What you always wanted to know about ebBP in five simple questions...


1. How does ebBP relate to other process standards?
ebBP is a standard process definition language for eBusiness collaboration to configure eBusiness and monitor business expectations of the business quality of service contract. It could be used in a complementary way with other process standards such as WS-Choreography Description Language (WS-CDL) for web services choreography, and/or WS-Business Process Execution Language (WS-BPEL) for orchestration. ebBP provides the business quality of service and semantics important for business stakeholders, particularly the conditions, constraints, and visibility criteria needed. ebBP could be used when leveraging WS-BPEL for managing enterprise applications that support the eBusiness exchanges. ebBP can also be mapped to the Business Process Definition Metamodel interaction protocol and represented in Business Process Modeling Notation as these latter two efforts converge to provide a flexible modeling environment for business processes, their semantics, and visualization.

2. What value add does ebBP provide for eBusiness stakeholders and when compared to other process languages?
ebBP's origin began with the UN/CEFACT Modeling Methodology and the international business transaction patterns that support eBusiness. Those patterns, and the business quality of service expectations defined to support them are key to the successful use of ebBP.  ebBP provides a level of business abstraction independent of any platform, software or services, which also adds flexibility to its use with web services and other XML based technologies.  ebBP also allows mapping semantic details and content to business documents and business transactions. Coupled with the use of business signals, business stakeholders can effectively manage their eBusiness document exchanges.

3. What general applications are targeted for the use of ebBP?
ebBP documents the document-based, business message exchanges important to eBusiness automation.  It therefore provides a basis for and supports the business monitoring of those messages exchanges. When represented in BPMN and mapped to BPDM, ebBP provides a computable abstraction from  business modeling views and links to the technical contract or other drivers or guides to enterprise processes.  ebBP definitions, such as the modular descriptions developed by Universal Business Language (UBL), a library of business process modules can be developed to speed the definition of, consistent application using and other domain aspects important to many domains.

4. What use cases are met by ebBP? What tools are available or can be used?ebBP practically can be used with many XML based design tools, including Oxygen, XMLSpy and other editors. A freebxmlbp editor is available on Source Forge. In addition, another collaborative effort is underway to support use of ebBP with other modeling languages using Eclipse.  Visual Studio also supports ebBP. ebBP has  been applied in domains such as textiles, transport, health care, financial services, and eGovernment.

5. Where is ebBP going?
The focus is adoption and promotion of this ebBP OASIS Standard v2.0.4 to ISO to join the ISO 15000 set.  Future efforts are under discussion with several organizations.
ebBP TC, OASIS