The new supply chain for books EDItX and Web Services

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The new supply chain for booksEDItX and Web
Services
The Book Business and International Information
Standards EDItEUR Seminar, Moscow, September 2007

• Francis Cave
• EDItEUR

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The new supply chain

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

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Supply chain communication

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

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Standards for e-commerce

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

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EDItX

• In 2001 EDItEUR decided to develop XML-based
  message formats for transactions used in the book
  supply chain
• in collaboration with the Book Industry Study
  Group (BISG), representing the book trade in
  North America
• EDItX EDItEUR XML

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EDItX for trade supply

• Initial development of a family of message
  formats for trade supply
• Order, Order Response, Ship Notice, Order
  Cancellation, Order Status Enquiry, Order Status
  Report, Stock Enquiry, Stock Report
• Invoice format not included in original set
• Version 1.0 published by EDItEUR in March 2004

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EDItX for library supply

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

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How to exchange EDItX messages?

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

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Web Services

• In 2004 Book Industry Communications in the UK
  launched the e4books project
• AIM to have the entire UK book industry trading
  electronically by May 2008
• An early conclusion was that the industry needed
  to define better ways of communicating over the
  Internet that were accessible to small players
• BIC decided to develop a series of Web Service
  standards for the UK book trade

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What are Web Services?

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

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BIC Web Services

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

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International interest in EDItX

• In 2006 there was renewed international interest
  in EDItX, especially in Scandinavian countries
• In April 2007 EDItEUR published EDItX Version 1.1
  for trade supply, including new formats
• Invoice, Returns Request, Returns Response
• New interest in EDItX for Library Supply
• full set of message formats currently under
  development

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EDItX and Web Services

• In the UK, BIC is implementing a number of EDItX
  trade formats in its Web Service standards
• Order, Order Response, Invoice

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EDItEUR and Web Services

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

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THANK YOU!