The new supply chain for booksEDItX and Web Services

Francis Cave

EDItEUR

The Book Business and International Information Standards

EDItEUR Seminar, Moscow, September 2007

The new supply chain…

• The Internet has changed the way that businesses trade with one another

• The book trade is no exception!– consumers buy books online– publishers promote books online– now supply chains are going online

• The cost of going online is relatively low– small enterprises (publishers, bookshops) can afford

to be players in the new supply chain– traditional EDI is too expensive for small players

Supply chain communication

• To trade electronically the book trade needs communication standards – standards define how business partners

communicate• how messages are exchanged• what messages contain

– standards exist for traditional EDI• EDIFACT, national standards

– what is needed for trading on the Internet?

Standards for e-commerce

• There have been several international projects to develop global standards for electronic trading:– 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

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

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

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)

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…

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

What are Web Services?

• Web Services are established conventions for the use of Web protocols for communication between business systems

• Web Services enable transactions that involve requests and responses to be conducted in “real time” (without delay)– e.g. an Order Request requires an immediate

Order Response

BIC Web Services

• Published BIC Web Service standards:– Price & Availability Request / Response– Order Cancellation Request / Response– Product Information Request / Response

• ONIX and MARC versions

• Draft standards in development include:– Order Request / Response– Retrieve Invoice List– Copy Invoice Request / Response– Post Invoice

International interest in 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

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

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?

THANK YOU!