HR-XML Consortium Stock Plan Interface Standard

HR-XML Consortium Approves Employee Stock Plan Interface Standard

Efficiencies and Cost Savings for All Parties Involved In Administering Stock Plans

Raleigh, NC, USA. October 08, 2002.

Linking systems to administer employee stock plans promises to be easier and less expensive than ever before with today's release of the HR-XML Consortium's Stock Plan Interface Standard. This vendor-neutral, open standard offers employers, third-party administrators, and brokers new efficiencies and cost savings when building interfaces to exchange employee stock plan data. In addition, the specification will enable easy compilation of data required for reporting and compliance.

To attract and retain employees, many employers reward their workers with stock options or offer employees the opportunity to purchase stock through an employee stock purchase plan (ESPP). A third-party administrator or broker often handles the administration of these programs and the exercise of options or selling of stock. Because of a lack of e-business standards for ESPP and stock option programs, expensive custom interfaces must be built between employer systems and those of stock plan administrators and brokers. The HR- XML Consortium's stock plan specification offers a standardized interface as an alternative to expensive custom interfaces. Version 1.0 of the standard provides the definitions necessary for the administration of stock option programs. A future version of the specification also will support employee stock purchase programs and other types of plans.

"Stock option and stock purchase programs are key motivators and a highly prized component of employee compensation," said Daniela Goerke, Development Manager, SAP, and chair of HR-XML's stock plan workgroup. "Standards developed by our stock plan workgroup will enable employers to deploy cost- effective, self-service 'HR portals' for employees to exercise stock options or purchase stock under an ESPP," according to Goerke.

"Employee self-service and HR Portals are becoming the norm for all types of companies," commented Bill Kerr, Principal Software Engineer, Oracle, and member of the HR-XML Consortium Board of Directors. "The HR-XML Consortium Stock Plan Interface Standard will streamline the deployment of self-service facilities that provide employees with rich and timely information and speedy execution of exercise requests," according to Kerr.

"HR-XML's stock plan interface specification represents a major breakthrough for international companies who must manage data from multiple HR systems for mobile and global workforces," said Gordon Rapkin, Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer for Transcentive. "The specification offers efficiencies for all parties involved in stock plan administration -- employers, third-party services providers, and brokers -- while providing a higher level of service to employees," Rapkin said.

HR-XML Consortium member companies sponsoring the stock plan workgroup included Oracle, PeopleSoft, SAP, Fidelity Investments, Transcentive and Watson Wyatt Worldwide. To register to download the freely available stock plan specification or a plain-language set of answers to frequently asked questions, visit: http://www.hr-xml.org/stock/.

About HR-XML

HR-XML (http://www.hr-xml.org/) is an independent, non-profit consortium dedicated to enabling e-commerce and inter-company exchange of human resources data worldwide. The work of the Consortium centers on the development and promotion of standardized XML vocabularies for HR. HR-XML's current efforts are focused on standards for staffing and recruiting, compensation and benefits, training and work force management. HR-XML is represented by its membership in 22 countries.

Membership within the HR-XML Consortium is open to HR professionals, vendors, consultants, and other users or providers of HR systems and services. For information on becoming an HR-XML member, please visit: http://www.hr-xml.org/channels/join.cfm. Member organizations include:

Acord; Adecco Corporation*; ADP*; Aetna US Healthcare*; Allegis Group, Inc./Thingamajob.com*; American Background Information Services, Inc.; American Staffing Association; ARINSO International; Association of Test Publishers; Authoria*; Automating Peripherals Inc; Best Software; BP; BrassRing, Inc.; CareerBuilder; CDI Corp/MRI*; Ceridian*; Cisco Systems; CitiStreet*; CompuCorps Mentoring; Convergys Employee Care; Crestone International*; Cross Current Corporation; Cyborg Systems, Inc.*; Defense Finance and Accounting Service; Development Dimensions International; Dobbs Temporary Services, Inc.; eBenX*; EdVerify, Inc.; Elance, Inc.; Embrace Ltd*; Employease, Inc.*; Enrollcom; e-peopleserve ltd; esohXML.org; European Community Telework Forum; ExecuTRACK Software GmbH; Fidelity Investments*; Fieldglass, Inc.; Great Plains*; Halcyon Internet plc; Hewitt Associates LLC*; Hewlett-Packard Co; Hire.com*; HireCheck*; HireRight, Inc.; IBM*; Insurance Overload Systems*; International Association for Human Resource Information Management (IHRIM); Intuit*; J.D. Edwards*; Job Partners Ltd; Kadiri,Inc.*; Kelly Services*; Kenexa, Inc.*; Korn/Ferry International*; Kronos Incorporated; MagnaWare, Inc.; Manpower, Inc.*; Mercer Human Resource Consulting; Microsoft*; Minnesota Life; Monster.com; Motorola; MPS Group*; National Resume Writers' Association; Northrop Grumman Corporation; Object Management Group; One Step Europe Limited; Oracle*; Paychex Inc.; Peopleclick*; PeopleSoft*; Personic*; ProAct Technologies, Inc.*; ProBusiness Services, Inc.; Profile Up; Prudential Financial; Randstad Holding*; Recruitsoft, Inc.; RewardsPlus; Robert Half International, Inc.*; Rompetrol Refining -- Petromidia Complex; SAP*; Schlumberger; Shell Oil Company -- Shell People Services; Siemens Business Services oHG; Society for Human Resource Management; Spherion Corporation*; Subcontract.com Inc.; Swedish National Labour Market Board; Synhrgy HR Technologies, Inc.; Tesseract Corporation*; The 401(k) Company; The People Business Network, Inc.; totaljobs.com; Towers Perrin*; Transcentive; Ultimate Software*; Unicru; Unifi Network; Vedior NV; Volt Services Group*; Watson Wyatt Worldwide*; and Workscape, Inc.

Note: '*' above = charter member

Web Site: http://www.hr-xml.org
Web Site: http://www.hr-xml.org/stock

[Source: http://www.hr-xml.org/pr/pr_20021007_Stock.cfm]

Prepared by Robin Cover for The XML Cover Pages archive. See "HR-XML Consortium."

SEARCH Advanced Search ABOUT Site Map CP RSS Channel Contact Us Sponsoring CP About Our Sponsors NEWS Cover Stories Articles & Papers Press Releases CORE STANDARDS XML SGML Schemas XSL/XSLT/XPath XLink XML Query CSS SVG TECHNOLOGY REPORTS XML Applications General Apps Government Apps Academic Apps EVENTS LIBRARY Introductions FAQs Bibliography Technology and Society Semantics Tech Topics Software Related Standards Historic	HR-XML Consortium Stock Plan Interface Standard HR-XML Consortium Approves Employee Stock Plan Interface Standard Efficiencies and Cost Savings for All Parties Involved In Administering Stock Plans Raleigh, NC, USA. October 08, 2002. Linking systems to administer employee stock plans promises to be easier and less expensive than ever before with today's release of the HR-XML Consortium's Stock Plan Interface Standard. This vendor-neutral, open standard offers employers, third-party administrators, and brokers new efficiencies and cost savings when building interfaces to exchange employee stock plan data. In addition, the specification will enable easy compilation of data required for reporting and compliance. To attract and retain employees, many employers reward their workers with stock options or offer employees the opportunity to purchase stock through an employee stock purchase plan (ESPP). A third-party administrator or broker often handles the administration of these programs and the exercise of options or selling of stock. Because of a lack of e-business standards for ESPP and stock option programs, expensive custom interfaces must be built between employer systems and those of stock plan administrators and brokers. The HR- XML Consortium's stock plan specification offers a standardized interface as an alternative to expensive custom interfaces. Version 1.0 of the standard provides the definitions necessary for the administration of stock option programs. A future version of the specification also will support employee stock purchase programs and other types of plans. "Stock option and stock purchase programs are key motivators and a highly prized component of employee compensation," said Daniela Goerke, Development Manager, SAP, and chair of HR-XML's stock plan workgroup. "Standards developed by our stock plan workgroup will enable employers to deploy cost- effective, self-service 'HR portals' for employees to exercise stock options or purchase stock under an ESPP," according to Goerke. "Employee self-service and HR Portals are becoming the norm for all types of companies," commented Bill Kerr, Principal Software Engineer, Oracle, and member of the HR-XML Consortium Board of Directors. "The HR-XML Consortium Stock Plan Interface Standard will streamline the deployment of self-service facilities that provide employees with rich and timely information and speedy execution of exercise requests," according to Kerr. "HR-XML's stock plan interface specification represents a major breakthrough for international companies who must manage data from multiple HR systems for mobile and global workforces," said Gordon Rapkin, Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer for Transcentive. "The specification offers efficiencies for all parties involved in stock plan administration -- employers, third-party services providers, and brokers -- while providing a higher level of service to employees," Rapkin said. HR-XML Consortium member companies sponsoring the stock plan workgroup included Oracle, PeopleSoft, SAP, Fidelity Investments, Transcentive and Watson Wyatt Worldwide. To register to download the freely available stock plan specification or a plain-language set of answers to frequently asked questions, visit: http://www.hr-xml.org/stock/. About HR-XML HR-XML (http://www.hr-xml.org/) is an independent, non-profit consortium dedicated to enabling e-commerce and inter-company exchange of human resources data worldwide. The work of the Consortium centers on the development and promotion of standardized XML vocabularies for HR. HR-XML's current efforts are focused on standards for staffing and recruiting, compensation and benefits, training and work force management. HR-XML is represented by its membership in 22 countries. Membership within the HR-XML Consortium is open to HR professionals, vendors, consultants, and other users or providers of HR systems and services. For information on becoming an HR-XML member, please visit: http://www.hr-xml.org/channels/join.cfm. Member organizations include: Acord; Adecco Corporation; ADP; Aetna US Healthcare; Allegis Group, Inc./Thingamajob.com; American Background Information Services, Inc.; American Staffing Association; ARINSO International; Association of Test Publishers; Authoria; Automating Peripherals Inc; Best Software; BP; BrassRing, Inc.; CareerBuilder; CDI Corp/MRI; Ceridian; Cisco Systems; CitiStreet; CompuCorps Mentoring; Convergys Employee Care; Crestone International; Cross Current Corporation; Cyborg Systems, Inc.; Defense Finance and Accounting Service; Development Dimensions International; Dobbs Temporary Services, Inc.; eBenX; EdVerify, Inc.; Elance, Inc.; Embrace Ltd; Employease, Inc.; Enrollcom; e-peopleserve ltd; esohXML.org; European Community Telework Forum; ExecuTRACK Software GmbH; Fidelity Investments; Fieldglass, Inc.; Great Plains; Halcyon Internet plc; Hewitt Associates LLC; Hewlett-Packard Co; Hire.com; HireCheck; HireRight, Inc.; IBM; Insurance Overload Systems; International Association for Human Resource Information Management (IHRIM); Intuit; J.D. Edwards; Job Partners Ltd; Kadiri,Inc.; Kelly Services; Kenexa, Inc.; Korn/Ferry International; Kronos Incorporated; MagnaWare, Inc.; Manpower, Inc.; Mercer Human Resource Consulting; Microsoft; Minnesota Life; Monster.com; Motorola; MPS Group; National Resume Writers' Association; Northrop Grumman Corporation; Object Management Group; One Step Europe Limited; Oracle; Paychex Inc.; Peopleclick; PeopleSoft; Personic; ProAct Technologies, Inc.; ProBusiness Services, Inc.; Profile Up; Prudential Financial; Randstad Holding; Recruitsoft, Inc.; RewardsPlus; Robert Half International, Inc.; Rompetrol Refining -- Petromidia Complex; SAP; Schlumberger; Shell Oil Company -- Shell People Services; Siemens Business Services oHG; Society for Human Resource Management; Spherion Corporation; Subcontract.com Inc.; Swedish National Labour Market Board; Synhrgy HR Technologies, Inc.; Tesseract Corporation; The 401(k) Company; The People Business Network, Inc.; totaljobs.com; Towers Perrin; Transcentive; Ultimate Software; Unicru; Unifi Network; Vedior NV; Volt Services Group; Watson Wyatt Worldwide; and Workscape, Inc. Note: '' above = charter member Web Site: http://www.hr-xml.org Web Site: http://www.hr-xml.org/stock [Source: http://www.hr-xml.org/pr/pr_20021007_Stock.cfm] Prepared by Robin Cover for The XML Cover Pages archive. See "HR-XML Consortium."