Universal Business Language 2.0 Public Review Draft

Publication Date

19 January 2006

Document identifier

prd-UBL-2.0

Editorial Status

Public Review Draft

Location

http://docs.oasis-open.org/ubl/prd-UBL-2.0/

Downloadable Package Location

http://docs.oasis-open.org/ubl/prd-UBL-2.0.zip

Editors

Jon Bosak and Tim McGrath

Contributors

Members of the OASIS UBL Technical Committee

Abstract

This specification defines the Universal Business Language version 2.0.

Status

This document is a public review draft of the OASIS Universal Business Language (UBL) Technical Committee. The UBL TC invites interested parties to comment on this release using the comment link on the UBL TC web page:

http://www.oasis-open.org/committees/comments/form.php?wg_abbrev=ubl

For legal reasons, only those comments that are submitted through the web page above can be considered in revising the current draft. Since the comment input form receives large amounts of spam, however, it is strongly recommended that comments submitted through the form above be copied to the UBL TC chair (jon.bosak@sun.com) and vice chair (tmcgrath@portcomm.com.au) to ensure that they are properly noted.

To avoid duplication, please check the known issues list before sending a comment:

http://www.eccnet.com/UniversalBusinessLanguage/IssuesList.xml

Note that the purpose of this public review draft is to solicit input from the UBL user community. It will undergo further revision as a result of that input. Consequently, the current draft should not be implemented except for testing purposes.

See Appendix A: Release Notes for more information regarding this release package.

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Table of Contents

1 Introduction

2 Normative References

3 Terms and Definitions

4 Symbols and Abbreviations

5 UBL 2.0 Process Context

6 UBL 2.0 Schemas

Appendix A (Informative): Release Notes

Appendix B (Informative): UBL 2.0 Data Models

Appendix C (Informative): UBL 2.0 Code Lists

Appendix D (Informative): UBL 2.0 Naming and Design Rules

Appendix E: Notices

1 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.

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 standard basis for XML business schemas is expected to provide the following advantages:

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.

1.1 The Original UBL 1.0 Order-to-Invoice Process

UBL 2.0 builds upon the basic procurement process established in UBL 1.0. That process, based on eight basic document types shown in bold outline, is illustrated in the diagram below. (See Section 5 for the process contexts assumed for UBL 2.0.)

[ubl 1.0 order-to-invoice diagram]

Figure 1. UBL 1.0 Order-to-Invoice Business Process

Though apparently limited in scope, the eight document types provided in UBL 1.0 are applicable to a very large number of real-world use cases and have been widely deployed.

1.2 New in UBL 2.0

Adoption of UBL 1.0 following ratification as an OASIS Standard in November 2004 has resulted in major inputs of new 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 the United States have resulted in greatly expanded pre-order and post-invoice capabilities together with the addition of several transport-related document types. These additions have increased the number of UBL document types from eight in UBL 1.0 to 29 in UBL 2.0.

Original UBL 1.0 order-to-invoice document types: Order, OrderResponse, OrderResponseSimple, OrderChange, OrderCancellation, DespatchAdvice, ReceiptAdvice, Invoice

New UBL 2.0 document types for sourcing: CatalogueRequest, Catalogue, CatalogueItemSpecificationUpdate, CataloguePricingUpdate, CatalogueDeletion, RequestForQuotation, Quotation

New UBL 2.0 document types for fulfilment: ForwardingInstruction, PackingList, BillOfLading, Waybill, CertificateOfOrigin

New UBL 2.0 document types for billing: CreditNote, DebitNote, SelfBilledInvoice, SelfBilledCreditNote, FreightInvoice

New UBL 2.0 document types for payment: RemittanceAdvice, Statement

New UBL 2.0 supplementary document types: ApplicationResponse, AttachedDocument

The role of the 21 new UBL 2.0 document types is described in further detail below.

1.3 Other Differences between UBL 1.0 and UBL 2.0

While every effort has been made to keep UBL 2.0 backward-compatible with UBL 1.0, several changes resulting from experience with 1.0 have proven extensive enough to make this a major release instead of a minor version update. These changes must be considered in upgrading existing UBL-based systems to take advantage of the greatly expanded applicability of UBL 2.0.

1.3.1 Global Scoping

In UBL 1.0, the great majority of element types were globally scoped, the only exceptions being ID and Code. In UBL 2.0, all types are globally scoped.

1.3.2 Code Lists

The UBL mechanism for specifying and validating code lists has been completely revamped using the power of Schematron [SCH] (ISO/IEC 19757-3) to make it easier to modify code lists and perform basic business rule checking. See Appendix C, Code Lists.

1.3.3 Data Elements

A number of elements have been changed to reflect actual practice, as shown in the following two tables.

Aggregate BIEBasic or Association BIEChange in UBL 2.0
Address  
 AddressLineChanged cardinality to 0..n
AddressLine  
 LineChanged cardinality to 1
AllowanceCharge  
 CurrencyCodeRemoved
BasePrice  
 MaximumQuantityRemoved
 MinimumQuantityRemoved
 MaximumAmountRemoved
 MinimumAmountRemoved
BuyerParty Renamed to CustomerParty
 BuyerAssignedAccountIDRenamed to CustomerAssignedAccountID
 SellerAssignedAccountIDRenamed to SupplierAssignedAccountID
Delivery  
 DespatchAddressReplaced by Despatch
DespatchLine  
 DeliveryReplaced by Shipment
 DeliveryTermsReplaced by Shipment
 Item
 TransportHandlingUnitReplaced by Shipment
DocumentReference  
 CopyIndicatorChanged cardinality to 1
InvoiceLine  
 LineStatusCodeRemoved
Item  
 SalesConditionsRenamed to TransactionConditions
 TaxCategoryRenamed to ClassifiedTaxCategory
 BasePriceRemoved
LineItem  
 BuyersIDRenamed to ID
 SellersIDRenamed to SalesOrderID
OrderLineReference  
 BuyersLineIDRenamed to LineID and changed cardinality to 1
 SellersLineIDRenamed to SalesOrderLineID
OrderReference  
 BuyersIDRenamed to ID and changed cardinality 10 1
 SellersIDRenamed to SalesOrderID
Party  
 PartyNameChanged cardinality to 0..n
PartyName  
 NameChanged cardinality to 1
ReceiptLine  
 LineStatusCodeRemoved
 DeliveryReplaced by Shipment
 TransportHandlingUnitReplaced by Shipment
 OrderedItemIdentificationReplaced by Item
SalesConditions Renamed to TransactionConditions
SellerParty Renamed to SupplierParty
 BuyerAssignedAccountIDRenamed to CustomerAssignedAccountID
 SellerAssignedAccountIDRenamed to SupplierAssignedAccountID
Shipment  
 TransportEquipmentReplaced by TransportHandlingUnit
TaxCategory  
 ExemptionReasonRemoved
TaxScheme  
 JurisdictionAddressRenamed to JurisdictionRegionAddress
TaxTotal  
 TotalTaxAmountRenamed to TaxAmount
TransportEquipment  
 DimensionRenamed to MeasurementDimension
TransportEquipmentSeal  
 IssuerTypeCodeRenamed to SealIssuerTypeCode
TransportHandlingUnit  
 UnitTypeCodeRenamed to TransportHandlingUnitTypeCode

Table 1. Changes to Library Elements in UBL 2.0

Aggregate BIEBasic or Association BIEChange in UBL 2.0
DespatchAdvice  
 CopyIndicatorChanged cardinality to 1
 BuyerPartyRenamed to BuyerCustomerParty
 SellerPartyRenamed to SellerSupplierParty
 FreightForwarderPartyReplaced by Shipment
 DeliveryReplaced by Shipment
 DeliveryTermsReplaced by Shipment
 DespatchedTransportHandlingUnitReplaced by Shipment
 ActualShipmentReplaced by Shipment
Invoice  
 CopyIndicatorChanged cardinality to 1
 InvoiceCurrencyCodeRenamed to DocumentCurrencyCode and changed cardinality to 1
 LineItemCountNumericRemoved
 BuyerPartyRenamed to BuyerCustomerParty and changed cardinality to 0..1
 SellerPartyRenamed to SellerSupplierParty and changed cardinality to 0..1
 PaymentMeansChanged cardinality to 0..n
 ExchangeRateRenamed to TransactionExchangeRate
Order  
 BuyersIDRenamed to ID and changed cardinality to 1
 SellersIDRenamed to SalesOrderID
 CopyIndicatorChanged cardinality to 1
 AcknowledgementResponseCodeRemoved
 TransactionCurrencyCodeRenamed to DocumentCurrencyCode and changed cardinality to 1
 EarliestDateRemoved
 ExpiryDateRemoved
 ValidityDurationMeasureRemoved
 TaxTotalAmountRemoved
 LineExtensionTotalAmountRemoved
 TotalPackagesQuantityRemoved
 GrossWeightMeasureRemoved
 NetWeightMeasureRemoved
 NetNetWeightMeasureRemoved
 GrossVolumeMeasureRemoved
 NetVolumeMeasureRemoved
 LineItemCountNumericRemoved
 ContractDocumentReferenceReplaced by Contract
 QuoteDocumentReferenceRenamed to QuotationDocumentreference
 BuyerPartyRenamed to BuyerCustomerParty
 SellerPartyRenamed to SellerSupplierParty
 OriginatorPartyRenamed to OriginatorCustomerParty
 SalesConditionsRenamed to TransactionConditions
OrderCancellation  
 CopyIndicatorChanged cardinality to 1
 IssueDateTimeRenamed to IssueDate and changed to Date datatype
 DocumentStatusCodeRemoved
 ResponseRequiredIndicatorRemoved
 AcceptedIndicatorRemoved
 BuyerPartyRenamed to BuyerCustomerParty
 SellerPartyRenamed to SellerSupplierPArty
OrderChange  
 BuyersIDRenamed to ID
 SellersIDRenamed to SalesOrderID
 CopyIndicatorChanged cardinality to 1
 DocumentStatusCodeRemoved
 AcknowledgementResponseCodeRemoved
 TransactionCurrencyCodeRenamed to DocumentCurrencyCode and changed cardinality to 1
 EarliestDateRemoved
 ExpiryDateRemoved
 ValidityDurationMeasureRemoved
 TaxTotalAmountRemoved
 LineExtensionTotalAmountRemoved
 TotalPackagesCountQuantityRemoved
 GrossWeightMeasureRemoved
 NetWeightMeasureRemoved
 NetNetWeightMeasureRemoved
 GrossVolumeMeasureRemoved
 NetVolumeMeasureRemoved
 LineItemCountNumericRemoved
 OrderReferenceChanged cardinality to 1
 ContractDocumentReferenceReplaced by Contract
 QuoteDocumentReferenceRenamed to QuotationDocumentReference
 BuyerPartyRenamed to BuyerCustomerParty
 SellerPartyRenamed to SellerSupplierParty
 OriginatorPartyRenamed to OriginatorCustomerParty
 SalesConditionsRenamed to TransactionConditions
OrderResponse  
 BuyersIDRenamed to ID and changed cardinality to 1
 SellersIDRenamed to SalesOrderID
 CopyIndicatorChanged cardinality to 1
 DocumentStatusCodeRemoved
 EarliestDateRemoved
 ExpiryDateRemoved
 ValidityDurationMeasureRemoved
 TaxTotalAmountRemoved
 LineExtensionTotalAmountRemoved
 TotalPackagesCountQuantityRenamed to TotalPackagesQuantity
 LineItemCountNumericRemoved
 BuyerPartyRenamed to BuyerCustomerParty
 SellerPartyRenamed to SellerSupplierParty
 OriginatorPartyRenamed to OriginatorCustomerParty
 SalesConditionsRenamed to TransactionConditions
 RespondedOrderLineRenamed to OrderLine
OrderResponseSimple  
 CopyIndicatorChanged cardinality to 1
 DocumentStatusCodeRemoved
 BuyerPartyRenamed to BuyerCustomerParty
 SellerPartyRenamed to SellerSupplierParty
ReceiptAdvice  
 CopyIndicatorChanged cardinality to 1
 BuyerPartyRenamed to BuyerCustomerParty
 SellerPartyRenamed to SellerSupplierParty
 FreightForwarderPartyReplaced by Shipment
 DeliveryReplaced by Shipment
 ReceivedTransportHandlingUnitReplaced by Shipment

Table 2. Changes to Document Elements in UBL 2.0

1.3.4 Attributes

Several attribute names have been changed to implement the UN/CEFACT Core Component Type schemas, as shown in the following table.

TypeAttributeChange in UBL 2.0
AmountType  
 amountCurrencyIDRenamed to CurrencyID
 amountCurrencyCodeListVersionIDRemoved
BinaryObjectType  
 formatAdded
 mimeCodeAdded
 encodingCodeAdded
 uriAdded
 filenameAdded
GraphicType  
 formatAdded
 mimeCodeAdded
 encodingCodeAdded
 uriAdded
 filenameAdded
 characterSetCodeRemoved
PictureType  
 formatAdded
 mimeCodeAdded
 encodingCodeAdded
 uriAdded
 filenameAdded
 characterSetCodeRemoved
SoundType  
 formatAdded
 mimeCodeAdded
 encodingCodeAdded
 uriAdded
 filenameAdded
 characterSetCodeRemoved
VideoType  
 formatAdded
 mimeCodeAdded
 encodingCodeAdded
 uriAdded
 filenameAdded
 characterSetCodeRemoved
CodeType  
 codeListIDRenamed to listID
 codeListAgencyIDRenamed to listAgencyID
 codeListAgencyNameRenamed to listAgencyName
 codeListNameRenamed to listName
 codeListVersionIDRenamed to listVersionID
 codeListURIRenamed to listURI
 codeListSchemeURIRenamed to listSchemeURI
IdentifierType  
 identificationSchemeIDRenamed to schemeID
 identificationSchemeNameRenamed to schemeName
 identificationSchemeAgencyIDRenamed to schemeAgencyID
 identificationSchemeAgencyNameRenamed to schemeAgencyName
 identificationSchemeVersionIDRenamed to schemeVersionID
 identificationSchemeURIRenamed to schemeURI
 identificationSchemeDataURIRenamed to schemeDataURI
MeasureType  
 measureUnitCodeRenamed to unitCode
 measureUnitCodeListVersionIDRenamed to unitCodeListVersionID
QuantityType  
 quantityUnitCodeRenamed to unitCode
 quantityUnitCodeListIDRemoved
 quantityUnitCodeListAgencyIDRemoved
 quantityUnitCodeListAgencyNameRemoved

Table 3. Changes to Attributes in UBL 2.0

1.4 Supporting Materials

As an aid to deployment, the standard XML schemas in UBL 1.0 were accompanied by a large quantity of supporting materials, most of them included in the UBL 1.0 release package as informative appendices and the remainder available from sites referenced in the release package. These materials included descriptions of example implementations, sample instances of each of the UBL documents used in the example implementations, formatting specifications for the United Nations Layout Keys corresponding to each of the UBL basic business document types, and an ASN.1 specification to enable the transmission of UBL messages in binary form. Also included were documents describing the UBL 1.0 Naming and Design Rules, the UBL 1.0 code list mechanism, and UBL 1.0 customization guidelines.

Due to the greatly increased scope of UBL 2.0, the supporting documents and informative materials corresponding to those in the UBL 1.0 Standard are being provided in a separate UBL 2.0 Support Package in order to reduce scheduling dependencies between the normative and informative parts of the specification. The Support Package is being developed in parallel with the UBL 2.0 specification and will be made available after ratification of UBL 2.0 as an OASIS Standard.

1.5 Taxation Rules

UBL 2.0 does not provide documents for tax reporting. It provides the structures on which tax information is based rather than implementations of specific tax rules.

To implement support for specific tax regimes, the OASIS UBL Technical Committee intends to work with the OASIS TaxXML Technical Committee to provide guidelines that explain how specific tax requirements (e.g., audit trails) are implemented using UBL.

1.6 UBL Customization and Profiling

Recommendations for the development of derivative implementations such as national and industry profiles of UBL will be provided as part of the UBL 2.0 Support Package.

1.7 UBL Development Methodology

UBL 2.0 has been developed based on the principles of the ebXML Core Components Technical Specification [CCTS]. This entailed developing conceptual models of Basic Information Entities.

To gather requirements and business rules, several workshops were held involving participants from a range of industries and countries.

Based on the defined processes and business rules for the context of use, Business Information Entities were identified and aggregated using normalization techniques to maximize re-use and clarify meanings. This resulted in a comprehensive model of all BIEs relevant to the UBL 2.0 use case. The design strategy has been to provide an 80/20 solution — describing 80% of the required components with 20% of the complexity. This meant that in some cases, components less commonly used or used only in particular contexts were dropped on the understanding that specific implementations may extend UBL to satisfy these requirements.

The resultant conceptual model of BIE components forms the library from which all UBL document models are assembled.

Every UBL 2.0 conceptual model of a document (known as a document assembly model) contains the “root” ABIE for the document. This itself contains several BBIEs (individual pieces of information) and ASBIEs (associations to other ABIEs in one of the three libraries). This creates the hierarachical structure necessary to represent an XML document schema.

The artifacts used to express these conceptual models are UML Class Diagrams and UBL-specific spreadsheets. The spreadsheets are the artifacts used to automatically generate schemas based on the UBL Naming and Design rules. As was the case in UBL 1.0, the UBL 2.0 schemas were generated by EDIFIX (see Appendix B, UBL 2.0 Data Models).

1.8 Acknowledgements

The UBL Technical Committee thanks Altova for its donation of XML Spy licenses and GEFEG for both its donation of EDIFIX licenses and its untiring programming and technical assistance.

2 Normative References

[ASN.1] ITU-T X.680-X.683: Abstract Syntax Notation One (ASN.1); ITU-T X.690-X.693: ASN.1 encoding rules
http://www.itu.int/ITU-T/studygroups/com17/languages/X.680-X.693-0207w.zip
http://www.oasis-open.org/committees/download.php/6320/X.680-X.693-0207w.zip
[CCTS] ISO/TS 15000-5:2005 Electronic Business Extensible Markup Language (ebXML) — Part 5: ebXML Core Components Technical Specification, Version 2.01 (ebCCTS)
http://www.oasis-open.org/committees/download.php/6232/CEFACT-CCTS-Version-2pt01.zip
[ISO11179] ISO/IEC 11179-1:1999 Information technology — Specification and standardization of data elements — Part 1: Framework for the specification and standardization of data elements
http://www.oasis-open.org/committees/download.php/6233/c002349_ISO_IEC_11179-1_1999%28E%29.pdf
[RFC2119] Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate Requirement Levels
http://www.faqs.org/rfcs/rfc2119.html
http://www.oasis-open.org/committees/download.php/6244/rfc2119.txt.pdf
[SCH] Document Schema Definition Languages (DSDL) - Part 3: Rule-based validation (Schematron)
http://www.iso.ch/iso/en/CatalogueDetailPage.CatalogueDetail?CSNUMBER=40833
[UML] Unified Modeling Language Version 1.5 (formal/03-03-01)
http://www.omg.org/docs/formal/03-03-01.pdf
http://www.oasis-open.org/committees/download.php/6240/03-03-01.zip
[XML] Extensible Markup Language (XML) 1.0 (Second Edition),W3C Recommendation 6 October 2000
http://www.w3.org/TR/2000/REC-xml-20001006
http://www.oasis-open.org/committees/download.php/6241/REC-xml-20001006.pdf
[XSD1] XML Schema Part 1: Structures, W3C Recommendation 2 May 2001
http://www.w3.org/TR/xmlschema-1/
http://www.oasis-open.org/committees/download.php/6248/xsd1.html
[XSD2] XML Schema Part 2: Datatypes, W3C Recommendation 2 May 2001
http://www.w3.org/TR/xmlschema-2/
http://www.oasis-open.org/committees/download.php/6247/xsd2.html

3 Terms and Definitions

Assembly model
A tree-structured model of ABIEs that can be implemented as a document schema.
Class diagram
A graphical notation used by [UML] to describe the static structure of a system, including object classes and their attributes and associations.
Context
The circumstance or events that form the environment within which something exists or takes place.
Document
A set of information components that are interchanged as part of a business transaction; for example, in placing an order.
Spreadsheet model
A representation of an assembly model in tabular form.
XSD schema
An XML document definition conforming to the W3C XML Schema language [XSD1][XSD2].

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 [CCTS].

The terms Object Class, Property Term, Representation Term, and Qualifier are used in this specification with the meanings given in [ISO11179].

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 [RFC2119].

4 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
EDI
Electronic Data Interchange
ISO
International Organization for Standardization
NDR
UBL Naming and Design Rules (see Appendix D)
UML
Unified Modeling Language [UML]
UN/CEFACT
United Nations Centre for Trade Facilitation and Electronic Business
XML
Extensible Markup Language [XML]
XSD
W3C XML Schema Language [XSD1] [XSD2]

5 Context of Use

This section defines the business process and contextual rules and requirements for the exchange of document types included in the UBL 2.0 release.

These processes (and the business rules associated with them) define a context for the use of the documents identified. 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 2.0 extends the order-to-invoice processs of UBL 1.0 to cover sourcing-to-payment and includes the commercial collaborations for international trade. The following use case diagram defines the scope of UBL 2.0 documents.

[Use Case Diagram]

Figure 2. Use Case covered by UBL 2.0

One of the guiding factors in defining this scope has been a focus on key documents for paperless trading. The following table lists the key document types for international trade as identified by the APEC Paperless Trading Initiative, with the names of the documents that are included in UBL 2.0 rendered in bold italic.

Insurance Certificate

Payment Order

Certificate Of Origin

Remittance Advice

Letter Of Credit

Debit Advice

Bill Of Lading

Customs Clearance

Waybill

Purchase Order

Manifest

Invoice

Declarations

Forwarding Instruction

Sanitary (health/hygiene) and Phytosanitary Certificates

Stowage Plan/Bay Plan

Arrival Notice Advice

Table 4. Documents Used for International Trade (APEC)

While this section describes the business rules and choreography of the generic process and the context played by each of the UBL 2.0 document types in that process, it is important to stress that these are indicative and demonstrative scenarios only and are not intended to limit the uses to which UBL documents can be put.

Also, it is important to note that the UBL 2.0 library is designed to support the construction of a wide variety of document types beyond those provided in the 2.0 package. It is expected that implementers will develop their own customized document types and that other UBL document types will be added as the library evolves.

5.1 General Business Rules

This section describes the requirements and general business rules that are assumed for collaborations and document exchanges in UBL 2.0.

5.1.1 Items

5.1.2 Item Identification

One of the following identifiers may be used to identify each Item (for example, a product):

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:

5.1.3 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.

5.1.4 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 Base Price, in which case it is not specified. This makes a detailed response from the Seller necessary; see Order Response.

5.1.5 Hazardous Items

Although ordered items may include Hazardous items, it is not necessary to specify related information 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.

5.1.6 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.

5.1.7 Multilingual Text

Descriptive components may be specified in several alternate languages.

5.2 Business Processes

The UBL 2.0 documents and library are designed to support a typical sourcing-to-payment procurement cycle.

The following sections describe each business collaboration in more detail. But first we should explain the roles that the parties involved in these processes may perform.

5.2.1 Party Roles

In the UBL procurement processes there are two main actors representing the key organizations or individuals involved in the process, Customer and Supplier. Each of these may play various roles. Processes may also involve supplementary roles which may be provided by different parties.

The actual role undertaken is dependant 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 transportation process is actually equal to the Despatch Party or Seller in procurement depends on different business cases.

The following table contains a description of the proposed procurement roles for the actor known as “Party”.

Actor

Role

Description

Example

Synonyms

Sends

Receives

Customer

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 the typically the contact point for queries regarding the original requirement and can 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

Buyer

The party that purchases the goods or services on behalf of the Originator.

The Buyer can 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

Delivery

The party to whom goods should be delivered.

The Delivery Party can 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

Debtor

The party responsible for making settlement relating to a purchase and resolving billing issues using a Debit Note.

The Debtor must be referred to in an Order and may be referred to in an Order Response.

In a Self Billing scenario, the Debtor 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 Debtor — they are going to pay for it.

Invoicee, Accounts Payable

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

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

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

Creditor

The party who claims the payment and is responsible for resolving billing issues and arranging settlement.

There are cases where the Creditor is not the Seller party. For example, factoring, where the invoicing is outsourced to another company.

Accounts Receivable, Invoice Issuer

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

Payee

The party to whom the Invoice is paid.

The Creditor may not be the party to be paid due to changes in the organization, e.g., a company merger.

Accounts Receivable


Remittance Advice

Party

Catalogue Managing

The party receiving a catalogue.

Catalogue items may never be ordered, so the recipient of the catalogue is not an Originator or a Buyer.

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

Information Content Owner

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.




Party

Receiver

The party receiving a document.

A marketplace may receive an Application Response.



Application Response

Party

Sender

The party sending a document.

A marketplace may send an Application Response.


Application Response


Party

Consignor

The party where goods are to be collected from.

The Consignor may be stipulated in a transport contract.

The Consignor will receive an invoice and make payments for the transport service provided.

The wheelchair Supplier may store chairs at 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.

The consignor will pay the freight forwarder for shipping the wheelchair to the destination.

Despatch Point, Shipper, Sender

Forwarding Instruction, Packing List

Bill of Lading, Waybill, Freight Invoice

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

Party

Freight Forwarder

The party arranging the carriage of goods, including connected services and/or associated formalities, on behalf of a Consignor or Consignee.

The Freight Forwarder may also be the Carrier.

The Freight Forwarder will create an invoice and bill to the consignor 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. This Freight Forwarder may then engage the Airline to transport the wheelchair. In this case, the Freight Forwarder is still the transport services provider while the Airline becomes the Carrier.

The Freight Forwarder will then bill the consignor for shipping the wheelchairs.

Shipping Agent, Broker, Courier

Forwarding Instruction, Freight Invoice

Bill of Lading, Waybill, Packing List

Party

Carrier

The party providing physical transport services.

The Freight Forwarder may engage the Airline 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 Instruction

Party

Exporter

The party supplies goods through the international purchase.

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 receiving a consignment of goods as stipulated in the transport contract.

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

Party

Freight Forwarder

The Freight Forwarder will create an Invoice and bill to the consignor for the transportation service provided.

Freight Forwarder is a transport services provider who arranges all the transport needed for transporting the wheelchairs. The freight forwarder will then bill the consignor for shipping the wheelchairs.

Shipping Agent, Broker, Courier

Freight Invoice


Party

Consignor

The consignor will receive an invoice and make payments for the transport service provided.

The consignor will pay the freight forwarder for shipping the wheelchair to the destination.

Despatch Point, Shipper, Sender


Freight Invoice

Table 5. Party Roles

5.3 Sourcing Collaboration

There are three kinds of sourcing:

A Seller, Catalogue Managing Party, Originator, or Buyer Party can initiate sourcing.

5.3.1 Catalogue Provision

A catalogue is defined as a document produced by a party in the procurement chain that describes items and prices.

Catalogue provision is the case where a Seller sends information regarding items available for purchase to a potential customer. This may be on request or unsolicited.

Because they are only potential customers, the role that receives a catalogue is always the Catalogue Managing Party.

5.3.1.1 Sourcing Business Rules

5.3.1.2 Create Catalogue

The process of creating a Catalogue is shown in the following activity diagram.

[Create Catalogue Activity Diagram]

Figure 3. Create Catalogue Process Model

5.3.1.3 Update Catalogue Item Specification

The process of updating a Catalogue Item Specification is shown in the following activity diagram.

[Update Item Specification Activity Diagram]

Figure 4. Update Item Specification Process Model

5.3.1.4 Update Catalogue Pricing

The process of updating Catalogue pricing is shown in the following activity diagram.

[Update Catalogue Pricing Activity Diagram]

Figure 5. Update Catalogue Pricing Process Model

5.3.1.5 Delete Catalogue

Deletion of a Catalogue is shown in the following activity diagram.

[Delete Catalogue Activity Diagram]

Figure 6. Delete Catalogue Process Model

5.3.2 Customer Initiated Sourcing

Customer initiated sourcing is the case where the Originator asks for a quotation, as shown in the following activity diagram.

[Customer Initiated Sourcing Activity Diagram]

Figure 7. Customer Initiated Sourcing Process Model

5.3.3 Punchout

Punchout applications are a technological innovation whereby an Originator is able to directly access a Seller's application from within their own procurement application.

[Punchout Sourcing Activity Diagram]

Figure 8. Punchout Sourcing Process Model

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 considered outside the scope of UBL 2.0.

5.4 Ordering Collaboration

Ordering is the collaboration that creates a contractual obligation between the Seller and the Buyer.

[Ordering Activity Diagram]

Figure 9. Ordering Process Model

5.4.1 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 can be placed “on account” against a trading credit account held by the Seller, or against a credit/debit card account, or 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 can 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 (5.4.3).

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 alternatives that are acceptable.

5.4.2 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.

5.4.3 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:

The Seller may advise on replacements or substitutes which will be made, or changes necessary, using the Order Response.

5.4.4 Order Change

The Buyer can 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 5.4.5) followed by a new, complete replacement Order.

An Order Change reflects the entire current state of an order transaction.

Buyers can initiate a change to a previously accepted order for various reasons, such as changing ordered items, quantity, delivery date, ship-to address, etc. Suppliers can accept or reject the Order Change using either Order Response or Order Response Simple.

5.4.5 Order Cancellation

At any point of the process, a Buyer can cancel an established order transaction using the Order Cancellation document. Legal contracts, trading partner agreements, and business rules will restrict at what point 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.

5.5 Fulfilment Collaboration

Fulfilment is the collaboration in which the goods or services are transferred from the Despatch Party to the Delivery Party.

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 Section 5.4, Ordering).

The Seller may have a fulfilment (or customer) service dealing with anomalies.

[Fulfilment with Despatch Advice Activity Diagram]

Figure 10. Fulfilment with Despatch Advice Process Model

5.5.1 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:

Additionally, in either case, the Despatch Advice can advise:

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.

5.5.2 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 Activity Diagram]

Figure 11. Fulfilment with Receipt Advice Process Model

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:

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.

5.6 Billing Collaboration

In the Billing collaboration, 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 can be billed.

For UBL 2.0, we propose the following methods:

  1. Traditional Billing

  2. Self Billing (also known as billing on receipt)

5.6.1 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:

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 can be specified either as a lump sum or by percentage applied to the whole Invoice value prior to calculation of taxes. Such charges cover:

Each Invoice Line refers to any related Order Line(s) and may also refer to the Despatch Line and/or Receipt Line.

5.6.2 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 can 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).

5.6.2.1 Billing using Credit Notes

Billing using Credit Notes is shown in the following activity diagram.

[Billing with Credit Note Activity Diagram]

Figure 12. Billing with Credit Note Process Model

When using Credit Notes, the supplier (in their role as Creditor) is responsible for specifying the tax requirements.

5.6.2.2 Billing using Debit Notes

Billing using Debit Notes is shown in the following activity diagram.

[Billing with Debit Note Activity Diagram]

Figure 13. Billing with Debit Note Process Model

When using Debit Notes, both the supplier (as Creditor) and the customer (as Debtor) are responsible for providing taxation information.

5.6.3 Self Billing

A self billing process is where a customer “invoices” themselves, in the name and on behalf of the supplier, and provides the supplier with a copy of the self billed invoice. Therefore the supplier still has the role of Creditor, and the Debtor is still the customer.

5.6.3.1 Self Billing using Credit Notes

Self Billing using Credit Notes is shown in the following activity diagram.

[Self Billing with Credit Note Activity Diagram]

Figure 14. Self Billing with Credit Note Process Model

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, they 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 billing credit note.

5.6.3.2 Self Billing using Self Billed Credit Notes

Self Billing using Self Billed Credit Notes is shown in the following activity diagram.

[Self Billing with Self Billed Credit Note Activity Diagram]

Figure 15. Self Billing with Self Billed Credit Note Process Model

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 (as Creditor) and the customer (as Debtor) are still both responsible for providing taxation information.

5.6.4 Freight Billing Process

An extension of the Billing process is that of Freight Billing. This use case represents the billing process between the Consignor and the Freight Forwarder through the use of an Invoice for freight charges.

The party acting the role of Freight Forwarder initiates the process of billing the Consignor for logistic services.

A Freight Invoice is issued by the party who provides the logistics services to the party who requests the service. The Freight Invoice lists the charges incurred in order to fulfill the agreed service.

[Freight Billing Activity Diagram]

Figure 16. Freight Billing Process Model

5.7 Payment Collaboration

The payment collaboration is where the Payee (who is most often the Creditor) is notified of any funds transferred against the account of the Debtor using a Remittance Advice.

[Payment Activity Diagram]

Figure 17. Payment Process Model

5.7.1 Statement of Account

A Statement of Account can be used to notify the Debtor of the status of the billing.

[Statement Activity Diagram]

Figure 18. Statement Process Model

5.8 Initiate Transport Services Collaboration

This use case defines the ordering of logistical services for international trade. With receipt of an order and acknowledgement by the Consignor that the goods are available and ready to be shipped, the Consignor initiates the transportation arrangements. This includes booking the consignment with a Transportation Provider such as the Freight Forwarder or the Carrier and advising the Delivery Party of the arrangements as needed.

It should be noted that this use case does not cover regulatory notifications such as Customs declarations or arrangements for the physical movement of goods.

[Initiate Transport Services Activity Diagram]

Figure 19. Initiate Transport Services Process Model

The party acting the role of Consignor initiates the process of delivery.

There are four types of documents involved in the process, namely:

5.8.1 Forwarding Instruction

A Forwarding Instruction is normally 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. It can 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 or consignor while the parties who receive this document are forwarders, carriers, shipping agents, etc.

A Forwarding Instruction may also be issued by a freight forwarder or shipping agent in their capacity as a “shipper”. This document can be used to arrange for the transportation:

5.8.2 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.

It can 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 does not provide the physical transportation service.

A Bill of Lading corresponds to the information on the Forwarding Instruction. It is used for ocean or river modes 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, 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.

5.8.3 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 shipper and consignee.

5.8.4 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.

5.9 Certification of Origin of Goods Collaboration

A Certificate of Origin (CO) 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 apply it to a local chamber of commerce or any designated government agency/board, i.e., 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 that the Exporter claims the goods originated in that country. Finally, the issued Certificate of Origin is received by the Importer.

[Certification Of Origin Of Goods Activity Diagram]

Figure 20. Certification Of Origin Of Goods Process Model

The party acting the role of Exporter initiates the process of certification of origin of goods. It is the responsibility of the party acting the role of Exporter to initiate the process by submitting an application to an authorized Issuer.

5.10 Document Types

The following table lists all the documents used in each collaboration.

Document

Description

Use case(s) involved

Submitter Role

Receiver Role

Catalogue Request

A document to request a Catalogue from a seller. May be either an entire new Catalogue or an update (at the discretion of the Seller).

Create Catalogue, Update Item Specification, Update Pricing

Catalogue Managing

Seller

Catalogue

A document produced by a party in the procurement chain that describes items and prices.

Create Catalogue

Seller

Catalogue Managing

Catalogue Deletion


A document to cancel an entire Catalogue. All previous Catalogue information becomes obsolete.

Delete Catalogue

Seller

Catalogue Managing

Catalogue Item Specification Update

A document to update information about Items in an existing Catalogue.

Update Catalogue Item Specification

Seller

Catalogue Managing

Catalogue Pricing Update


A document to update information about Prices in an existing Catalogue.

Update Catalogue Pricing

Seller

Catalogue Managing

Request For Quotation

A document to request pricing and availability information about goods or services.

Sourcing

Originator

Seller

Quotation

A document to specify pricing and availability information about goods or services.

Sourcing

Seller

Originator

Order

A document that contains information directly relating to the economic event of ordering products.

Ordering

Buyer

Seller

Order Response

A document responding to the customer to indicate detailed responses against a single Order.

Ordering

Seller

Buyer

Order Response Simple

A document responding to the customer to indicate simple acceptance or rejection of the entire Order.

Ordering

Seller

Buyer

Order Change

A document that contains information directly relating to the economic event of changing an Order.

Ordering, Fulfilment

Buyer

Seller

Order Cancellation

A document that advises either party of the cancellation of an Order.

Ordering, Fulfilment

Buyer

Seller

Despatch Advice

A document that describes the content of goods shipped.

Fulfilment

Despatch

Delivery

Receipt Advice

A document that advises the goods received and accepted by the buyer.

Fulfilment

Delivery

Despatch

Invoice

A document claiming payment for goods or services supplied under conditions agreed between the supplier and the customer. In most cases this document describes the actual financial commitment of goods or services ordered from the supplier.

Billing

Creditor

Debtor

Self Billed Invoice

A document provided by a customer, in the name and on behalf of the supplier, describing the claim for payment for goods or services supplied under conditions agreed between the supplier and the customer.

Billing

Debtor

Creditor

Credit Note

A document for a supplier to specify a reduced payment.

Billing

Creditor

Debtor

Debit Note

A document for a customer to specify a reduced payment.

Billing

Debtor

Creditor

Self Billing Credit Note

A document for a customer to specify a reduced payment in a Self Billing environment.

Billing

Debtor

Creditor

Statement

A document to list the financial transactions between customer and supplier and notify of their status.

Billing

Creditor

Debtor

Remittance Advice

A document to specify that funds have been transferred from the customer to the supplier.

Payment

Debtor

Creditor and/or Payee

Forwarding Instruction

A document 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.

Initiate Transport Services Process

Consignor, Freight Forwarder

Freight Forwarder, Carrier

Bill of Lading

A document stating the details of the transportation, charges, and terms and conditions under which the transportation service is provided.

Initiate Transport Services Process

Freight Forwarder, Carrier

Consignor, Freight Forwarder

Waybill

A document that provides information similar to Bill of Lading but is not negotiable and cannot be assigned to a third party.

Initiate Transport Services Process

Freight Forwarder, Carrier

Consignor, Freight Forwarder

Packing List

A document stating the detail of how goods are packed.

Initiate Transport Services Process

Consignor

Freight Forwarder

Freight Invoice

A document stating the charges incurred for the logistics service.

Freight Billing Process

Freight Forwarder

Consignor

Certificate of Origin

A signed document, required by governments, declaring that goods in a particular international shipment are of a certain origin. Customs offices will use this document to determine whether or not a preferential duty rate applies on the products being imported and whether a shipment may be legally imported during a specific quota period.

Certification of Origin of Goods Process

Exporter, Issuer

Issuer, Importer

Application Response

A document to indicate the application’s response to a transaction.

All

Sender

Receiver

Attached Document

In effect a ’wrapper’ UBL document that can contain anything. This allows a referenced document to be included in the package of documents being exchanged.

All

Sender

Receiver

Table 6. Documents Used in Each Transaction

6 UBL 2.0 Schemas

The UBL 2.0 XSD schemas are the only normative representations of the UBL 2.0 document types and library components.

All of the UBL 2.0 XSD schemas are contained in the xsd/ subdirectory of the UBL 2.0 release package (see Appendix A for more information regarding the structure of the 2.0 release package and Section 6.4 for information regarding dependencies among the schema modules). The xsd/ directory is further subdivided into xsd/maindoc/, xsd/common/, and xsd/codelist/ 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.

6.1 UBL 2.0 Document Schemas

XSD schemas defining the 29 UBL 2.0 document types are located in the xsd/maindoc/ directory, as listed below.

ApplicationResponse
xsd/maindoc/UBL-ApplicationResponse-2.xsd
AttachedDocument
xsd/maindoc/UBL-AttachedDocument-2.xsd
BillOfLading
xsd/maindoc/UBL-BillOfLading-2.xsd
Catalogue
xsd/maindoc/UBL-Catalogue-2.xsd
CatalogueDeletion
xsd/maindoc/UBL-CatalogueDeletion-2.xsd
CatalogueItemSpecificationUpdate
xsd/maindoc/UBL-CatalogueItemSpecificationUpdate-2.xsd
CataloguePricingUpdate
xsd/maindoc/UBL-CataloguePricingUpdate-2.xsd
CatalogueRequest
xsd/maindoc/UBL-CatalogueRequest-2.xsd
CertificateOfOrigin
xsd/maindoc/UBL-CertificateOfOrigin-2.xsd
CreditNote
xsd/maindoc/UBL-CreditNote-2.xsd
DebitNote
xsd/maindoc/UBL-DebitNote-2.xsd
DespatchAdvice
xsd/maindoc/UBL-DespatchAdvice-2.xsd
ForwardingInstruction
xsd/maindoc/UBL-ForwardingInstruction-2.xsd
FreightInvoice
xsd/maindoc/UBL-FreightInvoice-2.xsd
Invoice
xsd/maindoc/UBL-Invoice-2.xsd
Order
xsd/maindoc/UBL-Order-2.xsd
OrderCancellation
xsd/maindoc/UBL-OrderCancellation-2.xsd
OrderChange
xsd/maindoc/UBL-OrderChange-2.xsd
OrderResponse
xsd/maindoc/UBL-OrderResponse-2.xsd
OrderResponseSimple
xsd/maindoc/UBL-OrderResponseSimple-2.xsd
PackingList
xsd/maindoc/UBL-PackingList-2.xsd
Quotation
xsd/maindoc/UBL-Quotation-2.xsd
ReceiptAdvice
xsd/maindoc/UBL-ReceiptAdvice-2.xsd
RemittanceAdvice
xsd/maindoc/UBL-RemittanceAdvice-2.xsd
RequestForQuotation
xsd/maindoc/UBL-RequestForQuotation-2.xsd
SelfBilledCreditNote
xsd/maindoc/UBL-SelfBilledCreditNote-2.xsd
SelfBilledInvoice
xsd/maindoc/UBL-SelfBilledInvoice-2.xsd
Statement
xsd/maindoc/UBL-Statement-2.xsd
Waybill
xsd/maindoc/UBL-Waybill-2.xsd

6.2 UBL Common Schemas

The xsd/common directory contains schemas referenced by the document schemas in xsd/maindoc. Two of these common schemas contain the UBL library of reusable data components from which the main document schemas are assembled; three contain definitions needed to implement [CCTS] conformance; and one provides a consistent format for schema metadata. The name of each schema file together with a brief description of its contents is given below.

6.2.1 Reusable BIE Schemas

CommonBasicComponents
xsd/common/UBL-CommonBasicComponents-2.xsd
This 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.
CommonAggregateComponents
xsd/common/UBL-CommonAggregateComponents-2.xsd
This 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.

6.2.2 Reusable Datatype Schemas

CCTS_CCT_SchemaModule
xsd/common/CCTS_CCT_SchemaModule-2.xsd
This schema provides Core Component Types as defined by [CCTS]. These types are used to construct higher-level datatypes in a standardized and consistent manner. This schema is defined by UN/CEFACT and should not be modified.
UnqualifiedDataTypeSchemaModule
xsd/common/UnqualifiedDataTypeSchemaModule-2.xsd
This schema defines Unqualified Data Types for primary and secondary representation terms as specified by [CCTS]. Derived from Core Component Types, these XSD complexType structures are the basic data types from which all other data types must derive. This schema is defined by UN/CEFACT and should not be modified.
QualifiedDatatypes
xsd/common/UBL-SpecializedDatatypes-2.xsd
This schema provides Qualified Data Types as defined by [CCTS]. These XSD complexType structures are derived from Unqualified Data Types by extension, restriction, and other contextual constraints, such as facets. The Qualified Datatypes have been customized for UBL and may be further extended to support additional datatypes required for other business contexts.

6.2.3 Documentation Metadata Schema

CoreComponentParameters
xsd/common/UBL-CoreComponentParameters-2.xsd
This 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.

6.3 Imported Code List Schemas

Four standard code list schemas used in UBL 2.0 are included in the xsd/common directory. See Appendix C for further information about the structure and form of representation used for UBL code lists.

CodeList_CurrencyCode
xsd/common/CodeList_CurrencyCode_ISO_7_04.xsd
CodeList_LanguageCode
xsd/common/CodeList_LanguageCode_ISO_7_04.xsd
CodeList_MIMEMediaTypeCode
xsd/common/CodeList_MIMEMediaTypeCode_IANA_7_04.xsd
CodeList_UnitCode
xsd/common/CodeList_UnitCode_UNECE_7_04.xsd

6.4 Schema Dependencies

The following diagram shows the dependencies among the schema modules comprising a UBL 2.0 document schema.

[schema dependency diagram]

Figure 21. UBL Schema Dependencies

Appendix A (Informative): Release Notes

A.1 Availability

Online and downloadable versions of this release are available from the locations specified at the top of this document.

A.2 Package Structure

This Public Review Draft of the UBL 2.0 specification is published as a zip archive named prd-UBL-2.0.zip. Unzipping this archive creates a directory named prd-UBL-2.0 containing a master hypertext document (this document, index.html) and a number of subdirectories. The files in these subdirectories, linked to from index.html, contain the various normative and informational pieces of the 2.0 release. A description of each subdirectory is given below.

art/
Diagrams and illustrations used in this specification
mod/
Spreadsheet data models; see Appendix B
xsd/
XSD schemas; see Section 6
xsdrt/
“Runtime” XSD schemas; see Section 6

This draft package also contains a PDF file, index.pdf, that is automatically generated from index.html. The index.pdf file is included to comply with a procedural requirement of the current OASIS Technical Committee process and has no other function. It has no practical purpose and should be ignored. Please do not submit comments relating to the formatting or any other aspect of the index.pdf file.

A.3 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

A.4 Known Issues

As the purpose of this release is to gain early input from interested parties, the focus has been on exposing the UBL 2.0 data models and derived schemas rather than achieving perfection in editorial aspects of the specification. The present draft therefore exhibits the imperfections that would be expected at this stage of development. A list of known issues can be found at

http://www.eccnet.com/UniversalBusinessLanguage/IssuesList.xml

See Appendices C and D below for known issues regarding code lists and the UBL Naming and Design rules.

A technical review of the current schemas against the UBL NDRs will take place as part of the initial review cycle. Since not all recent NDR changes have been incorporated into EDIFIX programming, it is expected that a few inconsistencies will be found during the review.

Appendix B (Informative): UBL 2.0 Assembly Models

UBL assembly models are expressed using UML Class Diagrams and spreadsheets.

Class Diagrams are provided as useful guides to the overall UBL structures. They follow the UML profile currently under development for the UN/CEFACT Business Collaboration Schema Specification.

To assist in migrating from UBL 1.0 to UBL 2.0, these diagrams use pink boxes to represent ABIEs that existed in UBL 1.0 and red lines for ASBIEs that existed in UBL 1.0. BBIEs that existed in UBL 1.0 are marked with a "#" symbol. An XMI copy of the UBL 2.0 UML model will be provided as part of the UBL 2.0 Support Package.

Spreadsheets provide the supplementary metadata required by [CCTS]. Their format has been developed by UBL and extends the spreadsheet format used for UBL 1.0. They are provided in Open Document (ods) format as well as proprietary xls format. The OASIS Open Document Format for Office Applications (OpenDocument) is supported by OpenOffice, a free multiplatform, multilingual, open-source office suite.

UBL spreadsheet models can be used to generate XML Schemas using the EDIFIX software tool from GEFEG.

B.1 Library Assembly Model

UBL has been designed as a re-usable library of Aggregate Business Information Entities.

To aid readability, this library has been separated into three parts:

Common Library
Common Library Class Diagram
mod/lib/UBL-CommonLibrary-2.ods
mod/lib/UBL-CommonLibrary-2.xls
Procurement Library
Procurement Library Class Diagram
mod/lib/UBL-ProcurementLibrary-2.ods
mod/lib/UBL-ProcurementLibrary-2.xls
Transportation Library
Transportation Library Class Diagram
mod/lib/UBL-TransportationLibrary-2.ods
mod/lib/UBL-TransportationLibrary-2.xls

B.2 Document Assembly Models

Every UBL 2.0 document assembly model contains the 'root' ABIE for the document. This itself contains several BBIEs (individual pieces of information) and ASBIEs (associations to other ABIEs in one of the three libraries). This creates the hierarachical structure necessary to represent an XML document schema.

Application Response
Application Response Class Diagram
mod/maindoc/UBL-ApplicationResponse-2.ods
mod/maindoc/UBL-ApplicationResponse-2.xls
Attached Document
Attached Document Class Diagram
mod/maindoc/UBL-AttachedDocument-2.ods
mod/maindoc/UBL-AttachedDocument-2.xls
Bill Of Lading
Bill Of Lading Class Diagram
mod/maindoc/UBL-BillOfLading-2.ods
mod/maindoc/UBL-BillOfLading-2.xls
Catalogue
Catalogue Class Diagram
mod/maindoc/UBL-Catalogue-2.ods
mod/maindoc/UBL-Catalogue-2.xls
Catalogue Deletion
Catalogue Deletion Class Diagram
mod/maindoc/UBL-CatalogueDeletion-2.ods
mod/maindoc/UBL-CatalogueDeletion-2.xls
Catalogue Item Specification Update
Catalogue Item Specification Update Class Diagram
mod/maindoc/UBL-CatalogueItemSpecificationUpdate-2.ods
mod/maindoc/UBL-CatalogueItemSpecificationUpdate-2.xls
Catalogue Pricing Update
Catalogue Pricing Update Class Diagram
mod/maindoc/UBL-CataloguePricingUpdate-2.ods
mod/maindoc/UBL-CataloguePricingUpdate-2.xls
Catalogue Request
Catalogue Request Class Diagram
mod/maindoc/UBL-CatalogueRequest-2.ods
mod/maindoc/UBL-CatalogueRequest-2.xls
Certificate Of Origin
Certificate Of Origin Class Diagram
mod/maindoc/UBL-CertificateOfOrigin-2.ods
mod/maindoc/UBL-CertificateOfOrigin-2.xls
Credit Note
Credit Note Class Diagram
mod/maindoc/UBL-CreditNote-2.ods
mod/maindoc/UBL-CreditNote-2.xls
Debit Note
Debit Note Class Diagram
mod/maindoc/UBL-DebitNote-2.ods
mod/maindoc/UBL-DebitNote-2.xls
Despatch Advice
Despatch Advice Class Diagram
mod/maindoc/UBL-DespatchAdvice-2.ods
mod/maindoc/UBL-DespatchAdvice-2.xls
Forwarding Instruction
Forwarding Instruction Class Diagram
mod/maindoc/UBL-ForwardingInstruction-2.ods
mod/maindoc/UBL-ForwardingInstruction-2.xls
Freight Invoice
Freight Invoice Class Diagram
mod/maindoc/UBL-FreightInvoice-2.ods
mod/maindoc/UBL-FreightInvoice-2.xls
Invoice
Invoice Class Diagram
mod/maindoc/UBL-Invoice-2.ods
mod/maindoc/UBL-Invoice-2.xls
Order
Order Class Diagram
mod/maindoc/UBL-Order-2.ods
mod/maindoc/UBL-Order-2.xls
Order Cancellation
Order Cancellation Class Diagram
mod/maindoc/UBL-OrderCancellation-2.ods
mod/maindoc/UBL-OrderCancellation-2.xls
Order Change
Order Change Class Diagram
mod/maindoc/UBL-OrderChange-2.ods
mod/maindoc/UBL-OrderChange-2.xls
Order Response
Order Response Class Diagram
mod/maindoc/UBL-OrderResponse-2.ods
mod/maindoc/UBL-OrderResponse-2.xls
Order Response Simple
Order Response Simple Class Diagram
mod/maindoc/UBL-OrderResponseSimple-2.ods
mod/maindoc/UBL-OrderResponseSimple-2.xls
Packing List
Packing List Class Diagram
mod/maindoc/UBL-PackingList-2.ods
mod/maindoc/UBL-PackingList-2.xls
Quotation
Quotation Class Diagram
mod/maindoc/UBL-Quotation-2.ods
mod/maindoc/UBL-Quotation-2.xls
Receipt Advice
Receipt Advice Class Diagram
mod/maindoc/UBL-ReceiptAdvice-2.ods
mod/maindoc/UBL-ReceiptAdvice-2.xls
Remittance Advice
Remittance Advice Class Diagram
mod/maindoc/UBL-RemittanceAdvice-2.ods
mod/maindoc/UBL-RemittanceAdvice-2.xls
Request For Quotation
Request For Quotation Class Diagram
mod/maindoc/UBL-RequestForQuotation-2.ods
mod/maindoc/UBL-RequestForQuotation-2.xls
Self Billed Credit Note
Self Billed Credit Note Class Diagram
mod/maindoc/UBL-SelfBilledCreditNote-2.ods
mod/maindoc/UBL-SelfBilledCreditNote-2.xls
Self Billed Invoice
Self Billed Invoice Class Diagram
mod/maindoc/UBL-SelfBilledInvoice-2.ods
mod/maindoc/UBL-SelfBilledInvoice-2.xls
Statement
Statement Class Diagram
mod/maindoc/UBL-Statement-2.ods
mod/maindoc/UBL-Statement-2.xls
Waybill
Waybill Class Diagram
mod/maindoc/UBL-Waybill-2.ods
mod/maindoc/UBL-Waybill-2.xls

Appendix C (Informative): UBL 2.0 Code Lists

The code list mechanism used in UBL 1.0 is being completely revised for UBL 2.0. That revision is not yet complete as of the initial UBL 2.0 review cycle (January 2006). In particular, enumerated values for some of the code lists "hardwired" in UBL 2.0 are missing from this initial review; as a result, incorrect values for these code lists appearing in document instances will not be caught in XSD validation at this stage, though this should not affect the utility of the draft document schemas. A brief description of the new code list mechanism will be included in this appendix following the initial public review, and a complete description of its use will be included in the UBL 2.0 Support Package following release of UBL 2.0 as an OASIS Standard.

Appendix D (Informative): UBL 2.0 Naming and Design Rules

The XML Naming and Design Rules (NDRs) used in creating the UBL schemas in this draft specification are complete but have not yet been incorporated into a document suitable for publication. The final NDR document will be released as part of UBL 2.0 publication.

Appendix E: Notices

OASIS takes no position regarding the validity or scope of any intellectual property or other rights that might be claimed to pertain to the implementation or use of the technology described in this document or the extent to which any license under such rights might or might not be available; neither does it represent that it has made any effort to identify any such rights. Information on OASIS's procedures with respect to rights in OASIS specifications can be found at the OASIS website. Copies of claims of rights made available for publication and any assurances of licenses to be made available, or the result of an attempt made to obtain a general license or permission for the use of such proprietary rights by implementors or users of this specification, can be obtained from the OASIS Executive Director.

OASIS invites any interested party to bring to its attention any copyrights, patents or patent applications, or other proprietary rights which may cover technology that may be required to implement this specification. Please address the information to the OASIS Executive Director.

Copyright © OASIS Open 2006. All Rights Reserved.

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