Case study of a semantic library underpinning the four-corner model for document exchange
ERP and business systems around the world are having to interconnect more today than ever before. Changing one's system to address interoperability can be a disruption and a risk. The four-corner model for document exchange addresses this in an interoperable network by requiring users' network representatives to exchange the semantic content of documents using a single declarative syntax. For business documents, multiple global networks have chosen the OASIS Universal Business Language (UBL) semantic library and XML syntax between access point network representatives. This is a model any industry sector can adopt to introduce successful interoperability into legacy environments.
G. Ken Holman is the editor of the Universal Business Language (UBL) 2.3 standard and the facilitator of the Business Payments Coalition (BPC) Exchange Framework Semantics Workgroup. He has spent his career helping committees and companies in determining semantic ontologies and taxonomies, and then realizing them in declarative markup.