In the interest of paperwork reduction, support of innovative trading relationships, and expeditious delivery of fresh coffee, the National Coffee Association of America has created XML Traffic Documents for the global coffee industry. In cooperation with ExImWare, Inc., NCA has developed "a set of XML formatted e-commerce documents for the Association's four coffee industry Standard Traffic Documents (Shipping Advice, Sample Order, Delivery Order and Invoice). In December 2001, NCA conducted a market survey that explored coffee industry's perception of where greater adoption of Internet technologies may benefit the trade; subsequently, supported by industry sponsorship, NCA has developed the draft coffee industry standard XML documents." NCA will present the XML Schemas to the trade in a January 2003 seminar. NCA anticipates that the use of coffee industry standard XML documents will promote more productive ways of generating and exchanging contract and traffic documents with suppliers and customers.

Website description: "The global coffee trade is dependent on extremely accurate trade records and reliable and immediate information. The introduction of XML standards is an essential step that, when fully implemented, will allow participants of this now paper-intensive trade to conduct commerce electronically and facilitate automated data retention and reporting. Creating operating efficiencies and reducing back-of-the-house costs were paramount considerations as NCA developed the electronic traffic forms. Development of these XML forms is in response to overwhelming confirmation from NCA members in market surveys conducted last December that improved technology could benefit the coffee trade."

Seminar: "Improving Effectiveness with Collaborative e-Commerce in Coffee Industry." Spring Meeting, March 8, 2003, Boca Raton, FL. Session on Coffee Industry XML Standards by David Joelson, Eximware, Inc. "In this session, David Joelson will provide an overview of collaborative e-commerce in the coffee industry. Participants will learn about the potential benefits to be gained from collaborative e-commerce; get a high level, non-technical overview of the technology that enables collaborative processes; and find out what market participants need to do to get started... An expert panel will discuss potential benefits of adopting these standards and related technologies."