The OAGi Architecture Council has been meeting over the last several months to discuss the next generation of OAGi specifications. Key considerations under discussion is the growing number of vertical standards organizations who are establishing alignment and convergence strategies around OAGi, and the forthcoming UN/CEFACT Core Component Version 3 standards stack suite of specifications.
OAGi has long been recognized as the international leader in manufacturing B2B specifications. However in recent years growing numbers of vertical industry standards organizations have recognized OAGi as a leader in cross-industry standards strategy and standards development operations. Recently the chemical industry has decided to transfer the operations of the Chemical Industry Data Exchange into OAGi. Other standards organizations are considering similar moves as a way of meeting member requirements for achieving cross-industry interoperability. For example, numerous titans of the High Tech community - including Intel and Cisco - have established a High Tech Council in OAGi for the expressed purpose of developing new standards for that industry that integrate with OAGi standards for other industries.
Beyond simple transfer of operations, other standards setting organizations are recognizing the value of re-using OAGi defined standards. This is made possible through OAGis commitment to using the UN/CEFACT CCTS standards stack, and through their commitment to developing standards that can be contextualized to meet each users unique requirements.
As UN/CEFACT delivers their long awaited updates to the CCTS standards stack, significant improvements in the quality and usability of the standards, as well as increased functionality and support for contextualization make the business case for transition of all existing standards built on CCTS to the new version. Additionally, those standards organizations that are under pressure to deliver value to their constituency through increased interoperability and reusability of data from the shop floor to the end user will be in a position to meet those expectations through adoption of the CCTS standards stack. The OAGi architecture council has recognized this, and is making plans for Version X to be fully conformant to these new specifications.
SAP is a member of the OAGi Policy Board and Architecture and High Tech Councils, and actively participates in the work of OAGi. If you would like more information on our work in OAGi, you can contact myself (mark.crawford@sap.com) or Kai-Yin Gau (kai-yin.gau@sap.com).
