OASIS announced that its members have voted to approve the ebXML Collaboration Protocol Profile and Agreement (CPPA) Version 2.0 as an OASIS Open Standard. TC Chair Dale Moberg (Cyclone Commerce) said: "ebXML CPPA ensures interoperability between two parties, even organizations that use software from different sources. The CPP defines a party's message-exchange capabilities and the business collaborations that it supports. The CPA defines the way two business parties will interact in performing the chosen business collaborations." According to Brian Gibb (Sterling Commerce) the specification "addresses a major issue with the rapid deployment of Internet B2B e-commerce -- the absence of a standard definition of technical parameters for communication and security that business partners need to agree upon. Representing these configuration parameters in the standard format of the ebXML CPPA specification will greatly accelerate users' integration processes. In addition to this immediate value, version 2.0 of the specification sets the stage for the standardized CPA negotiation process to come." The OASIS technical commmittee was chartered to continue the work of ebXML on Collaboration Protocol Profiles (CPPs) and Collaboration Protocol Agreements (CPAs).

Bibliographic information: Collaboration-Protocol Profile and Agreement Specification Version 2.0. From OASIS ebXML Collaboration Protocol Profile and Agreement Technical Committee. September 23, 2002. 156 pages. See also the accompanying XML Schema. TC Members included: Selim Aissi (Intel), Arvola Chan (TIBCO), James Bryce Clark (Individual Member), David Fischer (Drummond Group), Tony Fletcher (Individual Member), Brian Hayes (Collaborative Domain), Neelakantan Kartha (Sterling Commerce), Kevin Liu (SAP), Pallavi Malu (Intel), Dale Moberg (Cyclone Commerce), Himagiri Mukkamala (Sybase), Peter Ogden (Cyclone Commerce), Marty Sachs (IBM), Yukinori Saito (Individual Member), David Smiley (Mercator), Tony Weida (Individual Member), Pete Wenzel (SeeBeyond), Jean Zheng (Vitria).

From the announcement:

The OASIS interoperability consortium today announced that its members have approved the ebXML Collaboration Protocol Profile and Agreement (CPPA) v2.0 as an OASIS Open Standard, a status that signifies the highest level of ratification. ebXML CPPA defines business partners' technical capabilities and documents agreements between partners, enabling organizations to securely engage in electronic business collaboration.

"While many vendors suggest specifications and lead standards initiatives, OASIS has provided enterprises of all sizes with a future-proofed, tested and technically proficient 'standard.' ebxml CPPA will foster global collaborative ebusiness growth by removing barriers to entry and eliminating the high cost and complexity of trading partner on-boarding. Valuable to any organization focused on adopting standards," said Joanne Friedman, Vice President, META Group Inc.

"ebXML CPPA ensures interoperability between two parties, even organizations that use software from different sources. The CPP defines a party's message-exchange capabilities and the business collaborations that it supports. The CPA defines the way two business parties will interact in performing the chosen business collaborations," explained Dale Moberg of Cyclone Commerce, chair of the OASIS ebXML CPPA Technical Committee. "The OASIS Open Standard also facilitates the migration of both traditional EDI-based applications and other legacy applications to ebXML-based platforms."

ebXML CPPA was developed by Commerce One, Cyclone Commerce, E2open, Hewlett-Packard Company, IBM, Intel, IONA, Mercator, SAP, SeeBeyond, Sterling Commerce, Sun Microsystems, Sybase, TIBCO, Vitria, webMethods, and other members of the OASIS ebXML Collaboration Protocol Profile and Agreement Technical Committee.

From the text of the v2.0 specification:

As defined in the ebXML Business Process Specification Schema, a Business Partner is an entity that engages in Business Transactions with another Business Partner(s). The Message-exchange capabilities of a Party may be described by a Collaboration-Protocol Profile (CPP). The Message-exchange agreement between two Parties may be described by a Collaboration-Protocol Agreement (CPA). A CPA may be created by computing the intersection of the two Partners' CPPs. Included in the CPP and CPA are details of transport, messaging, security constraints, and bindings to a Business-Process-Specification (or, for short, Process-Specification) document that contains the definition of the interactions between the two Parties while engaging in a specified electronic Business Collaboration. This specification contains the detailed definitions of the Collaboration-Protocol Profile (CPP) and the Collaboration-Protocol Agreement (CPA).

Design Objectives: "The objective of this specification is to ensure interoperability between two Parties even though they may procure application software and run-time support software from different vendors. The CPP defines a Party's Message-exchange capabilities and the Business Collaborations that it supports. The CPA defines the way two Parties will interact in performing the chosen Business Collaborations. Both Parties SHALL use identical copies of the CPA to configure their run-time systems. This assures that they are compatibly configured to exchange Messages whether or not they have obtained their run-time systems from the same vendor. The configuration process may be automated by means of a suitable tool that reads the CPA and performs the configuration process. In addition to supporting direct interaction between two Parties, this specification may also be used to support interaction between two Parties through an intermediary such as a portal or broker.

What the Specification Does: The exchange of information between two Parties requires each Party to know the other Party's supported Business Collaborations, the other Party's role in the Business Collaboration, and the technology details about how the other Party sends and receives Messages. In some cases, it is necessary for the two Parties to reach agreement on some of the details. The way each Party can exchange information, in the context of a Business Collaboration, can be described by a Collaboration-Protocol Profile (CPP). The agreement between the Parties can be expressed as a Collaboration-Protocol Agreement (CPA). A Party may describe itself in a single CPP. A Party may create multiple CPPs that describe, for example, different Business Collaborations that it supports, its operations in different regions of the world, or different parts of its organization. To enable Parties wishing to do Business to find other Parties that are suitable Business Partners, CPPs may be stored in a repository such as is provided by the ebXML Registry. Using a discovery process provided as part of the specifications of a repository, a Party may then use the facilities of the repository to find Business Partners. The document that defines the interactions between two Parties is a Process-Specification document that may conform to the ebXML Business Process Specification Schema. The CPP and CPA include references to this Process-Specification document. The Process-Specification document may be stored in a repository such as the ebXML Registry.