The Open Applications Group Forms Customer Interoperability Council to Foster Adoption of XML Based Application Integration Technology

CHICAGO, IL. July 19, 1999.

The Open Applications Group, Inc. (OAGI), a non-profit industry consortium comprised of many of the most prominent stakeholders in the business software component interoperability arena in the world, today announced the formation of a Customer Interoperability Council, made up of leading end users, that will work with the OAGI's existing software vendor membership to promote adoption of standards based application integration technology.

The OAGI Interoperability Council will focus on development of industry specific Business Object Documents that define inter-application message formats and the deployment of enterprise integration frameworks based on the Open Applications Group Integration Specification (OAGIS), the Extensible Markup Language (XML) and transactions sent over middleware conforming to the newly released Open Applications Middleware API Specification (OAMAS). This approach will simplify integration of Financial, Human Resources, Manufacturing, Logistics, and Supply Chain application components both within the enterprise and among trading partners.

"We believe that the OAGIS and OAMAS technology will decrease costs and complexity for organizations that are wrestling with the problem of tying together their business applications," said David Connelly, President of the Open Applications Group.

Leading edge companies join the OAGI Interoperability Council

The OAGI Interoperability Council was formed at the behest of end user stakeholders that wanted to actively participate in a standards based application integration initiative. "It is this active participation of our end use stakeholders which is expediting the pace of adoption and validating the enormous opportunities for lower cost of ownership and enhanced application portfolio flexibility," said Charles Prow Partner, PricewaterhouseCoopers and Chairman of the Open Applications Group. Companies such as ATT, Ford, Lockheed Martin and Lucent, that are actively re-engineering their enterprise business processes and the information systems applications that support them, have joined the Open Applications Group to accelerate development of XML based transaction sets within their industry segments and deployment of OAGIS and OAMAS implementations by their software vendors and integration services suppliers. According to Bruce Ambler of Lucent, "Deployment of standards based transaction frameworks is critical to reducing implementation costs of new ERP applications and developing links to business partners.

The Interoperability Council agenda is accomplished through periodic meetings that provide an open forum to all enterprise application users to discuss interoperability issues and through the efforts of smaller work groups within the council, that collaborate to advance specific goals agreed upon by the membership. Projects currently underway include:

development of Integration Cost/Benefit models to aid companies asses the cost of continuing with ad-hoc and proprietary integration methodologies;
definition of a best practices realization model that provides users with a map leading to a standards based integration framework
a vendor scorecard that documents the degree to which application software vendors implement standards based interoperability methodologies in their products

The OAGI Interoperability Council is holding one of its regular meetings in Chicago on July 28-29, 1999. Interested parties are welcome to participate. (Please contact: ablazej@openapplications.org).

Interoperability model expressed in XML DTDs

Open Applications Group members have built a common model for business software application component interoperability over the last three years. The model is described in the OAGIS specification which defines the major components, their integration dialogs, and the content of those dialogs for many key enterprise business applications, including financials, manufacturing, human resources, supply chain, and logistics.

The content of the OAGIS specification has been made machine readable in the form of Extensible Markup Language (XML) Document Type Definitions (DTDs) for all currently defined Open Applications Group Business Object Documents. The DTDs necessary to define this integration content in XML have been published on the OAGI web site and are available for public access at: http://www.openapplications.org.

About the Open Applications Group, Inc.

The Open Applications Group, Inc. is the leading business software interoperability association in the world. It advances industry awareness of issues and solutions regarding interoperability of software business components and strives to evolve those solutions into a best practices model while providing an impartial forum for all stakeholders in the industry to further improve the model and learn.

OAGI membership includes many of the most prominent enterprise application vendors and integration organizations in the world, including: American Software, Candle, Compaq, Component Software, Computer Associates, CrossWorlds Software, DataChannel, DATEV eG, EnvisionIt, Extricity Software, Fortress Technologies, GloTech Solutions, Great Plains Software, HK Systems, IBM, Indus International, Integrated Systems & Services, J. D. Edwards, Marcam Solutions, Microsoft, NEC Corporation, ObTech, OnDisplay, Oracle, PCS Inc., PeopleSoft, PSDI, Inc., QAD, Inc., PricewaterhouseCoopers, Robocom Systems Intl., SAP AG, Software Technologies Corp., Teklogix, Trilogy, TSI, US Data, Vitria, and webMethods.

For Further Information

Please visit our web site at www.openapplications.org or contact OAGI Headquarters, 401 North Michigan Avenue, Chicago, Illinois 60611, USA; telephone +1 404 627 4454; Fax: +1 404 627 7771; or e-mail: info@openapplications.org.

Contact:

The Open Applications Group, Inc.
David Connelly
Tel: +1 770 426 0184
Email: dconnelly@openapplications.org

Prepared by Robin Cover for the The SGML/XML Web Page archive. See "Open Applications Group (OAG)."

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(OAGI), a non-profit industry consortium comprised of many of the most prominent stakeholders in the business software component interoperability arena in the world, today announced the formation of a Customer Interoperability Council, made up of leading end users, that will work with the OAGI's existing software vendor membership to promote adoption of standards based application integration technology. The OAGI Interoperability Council will focus on development of industry specific Business Object Documents that define inter-application message formats and the deployment of enterprise integration frameworks based on the Open Applications Group Integration Specification (OAGIS), the Extensible Markup Language (XML) and transactions sent over middleware conforming to the newly released Open Applications Middleware API Specification (OAMAS). This approach will simplify integration of Financial, Human Resources, Manufacturing, Logistics, and Supply Chain application components both within the enterprise and among trading partners. "We believe that the OAGIS and OAMAS technology will decrease costs and complexity for organizations that are wrestling with the problem of tying together their business applications," said David Connelly, President of the Open Applications Group. Leading edge companies join the OAGI Interoperability Council The OAGI Interoperability Council was formed at the behest of end user stakeholders that wanted to actively participate in a standards based application integration initiative. "It is this active participation of our end use stakeholders which is expediting the pace of adoption and validating the enormous opportunities for lower cost of ownership and enhanced application portfolio flexibility," said Charles Prow Partner, PricewaterhouseCoopers and Chairman of the Open Applications Group. Companies such as ATT, Ford, Lockheed Martin and Lucent, that are actively re-engineering their enterprise business processes and the information systems applications that support them, have joined the Open Applications Group to accelerate development of XML based transaction sets within their industry segments and deployment of OAGIS and OAMAS implementations by their software vendors and integration services suppliers. According to Bruce Ambler of Lucent, "Deployment of standards based transaction frameworks is critical to reducing implementation costs of new ERP applications and developing links to business partners. The Interoperability Council agenda is accomplished through periodic meetings that provide an open forum to all enterprise application users to discuss interoperability issues and through the efforts of smaller work groups within the council, that collaborate to advance specific goals agreed upon by the membership. Projects currently underway include: development of Integration Cost/Benefit models to aid companies asses the cost of continuing with ad-hoc and proprietary integration methodologies; definition of a best practices realization model that provides users with a map leading to a standards based integration framework a vendor scorecard that documents the degree to which application software vendors implement standards based interoperability methodologies in their products The OAGI Interoperability Council is holding one of its regular meetings in Chicago on July 28-29, 1999. Interested parties are welcome to participate. (Please contact: ablazej@openapplications.org). Interoperability model expressed in XML DTDs Open Applications Group members have built a common model for business software application component interoperability over the last three years. The model is described in the OAGIS specification which defines the major components, their integration dialogs, and the content of those dialogs for many key enterprise business applications, including financials, manufacturing, human resources, supply chain, and logistics. The content of the OAGIS specification has been made machine readable in the form of Extensible Markup Language (XML) Document Type Definitions (DTDs) for all currently defined Open Applications Group Business Object Documents. The DTDs necessary to define this integration content in XML have been published on the OAGI web site and are available for public access at: http://www.openapplications.org. About the Open Applications Group, Inc. The Open Applications Group, Inc. is the leading business software interoperability association in the world. It advances industry awareness of issues and solutions regarding interoperability of software business components and strives to evolve those solutions into a best practices model while providing an impartial forum for all stakeholders in the industry to further improve the model and learn. OAGI membership includes many of the most prominent enterprise application vendors and integration organizations in the world, including: American Software, Candle, Compaq, Component Software, Computer Associates, CrossWorlds Software, DataChannel, DATEV eG, EnvisionIt, Extricity Software, Fortress Technologies, GloTech Solutions, Great Plains Software, HK Systems, IBM, Indus International, Integrated Systems & Services, J. D. Edwards, Marcam Solutions, Microsoft, NEC Corporation, ObTech, OnDisplay, Oracle, PCS Inc., PeopleSoft, PSDI, Inc., QAD, Inc., PricewaterhouseCoopers, Robocom Systems Intl., SAP AG, Software Technologies Corp., Teklogix, Trilogy, TSI, US Data, Vitria, and webMethods. For Further Information Please visit our web site at www.openapplications.org or contact OAGI Headquarters, 401 North Michigan Avenue, Chicago, Illinois 60611, USA; telephone +1 404 627 4454; Fax: +1 404 627 7771; or e-mail: info@openapplications.org. Contact: The Open Applications Group, Inc. David Connelly Tel: +1 770 426 0184 Email: dconnelly@openapplications.org Prepared by Robin Cover for the The SGML/XML Web Page archive. See "Open Applications Group (OAG)."