag set is much easier to develop than software that can handle an unlimited number of tag sets. An easier learning curve, because users need master just a single library. Lower cost of entry and therefore quicker adoption by small and medium-size enterprises (SMEs). Standardized training, resulting in many skilled workers. A universally available pool of system integrators. Standardized, inexpensive data input and output tools. A standard target for inexpensive off-the-shelf business software. UBL is designed to provide a universally understood and recognized commercial syntax for legally binding business documents and to operate within a standard business framework such as ISO 15000 (ebXML) to provide a complete, standards-based infrastructure that can extend the benefits of existing EDI systems to businesses of all sizes. UBL is freely available to everyone without legal encumbrance or licensing fees. UBL schemas are modular, reusable, and extensible in XML-aware ways. As the first standard implementation of ebXML Core Components Technical Specification 2.01, the UBL Library is based on a conceptual model of information components known as Business Information Entities (BIEs). These components are assembled into specific document models such as Order and Invoice. These document assembly models are then transformed in accordance with UBL Naming and Design Rules into W3C XSD schema syntax. This approach facilitates the creation of UBL-based document types beyond those specified in this release.
Terminology
Terms and Definitions Assembly model A tree-structured model of ABIEs that can be implemented as a document schema. In this release, assembly models are provided in tabular form as spreadsheets. Document A set of information components that are interchanged as part of a business transaction; for example, in placing an order. XSD schema An XML document definition conforming to the W3C XML Schema language . The terms Core Component (CC), Basic Core Component (BCC), Aggregate Core Component (ACC), Association Core Component (ASCC), Business Information Entity (BIE), Basic Business Information Entity (BBIE), and Aggregate Business Information Entity (ABIE) are used in this specification with the meanings given in . The terms Object Class, Property Term, Representation Term, and Qualifier are used in this specification with the meanings given in . The keywords MUST, MUST NOT, REQUIRED, SHALL, SHALL NOT, SHOULD, SHOULD NOT, RECOMMENDED, MAY and OPTIONAL, when they appear in this document, are to be interpreted as described in .
Symbols and Abbreviations ABIE Aggregate Business Information Entity ASBIE Association Business Information Entity BBIE Basic Business Information Entity BIE Business Information Entity CC Core Component CPFR Collaborative Planning, Forecasting, and Replenishment CV2 Credit Card Verification Numbering System EDI Electronic Data Interchange ISO International Organization for Standardization NDR UBL Naming and Design Rules UML Unified Modeling Language UN/CEFACT United Nations Centre for Trade Facilitation and Electronic Business UNDG United Nations Dangerous Goods URI Uniform Resource Identifier UUID Universally Unique Identifier XML Extensible Markup Language XPath The XML Path Language XSD W3C XML Schema Language
Normative References <bibliomixed id="asn.1"> <abbrev>ASN.1</abbrev> <citetitle> <ulink url="http://www.itu.int/ITU-T/studygroups/com17/languages/X.680-X.693-0207w.zip" >ITU-T X.680-X.683: Abstract Syntax Notation One (ASN.1)</ulink> </citetitle>, <citetitle> <ulink url="http://www.oasis-open.org/committees/download.php/6320/X.680-X.693-0207w.zip" >ITU-T X.690-X.693: ASN.1 encoding rules</ulink> </citetitle> </bibliomixed> <bibliomixed id="ccts"> <abbrev>CCTS</abbrev> <citetitle> <ulink url="http://www.oasis-open.org/committees/download.php/6232/CEFACT-CCTS-Version-2pt01.zip" >ISO/TS 15000-5:2005 Electronic Business Extensible Markup Language (ebXML)—Part 5: ebXML Core Components Technical Specification, Version 2.01</ulink> (identical to Part 8 of the ebXML Framework) </citetitle> </bibliomixed> <bibliomixed id="cpfr"> <abbrev>CPFR</abbrev><citetitle> <ulink url="http://www.vics.org/docs/committees/cpfr/CPFR_Tabs_061802.pdf" >Voluntary Interindustry Commerce Standards, Collaborative Planning, Forecasting and Replenishment Version 2.0, Global Commerce Initiative Recommended Guidelines, June 2002</ulink> </citetitle> </bibliomixed> <bibliomixed id="custguide"> <abbrev>Customization</abbrev> <citetitle><ulink url="http://docs.oasis-open.org/ubl/guidelines/UBL2-Customization1.0cs01.pdf" >OASIS Committee Specification 01, UBL 2 Guidelines for Customization, First Edition, 25 December 2009</ulink> </citetitle> </bibliomixed> <bibliomixed id="cva"> <abbrev>CVA</abbrev><citetitle><ulink url="http://docs.oasis-open.org/codelist/cs01-ContextValueAssociation-1.0/doc/context-value-association.html" >OASIS Committee Specification 01, Context/value association using genericode 1.0, 15 April 2010</ulink> </citetitle> </bibliomixed> <bibliomixed id="gc"> <abbrev>genericode</abbrev> <citetitle> <ulink url="http://docs.oasis-open.org/codelist/cs-genericode-1.0/doc/oasis-code-list-representation-genericode.pdf" >OASIS Committee Specification 01, Code List Representation (Genericode) Version 1.0, 28 December 2007</ulink> </citetitle> </bibliomixed> <bibliomixed id="iso11179"> <abbrev>ISO11179</abbrev><citetitle> <ulink url="http://www.oasis-open.org/committees/download.php/6233/c002349_ISO_IEC_11179-1_1999%28E%29.pdf" >ISO/IEC 11179-1:1999 Information technology — Specification and standardization of data elements — Part 1: Framework for the specification and standardization of data elements</ulink> </citetitle> </bibliomixed> <bibliomixed id="relaxng"> <abbrev>RELAX NG</abbrev> <citetitle> <ulink url="http://standards.iso.org/ittf/PubliclyAvailableStandards/c037605_ISO_IEC_19757-2_2003(E).zip" >ISO/IEC 19757-2, Information technology — Document Schema Definition Language (DSDL) — Part 2: Regular-grammar-based validation — RELAX NG</ulink> </citetitle>, <citetitle> <ulink url="http://standards.iso.org/ittf/PubliclyAvailableStandards/c040774_ISO_IEC_19757-2_2003_Amd_1_2006(E).zip" >Information technology — Document Schema Definition Language (DSDL) — Part 2: Regular-grammar-based validation — RELAX NG AMENDMENT 1: Compact Syntax</ulink> </citetitle> </bibliomixed> <bibliomixed id="rfc2119"> <abbrev>RFC2119</abbrev><citetitle> <ulink url="http://www.faqs.org/rfcs/rfc2119.html">Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate Requirement Levels</ulink> </citetitle> </bibliomixed> <bibliomixed id="schematron"> <abbrev>SCH</abbrev><citetitle> <ulink url="http://standards.iso.org/ittf/PubliclyAvailableStandards/c040833_ISO_IEC_19757-3_2006(E).zip" >Document Schema Definition Languages (DSDL) — Part 3: Rule-based validation (Schematron)</ulink> </citetitle> </bibliomixed> <bibliomixed id="uml"> <abbrev>UML</abbrev><citetitle> <ulink url="http://www.oasis-open.org/committees/download.php/6240/03-03-01.zip" >Unified Modeling Language Version 1.5 (formal/03-03-01)</ulink> </citetitle> </bibliomixed> <bibliomixed id="b_XAdES"> <abbrev>XAdES</abbrev><citetitle> <ulink url="http://uri.etsi.org/01903/v1.2.2/ts_101903v010202p.pdf" >XML Advanced Electronic Signatures. ETSI TS 101 903 V1.2.2 (2004-04)</ulink> </citetitle> </bibliomixed> <bibliomixed id="xml"> <abbrev>XML</abbrev><citetitle> <ulink url="http://www.w3.org/TR/2000/REC-xml-20001006" >Extensible Markup Language (XML) 1.0 (Second Edition), W3C Recommendation 6 October 2000</ulink> </citetitle> </bibliomixed> <bibliomixed id="b_xmldsig"> <abbrev>xmldsig</abbrev><citetitle> <ulink url="http://www.w3.org/TR/2002/REC-xmldsig-core-20020212/" >XML-Signature Syntax and Processing. W3C Recommendation 12 February 2002</ulink> </citetitle> </bibliomixed> <bibliomixed id="xsd1"> <abbrev>XSD1</abbrev><citetitle> <ulink url="http://www.w3.org/TR/2004/REC-xmlschema-1-20041028/" >XML Schema Part 1: Structures. Second Edition. W3C Recommendation 28 October 2004</ulink> </citetitle> </bibliomixed> <bibliomixed id="xsd2"> <abbrev>XSD2</abbrev><citetitle> <ulink url="http://www.w3.org/TR/2004/REC-xmlschema-2-20041028/" >XML Schema Part 2: Datatypes. Second Edition. W3C Recommendation 28 October 2004</ulink> </citetitle> </bibliomixed> <bibliomixed id="xslt"> <abbrev>XSLT</abbrev><citetitle> <ulink url="http://www.w3.org/TR/1999/REC-xslt-19991116">XSL Transformations (XSLT) Version 1.0, W3C Recommendation 16 November 1999</ulink> </citetitle> </bibliomixed> </bibliography> </section> <section id="INFORMATIVE"> <title>Non-Normative References <bibliomixed id="cpfroview"> <abbrev>CPFRoverview</abbrev><citetitle> <ulink url="http://www.vics.org/docs/standards/CPFR_Overview_US-A4.pdf" >CPFR: An Overview, 18 May 2004</ulink> </citetitle> </bibliomixed> <bibliomixed id="ebiz"> <abbrev>eBiz-TCF</abbrev><citetitle> <ulink url="http://spring.bologna.enea.it/ebiz/defaultebiz.asp?versione=DOWNSTREAM" >Reference Architecture of eBusiness in Textile Clothing and Footwear Sector</ulink> </citetitle> </bibliomixed> </bibliography> </section> </section> <section id="CONTEXT"> <title>UBL 2.1 Context of Use The processes described in this section, and the business rules associated with them, define a context for the use of UBL 2.1 business documents. They are normative insofar as they provide semantics for the UBL document schemas, but they should not be construed as limiting the application of those schemas. UBL 2.1 extends the supply chain (including the commercial collaborations of international trade) to include documents for collaborative forecasting, planning and scheduling; vendor managed inventory; utility billing; tendering; and intermodal freight management. The following diagram illustrates the process context assumed by UBL 2.1 documents.
UBL 2.1 Use Case [Use Case Diagram]
The document types included in UBL 2.1 are listed in . It is important to note that, as with previous UBL releases, the UBL 2.1 library is designed to support the construction of a wide variety of document types beyond those provided in the 2.1 package. It is expected that implementers will develop their own customized document types and components and that more UBL document types will be added as the library evolves. For guidance in customizing UBL document types, see the UBL Guidelines for Customization .
General Business Requirements This section describes some of the requirements and general business rules that are assumed for collaborations and document exchanges in UBL 2.1.
Items An item may be a product or a service Items may have multiple classifications A contract may influence prices An item may be part of another item An item may have a price per unit and an order unit An item may reference pictures and documents An item may have a validity period An item may refer to other relevant or necessary items
Item Identification One of the following identifiers may be used to identify each Item (for example, a product): Buyer’s Item Identification, or Seller’s Item Identification, or Manufacturer’s Item Identification, or Catalogue Item Identification, or Item Identification according to a system promulgated by a standards body. The Item may be further distinguished by the specification of Measurement(s) or Physical Attribute(s). This enables specification of the following kinds of item: Item Requiring Description This is an item that is not identified by an unambiguous machine-processable product code and requires additional descriptive information to precisely identify it. Customer Defined Item This is an item that the customer describes according to his need, and in the specification of which the customer may make some reference to comparable “standard” items. Item Requiring Measurements This is an item for which it is necessary to specify one or more measurements as part of the descriptive specification of the item.
Item Instances Certain Items may be identified and ordered as individual, unique objects—for example, a specific car rather than a make and model of a car. This form of identification may also be needed for product tracing (e.g., perishable goods) or because of the nature of the commodity (e.g., used, collectible, specialized, or rare). In data modeling terms, an Item Instance is an extension of an Item.
Item Pricing For any given Item, price ranges by amount, quantity, location, etc., are specified by the Seller during the sourcing stage. They are not repeated back to the Seller during Ordering; only the active price is specified. In some cases, the Buyer may not know the Item Price, in which case it is not specified. This makes a detailed response from the Seller necessary; see Order Response.
Hazardous Items Although ordered items may include Hazardous items, it is not necessary to specify information related to Hazardous status at the order stage. The Buyer may not be aware of the nature of the Item. Indication of the Hazardous nature of the Item, and any relevant information, would be indicated in the Despatch Advice and Transportation documents.
Parties In UBL, a party is defined as an individual, a group, or a body having a role in a business function. Dependent on the business process, a Party may play various roles in the document exchange. For a list of UBL parties and their roles, see .
Multilingual Text Some textual components, such as Notes and Description, may be specified in several languages. Each should be a separate occurrence of the component, using the language attribute to define its presentation. However, multiple occurrences of the same textual components should not be in the same language.
Overview of Business Processes Following from UBL 2.0, the UBL 2.1 documents and library support an increased range of different business processes. These processes (with the additions in 2.1 shown in underlined boldface) can be categorized as follows: Procurement Sourcing Pre-Award Tendering Catalogue Post-Award Catalogue Quotation Ordering Fulfilment Billing Freight Billing Utility Billing Payment Replenishment Collaborative Planning, Forecasting and Replenishment Vendor Managed Inventory Cyclic Replenishment Program Transportation International Freight Management Intermodal Freight Management Freight Status Reporting International Trade Certification of Origin of Goods The following sections contain the formal business process descriptions:
Tendering Tendering is the case where a contracting authority (the Originator) initiates a procurement project to buy goods, services, or works during a specified period, as shown in the following diagram.
The Tendering Process [Tendering Process Diagram]
Contract Information Preparation The Tendering process optionally begins with publication of a Prior Information Notice prepared by a Contracting Authority to declare the intention to buy goods, services, or works during a specified period. The purpose of this step (if implemented) is to reduce preparation time when an actual Contract Notice is published (see ).
Contract Information Preparation [Tendering Process Diagram]
Contract Information Notification The process of Notification includes the publication by the Contracting Authority of a Contract Notice to announce the project to buy goods, services, or works. The details shown here are specific to the EU, which requires contracts over a certain amount (Harmonized contracts) to be published in the Official Journal of the EU. Other tendering contexts will differ in their publication requirements.
Contract Information Notification [Contract Information Notification Diagram]
Invitation to Tender In some procedures, the Contracting Authority invites economic operators to participate in a contest by sending them an invitation to tender using a Call for Tenders to define the procurement project to buy goods, services, or works during a specified period. The Call For Tenders may be sent jointly with an unstructured letter of invitation to tender.
Invitation to Tender [Invitation to Tender Diagram]
Submission of Qualification Information The economic operator sends a Tenderer Qualification to the Contracting Authority to define its own situation or status relating to the requirements of the Contracting Authority for a specific tendering process. The Contracting Authority uses the Tenderer Qualification Response to notify the Tenderer of its admission to or exclusion from the tendering process.
Submission of Qualification Information [Submission of Qualification Information Diagram]
Submission of Tenders A Tenderer submits one or more Tender documents that offer a tender to the Contracting Authority for bid. The Contracting Authority responds with a Tender Receipt to notify the reception of the tender for a tendering process. The date and time of the Tender Receipt are significant, because tendering procedures usually have tight deadlines for tender presentation.
Submission of Tenders [Submission of Tenders Diagram]
Awarding of Tenders The awarding of tenders takes place in three phases. First, the Contracting Authority notifies each tenderer of its success or failure in winning the contract, using the Awarded Notification document to communicate the contract award to the winning tenderer or the Unawarded Notification document to communicate that the contract has been awarded to another tenderer.
Award Notification [Award Notification Diagram]
Second, the Contracting Authority causes a Contract Award Notice to be published to announce the awarding of a procurement project.
Award Publication [Award Publication Diagram]
Finally, the Tenderer sends a Guarantee Certificate to notify the deposit of a guarantee.
Guarantee Deposit [Guarantee Deposit Diagram]
Catalogue A Catalogue is a document produced by a party in the procurement chain that describes items and prices. Document types associated with Catalogue processes are Catalogue Request, Application Response, Catalogue Item Specification Update, Catalogue Pricing Update, and Catalogue Deletion.
Catalogue Business Rules Any conditions specified in the contract shall overrule those stated in the common Catalogue. A Catalogue exchange shall be between one Provider and one Receiver Party. A classification system may have its own set of properties. A classification scheme shall have metadata. A Catalogue may have a validity period. A Catalogue should include item classifications. Classification schemes should include standard and specific properties. A Catalogue may refer to the lot (sub-section) of a contract. A Catalogue may explicitly specify the framework contract reference. A Catalogue may refer to a DPS contract number. When a Catalogue item is updated, the item shall be replaced in the Catalogue. When a Catalogue item is updated, historical information about replaced or updated items must be available to reconcile with outstanding transactions. Prices may be updated independently of other Catalogue information. Catalogue distribution may be Provider or Receiver Party initiated. If a Receiver initiates a request for a Catalogue, they may request an entire Catalogue or only updates to either pricing or item specification details. Whether Receiver Party initiated or not, the decision to issue a new Catalogue or update an existing one shall be at the discretion of the Provider Party. If an updated Catalogue is issued, then an action code shall define the status of the items in the Catalogue.
Catalogue Provision Catalogue provision is the case where a Provider sends information regarding items available for purchase to a Receiver. This may be on request or unsolicited. Because they are only potential purchasers, a Receiver may never become a Customer Party.
Create Catalogue The process of creating a Catalogue is shown in the following diagram.
Create Catalogue Process [Create Catalogue Diagram]
Update Catalogue Item Specification The process of updating a Catalogue Item Specification is shown in the following diagram.
Update Item Specification Process [Update Item Specification Diagram]
Update Catalogue Pricing The process of updating Catalogue pricing is shown in the following diagram.
Update Catalogue Pricing Process [Update Catalogue Pricing Diagram]
Delete Catalogue Deletion of a Catalogue is shown in the following diagram.
Delete Catalogue Process [Delete Catalogue Diagram]
Punchout Punchout is a technological innovation whereby an Originator is able to directly access a Seller's application from within their own procurement application.
Punchout Sourcing Process [Punchout Sourcing Diagram]
The Originators leave (“punch out” from) their system and interact with the Seller's catalogue to locate and order products, while their application transparently gathers pertinent information. While conceptually the punchout request is a form of Request for Quote, the exchange transaction is tightly coupled to the specific catalogue application and is considered outside the scope of UBL.
Quotation Less formally defined than a tender, a quotation process is the case where the Originator asks for a quotation, as shown in the following diagram.
Quotation Process [Quotation Diagram]
Ordering Ordering is the collaboration that creates a contractual obligation between the Seller Supplier Party and the Buyer Customer Party. Document types in these processes are Order, Order Response, Order Response Simple, Order Change, and Order Cancellation.
Ordering Process [Ordering Diagram]
Ordering Business Rules The Order may specify allowance and charge instructions (e.g., freight, documentation, etc.) that identify the type of charge and who pays which charges. The Order may be placed “on account” against a trading credit account held by the Seller, or against a credit/debit card account, or against a direct debit agreement. The Order allows for an overall currency defining a default for all pricing and also a specific currency to be used for Invoicing. Within an Order, additional currencies may be specified both for individual item pricing and for any allowances or charges. Trade discount may be specified at the Order level. The Buyer may not know the trade discount, in which case it is not specified. This makes a detailed response from the Seller necessary; see Order Response (Section 2.6.3). The Order provides for multiple Order Lines. The Order may specify delivery terms, while the Order Line may provide instructions for delivery. The Buyer may indicate potential acceptable alternatives.
Order Response Simple The Order Response Simple is the means by which the Seller confirms receipt of the Order from the Buyer, indicating either commitment to fulfil without change or that the Order has been rejected.
Order Response Proposed changes to an Order by the Seller are accomplished through the full Order Response document. The Order Response proposes to replace the original Order. It reflects the entire new state of an order transaction. It also is the means by which the Seller confirms or supplies Order-related details to the Buyer that were not available to, or specified by, the Buyer at the time of ordering. These may include: Delivery date, offered by the Seller if not specifically requested by the Buyer Prices Discounts Charges Item Classification codes The Seller may advise on replacements, substitutes, or other necessary changes using the Order Response.
Order Change The Buyer may change an established Order in two ways, subject to the legal contract or trading partner agreement: first, by sending an Order Change, or second, by sending an Order Cancellation (see ) followed by a new, complete replacement Order. An Order Change reflects the entire current state of an order transaction. Buyers may initiate a change to a previously accepted order for various reasons, such as changing ordered items, quantity, delivery date, ship-to address, etc. Suppliers may accept or reject the Order Change using either Order Response or Order Response Simple.
Order Cancellation At any point of the process, a Buyer may cancel an established order transaction using the Order Cancellation document. Legal contracts, trading partner agreements, and business rules will determine the point at which an Order Cancellation will be ignored (e.g., at the point of manufacture or the initiation of the delivery process). Given the agreements and rules, an Order Cancellation may or may not be an automated business transaction. The terms and conditions of contract formation for business commitments will dictate which, if any, of these restrictions or guidelines will apply.
Fulfilment Fulfilment is the collaboration in which the goods or services are transferred from the Despatch Party to the Delivery Party. Document types in these processes are Despatch Advice, Receipt Advice, Order Cancellation, and Order Change. In common practice, fulfilment is either supported by a proactive Despatch Advice from the Despatch Party or by a reactive Receipt Advice from the Delivery Party. If the Customer is not satisfied with the goods or services, they may then cancel or change the order (see ). The Seller may have a fulfilment (or customer) service dealing with anomalies.
Fulfilment with Despatch Advice Process [Fulfilment with Despatch Advice Diagram]
Despatch Advice Business Rules The Despatch Advice is sent by the Despatch Party to the Delivery Party to confirm shipment of items. The Despatch Advice provides for two situations: Organization of the delivery set of items by Transport Handling Unit(s) so that the Receiver can check the Transport Handling Unit and then the contained items. Quantities of the same item on the same Order Line may be separated into different Transport Handling Units and hence appear on separate Despatch Lines within a Transport Handling Unit. Organization of the delivery set of items by Despatch Line, annotated by the Transport Handling Unit in which they are placed, to facilitate checking against the Order. For convenience, any Order Line split over multiple Transport Handling Units will result in a Despatch Line for each Transport Handling Unit they are contained in. Additionally, in either case, the Despatch Advice may advise: Full Despatch—advising the Recipient and/or Buyer that all the items on the order will be, or are being, delivered in one complete consignment on a given date. Partial Despatch—advising the Recipient and/or Buyer that the items on the order will be, or are being, partially delivered in a consignment on a given date. Despatch Lines of the Despatch Advice need not correspond one-to-one with Order Lines, and are linked by a reference. The information structure of the Despatch Advice may result in multiple Despatch Lines from one Order Line. Equally, partial despatch may result in some Order Lines not being matched by any Line in a Despatch Advice. Within a Despatch Advice, an Item may also indicate the Country of Origin and the Hazardous nature of the Item.
Receipt Advice Business Rules The Receipt Advice is sent by the Delivery Party to the Despatch Party to confirm receipt of items and is capable of reporting shortages or damaged items.
Fulfilment with Receipt Advice Process [Fulfilment with Receipt Advice Diagram]
The Receipt Advice provides for two situations. For ease of processing claimed receipt against claimed delivery, it must be organised in the same way as the corresponding Despatch Advice: Indication of receipt by Transport Handling Unit(s) and contained Receipt Lines one-to-one with the Despatch Advice as detailed by the Seller party, or Indication of receipt by Receipt Lines annotated by Transport Handling Unit, one-to-one with the Despatch Advice as detailed by the Seller party. The Receipt Advice allows the Delivery Party to state any shortages from the claimed despatch quantity and to state any quantities rejected for a given reason.
Billing In the Billing process, a request is made for payment for goods or services that have been ordered, received, or consumed. In practice, there are several ways in which goods or services may be billed. Document types in these processes are Invoice, Credit Note, Debit Note, and Application Response. For UBL 2.1, we assume the following billing methods: Traditional Billing Using Credit Note Using Debit Note Self Billing (also known as billing on receipt) Using Credit Note Using Self Billed Credit Note
Billing Business Rules The Invoice is normally issued on the basis of one despatch event triggering one invoice. An Invoice may also be issued for pre-payment on a whole or partial basis. The possibilities are: Prepayment invoice (payment expected) Pro-forma invoice (pre advice, payment not expected) Normal Invoice, on despatch for despatched items Invoice after return of Receipt Advice The Invoice only contains the information that is necessary for invoicing purposes. It does not reiterate any information already established in the Order, Order Change, Order Response, Despatch Advice, or Receipt Advice that is not necessary when invoicing. If necessary, the Invoice refers to the Order, Despatch Advice, or Receipt Advice by a Reference for those documents. Taxation on the Invoice allows for compound taxes, the sequence of calculation being implied by the sequence of information repeated in the data stream (e.g., Energy tax, with VAT—Value Added Tax—superimposed). Charges may be specified either as a lump sum or by percentage applied to the whole Invoice value prior to calculation of taxes. Such charges cover: Packaging Delivery/postage Freight Documentation Each Invoice Line refers to any related Order Line(s) and may also refer to the Despatch Line and/or Receipt Line.
Traditional Billing Traditional billing is where the supplier invoices the customer when the goods are delivered or the services provided. In this case, the invoice may be created at the time of despatch or when the Delivery Party acknowledges that the goods have been received (using a Receipt Advice). When there are discrepancies between the Despatch Advice, Receipt Advice, and/or the Invoice and the goods actually received, or the goods are rejected for quality reasons, the customer may send an Application Response or a Debit Note to the supplier. The supplier may then issue a Credit Note or another Invoice as required. A Credit Note or Debit Note may also be issued in the case of retrospective price change. Credit Notes or Debit Notes may be also issued after the Billing collaboration (as part of the Payment collaboration).
Billing Using Credit Notes Billing using Credit Notes is shown in the following diagram.
Billing with Credit Note Process [Billing with Credit Note Diagram]
When using Credit Notes, the Supplier (in their Accounting role) is responsible for specifying the tax requirements.
Billing Using Debit Notes Billing using Debit Notes is shown in the following diagram.
Billing with Debit Note Process [Billing with Debit Note Diagram]
When using Debit Notes, both the Supplier (in their Accounting role) and the Customer (in their Accounting role) are responsible for providing taxation information.
Self Billing A self billing process is where a Customer “invoices” itself, in the name and on behalf of the Supplier, and provides the Supplier with a copy of the self billed invoice.
Self Billing Using Credit Notes Self Billing using Credit Notes is shown in the following diagram.
Self Billing with Credit Note Process [Self Billing with Credit Note Diagram]
If the Supplier finds that the Self Billed Invoice is incorrect, e.g., wrong quantities or wrong prices, or if the goods have not been invoiced at all, it may send an Application Response or a Credit Note to the Customer. The customer may then verify whether the adjustment is acceptable or not and consequently issue another Self Billed Invoice or a Self Billed Credit Note.
Self Billing Using Self Billed Credit Notes Self Billing using Self Billed Credit Notes is shown in the following diagram.
Self Billing with Self Billed Credit Note Process [Self Billing with Self Billed Credit Note Diagram]
When using Self Billed Credit Notes, the Customer is raising the Self Billed Credit Note in the name and on behalf of the Supplier. Therefore the Supplier and the Customer are still both responsible for providing taxation information.
Reminder for Payment A Reminder may be used to notify the Customer of accounts due to be paid.
Reminder for Payment Process [Reminder for Payment Diagram]
Freight Billing An extension of the Billing process is that of Freight Billing. This represents the billing process between the Transport Service Buyer and Transport Service Provider through the use of an Invoice for freight charges. The Transport Service Provider initiates the process of billing the Transport Service Buyer for logistic services. The Freight Invoice lists the charges incurred in order to fulfil the agreed service.
Freight Billing Process [Freight Billing Diagram]
Utility Billing This process defines the billing process for invoicing between suppliers of utilities (including electricity, gas, water, and telephony services) and private and public customers. The Utility Statement supplements an Invoice with information about consumption of the utility's services.
Utility Billing Process [Utility Billing Diagram]
Payment In the payment process, the Payee (who is most often the Accounting Customer) is notified of any funds transferred, against the account of the Accounting Supplier, using a Remittance Advice. The document type in this process is the Remittance Advice.
Payment Process [Payment Diagram]
Report State of Accounts A Statement of Account may be used to notify the Accounting Customer of the status of the billing.
Statement Process [Statement Diagram]
Collaborative Planning, Forecasting, and Replenishment The VICS Collaborative Planning, Forecasting, and Replenishment (CPFR®) guidelines formalize the processes by which two trading partners agree upon a joint plan to forecast and monitor sales through replenishment and to recognize and respond to any exceptions. In the UBL 2.1 context of use, these CPFR processes between the retailer and the manufacturer have been extended to cover the planning process between other parties such as the manufacturer and the supplier. These binary collaboration definitions are the template guidelines for implementers to build their own collaboration process based on their supply chain topology and requirements.
CPFR [CPFR Diagram]
As shown above, the seller and the buyer employ four main activities in order to improve the overall performance of the supply chain: Strategy and Planning establish the ground rules for the collaborative relationship. Trading partners exchange information about their corporate strategies and business plans in order to collaborate on developing a joint business plan. The Joint Business Plan identifies the significant events that affect supply and demand in the planning period, such as promotions, inventory policy changes, store openings/closings, and product introductions. The Demand and Supply Management phase involves the development of a shared plan on the consumer demand. The consumer demand at the point of sale is categorized as sales forecasting and the future product ordering based on the sales forecast is referred as order forecast. Execution involves order generation, which transitions forecasts to firm demand, and order fulfilment, the process of producing, shipping, delivering, and stocking products for consumer purchase. Note: This phase may be implemented using other UBL processes. The Analysis phase involves monitoring the execution of activities for exceptions that are identified during the strategy and planning phase. Calculation of key performance metrics and plan adjustments for improving results also take place in this phase. While these collaboration activities are presented in logical order, most companies are involved in all of them at any moment in time. There is no predefined sequence of steps. Execution issues can impact strategy, and analysis can lead to adjustments in forecasts.
Collaboration Agreement and Joint Business Planning The Collaboration Arrangement is the preparatory step that defines the scope of the project, assigns roles, establishes procedures for data interchange, and issues identification and resolution. The following actions are performed through meetings and agreements: Receive and review background information from the sales organization or buyers Identify the product categories that should be included in the initial scope Define Collaboration Objectives Define specific metrics that reflect the objectives Determine the Event collaboration cycle Determine the times of the review meetings to discuss the results Document the data sources that are essential for a successful event collaboration process, and Document additional information that can be used in the event analysis.
CPFR Steps 1 and 2 [CPFR Steps 1 & 2 Diagram]
The first step of the CPFR Process continues with the exchange of messages containing purchase conditions. (In this initial OASIS public review build, these are assumed to be generic purchase condition messages. A UBL document type for Purchase Conditions is planned for addition in the second public review cycle.) Afterwards, for determining the exception criteria that should be monitored and handled during the execution, Exception Criteria messages are exchanged. Exchange of Exception Criteria Revision messages continues until the criteria are accepted by both sides.
Establish Collaborative Relationships [Establish Collaborative Relationships Diagram]
In CPFR Step 2 (the Joint Business Planning phase) there are two messages that should be exchanged and agreed upon: Retail Event and Trade Item Location Profile. The revisions are exchanged until an agreement is achieved.
Create Joint Business Plan [Create Joint Business Plan Diagram]
Sales Forecast Generation and Exception Handling CPFR Step 2 helps the buyer and seller agree to the event details and calendar that meet their joint business and collaboration objectives. The objective of the event calendar is to ensure that events are planned to achieve the optimal results and to enable both parties to plan the execution of the event more accurately, from the preparation of advertising and displays to the production and delivery of the promotional stock. In CPFR Step 3, the Sales Forecast is generated. Following Option A, Conventional Order Management, from the CPFR implementation scenarios (see , Table 3), the responsible partner for the generation of Sales Forecast is the Seller. Having Event Calendar information and the Delivery Plan already in their system, there are two more kinds of information that the Seller needs for an effective Sales Forecast: POS Data and DC Data. As shown in Figure 25, both of these pieces of information are sent within a Product Activity Message. This time there is no revision of the messages because these messages contain statistical and historical information collected previously by the Buyer.
CPFR Steps 3, 4, and 5 [CPFR Steps 3, 4, and 5 Diagram]
Based on the event details (dates, products, tactics, etc.) and using the available data source(s), a volume estimate/forecast is created for each product/store combination included in the scope of the event by the Seller. During the calculation, sales forecasting algorithms make use of the coefficients for causal factors based on the event history. Once the Sales Forecast suggestion is generated and sent to the Buyer, the Buyer revises it and might recommend some changes on the Forecast. The Forecast Revision message exchange continues until the forecast is agreed by both sides.
Create Sales Forecast [Create Sales Forecast Diagram]
On average, six weeks elapse between Sales Forecast Generation and Order Generation. During this period, both sides observe changes to the conditions. If one of the partners detects an exception invalidating the exception criteria defined in CPFR Step 1, it sends an Exception Notification message to the other party. Exceptional circumstances that may be communicated between trading partners include deviations between planned impacts (either between buyer and seller, or between subsequent generations of planned impacts from the same trading partner), as well as deviations between planned and actual impacts. It should be noted that both sides might detect an exception, and therefore both sides should be capable of sending and receiving exceptions. Of course, for specific implementations if the collaborating parties want to change this behaviour, they can customize the process so that one partner will be responsible for the generation of the exception notifications. CPFR Step 4 is solely composed of the exception generation and receiving activity. CPFR Step 5, on the other hand, is the resolution of the Exceptions.
Exception Handling [Exception Handling Diagram]
If there is no Exception Notification Message within the defined period, the process continues with Order Forecast Generation (CPFR Step 6).
Order Forecast Generation and Exception Handling In the supply chain process, it is important for sales forecasts that are created to be converted into the shipment (order) forecasts that can then be used in the production planning processes at the manufacturing locations and be incorporated into the ordering processes at the retailer. As shown in Figure 28, the responsibility for creating Order Forecast belongs to the Seller per Option A of the CPFR implementation scenarios (see , Table 3). Sales forecasts can be transformed into order forecasts by incorporating inventory status information, possible retail event plans, and current point of sale data. Therefore, Buyer sends the updated versions of the Retail Event, Inventory Status, and POS Data to the Seller.
CPFR Steps 6, 7, 8 and 9 [CPFR Steps 6, 7, 8 and 9 Diagram]
After the Seller creates the Order Forecast using the obtained data, it sends the forecast to the Buyer. The Buyer checks the order forecast and sends back a revision document which includes update requests if necessary. The exchange of Order Forecast Revisions continues until there are no further update requests and the Order Forecast is agreed by both sides.
Create Order Forecast [Create Order Forecast Diagram]
After the Order Forecast is frozen, the process continues with the exception detection activity (CPFR Step 7). The exception detection process that follows Order Forecast is similar to process described earlier for exeption detection following Sales Forecast (see ). The only difference between the Order Forecast and Sales Forecast exceptions is the content of the exceptions. CPFR Step 8, Order Forecast Exception Resolution activity, is handled similarly to Sales Forecast Exception Resolution.
Identifying and Resolving Exceptions for Order Forecast [Identifying and Resolving Exceptions for Order Forecast Diagram]
Exception Monitor During Execution [Exception Monitor During Execution Diagram]
If there is no exception during a period of time, the process continues with the Order Generation Step. From the technical point of view, the exception monitoring and its resolution are exactly same as in the case of Order Forecast Exception Handling and Sales Forecast Exception Handling. The difference is in the content of the exceptions. The actual events and orders are compared to the Forecasted Sales and Forecasted Orders. When there is a situation violating the normal exception criteria, one of the sides might generate an exception notification. Besides comparison of forecasts, other information gathered during the execution is observed (e.g., event dates, POS data, etc.). The resolution of the exceptions is the same as the process carried out for Sales Forecast Exception resolution. During this exception monitoring time, Buyer also waits for a possible Termination message indicating the end of the collaboration. The Termination message is not mentioned by the CPFR guidelines but is included in UBL to indicate the successful termination of the CPFR collaboration. Since the CPFR Planning Process is supposed to be an iterative process, most of the time there will not be a termination message and the process will continue from CPFR Step 2 with a new cycle of forecast generation and order execution.
Vendor Managed Inventory Vendor Managed Inventory (VMI) is a family of business processes in which the Retailer Customer Party for an item provides certain information to the Seller Supplier Party, and the Seller Supplier Party takes full responsibility for maintaining an agreed-upon inventory of the item, usually at the Retailer Customer Party's point of sale. A third party logistics provider can also be involved to make sure that the Retailer Customer Party has the required level of inventory by adjusting the demand and supply gaps. UBL supports three common models of VMI: Basic VMI Cyclic Replenishment Program (CRP) Replenishment on Customer Demand These processes are described in more detail below. It should be noted that the particular semantics used here come from a large-scale UBL application developed for the Italian textile and clothing industry by ENEA, the Italian National Agency for New Technologies, Energy, and Sustainable Economic Development (see ). These models are applicable to the implementation of vendor-managed relationships in a broad range of retail sectors, but for the sake of simplicity, and in keeping with the model application, the two principal parties in the VMI relationship (the Seller Supplier Party and the Retailer Customer Party) are referred to as "producer" and "retailer" in the descriptions that follow; more generically, they are vendor and customer.
Basic Vendor Managed Inventory In the classic VMI scenario, a shop-within-a-shop area or an entire store is managed completely by the producer. The logistic concept of VMI can be combined with consignment/concession as well as with charge-on-delivery as the financial model. Mostly it is combined with consignment.
Initial Stocking of the Area by Producer At the beginning of the cooperation, the area is stocked by the producer. The retailer receives item and delivery information and reports back the goods actually received.
Initial Stocking of the Area by Producer [Initial Stocking of the Area by Producer Diagram]
Report of Sales and Inventory Movement The sales and inventory movement information is transferred from the retailer to the producer.
Report of Sales and Inventory Movement [Report of Sales and Inventory Movement Diagram]
Permanent Replenishment Based on sales and inventory movement, the producer periodically makes a new delivery of goods accompanied by a Despatch Advice. If the delivery contains an item not previously stocked, an updated catalogue is also sent so that the retailer can add the item to its product database. Upon delivery of the goods, the retailer reports back the items received using a Receipt Advice.
Permanent Replenishment [Permanent Replenishment Diagram]
Invoicing for Vendor Managed Inventory An invoice is sent either on a delivery or a sales basis. In a charge-on-delivery model, the data for the invoice is prepared from the delivery, and in a consignment/concession model from the sales reports.
Invoicing for Vendor Managed Inventory [Invoicing for Vendor Managed Inventory Diagram]
Returns Initiated by the Producer If sales do not meet expectations, items are reallocated by the producer. Because the producer cannot request a retailer to send the products to a competitor, the producer requests a return and handles the goods afterwards by itself.
Returns Initiated by the Producer [Returns Initiated by the Producer Diagram]
Price Adjustments In the event of a price change, an updated price list (in the form of a new catalogue containing the change) is sent from producer to retailer.
Price Adjustments [Price Adjustments Diagram]
Cyclic Replenishment Program (CRP) A variant of VMI is the Cyclic Replenishment Program (CRP). In this process, the producer establishes a catalogue of NOS (Never Out of Stock) or seasonal NOS items, and the retailer chooses items for cyclic (weekly) replenishment. The logistic scenario can be combined with the charge-on-delivery as well as with a consignment/concession model. At the end of every sales period, a report of sales and inventory movement at all retail locations is sent to the producer. CRP differs from the third VMI variant, Replenishment on Customer Demand (below), in that the producer cannot change the terms of the order.
Transfer of Base Item Catalogue The producer publishes the catalogue of its NOS and seasonal NOS items to the retailer.
Transfer of Base Item Catalogue [Transfer of Base Item Catalogue Diagram]
Initial Stocking of the Area by Retailer At the beginning of the cooperative relationship—or the beginning of a season, if seasonal NOS products are the focus—the retailer orders its base stock, and the products are delivered.
Initial Stocking of the Area by Retailer [Initial Stocking of the Area by Retailer Diagram]
Periodic (Weekly) Replenishment Each period (every week), the retailer's system calculates the quantities needed for replenishment of the product area. From the result, an order is sent, and the producer responds with a direct delivery within 48 hours. The replenishment process uses the same documents in the same order as the Initial Stocking process, so the duplicate diagram is omitted here; see . It must be remembered, however, that the two processes are taking place at different points in time, so their pre and post conditions will be different.
Report of Sales and Inventory Movements At the end of each sales day, a report of all sales and inventory movement at all retail locations is sent from the retailer to the producer.
Report of Sales and Inventory Movements [Report of Sales and Inventory Movements Diagram]
Cyclic Replenishment Program Invoicing An invoice is sent either on a delivery or a sales basis.
Invoicing for Cyclic Replenishment Program [Invoicing for Cyclic Replenishment Program Diagram]
Synchronizing of Stock Information Information about the actual stock is synchronised periodically (for example, every one to three months). This is combined at least once a year with a physical inventory. The retailer sends an inventory report containing the information about the quantities currently in stock.
Synchronizing Stock Information [Synchronizing of Stock Information Diagram]
Changes to the Item Catalogue In the event of a change, either inside an item belonging to the CRP catalogue or the relationship of an item to the CRP catalogue, information about the change is sent to the retailer.
Changes to the Item Catalogue [Changes to the Item Catalogue Diagram]
Replenishment On Customer Demand Another variant of VMI is Replenishment On Customer Demand. In this process, the producer selects a subset of its products for a specific retailer and sends out the related article catalogue. Then the producer periodically sends information about the availability of items so that the retailer can form the best ordering plan. The replenishment periodically happens on retailer (customer) demand, and unlike the case with CRP (above), the producer is allowed to propose changes to the orders. Also, because of the requirement to update item availability information, an additional document type (Stock Availability Report) is added to the process. The processes of sales and inventory reporting, invoicing, stock synchronization, and changing the catalogue are identical to the same processes in CRP. As with CRP, a report of sales and inventory movement at all retail locations is sent to the producer at the end of every sales period. Invoicing and logistics are normally charge-on-delivery but can also be based on a consignment/concession model.
Transfer of Base Article Catalogue The producer publishes a catalogue of its products to the retailer. The catalogue can include basic articles, never-out-of-stock (NOS) articles, seasonal articles, short-season-collection articles, or seasonal NOS articles.
Transfer of Base Article Catalogue [Transfer of Base Article Catalogue Diagram]
Periodic Transfer of Article Availability Information The producer sends out information about availability of goods (quantities on hand, quantities incoming, articles out of stock).
Periodic Transfer of Article Availability Information [Transfer of Article Availability Diagram]
Initial Stocking of the Area by Producer and Retailer At the beginning of the business cooperation —or perhaps at the beginning of a season, if seasonal NOS (never out of stock) products are the focus—the retailer orders its base stock and the products are delivered. Note that the producer is allowed to propose changes to the order (compare this figure with ).
Initial Stocking of the Area by Producer and Retailer [Initial Stocking of the Area Diagram]
Periodic Replenishment Periodically, the retailer's system calculates the quantities needed for replenishment of the area. From the result, an order is sent, and the producer responds with a direct delivery within 48 hours. The replenishment process uses the same documents in the same order as the Initial Stocking process, so the duplicate diagram is omitted here; see . It must be remembered, however, that the two processes are taking place at different points in time, so their pre and post conditions will be different.
Report of Sales and Inventory Movement Sales and inventory movement information is transferred daily from the retailer to the producer. The process for sales and inventory reporting is the same as in CRP (see ).
Invoicing for Replenishment On Customer Demand An invoice is sent either on a delivery or a sales basis. The invoice process for Replenishment On Customer Demand is the same as for CRP (see ).
Synchronizing Stock Information Information about the actual stock is synchronised periodically (for example, every one to three months). Synchronization occurs at least once a year together with a physical inventory. The stock synchronization process for Replenishment On Customer Demand is the same as in CRP (see ).
Changes to the Article Catalogue In the event of a change, either inside an item belonging to the catalogue or the relationship of an item to the catalogue, information about the change is sent to the retailer. The process for changing the catalogue in Replenishment On Customer Demand is the same as in CRP (see ).
International Freight Management Freight management for domestic trade is typically accomplished using DespatchAdvice and ReceiptAdvice (see ). The additional processes shown in , are engineered to support the ordering and management of logistical services for international trade. With receipt of an order and acknowledgement by the Supplier Party that the goods are available and ready to be shipped, the Consignor or Consignee initiates the transportation arrangements. This includes booking the consignment with a Transport Service Provider such as the Freight Forwarder or Carrier and advising the Delivery Party of the arrangements as needed. Document types in these processes are Forwarding Instructions, Packing List, Bill of Lading, and Waybill. (Regarding the Transportation Status document type, see ). It should be noted that these processes involve the Consignee and Consignor and do not cover all the logistical processes required to physically move the goods or regulatory notifications such as Customs declarations.
Initiate Freight Management Process [Initiate Freight Management Process Diagram]
Forwarding Instructions Forwarding Instructions are normally used by any party who gives instructions for the transportation services required for a consignment of goods (the Transport Service Buyer) to any party who is contracted to provide the transportation services (called the Transport Service Provider). Forwarding Instructions may also be used by any party who requests a booking of shipment space to be made for the transportation services required for a consignment of goods to any party who will provide the underlying transportation services. The parties who issue this document are commonly referred to as the shipper, consignee, or consignor, while the parties who receive this document are forwarders, carriers, shipping agents, etc. Forwarding Instructions may also be issued by a freight forwarder or shipping agent in their capacity as a Transport Service Buyer. This document may be used to arrange for the transportation: Of different types of goods or cargoes Whether containerized or non-containerized Through different modes of transport, and From any origin to any destination.
Packing List A Packing List is normally issued by the Consignor. It states the distribution of goods in individual packages. Based on this detail, the party who provides the logistic services will make arrangement for the transportation of the goods.
Bill of Lading A Bill of Lading is issued by the party who provides the physical transportation services (e.g., carrier) to the party who gives instructions for the transportation services (shipper, consignor, etc.) stating the details of the transportation, charges, and terms and conditions under which the transportation service is provided. A Bill of Lading may also be issued by the party who acts as an agent for the carrier or other agents to the party who gives instructions for the transportation services (shipper, consignor, etc.) stating the details of the transportation, charges, and terms and conditions under which the transportation service is provided, but who does not provide the physical transportation service. A Bill of Lading corresponds to the information on the Forwarding Instructions. It is used for ocean or river modes of transport. A Bill of Lading may serve as a contractual document between the parties for the transportation service. The document evidences a contract of carriage by sea and the acceptance of responsibility for the goods by the carrier, by which the carrier undertakes to deliver the goods against surrender of the document. A provision in the document that the goods are to be delivered to the order of a named person, or to order, or to bearer, constitutes such an undertaking.
Waybill A Waybill is issued by the party who provides the physical transportation services to the party who gives instructions for the transportation services (shipper, consignor, etc.). It states the details of the transportation, charges, and terms and conditions under which the transportation service is provided. Unlike a Bill of Lading, a Waybill is not negotiable and cannot be assigned to a third party. It is issued as a cargo receipt and is not required to be surrendered at the destination in order to pick up the cargo. This simplifies the documentation procedures between a Transport Service Buyer and a Transport Service Provider.
Intermodal Freight Management Intermodal transport implies the use of a combination of transport modes. Any support for the management of such chains has to support the modal shift of cargo flows from road to intermodal transport using road in combination with short sea shipping, inland waterways, and rail. The Intermodal Freight Management process differs from conventional freight management in that it is generic and independent of transport mode. The focus is the multimodal transport chain as seen from the Transport User's point of view. The Transport User needs information about all the possible transport services that can be used to build a complete transport chain. If the choices to be made by the Transport User are based upon the qualities of the transport services themselves, and not by which transport mode is used, the description of the transport services, and the exchanges of information about the roles and services must be simple and common. The roles of the various Parties are defined as follows: The Transport User is the role representing anyone that needs to have cargo transported. The Transport User also provides the Transport Service Provider with instructions and detailed information about the transport items to be transported. The Transport Service Provider is the role that ensures the transport of the cargo from the origin to the destination. This includes the management of the transport services and the operation of the transport means and handling equipment. A Transport Service Provider may also provide administrative services required for moving the cargo, such as cargo inspection. The Transportation Network Manager is the role that extracts all information available regarding the infrastructure (static or dynamic) related to planning and executing transport and makes this information available to the Transport User and the Transport Service Provider. The Transport Regulator is the role that receives all mandatory reporting (and checks if reporting has been carried out) in order to ensure that all transport services are completed according to existing rules and regulations. It should be noted that a person or organization may take on different roles. For example, a freight forwarder is, on the one hand, a Transport Service Provider when communicating with clients (Transport Users). On the other hand, the freight forwarder is a Transport User when acquiring services from subcontractors to ensure that a transport service is carried out between an origin and a destination. The Intermodal Freight Management process takes place in three stages: Planning: Allows Transport Service Providers to advertise their services to Transport Users in a common format, in terms of a schedule and a freight rate published in a standard format. It allows Transport Users to provide a short list of potential services from which they can make a final choice by negotiating with potential Transport Service Providers. This is the "Plan" generic business process. Execution: Enables Transport Service Providers to manage the physical transport of the goods, exchanging information on the status of the shipment with the Transport Users and the status of the transport infrastructure with Transportation Network Managers; it also allows Transport Users and Transport Service Providers to exchange regulatory information with Transport Regulators (the "Execute" generic business process). Completion: Facilitates the issuing of proof of delivery and invoices between the Transport Service Provider and the Transport User (the "Complete" generic business process).
The Generic Freight Management Process [The Generic Freight Management Process Diagram]
These three stages are detailed in the following diagram.
The Intermodal Freight Management Process [The Intermodal Freight Management Process Diagram]
Transport Service Description The Transport Service Description (TSD) document is used to publish information about a transport service. A transport service can be the physical transport of cargo between an origin and a destination, and it can also refer to other transport related services such as terminal services, warehousing services, handling services, or document handling services.
Transport Service Description [Transport Service Description Diagram]
Transport Execution Plan The Transport Execution Plan (TEP) is a plan established between a Transport User and a Transport Service Provider. The process of establishing a TEP can be carried out after many interactions between the two roles, from the quotation stage up to the final agreement of the TEP. The following diagram shows the transactions involved in a basic scenario where the TEP is used to book and confirm a transport service and to send notification of a completed transport service. The GII (see ) is sent from the Transport Service Provider to the Transport User after the TEP is confirmed by both parties. This document contains route and schedule information for all segments involved in a transport service (including segments where parts of the transport service have been outsourced to other Transport Service Providers). If there are changes to the execution of the transport service, the GII is updated and re-sent to the Transport User.
Transport Execution Plan [TEP Diagram]
Goods Item Itinerary The Goods item Itinerary (GII) specifies the route and time schedule for a transport item and is issued from the Transport Service Provider to the Transport User. It may contain one or more transport segments with different TEPs with different Transport Service Providers. One transport service (one TEP) may be responsible for more than one segment (leg). In addition to providing an overview of the initial route and time schedule, the GII is used to record the actual progress in the form of new estimated times for departure and/or arrival and the actual departure and arrival times. The GII therefore contains information that may be used for analyzing the performance (in time) of transport services and for tracing the progress of cargo, if such analysis is required.
Goods Item Itinerary [GII Diagram]
Transport Execution Status The Transport Execution Status (TES) provides the status of the execution of a Transport Execution Plan (TEP). The TES must always refer to the TEP identifier and will return both the progress status of the transport execution and the condition status of the goods items being transported. The TES may be sent from the Transport Service Provider as a response to a request, or it may be sent as a push operation based on trigger events.
Transport Execution Status Process [Transport Execution Status Process Diagram]
Transport Progress Status The Transport Progress Status (TPS) collects and reports information about the status of the transport means. The Transport Service Provider requests the Transportation Network Manager to provide status information related to a specific transport vehicle, using the vehicle identification number. The Transportation Network Manager then provides information about the location and time schedule status to the Transport Service Provider. The most typical use of TPS is to ask assistance from the Transportation Network Manager when estimated times of arrival are established. Reporting on the status of the goods themselves is covered by the Transport Execution Status process () and Freight Status Reporting process ().
Transport Progress Status Process [TPS Diagram]
Freight Status Reporting Freight Status Reporting is the process by which a Freight Forwarder (also known as the Transport Service Provider) communicates the status of shipments currently under their management to the Consignee and/or Consignor (also known as the Transport Users). A Transportation Status document is provided by the Freight Forwarder, either through an individual specific request or through an agreed status reporting procedure.
Freight Status Reporting Process [Freight Status Reporting Diagram]
Certification of Origin of Goods When an Exporter ships certain goods they may be required to attest to the origin of the goods. A Certificate of Origin is a document required by governments declaring that goods in a particular international shipment are of a certain origin. It is the responsibility of the Exporter to sign the Certificate of Origin document and submit it to a local chamber of commerce or designated government agency or board. These parties are the endorser and issuer of the Certificate of Origin. The Endorser must have access to other documents, such as the commercial invoice and Bill of Lading, in order to verify the Exporter's claims that the goods originated in that country. Finally, the issued Certificate of Origin is sent to the Importer.
Certification of Origin of Goods Process [Certification of Origin of Goods Diagram]
Document Types UBL 2.1 defines various document types to support the business processes detailed in the preceding sections. The following table lists all the UBL 2.1 document types together with their target business processes and roles for parties who would typically submit and receive them. Summary of UBL 2.1 Document Types Document Name Description Processes Involved Submitter Role Receiver Role Application Response A document to indicate the application s response to a transaction. This may be a business response and/or a technical response, sent automatically by an application or initiated by a user. Any Sender Receiver Attached Document A UBL  wrapper  that allows a document of any kind to be packaged with the UBL document that references it. Any Sender Receiver Awarded Notification The document used to communicate the contract award to the winner Tendering Bill Of Lading The Bill of Lading is issued by the party who acts as an agent for the carrier or other agents to the party who gives instructions for the transportation services (shipper, consignor, etc.) stating the details of the transportation, charges, and terms and conditions under which the transportation service is provided. The party issuing this document does not necessarily provide the physical transportation service. It corresponds to the information on the Forwarding Instruction. It is used for any mode of transport. A Bill of Lading can serve as a contractual document between the parties for the transportation service.  The document evidences a contract of carriage by sea and the acceptance of responsibility for the goods by the carrier, and by which the carrier undertakes to deliver the goods against surrender of the document.  A provision in the document that the goods are to be delivered to the order of a named person, or to order, or to bearer, constitutes such an undertaking. Freight Management Freight Forwarder, Carrier Consignor (or Consignee), Freight Forwarder Call For Tenders The document used for a Contracting Party to define the procurement project to buy goods, services or works during an specified period. Tendering Contracting Authority Tenderer Catalogue The document that describes items, prices, and price validity. Catalogue Seller Contracting Party Catalogue Deletion The document used to cancel an entire Catalogue. Catalogue Seller Contracting Party Catalogue Item Specification Update The document used to update information about Items (e.g., technical descriptions and properties) on an existing Catalogue. Catalogue Seller Contracting Party Catalogue Pricing Update The document used to update information about prices on an existing Catalogue. Catalogue Seller Contracting Party Catalogue Request The document used to request a Catalogue. Catalogue Contracting Party Seller Certificate Of Origin A document that describes the Certificate of Origin. Certification of Origin of Goods Exporter, Issuer Issuer, Importer Contract Award Notice The document published by a Contracting Party to announce the awarding of a procurement project. Tendering Contracting Authority Tenderer Contract Notice The document used for a Contracting Party to announce the project to buy goods, services or works. Tendering Contracting Authority Tenderer Credit Note The document used to specify credits due to the Debtor from the Creditor. Billing Supplier Accounting Party Customer Accounting Party Debit Note The document used to specify debits made by the Debtor. Billing Customer Accounting Party Supplier Accounting Party Despatch Advice The document used to describe the despatch or delivery of goods and services. Fulfilment Despatch Delivery Document Status A document used to provide information about document status. Any collaboration Party currently controlling Status of the collaboration Party requesting Status on collaboration Document Status Request A document used to request the status of another document. Any collaboration Party requesting Status on collaboration Party currently controlling Status of the collaboration Exception Criteria Used to specify basic information about the content of the message including version number, creation date and time. Collaborative Planning, Forecasting and Replenishment Exception Notification The document used to  notify an exception Collaborative Planning, Forecasting and Replenishment Forecast The document used to specify a forecast. Collaborative Planning, Forecasting and Replenishment Forecast Revision The document used to revise a Forecast. Collaborative Planning, Forecasting and Replenishment Forwarding Instructions The document issued to a forwarder, giving instructions regarding the action to be taken for the forwarding of goods described therein.  Forwarding Instructions is used by any party who gives instructions for the transportation services required for a consignment of goods to any party who is contracted to provide the transportation services. The parties who issue this document are commonly referred to as the shipper or consignor, while the parties who receive this document are forwarders, carriers, shipping agents, etc. Note that this document may also be issued by a forwarder or shipping agent in their capacity as a  shipper . This document can be used to arrange for the transportation (1) of different types of goods or cargoes; (2) whether containerized or non-containerized; (3) through different modes of transport including multi-modal; and (4) from any origin to any destination. Freight Management Consignor (or Consignee), Freight Forwarder Freight Forwarder, Carrier Freight Invoice A document stating the charges incurred for the logistics service. Freight Billing Freight Forwarder Consignor or Consignee Goods Item Itinerary A document specifying the route and the time schedule for a transport of a Goods Item for all segments in a transport service. Intermodal Freight Management Transport Service Provider Transport User Guarantee Certificate A document to notify the deposit of a guarantee. Tendering Tenderer Contracting Authority Instruction For Returns This document is used to initiate a return of goods. The producer is requesting products which are badly sold either for use in other places or just to free the area from it. Cyclic Replenishment Program Inventory Report Report about the quantities of each item which are or will be on stock. Cyclic Replenishment Program Invoice The document used to request payment. Billing Supplier Accounting Party Customer Accounting Party Item Information Request The document used to request product activity, forecast, or performance data. Collaborative Planning, Forecasting and Replenishment Order The document used to order goods and services. Ordering Buyer Seller Order Cancellation The document used to cancel an entire Order. Ordering, Fulfilment Buyer Seller Order Change The document used to specify changes to an existing Order. Ordering, Fulfilment Buyer Seller Order Response The document used to indicate detailed acceptance or rejection of an Order or to make a counter-offer. Ordering Seller Buyer Order Response Simple The document used to indicate simple acceptance or rejection of an entire Order. Ordering Seller Buyer Packing List A document stating the detail of how goods are packed. Freight Management Consignor Freight Forwarder Performance History Performance History represents a collection of values gathered for key performance metrics in the trading partner relationship. Cyclic Replenishment Program Prior Information Notice The document used for a Contracting Party to declare the intention to buy goods, services or works during an specified period. Tendering Product Activity Product activity represents movement of a product through a location in terms of the base unit of measure for the item. Cyclic Replenishment Program Quotation The document used to quote for the provision of goods and services. Quotation Seller Originator Receipt Advice The document used to describe the receipt of goods and services. Fulfilment Delivery Despatch Reminder The document used to remind the customer of payments overdue. Billing Supplier Accounting Party and/or Payee Customer Accounting Party and/or Payee Remittance Advice The document used to specify details of an actual payment. Payment Supplier Accounting Party and/or Payee Customer Accounting Party and/or Payee Request For Quotation The document used to request a Quotation for goods and services from a Seller. Quotation Originator Seller Retail Event The document used to specify basic information about the content of the Retail Event Meassage message including version number, creation date and time. Cyclic Replenishment Program Self Billed Credit Note The Credit Note created by the Debtor in a Self Billing arrangement with a Creditor; Self Billed Credit Note replaces Debit Note in such arrangements. Billing Customer Accounting Party Supplier Accounting Party Self Billed Invoice The Invoice document created by the Customer (rather than the Supplier) in a Self Billing relationship. Billing Customer Accounting Party Supplier Accounting Party Statement The document used to specify the status of Orders, Billing, and Payment. This document is a Statement of Account and not intended as a summary Invoice Billing Supplier Accounting Party Customer Accounting Party Stock Availability Report Report about the quantities of each item which are or will be on stock. Cyclic Replenishment Program Tender A message which a tenderer offers a tender to the tendering organization for bid. Tendering Tenderer Contracting Authority Tenderer Qualification A document used for the Tenderer to declare things about his own condition. Tendering Tenderer Contracting Authority Tenderer Qualification Response A message which the procurement organization sends to an economic operator in order to notify its admision or exclusion to/from the tendering process Tendering Contracting Authority Tenderer Tender Receipt A message sent by the Contracting Party to an Economic Operator in order to notify the reception of the tendering offer Tendering Contracting Authority Tenderer Trade Item Location Profile This document is used to send trade item attributes which are focused on replenishment policies. Collaborative Planning, Forecasting and Replenishment Transportation Status A message to report the transport status and/or change in the transport status (i.e. event) between agreed parties. Freight Status Reporting Freight Forwarder Consignee, Consignor Transport Execution Plan A document which is used in the negotiation of a transport service between a transport user and a transport service provider Intermodal Freight Management Transport User, Transport Service Provider Transport Service Provider, Transport User Transport Execution Status The Transport Execution Status is used to provide the transport user with timing and condition status information about the transport operation Intermodal Freight Management Transport Service Provider Transport User Transport Progress Status A document being sent from Transportation Network Manager to Transport Service Provider giving a status on the transport means Intermodal Freight Management Transportation Network Manager Transport Service Provider Transport Service Description A document being sent from the Transport Service Provider to the Transport User in order to announce a transport service Intermodal Freight Management Transport Service Provider Transport User Unawarded Notification The document used to communicate the contract has been awarded to another tenderer Tendering Contracting Authority Tenderer Utility Statement The Utility Statement contains information on the consumption of services provided by utility suppliers to private and public customers.  These utilities include electricity, gas, water and telephony services. The Utility Statement is therefore a supplement to an Invoice or CreditNote. Utility Billing Supplier Accounting Party Customer Accounting Party Waybill The Waybill is issued by the party who acts as an agent for the carrier or other agents, to the party who gives instructions for the transportation services (shipper, consignor, etc.) stating the details of the transportation, charges, and terms and conditions under which the transportation service is provided. The party issuing this document could be a party other than that providing the physical transportation. It corresponds to the information on the Forwarding Instruction. It is used for all modes of transport. It can serve as a contractual document between the parties for the transportation service. The document made out by the carrier or on behalf of the carrier evidencing the contract for the transport of cargo. Freight Management Freight Forwarder, Carrier Consignor (or Consignee), Freight Forwarder
Party Roles In the UBL supply chain processes, two main actors, Customer and Supplier, represent the key organizations or people involved in the processes. Each of these actors may play various roles. Some processes may also involve supplementary roles that may be provided by different parties. The actual role undertaken is dependent on the context of use. For example, the Despatch Party and Delivery Party as applied to the Procurement process may differ in the Transportation process. In other words, whether the Consignor in a Transportation process is actually equal to the Despatch Party or Seller in the Procurement process depends on the specific circumstances. The following table contains a description of the typical roles for the actor known as Party. Note that some roles require an extension of the information entities required. In UBL 2.1, the following are roles that extend the Party structure: Customer Party, Supplier Party, Contracting Party, Endorser Party, and Qualifying Party. Party Roles Actor Role Description Example Synonyms Sends Receives Customer Party Originator The party that had the original demand for the goods and/or services and therefore initiated the procurement transaction. The Originator participates in pre-ordering activity either through RFQ and Quotation or by receiving a Quotation as a response to a punchout transaction on a marketplace or Seller's website. If the Originator subsequently places an Order, the Originator adopts the role of Buyer. The Originator is typically the contact point for queries regarding the original requirement and may be referred to in an Order Change, Order Cancellation, or Order Response. If an employee requests a computer, the employing company may become the Buyer, but the employee is the Originator. They need to receive information about the order. Request for Quotation Quotation Customer Party Buyer The party that purchases the goods or services on behalf of the Originator. The Buyer may be referred to in Order Response, Despatch Advice, Invoice, Self Billed Invoice, Credit Note, and Account Statement. A company may delegate the task of purchasing to a specialized group to consolidate orders and gain greater discounts. Order Point Order, Order Change, and Order Cancellation Order Response Customer Party Delivery The party to whom goods should be delivered. The Delivery Party may be the same as the Originator. The Delivery Party must be referred to at line item level in RFQ, Quotation, Order, Order change, Order Cancellation, and Order Response. The Delivery Party may be referred to at line level in Invoice, Self Billed Invoice, Credit Note, and Debit Note. The Delivery Party may be stipulated in a transport contract. If a municipality buys a wheelchair for a citizen, the wheelchair must be delivered to the citizen (the Delivery Party). In such cases the citizen may be notified before delivering the wheelchair. Delivery Point, Destination Party, Receiver, Recipient Receipt Advice Despatch Advice Customer Party Accounting Customer The party responsible for making settlement relating to a purchase and resolving billing issues using a Debit Note. The Accounting Customer must be referred to in an Order and may be referred to in an Order Response. In a Self Billing scenario, the Accounting Customer is responsible for calculating and issuing tax invoices. If a kindergarten buys some toys they may be the Originator, Buyer, and Delivery Party, but the municipality may play the role of Accounting Customer—they are going to pay for it. Invoicee, Accounts Payable, Debtor In a traditional Billing scenario: Debit Note, Account Response, and Remittance Advice In a Self Billing scenario: Self Billed Invoice, Self Billed Credit Note, and Remittance Advice In a traditional Billing scenario: Invoice, Credit Note, and Statement of Account In a Self Billing scenario: Credit Note, Account Response, and Statement of Account Supplier Party Seller The party responsible for handling Originator and Buyer services. The Seller party is legally responsible for providing the goods to the Buyer. The Seller party receives and quotes against RFQs and may provide information to the Buyer's requisitioning process through Catalogues and Quotations. The organization that sells wheelchairs to municipalities. Sales Point, Provider, Customer Manager Quotation, Order Response, Order Response Simple, Catalogue, Catalogue Deletion, Catalogue Item Specification Update, Catalogue Pricing Update RFQ, Order, Order Change, Order Cancellation, Request for Catalogue Supplier Party Despatch The party where goods are to be collected from. The Despatch Party may be stipulated in a transport contract. The wheelchair Supplier may store chairs at a local warehouse. The warehouse will actually despatch the chair to the Delivery Party. The local warehouse is then the Despatch Party. Despatch Point, Shipper, Sender Despatch Advice Receipt Advice Supplier Party Accounting Supplier The party who claims the payment and is responsible for resolving billing issues and arranging settlement. There are cases where the Accounting Supplier is not the Seller party. For example, factoring, where the invoicing is outsourced to another company. Accounts Receivable, Invoice Issuer, Creditor In a traditional Billing scenario: Invoice, Credit Note, and Statement of Account In a Self Billing scenario: Credit Note, Account Response and Statement of Account In a traditional Billing scenario: Debit Note, Account Response, and Remittance Advice In a Self Billing scenario: Self Billed Invoice, Self Billing Credit Note, and Remittance Advice Supplier Party Payee The party to whom the Invoice is paid. The Accounting Supplier may not be the party to be paid due to changes in the organization, e.g., a company merger. Accounts Receivable, Creditor Remittance Advice Customer Party Contractor The party responsible for the contract to which the Catalogue relates. An organization has a central office for maintaining catalogues of approved items for purchase. Central Catalogue Party, Purchasing Manager Request for Catalogue Catalogue, Catalogue Deletion, Catalogue Item Specification Update, Catalogue Pricing Update Party Provider The party responsible for the integrity of the information provided about an item. The manufacturer may publish and maintain the data sheets about a product. Catalogue, Catalogue Deletion, Catalogue Item Specification Update, Catalogue Pricing Update Party Receiver The party receiving a document. The party receiving a Catalogue. Catalogue items may never be ordered, so the recipient of the catalogue is not an Originator or a Buyer. A marketplace may receive an Application Response. Catalogue, Catalogue Deletion, Catalogue Item Specification Update, Catalogue Pricing Update, Application Response Party Sender The party sending a document. A marketplace may send an Application Response. Application Response Party Consignor The party consigning the goods as stipulated in the transport contract. A Buyer, Delivery, Seller, or Despatcher Party may also play the role of Consignor. Also known as the Transport User. The Consignor may be stipulated in a transport contract. The wheelchair Supplier may source from a local warehouse. The Freight Forwarder will collect the chair from the local warehouse, which is thus the Consignor. In this case, the warehouse also plays the role of Despatch Party to the Freight Forwarder. Despatch Point, Shipper, Sender, Transport User Forwarding Instructions, Packing List Bill of Lading, Waybill, Freight Invoice, Transportation Status Party Consignee The party receiving a consignment of goods as stipulated in the transport contract. The party taking responsibility for the receipt of the consignment covering the wheelchair. Delivery Point, Transport Service Buyer Forwarding Instructions, Freight Invoice Bill of Lading, Waybill, Freight Invoice, Transportation Status Party Freight Forwarder The party arranging the carriage of goods, including connected services and/or associated formalities, on behalf of a Consignor or Consignee. Also known as the Transport Service Provider. The Freight Forwarder may also be the Carrier. The Freight Forwarder may create an invoice and bill to the Transport Service Buyer for the transportation service provided. The Consignor may have a contract with this Freight Forwarder, which is a Transport Services Provider, to arrange all their transport needs. Shipping Agent, Broker, Courier, Transport Service Provider Forwarding Instructions, Freight Invoice, Transportation Status Bill of Lading, Waybill, Packing List Party Carrier The party providing physical transport services. The Freight Forwarder may engage an airline company to deliver the wheelchair. The airline is then the Carrier and delivers the chair to the Delivery Party. Freight Haulier, Shipper, Ships Agent, Shipping Company, Airline, Rail Operator, Road Haulier Bill of Lading, Waybill Forwarding Instructions Party Exporter The party who makes regulatory export declarations, or on whose behalf regulatory export declarations are made, and who is the owner of the goods or has similar right of disposal over them at the time when the declaration is accepted. The wheelchair Supplier has to apply for a Certificate of Origin in order to sell the chairs overseas. Seller, Consignor Certificate of Origin Application Response Party Endorser The party appointed by the Government of a country who has the right to certify a Certificate of Origin. This endorsement restricts goods imported from certain countries for political or other reasons. The Government agency validates all the information provided by Exporter for Certificate of Origin approval. Authorized Organization, Embassy Certificate of Origin, Application Response Certificate of Origin Party Importer The party who makes, or on whose behalf an agent or other authorized person makes, an import declaration. This may include a person who has possession of the goods or to whom the goods are consigned. A specialized group in a company consolidates the purchase request and handles the receiving of goods. Order Point, Delivery Party, Buyer, Customer, Consignee Certificate of Origin
UBL 2.1 Schemas The UBL 2.1 XSD schemas are the only normative representations of the UBL 2.1 document types and library components. All of the UBL 2.1 XSD schemas are contained in the xsd subdirectory of the UBL 2.1 release package (see for more information regarding the structure of the 2.1 release package and for information regarding dependencies among the schema modules). The xsd directory is further subdivided into xsd/maindoc and xsd/common subdirectories. For convenience in implementing the schemas, a parallel (and technically non-normative) “runtime” set with the annotation elements stripped out is provided in the xsdrt directory.
UBL Document Schemas XSD schemas defining the UBL 2.1 document types are located in the xsd/maindoc directory, as listed below.
ApplicationResponse xsd/maindoc/UBL-ApplicationResponse-2.1.xsd AttachedDocument xsd/maindoc/UBL-AttachedDocument-2.1.xsd AwardedNotification xsd/maindoc/UBL-AwardedNotification-2.1.xsd BillOfLading xsd/maindoc/UBL-BillOfLading-2.1.xsd CallForTenders xsd/maindoc/UBL-CallForTenders-2.1.xsd Catalogue xsd/maindoc/UBL-Catalogue-2.1.xsd CatalogueDeletion xsd/maindoc/UBL-CatalogueDeletion-2.1.xsd CatalogueItemSpecificationUpdate xsd/maindoc/UBL-CatalogueItemSpecificationUpdate-2.1.xsd CataloguePricingUpdate xsd/maindoc/UBL-CataloguePricingUpdate-2.1.xsd CatalogueRequest xsd/maindoc/UBL-CatalogueRequest-2.1.xsd CertificateOfOrigin xsd/maindoc/UBL-CertificateOfOrigin-2.1.xsd ContractAwardNotice xsd/maindoc/UBL-ContractAwardNotice-2.1.xsd ContractNotice xsd/maindoc/UBL-ContractNotice-2.1.xsd CreditNote xsd/maindoc/UBL-CreditNote-2.1.xsd DebitNote xsd/maindoc/UBL-DebitNote-2.1.xsd DespatchAdvice xsd/maindoc/UBL-DespatchAdvice-2.1.xsd DocumentStatus xsd/maindoc/UBL-DocumentStatus-2.1.xsd DocumentStatusRequest xsd/maindoc/UBL-DocumentStatusRequest-2.1.xsd ExceptionCriteria xsd/maindoc/UBL-ExceptionCriteria-2.1.xsd ExceptionNotification xsd/maindoc/UBL-ExceptionNotification-2.1.xsd Forecast xsd/maindoc/UBL-Forecast-2.1.xsd ForecastRevision xsd/maindoc/UBL-ForecastRevision-2.1.xsd ForwardingInstructions xsd/maindoc/UBL-ForwardingInstructions-2.1.xsd FreightInvoice xsd/maindoc/UBL-FreightInvoice-2.1.xsd GoodsItemItinerary xsd/maindoc/UBL-GoodsItemItinerary-2.1.xsd GuaranteeCertificate xsd/maindoc/UBL-GuaranteeCertificate-2.1.xsd InstructionForReturns xsd/maindoc/UBL-InstructionForReturns-2.1.xsd InventoryReport xsd/maindoc/UBL-InventoryReport-2.1.xsd Invoice xsd/maindoc/UBL-Invoice-2.1.xsd ItemInformationRequest xsd/maindoc/UBL-ItemInformationRequest-2.1.xsd Order xsd/maindoc/UBL-Order-2.1.xsd OrderCancellation xsd/maindoc/UBL-OrderCancellation-2.1.xsd OrderChange xsd/maindoc/UBL-OrderChange-2.1.xsd OrderResponse xsd/maindoc/UBL-OrderResponse-2.1.xsd OrderResponseSimple xsd/maindoc/UBL-OrderResponseSimple-2.1.xsd PackingList xsd/maindoc/UBL-PackingList-2.1.xsd PerformanceHistory xsd/maindoc/UBL-PerformanceHistory-2.1.xsd PriorInformationNotice xsd/maindoc/UBL-PriorInformationNotice-2.1.xsd ProductActivity xsd/maindoc/UBL-ProductActivity-2.1.xsd Quotation xsd/maindoc/UBL-Quotation-2.1.xsd ReceiptAdvice xsd/maindoc/UBL-ReceiptAdvice-2.1.xsd Reminder xsd/maindoc/UBL-Reminder-2.1.xsd RemittanceAdvice xsd/maindoc/UBL-RemittanceAdvice-2.1.xsd RequestForQuotation xsd/maindoc/UBL-RequestForQuotation-2.1.xsd RetailEvent xsd/maindoc/UBL-RetailEvent-2.1.xsd SelfBilledCreditNote xsd/maindoc/UBL-SelfBilledCreditNote-2.1.xsd SelfBilledInvoice xsd/maindoc/UBL-SelfBilledInvoice-2.1.xsd Statement xsd/maindoc/UBL-Statement-2.1.xsd StockAvailabilityReport xsd/maindoc/UBL-StockAvailabilityReport-2.1.xsd Tender xsd/maindoc/UBL-Tender-2.1.xsd TenderReceipt xsd/maindoc/UBL-TenderReceipt-2.1.xsd TendererQualification xsd/maindoc/UBL-TendererQualification-2.1.xsd TendererQualificationResponse xsd/maindoc/UBL-TendererQualificationResponse-2.1.xsd TradeItemLocationProfile xsd/maindoc/UBL-TradeItemLocationProfile-2.1.xsd TransportExecutionPlan xsd/maindoc/UBL-TransportExecutionPlan-2.1.xsd TransportExecutionStatus xsd/maindoc/UBL-TransportExecutionStatus-2.1.xsd TransportProgressStatus xsd/maindoc/UBL-TransportProgressStatus-2.1.xsd TransportServiceDescription xsd/maindoc/UBL-TransportServiceDescription-2.1.xsd TransportationStatus xsd/maindoc/UBL-TransportationStatus-2.1.xsd UnawardedNotification xsd/maindoc/UBL-UnawardedNotification-2.1.xsd UtilityStatement xsd/maindoc/UBL-UtilityStatement-2.1.xsd Waybill xsd/maindoc/UBL-Waybill-2.1.xsd
UBL Common Schemas The xsd/common directory contains schemas referenced by the document schemas in xsd/maindoc. Elements defined in the common schemas constitute a library of reusable business data components from which the UBL document schemas are assembled. The name of each schema file together with a brief description of its contents is given below.
Reusable BIE Schemas
CommonBasicComponents xsd/common/UBL-CommonBasicComponents-2.1.xsd The CommonBasicComponents schema defines the global Basic Business Information Entities (BBIEs) that are used throughout UBL, serving, in effect, as a “global BBIE type database” for constructing documents. BBIEs are the “leaf nodes” of UBL documents, corresponding to individual data fields in traditional printed business forms. CommonAggregateComponents xsd/common/UBL-CommonAggregateComponents-2.1.xsd The CommonAggregateComponents schema defines the Aggregate Business Information Entities (ABIEs) that are used throughout UBL, serving, in effect, as an “ABIE type database” for constructing the main documents.
Reusable Data Type Schemas
CCTS_CCT_SchemaModule xsd/common/CCTS_CCT_SchemaModule-2.1.xsd This schema provides Core Component Types as defined by . These types are used to construct higher-level data types in a standardized and consistent manner. This schema is defined by UN/CEFACT and should not be modified. It is imported by the UBL Unqualified Data Type Schema, and its types are the basis upon which UBL's unqualified data types are defined. UnqualifiedDataTypes xsd/common/UBL-UnqualifiedDataTypes-2.1.xsd This schema defines Unqualified Data Types for BBIE definition. These types are derived from the Core Component Types in CCTS_CCT_SchemaModule. Where an unqualified type is not based solely on an XSD data type, all CCTS supplementary components are made available in the UBL UDT from the CCTS CCT. QualifiedDataTypes xsd/common/UBL-QualifiedDataTypes-2.1.xsd permits the definition of Qualified Datatypes as derivations from CCTS-specified Unqualified Datatypes. In UBL 2.1, all data type qualifications are expressed in the file cva/UBL-DefaultDTQ-2.1.cva. The UBL-QualifiedDataTypes-2.1.xsd file in the UBL 2.1 release is included among the schema modules imported by the Common Library and all document-level schema fragments in order to be consistent with the relationship of types in a CCTS framework, though the schema module itself has no declarations. See for information regarding UBL 2.1 data type derivation.
Documentation Metadata Schema
CoreComponentParameters xsd/common/UBL-CoreComponentParameters-2.1.xsd The CoreComponentParameters schema defines the structure of the annotation/documentation sections that appear in all the other schemas, providing a consistent format for metadata such as object class, representation terms, semantic descriptions, and other supplementary information. While not required by UBL schemas, this module is provided to encourage consistency in the documentation of customized extensions.
Extension Content Schemas UBL extensions enable the validation of user-defined additions to the standard schemas, which are sometimes needed to satisfy legal requirements and can perform other useful functions as well. UBL 2.1 schemas are supplied with a predefined standard extension that supports advanced digital signatures; see and . For further information regarding the UBL extension mechanism, see .
CommonExtensionComponents xsd/common/UBL-CommonExtensionComponents-2.1.xsd The CommonExtensionComponents schema defines the extension structures that are used in all UBL document types, providing metadata regarding the use of an extension embedded in a UBL document instance. ExtensionContentDatatype xsd/common/UBL-ExtensionContentDataType-2.1.xsd The ExtensionContentDataType schema specifies the actual structural constraints of the extension element containing the foreign non-UBL content. This is delivered as both a functional component and illustration of the definition of an extension schema by importing the UBL Signature Extension module and namespace. To support the constraints additional extension structures, this content module is augmented with other schema import directives. No changes are required to the complex type declaration. Note that the constraints of only the imported constructs are being declared, not the constraints of unknown constructs. Constructs for which there is no declaration are not constrained by validation.
Signature Extension Schemas See for further information regarding the UBL extension supporting digital signatures such as XAdES.
CommonSignatureComponents xsd/common/UBL-CommonSignatureComponents-2.1.xsd The CommonSignatureComponents schema defines the scaffolding structures containing the IETF/W3C Digital Signature information XML elements related to either the entire document or particular signature business objects found within the document. XAdESv132 xsd/common/UBL-XAdESv132-2.1.xsd This is a copy of the XAdES v1.3.2 schema file, modified only to change the importing URI for the XML digital signature core schema file. The presence of this schema file does not oblige the use of XAdES. It is provided only as a convenience for those users who choose to include an XAdES extension inside of a digital signature. XAdESv141 xsd/common/UBL-XAdESv141-2.1.xsd This is a copy of the XAdES v1.4.1 schema file, modified only to change the importing URI for the XAdES v1.3.2 schema file. The presence of this schema file does not oblige the use of XAdES. It is provided only as a convenience for those users who choose to include an XAdES extension inside of a digital signature. xmldsig-core-schema xsd/common/UBL-xmldsig-core-schema-2.1.xsd This is a copy of the IETF/W3C Digital Signature core schema file, modified only to remove the unnecessary PUBLIC and SYSTEM identifiers from the DOCTYPE.
Signature Components
SignatureBasicComponents xsd/common/UBL-SignatureBasicComponents-2.1.xsd The SignatureBasicComponents schema defines those Basic Business Information Entities (BBIEs) that are used for signature constructs not defined in the common library. BBIEs are the “leaf nodes” of UBL documents, expressing simple string values. SignatureAggregateComponents xsd/common/UBL-SignatureAggregateComponents-2.1.xsd The SignatureAggregateComponents schema defines those Aggregate Business Information Entities (ABIEs) that are used for signature constructs not defined in the common library. ABIEs are the “branch nodes” of UBL documents, expressing component values composed of leaf nodes and other branch nodes.
Schema Dependencies The following diagram shows the dependencies among the schema modules making up a UBL 2.1 document schema.
UBL Schema Dependencies [schema dependency diagram]
The UBL schemas are delivered supporting the UBL standardized extension for digital signatures, defining the content of the extension to be a single element either in or out of the UBL signature extension namespace. As shown on the bottom right in this diagram, a set of UBL schemas supporting a different user-customized extension is created by replacing the delivered ExtensionContentDataType schema fragment with one also importing the required custom schema fragments that define the custom content. For more regarding the signature extension, see . The relationship of the UBL schemas to the UBL data model is illustrated in .
Additional Document Constraints In addition to the UBL 2.1 document constraints formally expressed by the schemas in , UBL mandates several other rules governing conformant UBL 2.1 instances that cannot be expressed using W3C Schema. These additional UBL document rules, addressing instance validation, character encoding, and empty elements, are specified below. These rules first appeared in the OASIS UBL 1.0 and UBL 1.0 NDR Standards. They are listed here because logically they belong with the great majority of UBL instance constraints specified in the schemas. To aid in coordinating references between these various publications, the rules below retain their original “IND” labels. The former IND4 was removed in the revision process leading to UBL 2.0.
Validation The UBL library and document schemas are targeted at supporting business information exchanges. Business information exchanges require a high degree of precision to ensure that application processing and corresponding business cycle actions are reflective of the purpose, intent, and information content agreed to by both trading partners. Schemas provide the necessary mechanism for ensuring that instance documents do in fact support these requirements.
[IND1] All UBL instance documents MUST validate to a corresponding schema.
Character Encoding XML supports a wide variety of character encodings. Processors must understand which character encoding is employed in each XML document. XML 1.0 supports a default value of UTF-8 for character encoding, but best practice is to always identify the character encoding being employed.
[IND2] All UBL instance documents MUST identify their character encoding within the XML declaration.
Example:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
UBL, as an OASIS TC, is obligated to conform to agreements OASIS has entered into. OASIS is a liaison member of the ISO IEC ITU UN/CEFACT eBusiness Memorandum of Understanding Management Group (MOUMG). Resolution 01/08 (MOU/MG01n83) requires the use of UTF-8.
[IND3] In conformance with ISO IEC ITU UN/CEFACT eBusiness Memorandum of Understanding Management Group (MOUMG) Resolution 01/08 (MOU/MG01n83) as agreed to by OASIS, all UBL XML SHOULD be expressed using UTF-8.
Example:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
Empty Elements Use of empty elements within XML instance documents is a source of controversy for a variety of reasons. An empty element does not simply represent data that is missing. It may express data that is not applicable for some reason, trigger the expression of an attribute, denote all possible values instead of just one, mark the end of a series of data, or appear as a result of an error in XML file generation. Conversely, missing data elements can also have meaning—data not provided by a trading partner. In information exchange environments, different trading partners may allow, require, or ban empty elements. UBL has determined that empty elements do not provide the level of assurance necessary for business information exchanges and therefore will not be used.
[IND5] UBL conformant instance documents MUST NOT contain an element devoid of content or containing null values, except in the case of extension, where the UBL ExtensionContent element is used.
To ensure that no attempt is made to circumvent rule IND5, UBL also prohibits attempting to convey meaning by not conveying an element.
[IND6] The absence of a construct or data in a UBL instance document MUST NOT carry meaning.
UBL Extension for XML Digital Signatures UBL extensions enable user-defined additions to the standard schemas. The UBL 2.1 schemas in this distribution are provided with a predefined standard extension that supports IETF/W3C Digital Signature profiles. These include advanced IETF/W3C XML digital signatures conforming to the ETSI XAdES specification , thus satisfying EU legal requirements for electronically signed business documents. This extension also serves as a case study for the creation of user-defined UBL extensions; see . Further information on the UBL extension mechanism can be found in . UBL's implementation of XML digital signatures puts all the signatures relating to a document in a single extension, which is engaged in validation by the UBL-ExtensionContentDataType-2.1.xsd schema module. A detailed analysis and description of the digital signature methodology is given in the UBL Security Subcommittee document UBL Digital Signature Profiles Version 1.0, which can be found in the doc subdirectory of this distribution.
Namespaces As is true for the UBL document schemas and common library, the UBL digital signature extension is modeled with three namespaces: one for the apex element (a parallel to the document schema), one for new aggregate constructs (a parallel to the common aggregate schema), and one for new basic constructs (a parallel to the common basic schema). See . The urn:​oasis:​names:​specification:​ubl:​schema:​xsd:​CommonSignatureComponents-2 namespace is used for the apex element, the urn:​oasis:​names:​specification:​ubl:​schema:​xsd:​SignatureAggregateComponents-2 namespace is used for new aggregate elements, and the urn:​oasis:​names:​specification:​ubl:​schema:​xsd:​SignatureBasicComponents-2 namespace is used for new basic elements. The IETF/W3C digital signature standard namespace http://www.w3.org/2000/09/xmldsig# is also used in this extension. These namespaces are bound to the sig:, sac:, sbc: and ds: prefixes respectively, but any prefix or even the default namespace can be used for any of these in an XML instance. Schema fragments for the two XAdES namespaces http://uri.etsi.org/01903/v1.3.2# and http://uri.etsi.org/01903/v1.4.1# are included and engaged in UBL 2.1 for the convenience of users of the XAdES specification. There is no obligation to use the XAdES extension in the IETF/W3C digital signature.
Identification This UBL extension is distinguished from other extensions and identified using the URI urn:​oasis:​names:​specification:​ubl:​dsig:​enveloped in the <ext:ExtensionURI> element. In addition to Enveloped signatures, the UBL Digital Signatures Profiles specification included in the doc subdirectory of this distribution also provides methods to be used with Detached signatures (i.e., digital signatures that stand outside the document being signed). Since Detached signatures constitute an independent technique without associated UBL artefacts, they are not documented further here, but an example instance showing detached signatures is included in this package; see .
Validation The UBL-ExtensionContentDataType-2.1.xsd module links UBL validation to all needed extensions by importing the apex schema fragment of each extension vocabulary. The distribution version of this module supports IETF/W3C XML digital signatures by declaring that the <ext:ExtensionContent> element can contain elements from the UBL Digital Signature extension namespace. Accordingly, a single <sig:UBLDocumentSignatures> element is used as the apex of all the document's electronic signatures. The <ext:ExtensionContent> element alternatively allows any other namespace apex element in order to allow other foreign extensions in the same document.
Structure The signature extension structure exists to contain one or more IETF/W3C standard digital signature constructs. The UBL scaffolding for this extension starts with a <ext:UBLExtension> element with two children: <ext:ExtensionURI> (for extension distinction and identification) and <ext:ExtensionContent> (for containing the extension information, in this case the actual signatures and supporting information): urn:oasis:names:specification:ubl:dsig:enveloped ]]> All signature information for the document is then contained under the <sig:UBLDocumentSignatures> apex element, a single child of <ext:ExtensionContent>: ]]> Every signature added to the extension is isolated under a separate <sac:SignatureInformation> aggregate element, containing the signature and its supporting information. As many of these aggregates can be in the extension as is needed, each one containing the information for a single digital extension. An aggregate can optionally be identified for referencing purposes using the common library <cbc:ID> element. Such an identifier may be useful in workflow scenarios where a particular signature needs to be identified external to the document, but its use is not obligatory. The identifier used can be any value, but for convenience the URI of a URN beginning with urn:​oasis:​names:​specification:​ubl:​signatures:​ and ending with a number value is reserved for this purpose for UBL users. An example is urn:​oasis:​names:​specification:​ubl:​signatures:​3. As with all identifiers, each should be unique across all identifier values in a given UBL instance. An aggregate can optionally make reference to an existing <cac:Signature> business object in the same UBL document, but this is not obligatory. When needed, the <sbc:ReferencedSignatureID> basic element is used to point to the <cbc:ID> identifier value of the referenced <cac:Signature>. The identifier used can be any value, but for convenience the URI of a URN beginning with urn:​oasis:​names:​specification:​ubl:​signatures:​ and ending with the local name of the parent of the signature business object and optionally followed with a colon and number, as in the urn:​oasis:​names:​specification:​ubl:​signatures:​IssuerEndorsement example, is reserved for this purpose for UBL users. As with all identifier references, the referenced identifier should exist and should be unique across all such identifier values in a given UBL instance. A single <ds:Signature> element is a child of the aggregate. It may be absent from the document, thus supporting workflow scenarios where the element is added by a subsequent process after the UBL scaffolding is added by an earlier process. However, the signature information is semantically incomplete without the IETF/W3C-defined element. To support countersignatures countersigning this signature, this element must use the Id= attribute with a value unique from other attributes of schema type ID in the instance. A skeleton example of a single signature is as follows: urn:oasis:names:specification:ubl:signature:1 urn:oasis:names:specification:ubl:signature:Invoice ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ]]> The XAdES specification contains all qualifying XAdES information in a single <ds:Object> element located as shown above. The UBL 2.1 distribution includes and engages XAdES schema fragments versioned 1.3.2 and 1.4.1 for the convenience of users who choose to use these versions of XAdES. Users of the UBL signature extension are not obliged to use any XAdES extensions. A document with multiple <sac:SignatureInformation> elements is simply a document that is co-signed. By the appropriate use of the <ds:Reference> element, all such signatures are signing the content of the document but not each other. A countersigning document signature, on the other hand, signs signatures already present in the document at the time it is countersigned. A digital countersignature <ds:Signature> includes additional <ds:Reference> elements, each pointing to the <ds:Signature> elements being signed. The XAdES specification supports an alternative countersignature approach where a <ds:Signature> element pointing to the countersigned signature is embedded in the <ds:Object> of the countersigning signature. The user MAY choose to indicate in a <cac:Signature> element that the signature details are found in the signature extension. The URI urn:oasis:​names:​specification:​ubl:​dsig:​enveloped is reserved as a value for <cbc:SignatureMethod> to signal this. Additionally, the user MAY include a <cbc:ID> child of <cac:Signature> for referencing purposes from the enveloped signature. The identifier used can be any value, but for convenience the URI of a URN beginning with urn:​oasis:​names:​specification:​ubl:​signature:​ and ending with the local name of the parent of the signature business object and optionally followed with a colon and number, as in the urn:​oasis:​names:​specification:​ubl:​signature:​IssuerEndorsement example, is reserved for this purpose for UBL users. As with all identifier references, the referenced identifier should exist and should be unique across all such identifier values in a given UBL instance. An example corresponding to the digital signature example would be: urn:oasis:names:specification:ubl:signature:Invoice urn:oasis:names:specification:ubl:dsig:enveloped MyParty ]]>
Transformation The content to be signed is indicated in the URI= attribute of <ds:Reference>. Using the empty string indicates that the entire document (i.e. the enveloping UBL instance) is what is being signed: ]]> A requirement when using digital signatures is to express in XPath that address that qualifies all nodes in the referenced content to be included in the calculation of the digital signature hash. For a signature added to a document to remain valid, none of the information can change, nor can any information be added or removed from that portion of the document included in the hash calculation. There are two such transformation expressions that can be used in the UBL signature extension; users should choose the appropriate one to meet the objectives of the signature being added to the document. Adding non-signature information to the UBL document will invalidate all signatures already in the extension. The choice to make is whether to support additional signatures after adding the signature with the transformation expression. The following transformation element in a digital signature flexibly prevents the signature from being invalidated by the subsequent addition of other signatures within the extension: count(ancestor-or-self::sig:UBLDocumentSignatures | here()/ancestor::sig:UBLDocumentSignatures[1]) > count(ancestor-or-self::sig:UBLDocumentSignatures) ]]> The following transformation element in a digital signature is inflexible and thus would be considered a "final" signature to be added to the document. Such a signature will be invalidated by the subsequent addition of other signatures to the document: count(ancestor-or-self::ds:Signature | here()/ancestor::ds:Signature[1]) > count(ancestor-or-self::ds:Signature) ]]> Multiple separate items of extra-document content (e.g., attachments) or embedded W3C signature content can be included in the same signature by using sibling <ds:Reference> elements with other URI= attribute values. For example, to countersign another signature in the same UBL document, make a local reference to that signature's unique identifier, as in: <ds:Reference URI="#{Id attribute of ds:Signature}"> To digitally sign only a portion of standard UBL content and not the entire document of UBL content, one uses an appropriate XPointer address for URI=. This requires XPointer awareness on the part of the digital signature tools being used.
Digital Signature Examples The xml/UBL-Invoice-2.0-Enveloped.xml sample document illustrates the embedding of three extensions in a single document, one of which is a bona fide verifiable enveloped signature extension. A <cac:Signature> element makes reference to the embedded signature. The xml/UBL-Invoice-2.0-Detached.xml sample document illustrates the detaching of a digital signature outside of the UBL file. A <cac:Signature> element makes reference to the external signature. The xml/UBL-Invoice-2.0-Detached-Signature.xml instance is a bona fide verifiable digital signature of the xml/UBL-Invoice-2.0-Detached.xml instance.
Extension Validation Methodology The single extension built into the UBL 2.1 distribution validates transparently, and the UBL extension mechanism allows the addition of other extensions in the same instance. Users wishing to validate other extensions found in the instance simply revise the UBL-ExtensionContentDataType-2.1.xsd schema fragment. An <xsd:import> directive is added to incorporate the schema constraints of the apex of another extension to be validated in the single pass of XSD validation. shows the replacement of the schema fragment with one in which user-defined extension modules with namespaces ext:, zzz:, zac:, and zbc: augment the digital signature extension modules with namespaces ext:, sig:, sac:, sbc: and ds:. Due to limitations of W3C Schema validation semantics (this is not the case in RELAX NG, for example), the apex element of the extension in the instance being validated cannot be constrained solely to the apex element declared. The lax validation permits any element declared in any schema fragment to be the apex of an extension. Thus, an instance will pass when a known extension element not permitted by the user to be an apex element is in the place of an apex element. This is simply regarded by downstream processes as an unknown extension and will likely be ignored.
Notes for Extension Creators The UBL Digital Signature extension has been modeled as an example to follow when designing and writing other custom extensions. The following points should be noted: Extension designers should follow the example in providing separate namespaces for apex element, aggregate constructs, and basic constructs if they wish the new items to be considered for inclusion in future UBL releases. This structures the new items for inclusion in the UBL common library. See xml/MyTransportationStatus.xml for a document instance exemplifying the recommended treatment of namespaces. Whenever possible, existing UBL common library aggregate and basic constructs should be used in extensions rather than inventing new items with the same semantics. However, a common library aggregate construct should only be used when the entire aggregate and all of its descendants are applicable in the extension context without any changes. If any items must be removed, then a new extension aggregate with a new local name should be used. If all the constructs are applicable but some items need to be added, then a new extension aggregate with the same local name as the common library aggregate should be used, and the common library aggregate should be copied with the new constructs inserted.
Conformance Conformance (as applied to UBL documents and schemas) and the distinction between UBL conformance and UBL compatibility is described in detail in the UBL 2 Guidelines for Customization .
Release Notes
Availability Online and downloadable versions of this release are available from the locations specified at the top of this document.
Status of This Release Release of this package to the public begins its second public review. The UBL Technical Committee actively solicits input from the user community regarding this release. See for procedures to be used in submitting comments to the Committee. Note that the UBL TC cannot accept input from anyone outside the UBL TC (including OASIS members) unless it is submitted via the comment list. THIS RELEASE IS FOR TESTING PURPOSES ONLY AND SHOULD NOT BE USED FOR PRODUCTION SYSTEMS.
Package Structure The second public review draft of the UBL 2.1 specification is published as a zip archive named prd2-UBL-2.1.zip. Unzipping this archive creates a directory named prd2-UBL-2.1 containing a master DocBook XML file (UBL-2.1.xml), a generated hypertext version of this file (UBL-2.1.html), a generated PDF version of this file (UBL-2.1.pdf), and a number of subdirectories. The files in these subdirectories, linked to from UBL-2.1.xml, UBL-2.1.html, and UBL-2.1.pdf, contain the various normative and informational pieces of the 2.1 release. A description of each subdirectory is given below. Note that while the UBL-2.1.xml file is the “original” of this specification, it may not be viewable in all currently available web browsers.
art Diagrams and illustrations used in this specification asn ASN.1 UBL 2.1 schema; see cl Code list specification files; see css CSS stylesheets for viewing UBL-2.1.html cva Artefacts expressing data type qualifications; see in and in db DocBook stylesheets for viewing UBL-2.1.xml doc Documents and ancillary specifications included with this release etc Miscellaneous supporting information mod Spreadsheet data models; see rnc Alternative versions of the UBL 2.1 schemas in RELAX NG (compact syntax); see val Test harness for demonstrating UBL 2.1 two-phase validation; see xml Sample UBL 2.1 instances; see xsd XSD schemas; see xsdrt “Runtime” XSD schemas; see
Support UBL is a volunteer project of the international business community. Inquiries regarding UBL may be posted to the public ubl-dev list, archives for which are located at
http://lists.oasis-open.org/archives/ubl-dev/
Subscriptions to ubl-dev can be made through the OASIS list manager at
http://www.oasis-open.org/mlmanage/index.php
OASIS provides an official community gathering place and information resource for UBL at
http://ubl.xml.org/
Expected Additions in PRD3 Two additional document types, CatalogueTemplate and PurchaseConditions, are expected to be added to UBL 2.1 following this second public review (PRD2), that is, in the third public review cycle (PRD3). Note that the names of these document types may change before their inclusion in PRD3.
Taxation Rules UBL does not provide documents for tax reporting purposes. Instead, it provides structures to support the information on which taxes are based. These aim to be generic and not based on any specific tax regime.
UBL Customization UBL provides a vocabulary that, for many user communities, can be used "as is." However, it is recognized that some user communities must address use cases whose requirements are not met by the UBL off-the-shelf solution. A separate OASIS Committee Specification known as the UBL 2 Guidelines for Customization has been published to aid such users in developing custom solutions based on UBL. The goal of UBL customization is to maintain a common understanding of the meaning of information being exchanged between specific implementations. The factors governing when to customize may be business-driven, technically driven, or both. The decision should be based on real-world needs balanced against perceived economic benefits.
Upgrading from UBL 2.0 to UBL 2.1 For current UBL implementers, the most important thing to know about UBL 2.1 is that it is completely backward-compatible with UBL 2.0. In other words, any document that validates against a UBL 2.0 schema will validate against the UBL 2.1 version of that schema. The remaining differences relate mainly to functionality that has been added to the 2.0 framework in the areas of eTendering, sales reporting, utility statements, transport handling, and collaborative planning, forecasting, and replenishment (CPFR®). Nonetheless, it would be unwise to simply overlay this UBL 2.1 release onto an existing 2.0 installation, and the possible differences among existing 1.0 and 2.0 installations are too large to allow a specific set of instructions to be provided for making the transition. The brief history of UBL document types in the next section puts the new capabilities into context and may help owners of existing UBL 1.0 and 2.0 installations decide whether to upgrade to 2.1. New 2.1 users, on the other hand, can simply install 2.1 and rest assured that their software will interoperate with UBL documents generated by existing conformant UBL 2.0 installations. For more on the concept of conformance, see .
Dictionary Entry Name Corrections in UBL 2.1 Dictionary Entry Names (DENs) uniquely identify every BIE in the UBL library using the methodology described in . Several errors in dictionary entry naming were discovered and corrected in the course of preparing UBL 2.1. These corrections have no effect on processing, validation, or instance generation, but they are listed in and for completeness in documentation.
Revision History Since its first release as an OASIS Standard in 2004, UBL has experienced one major and one minor version upgrade.
UBL 1.0 Though apparently limited in scope, the eight document types provided in UBL 1.0 (2004) are applicable to a very large number of real-world use cases and have been widely deployed. These original 1.0 document types, later updated in UBL 2.0 and continued here in 2.1, are Order, OrderResponse, OrderResponseSimple, OrderChange, OrderCancellation, DespatchAdvice, ReceiptAdvice, and Invoice. The figure below shows the original assumed process context for this most basic set of UBL document types. The scope of the process corresponds roughly to that of the UBL 2 Order, Fulfillment, and Traditional Billing processes described in the text (see , , and ).
UBL 1.0 Order-to-Invoice Business Process [ubl 1.0 order-to-invoice diagram]
Because later versions of UBL (versions 2.0 and following) do not maintain backward compatibility with UBL 1.0 document instances (that is, UBL 1.0 document instances will not validate against schemas from UBL 2.0 and later), use of UBL 1.0 in new installations is deprecated. All the business functionality of UBL 1.0 (including suitably revised versions of the original eight document types) is maintained in later versions.
Major Revision: UBL 2.0 Adoption of UBL 1.0 following ratification as an OASIS standard in November 2004 resulted in major inputs of new business content beyond the eight basic order-to-invoice business documents specified in the original release. In particular, contributions from representatives of government procurement, taxation, and transportation agencies in Europe, Asia, and North America resulted in greatly expanded pre-order and post-invoice capabilities together with the addition of several transport-related document types, bringing the total number of document types in UBL 2.0 to 31. The new release also featured changes in UBL's use of XML schema methodology—most importantly, the adoption of global scoping for all element types—breaking backward compatibility with UBL 1.0 instances and therefore necessitating designation as a major revision, signified by incrementing the version number from 1.0 to 2.0 rather than 1.1. The original eight UBL 1.0 document types were revised to reflect these changes. UBL 2.0 achieved OASIS Standardization in December 2006, and the package was updated and corrected in May 2008. The 23 document types added in UBL 2.0 can be summarized as follows:
Added UBL 2.0 document types for sourcing: Catalogue, CatalogueDeletion, CatalogueItemSpecificationUpdate, CataloguePricingUpdate, CatalogueRequest, Quotation, RequestForQuotation
Added UBL 2.0 document types for fulfilment: BillOfLading, CertificateOfOrigin, ForwardingInstructions, PackingList, TransportationStatus, Waybill
Added UBL 2.0 document types for billing: CreditNote, DebitNote, FreightInvoice, Reminder, SelfBilledCreditNote, SelfBilledInvoice
Added UBL 2.0 document types for payment: RemittanceAdvice, Statement
Added UBL 2.0 supplementary document types: ApplicationResponse, AttachedDocument
Minor Revision: UBL 2.1
New Document Types in UBL 2.1 Because it preserves backward compatibility with UBL 2.0, UBL 2.1 is technically a minor release, not a major one. However, it does add 31 new document types as of this second public review draft, bringing the total number of UBL business documents to 62. (This second public review draft adds two more document types, GoodsItemItinerary and TransportServiceDescription, to the 29 new 2.1 document types added in the first public review draft.)
Added UBL 2.1 document types for eTendering: AwardedNotification, CallForTenders, ContractAwardNotice, ContractNotice, GuaranteeCertificate, Tender, TenderReceipt, TendererQualification, TendererQualificationResponse, UnawardedNotification
Added UBL 2.1 document types for Collaborative planning, forecasting, and replenishment: ExceptionCriteria, ExceptionNotification, Forecast, ForecastRevision, ItemInformationRequest, PriorInformationNotice, TradeItemLocationProfile
Added UBL 2.1 document types for Vendor Managed Inventory: InstructionForReturns, InventoryReport, PerformanceHistory, ProductActivity, RetailEvent, StockAvailabilityReport
Added UBL 2.1 document types for Intermodal Freight Management: GoodsItemItinerary, TransportExecutionPlan, TransportExecutionStatus, TransportProgressStatus, TransportServiceDescription
Added UBL 2.1 document type for Utility billing: UtilityStatement
Added UBL 2.1 supplementary document types: DocumentStatus, DocumentStatusRequest
Financial Information Enhancements in UBL 2.1 UBL 2.1 has been enhanced to support the financial information required for downstream processing of Invoices within financial services. Through standardization, business vocabularies such as UBL for eBusiness and ISO 20022 for eFinance enable Straight Through Processing (STP) and paperless trading along the entire Financial Supply Chain. Based on analysis conducted during the current development cycle by the UBL Financial Information Requirements Task Group (FIRTG), the following enhancements have been included in UBL 2.1:
Financial account: Aligned with today's needs and designed for truly global usage (AliasName, AccountTypeCode, ...). A financial account can be now associated to the Person information aggregate, not only to a Party. Payment mandate information can optionally be sent as part of the Order; this can be considered a simplification for small businesses. Trade financing: UBL 2.1 is designed to support basic trade financing practices (invoice financing, factoring, pre-shipment/order financing, Letter of Credit, ...) Payments reconciliation: UBL Invoice and Remittance Advice can be used together with financial messages to ensure end-to-end transport of reconciliation identifiers (invoicing party references). In particular, UBL provides a solution for advanced external remittance, where the UBL Remittance Advice is used to transmit the details of complex remittance information associated with the payment initiation process (see ISO20022 guides for details). Person is now enriched with a person identification, which is often required by the banking sector for legal reasons. Currency Amounts: UBL 2.1 features improved handling of alternative currency amounts.
UBL 2.1 also includes enhancements to legal information.
Party Legal Entity: The Party's legal information has been considerably enriched with information required by advanced procurement and global usage. Service Provider Party: The electronic trade is increasingly supported and executed through Service Providers into several forms like the outsourcing and ASP modes. UBL Party is now improved to keep track of services handled by one or more service providers. Power of Attorney can now be associated to a Party.
Changes from UBL 2.0 (As Updated) to UBL 2.1 PRD2 The following three tables show the differences between the elements and attributes in UBL 2.0 (as updated in 2008) and those in UBL 2.1 (Second Public Review Draft). All changes in 2.1 schemas are backward-compatible with valid UBL 2.0 instances. Changes include the addition of new elements and attributes; changes in cardinality from 1 to 0..1 (i.e., making a formerly required element optional); changes in cardinality from 0..1 to 0..n (i.e., allowing an unlimited number of occurrences instead of just one); and corrections to Dictionary Entry Names (DENs).
Changes to Library Elements (UBL 2.0 to UBL 2.1 PRD2) This table sums up all the differences between the XML elements in the UBL 2.0 common library and those in the UBL 2.1 (PRD2) common library. Changes to Library Elements (UBL 2.0 to UBL 2.1 PRD2) Aggregate BIE Basic or Association BIE Changes for UBL 2.1 ActivityDataLine   Added ActivityProperty   Added Address       LocationCoordinate Changed cardinality from 0..1 to 0..n AllowanceCharge       PerUnitAmount Added AppealTerms   Added AuctionTerms   Added AwardingCriteria   Added AwardingCriteriaResponse   Added AwardingTerms   Added BudgetAccount   Added BudgetAccountLine   Added BudgetAmount   Added Capability   Added CatalogueLine       KeywordItemProperty Added Certificate   Added CertificateOfOriginApplication       ExporterParty Added   ImporterParty Added ClassificationScheme       Note Changed cardinality from 0..1 to 0..n CompletedTask   Added Consignment       CarrierAssignedID Added   ConsigneeAssignedID Added   ConsignorAssignedID Added   FreightForwarderAssignedID Added   BrokerAssignedID Added   ContractedCarrierAssignedID Added   PerformingCarrierAssignedID Added   AnimalFoodIndicator Added   HumanFoodIndicator Added   LivestockIndicator Added   BulkCargoIndicator Added   ContainerizedIndicator Added   GeneralCargoIndicator Added   SpecialSecurityIndicator Added   ThirdPartyPayerIndicator Added   CarrierServiceInstructions Added   CustomsClearanceServiceInstructions Added   ForwarderServiceInstructions Added   SpecialServiceInstructions Added   SequenceID Added   ShippingPriorityLevelCode Added   HandlingCode Added   HandlingInstructions Added   Information Added   TotalGoodsItemQuantity Added   TotalTransportHandlingUnitQuantity Added   InsuranceValueAmount Added   DeclaredForCarriageValueAmount Added   DeclaredStatisticsValueAmount Added   FreeOnBoardValueAmount Added   SpecialInstructions Added   SplitConsignmentIndicator Added   DeliveryInstructions Added   ConsignmentQuantity Added   ConsolidatableIndicator Added   HaulageInstructions Added   LoadingSequenceID Added   PerformingCarrierParty Added   SubstituteCarrierParty Added   LogisticsOperatorParty Added   TransportAdvisorParty Added   HazardousItemNotificationParty Added   InsuranceParty Added   MortgageHolderParty Added   BillOfLadingHolderParty Added   CollectPaymentTerms Added   DisbursementPaymentTerms Added   PrepaidPaymentTerms Added   ExtraAllowanceCharge Added   MainCarriageShipmentStage Added   PreCarriageShipmentStage Added   OnCarriageShipmentStage Added   TransportHandlingUnit Added   FirstArrivalPortLocation Added   LastExitPortLocation Added   ConsolidatedShipment Added Consumption   Added ConsumptionAverage   Added ConsumptionHistory   Added ConsumptionLine   Added ConsumptionPoint   Added ConsumptionReport   Added ConsumptionReportReference   Added Contact       Note Changed cardinality from 0..1 to 0..n Contract       NominationDate Added   NominationTime Added   Note Added   VersionID Added   Description Added   NominationPeriod Added   ContractualDelivery Added ContractExecutionRequirement   Added ContractExtension   Added ContractingParty   Added Correction   Added CreditNoteLine       Note Changed cardinality from 0..1 to 0..n   PaymentPurposeCode Added   FreeOfChargeIndicator Added   InvoicePeriod Added   OrderLineReference Added   OriginatorParty Added   PaymentTerms Added   AllowanceCharge Added   DeliveryTerms Added   SubCreditNoteLine Added DebitNoteLine       Note Changed cardinality from 0..1 to 0..n   PaymentPurposeCode Added   AllowanceCharge Added   SubDebitNoteLine Added Declaration   Added Delivery       ReleaseID Added   AlternativeDeliveryLocation Added   CarrierParty Added   NotifyParty Added   DeliveryTerms Added   MinimumDeliveryUnit Added   MaximumDeliveryUnit Added   Shipment Added DeliveryTerms       Amount Added DependentPriceReference   Added Despatch       GuaranteedDespatchDate Added   GuaranteedDespatchTime Added   ReleaseID Added   Instructions Added   DespatchLocation Added   CarrierParty Added   NotifyParty Added   EstimatedDespatchPeriod Added   RequestedDespatchPeriod Added DespatchLine       Note Changed cardinality from 0..1 to 0..n DocumentReference       IssueTime Added   LanguageID Added   LocaleCode Added   VersionID Added   DocumentStatusCode Added   DocumentDescription Added   ValidityPeriod Added   IssuerParty Added   ResultOfVerification Added DocumentResponse       DocumentReference Changed cardinality from 1 to 1..n Duty   Added EconomicOperatorShortList   Added EnergyTaxReport   Added EnergyWaterSupply   Added EnvironmentalEmission   Added EvaluationCriteria   Added Event   Added EventComment   Added EventLineItem   Added EventTactic   Added EventTacticEnumeration   Added Evidence   Added ExceptionCriteriaLine   Added ExceptionNotificationLine   Added ExternalReference       HashAlgorithmMethod Added   MimeCode Added   FormatCode Added   EncodingCode Added   CharacterSetCode Added   FileName Added   Description Added FinancialAccount       AliasName Added   AccountFormatCode Added FinancialGuarantee   Added ForecastException   Added ForecastExceptionCriteriaLine   Added ForecastLine   Added ForecastRevisionLine   Added FrameworkAgreement   Added GoodsItem       ID Changed cardinality from 1 to 0..1   ChargeableQuantity Added   ReturnableQuantity Added   Delivery Added   Pickup Added   Despatch Added   MeasurementDimension Added   ContainingPackage Added   ShipmentDocumentReference Added ImmobilizedSecurity   Added InstructionForReturnsLine   Added InventoryReportLine   Added InvoiceLine       Note Changed cardinality from 0..1 to 0..n   PaymentPurposeCode Added   InvoicePeriod Added   SubInvoiceLine Added Item       Certificate Added   Dimension Added ItemComparison       PriceAmount Changed dictionary entry name from "Item Comparison. Price. Amount" to "Item Comparison. Price Amount. Amount" ItemInformationRequestLine   Added ItemInstance       BestBeforeDate Added ItemLocationQuantity       Package Added   AllowanceCharge Added   DependentPriceReference Added ItemManagementProfile   Added ItemProperty       ID Added   NameCode Added   TestMethod Added   Value Changed cardinality from 1 to 0..1   ValueQuantity Added   ValueQualifier Added   ImportanceCode Added   ListValue Added   RangeDimension Added   ItemPropertyRange Added ItemPropertyGroup       ImportanceCode Added ItemPropertyRange   Added LineItem       Note Changed cardinality from 0..1 to 0..n   WarrantyInformation Added   SubLineItem Added   WarrantyValidityPeriod Added   WarrantyParty Added Location       LocationTypeCode Added   InformationURI Added   SubsidiaryLocation Added   LocationCoordinate Added LocationCoordinate       AltitudeMeasure Added Meter   Added MeterProperty   Added MeterReading   Added MiscellaneousEvent   Added MonetaryTotal       AllowanceTotalAmount Changed dictionary entry name from "Monetary Total. Allowance Total Amount. Amount" to "Monetary Total. Allowance_ Total Amount. Amount"   ChargeTotalAmount Changed dictionary entry name from "Monetary Total. Charge Total Amount. Amount" to "Monetary Total. Charge_ Total Amount. Amount"   PayableAlternativeAmount Added NotificationRequirement   Added OnAccountPayment   Added OrderLine       Note Changed cardinality from 0..1 to 0..n OrderReference       SalesOrderID Changed dictionary entry name from "Order Reference. Sales Order Identifier. Identifier" to "Order Reference. Sales_ Order Identifier. Identifier"   OrderTypeCode Added Package       TraceID Added   ContainingTransportEquipment Added   Delivery Added   Pickup Added   Despatch Added Party       IndustryClassificationCode Added   Person Changed cardinality from 0..1 to 0..n   ServiceProviderParty Added   PowerOfAttorney Added   FinancialAccount Added PartyLegalEntity       RegistrationDate Added   RegistrationExpirationDate Added   CompanyLegalFormCode Added   SoleProprietorshipIndicator Added   CompanyLiquidationStatusCode Added   CorporateStockAmount Added   FullyPaidSharesIndicator Added   HeadParty Added   ShareholderParty Added PaymentMandate   Added PaymentMeans       PaymentMandate Added   TradeFinancing Added PaymentTerms       PaymentMeansID Changed cardinality from 0..1 to 0..n   PaymentPercent Added   SettlementDiscountAmount Added   PenaltyAmount Added   PaymentTermsDetailsURI Added   PaymentDueDate Added   InstallmentDueDate Added   InvoicingPartyReference Added   ExchangeRate Added   ValidityPeriod Added PerformanceDataLine   Added Person       ID Added   NationalityID Added   GenderCode Added   BirthDate Added   Contact Added   FinancialAccount Added   IdentityDocumentReference Added Pickup   Added PowerOfAttorney   Added Price       PricingExchangeRate Added ProcessJustification   Added ProcurementProject   Added ProcurementProjectLot   Added PromotionalEvent   Added PromotionalEventLineItem   Added PromotionalSpecification   Added QualificationResolution   Added QualifyingParty   Added QuotationLine       Note Changed cardinality from 0..1 to 0..n   RequestForQuotationLineID Added   AlternativeLineItem Added   RequestLineReference Added ReceiptLine       Note Changed cardinality from 0..1 to 0..n   QuantityDiscrepancyCode Added   OversupplyQuantity Changed dictionary entry name from "Receipt Line. Oversupply Quantity. Quantity" to "Receipt Line. Oversupply_ Quantity. Quantity" Regulation   Added ReminderLine       Note Changed cardinality from 0..1 to 0..n   PenaltySurchargePercent Added   Amount Added   PaymentPurposeCode Added RemittanceAdviceLine       Note Changed cardinality from 0..1 to 0..n   PaymentPurposeCode Added   InvoicingPartyReference Added Renewal   Added RequestForQuotationLine       Note Changed cardinality from 0..1 to 0..n   OptionalLineItemIndicator Added   PrivacyCode Added   SecurityClassificationCode Added RequestForTenderLine   Added Response       ReferenceID Changed cardinality from 1 to 0..1   EffectiveDate Added   EffectiveTime Added   Status Added ResultOfVerification   Added RetailPlannedImpact   Added SalesItem   Added ServicePoint   Added ServiceProviderParty   Added ShareholderParty   Added Shipment       ConsignmentQuantity Added   Consignment Changed cardinality from 1 to 1..n   ReturnAddress Added ShipmentStage       EstimatedDeliveryDate Added   EstimatedDeliveryTime Added   RequiredDeliveryDate Added   RequiredDeliveryTime Added   LoadingSequenceID Added   SuccessiveSequenceID Added   Instructions Added   DemurrageInstructions Added   LoadingTransportEvent Added   ExaminationTransportEvent Added   AvailabilityTransportEvent Added   ExportationTransportEvent Added   DischargeTransportEvent Added   WarehousingTransportEvent Added   TakeoverTransportEvent Added   OptionalTakeoverTransportEvent Added   DropoffTransportEvent Added   ActualPickupTransportEvent Added   DeliveryTransportEvent Added   ReceiptTransportEvent Added   StorageTransportEvent Added   AcceptanceTransportEvent Added   TerminalOperatorParty Added   CustomsAgentParty Added Signature       Note Changed cardinality from 0..1 to 0..n   ValidatorID Changed dictionary entry name from "Signature. Validator Identifier. Identifier" to "Signature. Validator. Identifier"   SignatoryParty Changed cardinality from 1 to 0..1 StatementLine       Note Changed cardinality from 0..1 to 0..n   PaymentPurposeCode Added   AllowanceCharge Added Status       ReferenceDate Changed dictionary entry name from "Status. Reference_ Date. Date" to "Status. Reference Date. Date"   ReferenceTime Changed dictionary entry name from "Status. Reference_ Time. Time" to "Status. Reference Time. Time"   Description Changed cardinality from 0..1 to 0..n   StatusReason Changed cardinality from 0..1 to 0..n   SequenceID Changed dictionary entry name from "Status. Sequence. Identifier" to "Status. Sequence Identifier. Identifier"   Text Changed cardinality from 0..1 to 0..n   ConditionValueMeasure Added   ReliabilityPercent Added StockAvailabilityReportLine   Added SubcontractTerms   Added SubscriberConsumption   Added SupplierConsumption   Added TaxTotal       TaxIncludedIndicator Added TelecommunicationsService   Added TelecommunicationsSupply   Added TelecommunicationsSupplyLine   Added TenderLine   Added TenderPreparation   Added TenderRequirement   Added TenderResult   Added TenderedProject   Added TendererPartyQualification   Added TendererQualificationRequest   Added TendererRequirement   Added TenderingProcess   Added TenderingTerms   Added TradeFinancing   Added TransportEquipment       ReferencedConsignmentID Added   AirFlowPercent Added   HumidityPercent Added   AnimalFoodApprovedIndicator Added   HumanFoodApprovedIndicator Added   DangerousGoodsApprovedIndicator Added   RefrigeratedIndicator Added   Characteristics Added   DamageRemarks Added   Description Added   SpecialTransportRequirments Added   GrossWeightMeasure Added   GrossVolumeMeasure Added   TareWeightMeasure Added   TrackingDeviceCode Added   PowerIndicator Added   TraceID Added   SupplierParty Added   OwnerParty Added   OperatingParty Added   UnloadingLocation Added   StorageLocation Added   PositioningTransportEvent Added   QuarantineTransportEvent Added   DeliveryTransportEvent Added   PickupTransportEvent Added   HandlingTransportEvent Added   LoadingTransportEvent Added   TransportEvent Added   ApplicableTransportMeans Added   HaulageTradingTerms Added   HazardousGoodsTransit Added   PackagedTransportHandlingUnit Added   ServiceAllowanceCharge Added   FreightAllowanceCharge Added   AttachedTransportEquipment Added   GoodsItem Added   Delivery Added   ContainedInTransportEquipment Added   Pickup Added   Despatch Added   ShipmentDocumentReference Added TransportEvent       Location Added TransportExecutionTerms   Added TransportHandlingUnit       TransportMeans Added   GoodsItem Added   FloorSpaceMeasurementDimension Added   PalletSpaceMeasurementDimension Added   ShipmentDocumentReference Added   Status Added TransportLocation   Added TransportMeans       TransportMeansTypeCode Added   TradeServiceCode Added   OperatorParty Added TransportSchedule   Added TransportStatus   Added TransportationSegment   Added TransportationService       TransportationServiceDescription Added   TransportationServiceDetailsURI Added   NominationDate Added   NominationTime Added UnstructuredPrice   Added UtilityItem   Added WebSiteAccess   Added
Changes to Document Elements (UBL 2.0 to UBL 2.1 PRD2) This table sums up all the differences between the XML elements in the UBL 2.0 document schemas and those in the UBL 2.1 (PRD2) document schemas. Changes to Document Elements (UBL 2.0 to UBL 2.1 PRD2) Aggregate BIE Basic or Association BIE Changes for UBL 2.1 ApplicationResponse       ProfileExecutionID Added   VersionID Changed dictionary entry name from "Application Response. Version Identifier. Identifier" to "Application Response. Version. Identifier"   DocumentResponse Changed cardinality from 1..n to 0..n AttachedDocument       ProfileExecutionID Added   ParentDocumentVersionID Added   ParentDocumentLineReference Added AwardedNotification   Added BillOfLading       ProfileExecutionID Added CallForTenders   Added Catalogue       ProfileExecutionID Added   ActionCode Added   SourceCatalogueReference Added   DocumentReference Added CatalogueDeletion       ProfileExecutionID Added   EffectiveDate Added   EffectiveTime Added CatalogueItemSpecificationUpdate       ProfileExecutionID Added CataloguePricingUpdate       ProfileExecutionID Added CatalogueRequest       ProfileExecutionID Added   Signature Added CertificateOfOrigin       ProfileExecutionID Added   VersionID Changed dictionary entry name from "Certificate Of Origin. Version Identifier. Identifier" to "Certificate Of Origin. Version. Identifier"   Signature Added ContractAwardNotice   Added ContractNotice   Added CreditNote       ProfileExecutionID Added   StatementDocumentReference Added   OriginatorDocumentReference Added   BuyerCustomerParty Added   SellerSupplierParty Added   Delivery Added   DeliveryTerms Added   PaymentMeans Added   PaymentTerms Added DebitNote       ProfileExecutionID Added   StatementDocumentReference Added   BuyerCustomerParty Added   SellerSupplierParty Added   AllowanceCharge Added   Delivery Added   DeliveryTerms Added   PaymentMeans Added   PaymentTerms Added DespatchAdvice       ProfileExecutionID Added DocumentStatus   Added DocumentStatusRequest   Added ExceptionCriteria   Added ExceptionNotification   Added Forecast   Added ForecastRevision   Added ForwardingInstructions       ProfileExecutionID Added FreightInvoice       ProfileExecutionID Added GoodsItemItinerary   Added GuaranteeCertificate   Added InstructionForReturns   Added InventoryReport   Added Invoice       ProfileExecutionID Added   DueDate Added   StatementDocumentReference Added ItemInformationRequest   Added Order       ProfileExecutionID Added   SalesOrderID Changed dictionary entry name from "Order. Sales Order Identifier. Identifier" to "Order. Sales_ Order Identifier. Identifier"   OrderTypeCode Added   CustomerReference Changed dictionary entry name from "Order. Customer Reference. Text" to "Order. Customer_ Reference. Text"   CatalogueReference Added   PaymentMeans Changed cardinality from 0..1 to 0..n   PaymentTerms Added   TaxExchangeRate Added   PricingExchangeRate Added   PaymentExchangeRate Added OrderCancellation       ProfileExecutionID Added OrderChange       ProfileExecutionID Added   SalesOrderID Changed dictionary entry name from "Order Change. Sales Order Identifier. Identifier" to "Order Change. Sales_ Order Identifier. Identifier"   SequenceNumberID Changed dictionary entry name from "Order Change. Sequence_ Number. Identifier" to "Order Change. Sequence Number. Identifier"   CustomerReference Changed dictionary entry name from "Order Change. Customer Reference. Text" to "Order Change. Customer_ Reference. Text"   PaymentMeans Changed cardinality from 0..1 to 0..n   PaymentTerms Added   TaxExchangeRate Added   PricingExchangeRate Added   PaymentExchangeRate Added OrderResponse       ProfileExecutionID Added   SalesOrderID Changed dictionary entry name from "Order Response. Sales Order Identifier. Identifier" to "Order Response. Sales_ Order Identifier. Identifier"   OrderResponseCode Added   CustomerReference Changed dictionary entry name from "Order Response. Customer Reference. Text" to "Order Response. Customer_ Reference. Text"   PaymentMeans Changed cardinality from 0..1 to 0..n   PaymentTerms Added   TaxExchangeRate Added   PricingExchangeRate Added   PaymentExchangeRate Added OrderResponseSimple       ProfileExecutionID Added PackingList       ProfileExecutionID Added   VersionID Changed dictionary entry name from "Packing List. Version Identifier. Identifier" to "Packing List. Version. Identifier" PerformanceHistory   Added PriorInformationNotice   Added ProductActivity   Added Quotation       ProfileExecutionID Added ReceiptAdvice       ProfileExecutionID Added Reminder       ProfileExecutionID Added RemittanceAdvice       ProfileExecutionID Added RequestForQuotation       ProfileExecutionID Added   SubmissionDueDate Added   RequestedValidityPeriod Added   BuyerCustomerParty Added RetailEvent   Added SelfBilledCreditNote       ProfileExecutionID Added   PaymentCurrencyCode Added   PaymentAlternativeCurrencyCode Added   StatementDocumentReference Added   OriginatorDocumentReference Added   BuyerCustomerParty Added   SellerSupplierParty Added   Delivery Added   DeliveryTerms Added   PaymentMeans Added   PaymentTerms Added   PaymentExchangeRate Added   PaymentAlternativeExchangeRate Added SelfBilledInvoice       ProfileExecutionID Added Statement       ProfileExecutionID Added   StatementTypeCode Added   PaymentMeans Changed cardinality from 0..1 to 0..n StockAvailabilityReport   Added Tender   Added TenderReceipt   Added TendererQualification   Added TendererQualificationResponse   Added TradeItemLocationProfile   Added TransportExecutionPlan   Added TransportExecutionStatus   Added TransportProgressStatus   Added TransportServiceDescription   Added TransportationStatus       ProfileExecutionID Added UnawardedNotification   Added UtilityStatement   Added Waybill       ProfileExecutionID Added
Changes to Attributes (UBL 2.0 to UBL 2.1 PRD2) This table lists all the attributes added since the release of UBL 2.0. Changes to Attributes (UBL 2.0 to UBL 2.1 PRD2) Type Attribute Changes for UBL 2.1 Amount       CurrencyCodeListVersionID Added Measure       UnitCodeListVersionID Added Numeric       format Added Percent       format Added Rate       format Added Quantity       UnitCodeListID Added   UnitCodeListAgencyID Added   UnitCodeListAgencyName Added Text       languageLocalID Added Name       languageLocalID Added
Changes from UBL 2.1 PRD1 to UBL 2.1 PRD2 The following two tables show the differences between the elements in the first public review draft of UBL 2.1 (PRD1) and those in this second public review draft (PRD2). No attributes were added following PRD1. This information is provided for reviewers of PRD2. It will be omitted in the final release.
Changes to Library Elements (UBL 2.1 PRD1 to UBL 2.1 PRD2) This table sums up all the differences between the XML elements in the UBL 2.1 PRD1 common library and those in the UBL 2.1 PRD2 common library. Changes to Library Elements (UBL 2.1 PRD1 to UBL 2.1 PRD2) Aggregate BIE Basic or Association BIE Changes for PRD2 Address       LocationCoordinate Changed cardinality from 0..1 to 0..n ConsumptionHistory       MeterNumber Added   Amount Added ConsumptionReportReference       TotalConsumedQuantity Added Contract       NominationDate Added   NominationTime Added   VersionID Added   Description Added CreditNoteLine       FreeOfChargeIndicator Added   InvoicePeriod Added   OrderLineReference Added   OriginatorParty Added   PaymentTerms Added   DeliveryTerms Added DebitNoteLine       AllowanceCharge Added Delivery       ReleaseID Added   CarrierParty Added   NotifyParty Added DependentPriceReference   Added Despatch       ReleaseID Added   DespatchLocation Added   CarrierParty Added   NotifyParty Added   EstimatedDespatchPeriod Added   RequestedDespatchPeriod Added DocumentReference       VersionID Added   DocumentStatusCode Added   DocumentDescription Added DocumentResponse       DocumentReference Changed cardinality from 1 to 1..n Duty       Duty Changed dictionary entry name from "Duty. Details Duty. Duty. Text" to "Duty. Details"   Duty Changed dictionary entry name from "Duty. Details Duty. Duty. Text" to "Duty. Duty. Text" EnergyTaxReport   Added EnergyWaterSupply       EnergyTaxReport Added EnvironmentalEmission   Added ExceptionCriteriaLine       ExceptionResolutionCode Added ExternalReference       Description Added ForecastException       ForecastPurposeCode Added GoodsItem       ID Changed cardinality from 1 to 0..1   MeasurementDimension Added   ContainingPackage Added   ShipmentDocumentReference Added ItemLocationQuantity       AllowanceCharge Added   DependentPriceReference Added ItemProperty       ID Added   Name Changed cardinality from 0..1 to 1   TestMethod Added   Value Changed cardinality from 0..n to 0..1   ListValue Added   ItemPropertyRange Added ItemPropertyRange   Added LineItem       WarrantyInformation Added Location       InformationURI Added   SubsidiaryLocation Changed cardinality from 0..1 to 0..n   SubsidiaryLocation Changed dictionary entry name from "Location. Subsidiary Location" to "Location. Subsidiary_ Location. Location"   LocationCoordinate Changed cardinality from 0..1 to 0..n Meter       MeterProperty Added MeterProperty   Added MeterReading       MeterReadingMethod Added   MeterReadingMethodCode Added   MeterReadingComments Added NotificationRequirement   Added OnAccountPayment       EstimatedConsumedQuantity Added Package       ContainingTransportEquipment Added PartyLegalEntity       CompanyLegalFormCode Added   SoleProprietorshipIndicator Added   FullyPaidSharesIndicator Added   HeadParty Added   ShareholderParty Added PaymentTerms       PaymentTermsDetailsURI Added   InvoicingPartyReference Added Person       NationalityID Added   GenderCode Added   BirthDate Added   IdentityDocumentReference Added ProcessJustification       ProcessReasonCode Added   ProcessReason Added ProcurementProject       ProcurementTypeCode Added   ProcurementSubTypeCode Added   RequestedDeliveryDate Added   EstimatedOverallContractQuantity Added   RealizedLocation Changed cardinality from 0..1 to 0..n QuotationLine       RequestLineReference Added RemittanceAdviceLine       InvoicingPartyReference Added ResultOfVerification       ValidationResultCode Added ServicePoint   Added ShareholderParty   Added StatementLine       AllowanceCharge Added Status       ReferenceDate Changed dictionary entry name from "Status. Reference_ Date. Date" to "Status. Reference Date. Date"   ReferenceTime Changed dictionary entry name from "Status. Reference_ Time. Time" to "Status. Reference Time. Time" SubscriberConsumption       ConsumptionID Added   SpecificationTypeCode Added   Consumption Changed cardinality from 1 to 0..1 TelecommunicationsService       ID Added   RoamingPartnerName Added TenderResult       TenderResultCode Added   ContractFormalizationPeriod Added TenderingTerms       CallForTenderDocumentReference Added TransportEquipment       PowerIndicator Added   ShipmentDocumentReference Added TransportExecutionTerms       DeliveryTerms Added   EnvironmentalEmission Added   NotificationRequirement Added TransportHandlingUnit       TransportMeans Added   ShipmentDocumentReference Added   Status Added TransportLocation   Added TransportMeans       TransportMeansTypeCode Added   OperatorParty Added TransportSchedule   Added TransportStatus       TimeDeviationIndicator Added   ConditionDeviationIndicator Added   UpdatedDelivery Added   UpdatedDespatch Added   ReferencedTransportHandlingUnit Added TransportationSegment   Added TransportationService       NominationDate Added   NominationTime Added UnstructuredPrice       PriceAmount Added   TimeAmount Added
Changes to Document Elements (UBL 2.1 PRD1 to UBL 2.1 PRD2) This table sums up all the differences between the XML elements in the UBL 2.1 PRD1 document schemas and those in the UBL 2.1 PRD2 document schemas. Changes to Document Elements (UBL 2.1 PRD1 to UBL 2.1 PRD2) Aggregate BIE Basic or Association BIE Changes for PRD2 AttachedDocument       ParentDocumentVersionID Added   ParentDocumentLineReference Added AwardedNotification       AdditionalDocumentReference Added CallForTenders       Signature Added CatalogueRequest       Signature Added CertificateOfOrigin       Signature Added ContractAwardNotice       Signature Added ContractNotice       RequestedPublicationDate Added   Signature Added CreditNote       StatementDocumentReference Added   OriginatorDocumentReference Added   Delivery Added   DeliveryTerms Added   PaymentMeans Added   PaymentTerms Added DebitNote       StatementDocumentReference Added   AllowanceCharge Added   Delivery Added   DeliveryTerms Added   PaymentMeans Added   PaymentTerms Added GoodsItemItinerary   Added Invoice       DueDate Added   StatementDocumentReference Added PriorInformationNotice       Signature Added SelfBilledCreditNote       PaymentCurrencyCode Added   PaymentAlternativeCurrencyCode Added   StatementDocumentReference Added   OriginatorDocumentReference Added   Delivery Added   DeliveryTerms Added   PaymentMeans Added   PaymentTerms Added   PaymentExchangeRate Added   PaymentAlternativeExchangeRate Added Statement       StatementTypeCode Added TendererQualification       AdditionalDocumentReference Added TransportExecutionPlan       CopyIndicator Added   UUID Added   Note Added   SequenceNumberID Added   ShipmentDocumentReference Added   TransportUserResponseDeadlinePeriod Added   TransportServiceProviderResponseDeadlinePeriod Added TransportExecutionStatus       ID Added   CopyIndicator Added   UUID Added   ReferenceDate Added   ReferenceTime Added   Note Added   TransportExecutionPlanReferenceID Added   TransportStatus Added TransportProgressStatus   Added TransportServiceDescription   Added UnawardedNotification       AdditionalDocumentReference Added
The UBL 2.1 Data Model Following the principles of the ebXML Core Components Technical Specification (CCTS), the UBL data model is based on a conceptual library of reusable information items known as Business Information Entities (BIEs). BIEs include BBIEs (“basic” individual pieces of information), ABIEs (aggregations of other BIEs), and ASBIEs (associations to other ABIEs). See for a further explanation of these terms. Each business document defined by UBL is an ABIE created by assembling items appropriate to that document type from the BIE library. Historically, both the UBL common library and the assembly models for the individual UBL documents have been expressed as spreadsheets using a format specifically developed for UBL business information modeling. In former UBL releases, the XSD schemas that serve as the normative expression of UBL syntax were generated directly from the spreadsheets prepared by business experts according to the UBL Naming and Design Rules, which are typically released as a separate OASIS Committee Specification some time after each version of UBL itself. In UBL 2.0, the entire data model was also entered (via the spreadsheets) into the internal format of a commercial data management system from GEFEG that was used to insure data integrity. In UBL 2.1, that process has been taken one step further; the data model is instantiated and maintained in iSurf eDoCreator, and both schemas and spreadsheets are generated from that internal model, with the schemas again produced according the UBL Naming and Design Rules and the spreadsheets serving to provide base-level human-readable documentation and to capture the supplementary metadata required by . By preserving a vendor-neutral representation from which schemas can be generated directly if necessary, the spreadsheets guarantee that the UBL model is not bound to a single production system. The following diagram shows the conceptual relationships between spreadsheets and schemas in UBL 2.1, with spreadsheets on the left and schemas on the right. Compare .
UBL Spreadsheet Realization [spreadsheet realization diagram]
The UBL Common Library As noted above, UBL is based on a reusable library of Business Information Entities. In the current release, the Common Library contains more than two thousand of these individually defined data items. The entire UBL 2.1 library of Business Information Entities is contained in a single spreadsheet.
mod/common/UBL-CommonLibrary-2.1.ods mod/common/UBL-CommonLibrary-2.1.xls
UBL Document Models A UBL 2.1 document model defines a single “root” Aggregate BIE. This may contain several Basic BIEs and Association BIEs. Assembling the components of all the Association BIEs referenced from this root creates the hierarchical structure necessary to represent the document type. There are common patterns in the structure of many UBL 2.1 document models, but UBL does not enforce a "common header" for all business documents. The document models are provided in this package as Excel and ODF spreadsheets. As noted above, these spreadsheets function as a basic form of documentation. A more accessible form of documentation is provided by HTML reports contributed by Crane Softwrights and included here by permission. Each document report summarizes business object definitions and selected columns of the corresponding spreadsheet in a hyperlinked form that omits unused elements to facilitate rapid review of each document model. There is also a single master report incorporating every document type and the entire common library:
mod/summary/reports/UBL-AllDocuments-2.1.html
For notes on the use of these reports, see
mod/summary/readme-Reports.html
ApplicationResponse mod/maindoc/UBL-ApplicationResponse-2.1.ods mod/maindoc/UBL-ApplicationResponse-2.1.xls mod/summary/reports/UBL-ApplicationResponse-2.1.html AttachedDocument mod/maindoc/UBL-AttachedDocument-2.1.ods mod/maindoc/UBL-AttachedDocument-2.1.xls mod/summary/reports/UBL-AttachedDocument-2.1.html AwardedNotification mod/maindoc/UBL-AwardedNotification-2.1.ods mod/maindoc/UBL-AwardedNotification-2.1.xls mod/summary/reports/UBL-AwardedNotification-2.1.html BillOfLading mod/maindoc/UBL-BillOfLading-2.1.ods mod/maindoc/UBL-BillOfLading-2.1.xls mod/summary/reports/UBL-BillOfLading-2.1.html CallForTenders mod/maindoc/UBL-CallForTenders-2.1.ods mod/maindoc/UBL-CallForTenders-2.1.xls mod/summary/reports/UBL-CallForTenders-2.1.html Catalogue mod/maindoc/UBL-Catalogue-2.1.ods mod/maindoc/UBL-Catalogue-2.1.xls mod/summary/reports/UBL-Catalogue-2.1.html CatalogueDeletion mod/maindoc/UBL-CatalogueDeletion-2.1.ods mod/maindoc/UBL-CatalogueDeletion-2.1.xls mod/summary/reports/UBL-CatalogueDeletion-2.1.html CatalogueItemSpecificationUpdate mod/maindoc/UBL-CatalogueItemSpecificationUpdate-2.1.ods mod/maindoc/UBL-CatalogueItemSpecificationUpdate-2.1.xls mod/summary/reports/UBL-CatalogueItemSpecificationUpdate-2.1.html CataloguePricingUpdate mod/maindoc/UBL-CataloguePricingUpdate-2.1.ods mod/maindoc/UBL-CataloguePricingUpdate-2.1.xls mod/summary/reports/UBL-CataloguePricingUpdate-2.1.html CatalogueRequest mod/maindoc/UBL-CatalogueRequest-2.1.ods mod/maindoc/UBL-CatalogueRequest-2.1.xls mod/summary/reports/UBL-CatalogueRequest-2.1.html CertificateOfOrigin mod/maindoc/UBL-CertificateOfOrigin-2.1.ods mod/maindoc/UBL-CertificateOfOrigin-2.1.xls mod/summary/reports/UBL-CertificateOfOrigin-2.1.html ContractAwardNotice mod/maindoc/UBL-ContractAwardNotice-2.1.ods mod/maindoc/UBL-ContractAwardNotice-2.1.xls mod/summary/reports/UBL-ContractAwardNotice-2.1.html ContractNotice mod/maindoc/UBL-ContractNotice-2.1.ods mod/maindoc/UBL-ContractNotice-2.1.xls mod/summary/reports/UBL-ContractNotice-2.1.html CreditNote mod/maindoc/UBL-CreditNote-2.1.ods mod/maindoc/UBL-CreditNote-2.1.xls mod/summary/reports/UBL-CreditNote-2.1.html DebitNote mod/maindoc/UBL-DebitNote-2.1.ods mod/maindoc/UBL-DebitNote-2.1.xls mod/summary/reports/UBL-DebitNote-2.1.html DespatchAdvice mod/maindoc/UBL-DespatchAdvice-2.1.ods mod/maindoc/UBL-DespatchAdvice-2.1.xls mod/summary/reports/UBL-DespatchAdvice-2.1.html DocumentStatus mod/maindoc/UBL-DocumentStatus-2.1.ods mod/maindoc/UBL-DocumentStatus-2.1.xls mod/summary/reports/UBL-DocumentStatus-2.1.html DocumentStatusRequest mod/maindoc/UBL-DocumentStatusRequest-2.1.ods mod/maindoc/UBL-DocumentStatusRequest-2.1.xls mod/summary/reports/UBL-DocumentStatusRequest-2.1.html ExceptionCriteria mod/maindoc/UBL-ExceptionCriteria-2.1.ods mod/maindoc/UBL-ExceptionCriteria-2.1.xls mod/summary/reports/UBL-ExceptionCriteria-2.1.html ExceptionNotification mod/maindoc/UBL-ExceptionNotification-2.1.ods mod/maindoc/UBL-ExceptionNotification-2.1.xls mod/summary/reports/UBL-ExceptionNotification-2.1.html Forecast mod/maindoc/UBL-Forecast-2.1.ods mod/maindoc/UBL-Forecast-2.1.xls mod/summary/reports/UBL-Forecast-2.1.html ForecastRevision mod/maindoc/UBL-ForecastRevision-2.1.ods mod/maindoc/UBL-ForecastRevision-2.1.xls mod/summary/reports/UBL-ForecastRevision-2.1.html ForwardingInstructions mod/maindoc/UBL-ForwardingInstructions-2.1.ods mod/maindoc/UBL-ForwardingInstructions-2.1.xls mod/summary/reports/UBL-ForwardingInstructions-2.1.html FreightInvoice mod/maindoc/UBL-FreightInvoice-2.1.ods mod/maindoc/UBL-FreightInvoice-2.1.xls mod/summary/reports/UBL-FreightInvoice-2.1.html GoodsItemItinerary mod/maindoc/UBL-GoodsItemItinerary-2.1.ods mod/maindoc/UBL-GoodsItemItinerary-2.1.xls mod/summary/reports/UBL-GoodsItemItinerary-2.1.html GuaranteeCertificate mod/maindoc/UBL-GuaranteeCertificate-2.1.ods mod/maindoc/UBL-GuaranteeCertificate-2.1.xls mod/summary/reports/UBL-GuaranteeCertificate-2.1.html InstructionForReturns mod/maindoc/UBL-InstructionForReturns-2.1.ods mod/maindoc/UBL-InstructionForReturns-2.1.xls mod/summary/reports/UBL-InstructionForReturns-2.1.html InventoryReport mod/maindoc/UBL-InventoryReport-2.1.ods mod/maindoc/UBL-InventoryReport-2.1.xls mod/summary/reports/UBL-InventoryReport-2.1.html Invoice mod/maindoc/UBL-Invoice-2.1.ods mod/maindoc/UBL-Invoice-2.1.xls mod/summary/reports/UBL-Invoice-2.1.html ItemInformationRequest mod/maindoc/UBL-ItemInformationRequest-2.1.ods mod/maindoc/UBL-ItemInformationRequest-2.1.xls mod/summary/reports/UBL-ItemInformationRequest-2.1.html Order mod/maindoc/UBL-Order-2.1.ods mod/maindoc/UBL-Order-2.1.xls mod/summary/reports/UBL-Order-2.1.html OrderCancellation mod/maindoc/UBL-OrderCancellation-2.1.ods mod/maindoc/UBL-OrderCancellation-2.1.xls mod/summary/reports/UBL-OrderCancellation-2.1.html OrderChange mod/maindoc/UBL-OrderChange-2.1.ods mod/maindoc/UBL-OrderChange-2.1.xls mod/summary/reports/UBL-OrderChange-2.1.html OrderResponse mod/maindoc/UBL-OrderResponse-2.1.ods mod/maindoc/UBL-OrderResponse-2.1.xls mod/summary/reports/UBL-OrderResponse-2.1.html OrderResponseSimple mod/maindoc/UBL-OrderResponseSimple-2.1.ods mod/maindoc/UBL-OrderResponseSimple-2.1.xls mod/summary/reports/UBL-OrderResponseSimple-2.1.html PackingList mod/maindoc/UBL-PackingList-2.1.ods mod/maindoc/UBL-PackingList-2.1.xls mod/summary/reports/UBL-PackingList-2.1.html PerformanceHistory mod/maindoc/UBL-PerformanceHistory-2.1.ods mod/maindoc/UBL-PerformanceHistory-2.1.xls mod/summary/reports/UBL-PerformanceHistory-2.1.html PriorInformationNotice mod/maindoc/UBL-PriorInformationNotice-2.1.ods mod/maindoc/UBL-PriorInformationNotice-2.1.xls mod/summary/reports/UBL-PriorInformationNotice-2.1.html ProductActivity mod/maindoc/UBL-ProductActivity-2.1.ods mod/maindoc/UBL-ProductActivity-2.1.xls mod/summary/reports/UBL-ProductActivity-2.1.html Quotation mod/maindoc/UBL-Quotation-2.1.ods mod/maindoc/UBL-Quotation-2.1.xls mod/summary/reports/UBL-Quotation-2.1.html ReceiptAdvice mod/maindoc/UBL-ReceiptAdvice-2.1.ods mod/maindoc/UBL-ReceiptAdvice-2.1.xls mod/summary/reports/UBL-ReceiptAdvice-2.1.html Reminder mod/maindoc/UBL-Reminder-2.1.ods mod/maindoc/UBL-Reminder-2.1.xls mod/summary/reports/UBL-Reminder-2.1.html RemittanceAdvice mod/maindoc/UBL-RemittanceAdvice-2.1.ods mod/maindoc/UBL-RemittanceAdvice-2.1.xls mod/summary/reports/UBL-RemittanceAdvice-2.1.html RequestForQuotation mod/maindoc/UBL-RequestForQuotation-2.1.ods mod/maindoc/UBL-RequestForQuotation-2.1.xls mod/summary/reports/UBL-RequestForQuotation-2.1.html RetailEvent mod/maindoc/UBL-RetailEvent-2.1.ods mod/maindoc/UBL-RetailEvent-2.1.xls mod/summary/reports/UBL-RetailEvent-2.1.html SelfBilledCreditNote mod/maindoc/UBL-SelfBilledCreditNote-2.1.ods mod/maindoc/UBL-SelfBilledCreditNote-2.1.xls mod/summary/reports/UBL-SelfBilledCreditNote-2.1.html SelfBilledInvoice mod/maindoc/UBL-SelfBilledInvoice-2.1.ods mod/maindoc/UBL-SelfBilledInvoice-2.1.xls mod/summary/reports/UBL-SelfBilledInvoice-2.1.html Statement mod/maindoc/UBL-Statement-2.1.ods mod/maindoc/UBL-Statement-2.1.xls mod/summary/reports/UBL-Statement-2.1.html StockAvailabilityReport mod/maindoc/UBL-StockAvailabilityReport-2.1.ods mod/maindoc/UBL-StockAvailabilityReport-2.1.xls mod/summary/reports/UBL-StockAvailabilityReport-2.1.html Tender mod/maindoc/UBL-Tender-2.1.ods mod/maindoc/UBL-Tender-2.1.xls mod/summary/reports/UBL-Tender-2.1.html TenderReceipt mod/maindoc/UBL-TenderReceipt-2.1.ods mod/maindoc/UBL-TenderReceipt-2.1.xls mod/summary/reports/UBL-TenderReceipt-2.1.html TendererQualification mod/maindoc/UBL-TendererQualification-2.1.ods mod/maindoc/UBL-TendererQualification-2.1.xls mod/summary/reports/UBL-TendererQualification-2.1.html TendererQualificationResponse mod/maindoc/UBL-TendererQualificationResponse-2.1.ods mod/maindoc/UBL-TendererQualificationResponse-2.1.xls mod/summary/reports/UBL-TendererQualificationResponse-2.1.html TradeItemLocationProfile mod/maindoc/UBL-TradeItemLocationProfile-2.1.ods mod/maindoc/UBL-TradeItemLocationProfile-2.1.xls mod/summary/reports/UBL-TradeItemLocationProfile-2.1.html TransportExecutionPlan mod/maindoc/UBL-TransportExecutionPlan-2.1.ods mod/maindoc/UBL-TransportExecutionPlan-2.1.xls mod/summary/reports/UBL-TransportExecutionPlan-2.1.html TransportExecutionStatus mod/maindoc/UBL-TransportExecutionStatus-2.1.ods mod/maindoc/UBL-TransportExecutionStatus-2.1.xls mod/summary/reports/UBL-TransportExecutionStatus-2.1.html TransportProgressStatus mod/maindoc/UBL-TransportProgressStatus-2.1.ods mod/maindoc/UBL-TransportProgressStatus-2.1.xls mod/summary/reports/UBL-TransportProgressStatus-2.1.html TransportServiceDescription mod/maindoc/UBL-TransportServiceDescription-2.1.ods mod/maindoc/UBL-TransportServiceDescription-2.1.xls mod/summary/reports/UBL-TransportServiceDescription-2.1.html TransportationStatus mod/maindoc/UBL-TransportationStatus-2.1.ods mod/maindoc/UBL-TransportationStatus-2.1.xls mod/summary/reports/UBL-TransportationStatus-2.1.html UnawardedNotification mod/maindoc/UBL-UnawardedNotification-2.1.ods mod/maindoc/UBL-UnawardedNotification-2.1.xls mod/summary/reports/UBL-UnawardedNotification-2.1.html UtilityStatement mod/maindoc/UBL-UtilityStatement-2.1.ods mod/maindoc/UBL-UtilityStatement-2.1.xls mod/summary/reports/UBL-UtilityStatement-2.1.html Waybill mod/maindoc/UBL-Waybill-2.1.ods mod/maindoc/UBL-Waybill-2.1.xls mod/summary/reports/UBL-Waybill-2.1.html
Business Information Entity Documentation The mod directory also contains a complete list of all the UBL 2.1 business information entities (BBIEs, ABIEs, and ASBIEs) in genericode format and an HTML file displaying information about ABIEs and ASBIEs in table form.
mod/UBL-Entities-2.1.gc mod/UBL-ABIE-Reuse-Table-2.1.html
UBL 2.1 Code Lists and Two-phase Validation
Introduction Code lists—the sets of codes such as “FR” and “USD” that are used to specify countries, currencies, and so on—play an important role in UBL, just as they do in all electronic business messaging schemes. By default, UBL uses several lists of standard codes published by agencies such as ISO and UN/CEFACT, as well as various codes that are specific to UBL. In UBL 1.0 (2004), standard and default code list values were enumerated directly in the UBL schemas. This allowed all UBL 1.0 instances to be validated in a single pass using generic XML XSD (W3C Schema) processors. However, the specification of the default values directly in the schemas also made it difficult to modify the code lists to suit individual trading partner relationships and impossible to extend the list of allowable code list values while still using the standard UBL schemas as published by OASIS. To give users maximum flexibility in configuring and updating UBL code lists without changing the standard UBL schemas, UBL 2.0 introduced a two-phase validation model that has now been fully implemented in UBL 2.1. In the first phase, the UBL instance is checked for structure and vocabulary against a standard UBL schema using a generic schema validator (or custom-built software performing the same function). This is exactly the same procedure used for validation in UBL 1.0, except that the schemas do not contain hardwired code list values. Then in an added second validation (or verification) phase, code list values in the instance are checked against values obtained from external code list configuration files using an XSLT 1.0 processor driven by an XSLT 1.0 stylesheet. The default code list values assumed by the UBL 2.1 specification are expressed as data type qualifications in a file named UBL-2.1-DefaultDTQ.xsl located in the val directory, as described in more detail below. Publicly available tools were used to create the XSL file using the methodology described in the "Validation" section of , the UBL Guidelines for Customization. Separating the checking of structure and vocabulary from the checking of code values allows trading partners to easily and precisely specify code list subsets and extensions and to apply them not just to individual UBL document types but also to particular elements and subtrees within UBL document instances. Another way to say this is that the the UBL code list methodology allows different versions of the same code list to be used in different document contexts. Thus, for example, a business in Canada might agree with a business in the United States to use a set of code list configuration files that allow the Buyer to be associated with either a U.S. state or a Canadian province but restrict the Seller to just U.S. states—that is, to apply a code list subset containing state and province codes in one place in a document instance and a different code list subset containing just state codes in another place in the instance.
Default Validation Setup To facilitate the processing of UBL 2.1 instances using the two-phase method, an “out-of-the-box” collection of open-source software that can be used to demonstrate default validation of UBL 2.1 documents is included in the val directory of this release package. The validation harness assumes a Linux or Windows system with no currently installed XML or XSLT processing software. The Java Runtime Environment (JRE) 1.5 or later is required to use the programs in the val directory; JRE versions below 1.5 will throw an error from the xjparse.jar module used to invoke the xerces schema parser. If necessary, download and install the latest JRE from the following location before continuing:
http://www.java.com/en/download/manual.jsp
To demonstrate UBL 2.1 default validation: Change to the val directory. From within that directory, enter the test command test.bat (Windows) or sh test.sh (Linux) The output, which is explained in the next section, should resemble the output shown in Figure D.1 (the spacing has been manually adjusted to make the output easier to read).
Validation test output [Output of validation test]
From within the val directory, you can now validate any UBL document against the UBL 2.1 schemas by executing commands of the form validate <ubl-schema> <ubl-document> where <ubl-document> is the path of a document to be validated and <ubl-schema> is the path of the UBL 2.1 schema for that document type (Order, Invoice, etc.). For example, the scripts val/testsamples.bat and val/testsamples.sh show this process being used to validate the sample XML instances in the xml directory.
Discussion of the Default Validation Test The test output displayed above demonstrates the default validation process with three test files: a valid UBL Order (order-test-good.xml); a UBL Order containing a bad (misspelled) element (order-test-bad1.xml); and a UBL Order that is schema-valid but contains an illegal code list value (order-test-bad2.xml). The file test.bat (Windows) or test.sh (Linux) is used to run the script validate.bat or validate.sh against each of the test files. The first run using order-test-good.xml demonstrates both phases of the default validation process running normally. In the first phase, a standard W3C Schema (XSD) validator, xerces, is invoked from w3cschema.bat (or w3cschema.sh) to validate the specified UBL document (.xml) against the specified UBL 2.1 runtime schema (.xsd). Since the input is a valid UBL Order, the output of the first phase simply indicates that the file is valid against the given Order schema. The second phase of validation uses a standard XSLT 1.0 engine, saxon, to verify that the values of various codes used in the UBL document to be tested (currency codes, packaging types, etc.) are valid in terms of the default UBL 2.1 code list values specified in UBL-DefaultDTQ-2.1.xsl. Here the output line “No code list validation errors” from the validate script indicates that the saxon run (invoked from xslt.bat or xslt.sh) finds no illegal code values in the document. The second run shows what happens when the input document (order-test-bad1.xml) contains an actual structure or vocabulary error, in this case due to omission of the trailing “e” from the element named cbc:ChannelCode. When the xerces parser encounters the malformed element name, it emits the error message shown in the example, and the validate script reacts to a non-zero status code from w3cschema.bat (or w3cschema.sh) by terminating the validation process. In the third run, the input document order-test-bad2.xml is structurally valid according to the Order schema, but it contains an illegal code list value (the ChannelCode “AL” for cell phone has been mistyped as “LA”). Thus it passes the first phase when tested against the schema but fails the second phase when tested against UBL-DefaultDTQ-2.1.xsl. To summarize, input documents are checked in the first validation phase for correctness of structure and vocabulary, using the constraints expressed in the appropriate UBL schema, and then they are checked in the second phase for correctness of default code list values, using the default constraints expressed in the XSLT file UBL-DefaultDTQ-2.1.xsl. This process is illustrated in the following diagram.
Two-phase Default UBL 2.1 Validation [two-phase validation]
It should be clear from the foregoing that the second phase of the default validation process can safely be omitted if it is considered unnecessary to check code list values. However, the reverse is not true; the second phase depends for correct operation on a prior check for structural validity, and therefore it will not give reliable results if run in the absence of the first (schema) validation phase.
Customizing the Default XSLT File The validation framework provided in the val directory can be used to implement code list changes, define variant code lists to fit specific trading partner agreements, or associate different versions of the same code list with different parts of the same UBL document by substituting a custom process (be it XSLT or some other language or process) for the default UBL-DefaultDTQ-2.1.xsl provided in the UBL 2.1 distribution. This allows extensive code list management without the need to change the standard UBL 2.1 schemas. Schematron-based techniques for generating a custom XSLT file to take the place of UBL-DefaultDTQ-2.1.xsl are explained in and . See also for more about UBL data type qualifications. Since XSLT is a very powerful general-purpose XML transformation tool, the same framework can be extended to perform fairly sophisticated business rule checking by manually coding additional logic into the XSLT file that drives the second validation phase. Such modification is beyond the scope of the customization methodologies associated specifically with UBL, but a business analyst willing to perform XSLT programming can use this mechanism to offload a large proportion of input filtering from the backend business application to a simpler input processing area. Additional XSLT scripts can be added to extract logical subtrees of incoming UBL documents for allocation to different downstream processes and to perform even more extensive front-end processing.
Sources for the Default Validation Framework Components of several freely available software distributions were used to create the val directory. Sources are given below so that these components can be updated as later releases become available. The files resolver.jar and xercesImpl.jar are from the xerces-j 2.8.0 binary distribution at
http://archive.apache.org/dist/xml/xerces-j/Xerces-J-bin.2.8.0.zip
The file xjparse.jar (renamed from xjparse-1.0.jar) is from the xjparse 1.0 distribution at
http://nwalsh.com/java/xjparse/
The file saxon.jar is from the saxon 6.5.5 distribution at
http://prdownloads.sourceforge.net/saxon/saxon6-5-5.zip
Code Lists Included in UBL 2.1 The code lists included in the UBL 2.1 distribution use an OASIS Standard XML format for code lists called . Each code list in the distribution occupies its own genericode file. Documentation on the UBL code lists is contained in a generated report file:
cva/UBL-DefaultDTQ-2.1.html
The code list files in UBL 2.1 are divided into two subdirectories, cl/gc/default and cl/gc/special-purpose.
cl/gc/default The code lists in the cl/gc/default directory contain the default code values represented in UBL-DefaultDTQ-2.1.xsl. A second-phase code list check using an unmodified version of the test setup from this distribution as described above will verify all occurrences of code values from these lists against the values specified in the cl/gc/default directory. These are the code lists expected to be used in most application contexts.
cl/gc/default/AllowanceChargeReasonCode-2.1.gc cl/gc/default/BinaryObjectMimeCode-2.1.gc cl/gc/default/ChannelCode-2.1.gc cl/gc/default/CurrencyCode-2.1.gc cl/gc/default/PackagingTypeCode-2.1.gc cl/gc/default/PaymentMeansCode-2.1.gc cl/gc/default/TransportEquipmentTypeCode-2.1.gc cl/gc/default/TransportModeCode-2.1.gc cl/gc/default/UnitOfMeasureCode-2.1.gc
cl/gc/special-purpose This directory contains genericode versions of code lists that are used only in certain application contexts. They are not included in the UBL-DefaultDTQ-2.1.xsl file included in this distribution, but are provided here in the cl/gc/special-purpose directory to make them available for incorporation into custom XSLT scripts. The files in this directory are as follows:
cl/gc/special-purpose/AdjustmentReasonCode-2.1.gc cl/gc/special-purpose/CollaborationPriorityCode-2.1.gc cl/gc/special-purpose/ComparisonDataSourceCode-2.1.gc cl/gc/special-purpose/DataSourceCode-2.1.gc cl/gc/special-purpose/DisplayTacticTypeCode-2.1.gc cl/gc/special-purpose/ExceptionStatusCode-2.1.gc cl/gc/special-purpose/ForecastPurposeCode-2.1.gc cl/gc/special-purpose/ForecastTypeCode-2.1.gc cl/gc/special-purpose/LanguageCode-2.1.gc cl/gc/special-purpose/MiscellaneousEventTypeCode-2.1.gc cl/gc/special-purpose/PerformanceMetricCriterionCode-2.1.gc cl/gc/special-purpose/PromotionalEventTypeCode-2.1.gc cl/gc/special-purpose/ResolutionCode-2.1.gc cl/gc/special-purpose/RetailEventStatusCode-2.1.gc cl/gc/special-purpose/RevisionStatusCode-2.1.gc cl/gc/special-purpose/StatusCode-2.1.gc cl/gc/special-purpose/SupplyChainActivityTypeCode-2.1.gc cl/gc/special-purpose/ThresholdValueComparisonCode-2.1.gc cl/gc/special-purpose/TimeFrequencyCode-2.1.gc cl/gc/special-purpose/TransportationStatusCode-2.1.gc
UBL 2.1 Example Document Instances The xml directory of this distribution contains a number of sample UBL documents that can be used for testing purposes. The testsamples.bat batch file and the testsamples.sh script in the val directory of this distribution can be used to demonstrate the validity of these examples in Windows and Linux operating environments. See for a general discussion of UBL validation methodology.
Example instances containing extensions xml/MyTransportationStatus.xml xml/UBL-Invoice-2.0-Enveloped.xml
Example instances related to signatures (see ) xml/UBL-Invoice-2.0-Detached-Signature.xml xml/UBL-Invoice-2.0-Detached.xml xml/UBL-Invoice-2.0-Enveloped.xml
Example instances with unconventional use of namespace bindings xml/UBL-Invoice-2.0-Example-NS1.xml xml/UBL-Invoice-2.0-Example-NS2.xml xml/UBL-Invoice-2.0-Example-NS3.xml xml/UBL-Invoice-2.0-Example-NS4.xml
Example instances of different versions of different document types xml/UBL-CreditNote-2.0-Example.xml xml/UBL-CreditNote-2.1-Example.xml xml/UBL-DebitNote-2.1-Example.xml xml/UBL-DespatchAdvice-2.0-Example.xml xml/UBL-ExceptionCriteria-2.1-Example.xml xml/UBL-ExceptionNotification-2.1-Example.xml xml/UBL-Forecast-2.1-Example.xml xml/UBL-ForecastRevision-2.1-Example.xml xml/UBL-ForwardingInstructions-2.0-Example-International.xml xml/UBL-FreightInvoice-2.1-Example.xml xml/UBL-GoodsItemItinerary-2.1-Example.xml xml/UBL-InstructionForReturns-2.1-Example.xml xml/UBL-InventoryReport-2.1-Example.xml xml/UBL-Invoice-2.0-Example.xml xml/UBL-Invoice-2.1-Example.xml xml/UBL-Order-2.0-Example-International.xml xml/UBL-Order-2.0-Example.xml xml/UBL-Order-2.1-Example.xml xml/UBL-OrderCancellation-2.1-Example.xml xml/UBL-OrderChange-2.1-Example.xml xml/UBL-OrderResponse-2.1-Example.xml xml/UBL-OrderResponseSimple-2.0-Example.xml xml/UBL-OrderResponseSimple-2.1-Example.xml xml/UBL-PerformanceHistory-2.1-Example.xml xml/UBL-ProductActivity-2.1-Example-1.xml xml/UBL-ProductActivity-2.1-Example-2.xml xml/UBL-ProductActivity-2.1-Example-3.xml xml/UBL-Quotation-2.0-Example.xml xml/UBL-Quotation-2.1-Example.xml xml/UBL-ReceiptAdvice-2.0-Example.xml xml/UBL-Reminder-2.1-Example.xml xml/UBL-RemittanceAdvice-2.0-Example.xml xml/UBL-RequestForQuotation-2.0-Example.xml xml/UBL-RequestForQuotation-2.1-Example.xml xml/UBL-RetailEvent-2.1-Example.xml xml/UBL-SelfBilledCreditNote-2.1-Example.xml xml/UBL-Statement-2.0-Example.xml xml/UBL-StockAvailabilityReport-2.1-Example.xml xml/UBL-TradeItemLocationProfile-2.1-Example.xml xml/UBL-TransportationStatus-2.1-Example.xml xml/UBL-TransportExecutionPlan-2.1-Example.xml xml/UBL-TransportExecutionStatus-2.1-Example.xml xml/UBL-TransportProgressStatus-2.1-Example.xml xml/UBL-TransportServiceDescription-2.1-Example.xml xml/UBL-Waybill-2.0-Example-International.xml
Data Type Qualifications in UBL All UBL data types ultimately derive either from the UN/CEFACT Core Components Technical Specification Core Component Types (CCT) or from the W3C Schema specification itself; this derivation takes place in the UBL UDT module. The following table lists the CCTS 2.01 Core Component Types. CCTS Unqualified Data Types CCTS Data Type Definition Amount. Type A number of monetary units specified in a currency where the unit of currency is explicit or implied. Binary Object. Type A set of finite-length sequences of binary octets. Code. Type A character string (letters, figures or symbols) that for brevity and/or language independence may be used to represent or replace a definitive value or text of an Attribute together with relevant supplementary information. Date Time. Type A particular point in the progression of time together with relevant supplementary information. Identifier. Type A character string to identify and distinguish uniquely, one instance of an object in an identification scheme from all other objects in the same scheme together with relevant supplementary information. Indicator. Type A list of two mutually exclusive Boolean values that express the only possible states of a Property. Measure. Type A numeric value determined by measuring an object along with the specified unit of measure. Numeric. Type Numeric information that is assigned or is determined by calculation, counting, or sequencing. It does not require a unit of quantity or unit of measure. Quantity. Type A counted number of non-monetary units possibly including fractions. Text. Type A character string (i.e. a finite set of characters) generally in the form of words of a language.
The UBL unqualified data types include the CCTS unqualified data types (named per UBL NDR) and a few others, as listed in the following table. UBL Unqualified Data Types UBL Unqualified Data Type Definition AmountType A number of monetary units specified in a currency where the unit of the currency is explicit or implied. BinaryObjectType A set of finite-length sequences of binary octets. GraphicType A diagram, graph, mathematical curves, or similar representation. PictureType A diagram, graph, mathematical curves, or similar representation. SoundType A diagram, graph, mathematical curves, or similar representation. VideoType A diagram, graph, mathematical curves, or similar representation. CodeType A character string (letters, figures, or symbols) that for brevity and/or languange independence may be used to represent or replace a definitive value or text of an attribute together with relevant supplementary information. DateTimeType A particular point in the progression of time together with the relevant supplementary information. DateType One calendar day according the Gregorian calendar. TimeType The instance of time that occurs every day. IdentifierType A character string to identify and distinguish uniquely, one instance of an object in an identification scheme from all other objects in the same scheme together with relevant supplementary information. IndicatorType A list of two mutually exclusive Boolean values that express the only possible states of a property. MeasureType A numeric value determined by measuring an object along with the specified unit of measure. NumericType Numeric information that is assigned or is determined by calculation, counting, or sequencing. It does not require a unit of quantity or unit of measure. ValueType Numeric information that is assigned or is determined by calculation, counting, or sequencing. It does not require a unit of quantity or unit of measure. PercentType Numeric information that is assigned or is determined by calculation, counting, or sequencing. It does not require a unit of quantity or unit of measure. RateType Numeric information that is assigned or is determined by calculation, counting, or sequencing. It does not require a unit of quantity or unit of measuret. QuantityType A counted number of non-monetary units possibly including fractions. TextType A character string (i.e. a finite set of characters) generally in the form of words of a language. NameType A character string that consititues the distinctive designation of a person, place, thing or concept.
Some UBL BBIEs have data type qualifications based on the unqualified UBL types. These qualified types are all code types, and their definitions are the mechanism whereby a specific set of values is associated with each code. UBL data type qualifications are expressed formally in an OASIS (Context/Value Association) file contained in the cva directory of the 2.1 distribution. The specification of the CVA mechanism and format is maintained by the OASIS Code List Representation Technical Committee.
cva/UBL-DefaultDTQ-2.1.cva
A human-readable version is provided in an accompanying HTML file, which also serves as primary documentation on the UBL codes defined as qualified data types.
cva/UBL-DefaultDTQ-2.1.html
The val directory contains the predefined CVA associations compiled into an XSLT file, UBL-DefaultDTQ-2.1.xsl, which is used in the recommended two-phase validation process to perform a check of code list values. See for a description of this process.
val/UBL-DefaultDTQ-2.1.xsl
The UBL 2.1 approach to data type qualification is illustrated in the following diagram.
Data Type Qualification in UBL 2.1 [Data type qualification]
In UBL 2.1, the schema library of common basic components (basic information entities or BBIEs, (A) in the diagram) is based on a combination of the data types defined in the file of UBL 2.1 qualified data types (B) and the data types defined in a file of UBL 2.1 unqualified data types (C). The latter inherits the data type definitions in the UN/CEFACT CCTS CCT schema module Ver. 1.1 050114 (D). The UBL 2.1 CVA file (E) controls the creation of the UBL 2.1 XSLT stylesheet (F) used in validation. While this XSLT file, UBL-2.1-DefaultDTQ.xsl, can, in theory, apply to qualified data type qualifications in general (such as field length restrictions and value range restrictions), the version of this file included in the UBL 2.1 release contains only code list values. The two remaining boxes on the right in the diagram illustrate that users can add further data type qualifications if desired by preparing a custom CVA (G) and creating a custom XSLT file (H) to replace the default CVA and XSLT stylesheet provided in the UBL 2.1 distribution. Users intending to prepare a custom CVA should note that cva/UBL-DefaultDTQ-2.1.cva contains relative URIs that expect the UBL 2.0 code lists from the UBL 2.0 Update Package in a sibling directory named os-UBL-2.0. This is irrelevant to users of the precompiled val/UBL-DefaultDTQ-2.1.xsl file contained in the UBL 2.1 package, but users wishing to create their own CVA file must first install the UBL 2.0 release and then the UBL 2.0 update. To properly install the update, first download and install the original UBL 2.0 release:
http://docs.oasis-open.org/ubl/os-UBL-2.0.zip
Then download and install the UBL 2.0 update:
http://docs.oasis-open.org/ubl/os-UBL-2.0-update-delta.zip
Complete installation instructions can be found in the update package. As indicated above, the os-UBL-2.0 directory thus created must be a sibling to the directory created by installing the UBL 2.1 package. Alternative Representations of the UBL 2.1 Schemas UBL 2.1 continues the practice, adopted at the beginning of the UBL effort, of creating its normative XML specifications using W3C Schema (XSD) syntax. Included in this release are two additional alternative specifications of the same content: a set of UBL 2.1 ASN.1 modules and a set of UBL 2.1 RELAX NG (compact syntax) schemas. These alternative representations are technically non-normative, but both are generated directly from the XSD and, with the exception of the UBL 2.1 digital signature extension (see ), both are intended to implement the same document instance constraints.
ASN.1 UBL 2.1 Specification The UBL ASN.1 specification linked below provides an alternative schema definition for UBL documents in accordance with ITU-T X.680-X.693 . The UBL ASN.1 specification defines the same UBL documents as the UBL XSD schemas that constitute the normative definitions of valid UBL documents. The UBL ASN.1 XML specification enables ASN.1 tools to be used for UBL transfers, and in conjunction with the ASN.1 Packed Encoding Rules, it provides a specification for an efficient binary encoding of UBL messages. The zip archive below contains the ASN.1 modules corresponding to the UBL 2.1 document schemas as individual text files. The ASN.1 modules were created using a tool from OSS Nokalva that conforms to ITU-T Recommendation X.694 | ISO/IEC 8825-5 for converting XSD Schema to ASN.1.
UBL 2.1 ASN.1 Modules asn/ASN.1-UBL-2.1-text.zip
After conversion from XSD, the generated ASN.1 was formatted by the PrettyPrint tool at the ASN.1 Information Site to produce the following HTML documentation file.
UBL 2.1 ASN.1 Specification asn/ASN.1-UBL-2.1.html
UBL 2.1 RELAX NG Schemas (compact syntax) versions of the UBL schemas contributed by Crane Softwrights and used here by permission are located in the rnc directory. The Crane package includes RELAX NG schemas for both UBL 2.0 and 2.1, as detailed in the related documentation.
rnc/readme-rnc.html
The UBL 2.1 RELAX NG schemas are made accessible separately as listed below. In this release (PRD1), these schemas do not support the signature extension described in .
ApplicationResponse rnc/versions/UBL-ApplicationResponse-2.1.rnc AttachedDocument rnc/versions/UBL-AttachedDocument-2.1.rnc AwardedNotification rnc/versions/UBL-AwardedNotification-2.1.rnc BillOfLading rnc/versions/UBL-BillOfLading-2.1.rnc CallForTenders rnc/versions/UBL-CallForTenders-2.1.rnc Catalogue rnc/versions/UBL-Catalogue-2.1.rnc CatalogueDeletion rnc/versions/UBL-CatalogueDeletion-2.1.rnc CatalogueItemSpecificationUpdate rnc/versions/UBL-CatalogueItemSpecificationUpdate-2.1.rnc CataloguePricingUpdate rnc/versions/UBL-CataloguePricingUpdate-2.1.rnc CatalogueRequest rnc/versions/UBL-CatalogueRequest-2.1.rnc CertificateOfOrigin rnc/versions/UBL-CertificateOfOrigin-2.1.rnc ContractAwardNotice rnc/versions/UBL-ContractAwardNotice-2.1.rnc ContractNotice rnc/versions/UBL-ContractNotice-2.1.rnc CreditNote rnc/versions/UBL-CreditNote-2.1.rnc DebitNote rnc/versions/UBL-DebitNote-2.1.rnc DespatchAdvice rnc/versions/UBL-DespatchAdvice-2.1.rnc DocumentStatus rnc/versions/UBL-DocumentStatus-2.1.rnc DocumentStatusRequest rnc/versions/UBL-DocumentStatusRequest-2.1.rnc ExceptionCriteria rnc/versions/UBL-ExceptionCriteria-2.1.rnc ExceptionNotification rnc/versions/UBL-ExceptionNotification-2.1.rnc Forecast rnc/versions/UBL-Forecast-2.1.rnc ForecastRevision rnc/versions/UBL-ForecastRevision-2.1.rnc ForwardingInstructions rnc/versions/UBL-ForwardingInstructions-2.1.rnc FreightInvoice rnc/versions/UBL-FreightInvoice-2.1.rnc GoodsItemItinerary rnc/versions/UBL-GoodsItemItinerary-2.1.rnc GuaranteeCertificate rnc/versions/UBL-GuaranteeCertificate-2.1.rnc InstructionForReturns rnc/versions/UBL-InstructionForReturns-2.1.rnc InventoryReport rnc/versions/UBL-InventoryReport-2.1.rnc Invoice rnc/versions/UBL-Invoice-2.1.rnc ItemInformationRequest rnc/versions/UBL-ItemInformationRequest-2.1.rnc Order rnc/versions/UBL-Order-2.1.rnc OrderCancellation rnc/versions/UBL-OrderCancellation-2.1.rnc OrderChange rnc/versions/UBL-OrderChange-2.1.rnc OrderResponse rnc/versions/UBL-OrderResponse-2.1.rnc OrderResponseSimple rnc/versions/UBL-OrderResponseSimple-2.1.rnc PackingList rnc/versions/UBL-PackingList-2.1.rnc PerformanceHistory rnc/versions/UBL-PerformanceHistory-2.1.rnc PriorInformationNotice rnc/versions/UBL-PriorInformationNotice-2.1.rnc ProductActivity rnc/versions/UBL-ProductActivity-2.1.rnc Quotation rnc/versions/UBL-Quotation-2.1.rnc ReceiptAdvice rnc/versions/UBL-ReceiptAdvice-2.1.rnc Reminder rnc/versions/UBL-Reminder-2.1.rnc RemittanceAdvice rnc/versions/UBL-RemittanceAdvice-2.1.rnc RequestForQuotation rnc/versions/UBL-RequestForQuotation-2.1.rnc RetailEvent rnc/versions/UBL-RetailEvent-2.1.rnc SelfBilledCreditNote rnc/versions/UBL-SelfBilledCreditNote-2.1.rnc SelfBilledInvoice rnc/versions/UBL-SelfBilledInvoice-2.1.rnc Statement rnc/versions/UBL-Statement-2.1.rnc StockAvailabilityReport rnc/versions/UBL-StockAvailabilityReport-2.1.rnc Tender rnc/versions/UBL-Tender-2.1.rnc TenderReceipt rnc/versions/UBL-TenderReceipt-2.1.rnc TendererQualification rnc/versions/UBL-TendererQualification-2.1.rnc TendererQualificationResponse rnc/versions/UBL-TendererQualificationResponse-2.1.rnc TradeItemLocationProfile rnc/versions/UBL-TradeItemLocationProfile-2.1.rnc TransportExecutionPlan rnc/versions/UBL-TransportExecutionPlan-2.1.rnc TransportExecutionStatus rnc/versions/UBL-TransportExecutionStatus-2.1.rnc TransportProgressStatus rnc/versions/UBL-TransportProgressStatus-2.1.rnc TransportServiceDescription rnc/versions/UBL-TransportServiceDescription-2.1.rnc TransportationStatus rnc/versions/UBL-TransportationStatus-2.1.rnc UnawardedNotification rnc/versions/UBL-UnawardedNotification-2.1.rnc UtilityStatement rnc/versions/UBL-UtilityStatement-2.1.rnc Waybill rnc/versions/UBL-Waybill-2.1.rnc
Acknowledgements The OASIS UBL Technical Committee thanks Altova for its contribution of XML Spy licenses for use in UBL schema design; Sparx Systems for its contribution of Enterprise Architect licenses for use in developing UML content models; Syncro Soft for its contribution of oXygen licenses used in DocBook authoring of UBL documentation; RenderX for its contribution of XEP licenses used in generating PDF documents from DocBook originals; SRDC for developing iSurf eDoCreator (supported by European Commission FP7 ICT-213031 iSurf Project) and providing technical assistance in its use as an online repository and editing environment for UBL 2.1 document models and the generation of UBL schemas; OSS Nokalva for its contribution of ASN.1 UBL 2.1 specifications; and Crane Softwrights for permission to include a copy of their publicly-available HTML reports and UBL 2.1 RELAX NG schema resources.