The Web Services-Interoperability Organization (WS-I) has released a collection of Candidate Review Draft documents which "model a simple supply chain management application and serve to demonstrate all of the scenarios in the WS-I Basic Profile 1.0 and how a Web services application might be designed, implemented and deployed to conform to the Basic Profile." The draft WS-I Basic Profile is designed as a set of non-proprietary Web services specifications along with clarifications which promote interoperability. The new documents include a Sample Application Supply Chain Management Architecture, Supply Chain Management Use Case Model, and WS-I Usage Scenarios. The "advancement of these documents to Candidate Review Drafts is an invitation to the Web services community to provide technical feedback. This second wave of deliverables from WS-I represents a significant milestone as it prepares to release the final version of the Basic Profile 1.0 in the second quarter of 2003. Availability [of the documents] will help define best practices for using the Basic Profile 1.0 and provide the real-world implementation guidance and support necessary for customers deploying Web services." Supporting resources for the Supply Chain Management Sample Application (source code, WSDL files, etc) are in preparation and will be posted to the WS-I website.

Bibliographic Information

• "Sample Application Supply Chain Management Architecture." Edited by Martin Chapman (Oracle), Marc Goodner (SAP), Brad Lund (Intel), Barbara McKee (IBM), and Rimas Rekasius (IBM). WS-I Working Group Draft. Version 0.11. Publication Date: December 19, 2002. 38 pages. Not a final document; posted for early review.

• "Supply Chain Management Use Case Model." Edited by Scott Anderson (Visuale, Inc.), Martin Chapman (Oracle), Marc Goodner (SAP), Paul Mackinaw (Accenture), and Rimas Rekasius (IBM). WS-I Working Group Draft. Publication Date: November 10, 2002. 28 pages. Not a final document; posted for early review.

• "WS-I Usage Scenarios." Edited by Scott Werden (WRQ), Colleen Evans (Sonic Software), and Marc Goodner (SAP). WS-I Candidate Review Draft. Version 1.0. Publication Date: December 12, 2002. 40 pages. Not a final document; posted for early review.

Description of Candidate Review Drafts

The Sample Application Supply Chain Management Architecture "details the technical design and implementation of the Basic Profile 1.0 Sample Application. The sample application described herein was modeled after the 'simple' supply chain management (SCM) application outlined in the SCM Use Cases Version 1.0 document; it is not intended to exhibit all of the characteristics of a real world SCM design and implementation. Rather, it serves to document and demonstrate how WS-I Basic Profile 1.0 conformant web services might be designed, implemented and deployed. One of the goals of the Sample Application is to explore as many of the features found in the Basic Profile as possible. To this end, the sample application employs a variety of schema naming conventions, SOAP message formats, SOAP message styles, and WSDL design practices that are all Basic Profile conformant. In many places coverage of Basic Profile features has been traded for best practice. To fully understand the contents of this document it is highly recommended that the SCM Use Cases v 1.0 as well as the Usage Scenarios v 1.0 documents be consulted in conjunction with this document... In order to inject some realism into the sample application, a single top down design was not attempted. Rather each main system (Retailer, Manufacture, Demo) has been designed and architected separately and brought together via web services. This should reflect the real world of connecting autonomous organizations together without the luxury of a global architecture and design."

The Supply Chain Management Use Case Model "presents a high level definition of a Supply Chain Management (SCM) application in the form of a set of Use Cases. The application being modeled is that of a Retailer offering Consumer electronic goods to Consumers; a typical B2C model. To fulfill orders the Retailer has to manage stock levels in warehouses. When an item in stock falls below a certain threshold, the Retailer must restock the item from the relevant Manufacturer's inventory (a typical B2B model). In order to fulfill a Retailer's request a Manufacturer may have to execute a production run to build the finished goods. In the real world, a Manufacturer would have to order the component parts from its suppliers. For simplicity in this application, we assume this is a manual process which is supported through the use of fax. Each use case includes a logging call to a monitoring system in order to monitor the activities of the services from a single monitoring service. The primary goal of the application is to demonstrate all of the scenarios in the WS-I Basic Profile..."

The WS-I Usage Scenarios Candidate Review Draft "describes general messaging patterns for Web services message exchange that are used as a foundation for the sample applications. It defines the use of Web services in structured interactions, identifying basic interoperability requirements for such interactions and mapping the flow of a scenario to the requirements of the WS-I Basic Profile 1.0. The Usage Scenarios [document] translates Use Cases into a set of technical requirements, defining general messaging patterns for Web services in structured interactions, identifying basic interoperability requirements for such interactions and mapping the flow of a scenario to the requirements of the Basic Profile 1.0. Scenarios are independent of any application domain. WS-I Use Cases employ Scenarios to model high-level definitions of specific The scenarios presented here can be composed or extended. That is, they describe fundamental Web service design patterns that can be combined and built upon like building blocks. For example, the Synchronous Request/Response scenario describes a basic exchange and can be expanded by adding SOAP headers. The only requirement is that the extensions must also conform to the Basic Profile. WS-I is requesting public comment on the Candidate Review Draft of the Usage Scenarios from all interested parties to ensure quality and broad applicability..." The release of the approved public 1.0 version of this document is expected to be released in Q2 in conjunction with the release of the Basic Profile 1.0.

About The Web Services Interoperability Organization (WS-I)

"WS-I is an open industry organization committed to promoting consistent and reliable interoperability among Web services across platforms, applications and programming languages. The organization unites a diverse community of Web services companies by providing guidance, recommended practices and supporting resources for developing interoperable Web services. Since its formation in February 2002, more than 160 companies have joined WS-I. For a complete listing of member companies, please visit http://www.ws-i.org. Companies that are interested in joining WS-I can request a membership kit by sending e-mail to: membership@ws-i.org."