The purpose of the BSR project is to construct a technical infrastructure, which provides storage, maintenance and distribution facilities for reference data about semantic units and their links with operational directories. It will provide the principal function to build cross-references between different EDI directories that are maintained by different agencies. The founding partners of the BSR project are ISO and UN/Economic Commission for Europe (ECE).11
The BSR will also be of use in:
· Information modeling processing within EDI.
· Defining new entries or redefining existing entries in existing directories.
· Input for standards work in the relevant standards areas.
The BSR is seen solely as a tool (source of information and guidance) to be used by designers and implementers of EDI systems. The BSR is not envisioned as a new standardized data element directory or data concept repository.12
The components of the BSR will be Basic Semantic Units (BSU) - (Intermediate Construct, Generic Intermediate Construct, Specific BSU, Generic BSU, and Process Level BSU).
Each BSU can be comprised of up to (4) Semantic Components:
· Concept
The BSR is:
· Not a standard but a tool.
· Not a thesaurus.
· Not a system of concepts, as defined by ISO Technical Committee (TC) 37, as the BSR only records generic relations.
· Not an EDI directory/repository.
The objective is to establish an operational BSR that will provide end users with the facilities they need for unambiguously linking their data representations in current EDI directories.
Started in 1991 this is an ISO initiative to develop a register of business data according to ISO 11179 - Specification and Standardization of Data Elements. The register contains data that is being developed using sound semantic principles that will provide the specifications to meet the needs of systems developers and those having the task of providing versions in multiple languages.
The initial content, based on an analysis of the four most used UN/EDIFACT messages (Purchase Order, Invoice, Delivery Schedule and Dispatch Advice) is complete and available at http://forum.afnor.fr/afnor/WORK/AFNOR/GPN2/TC154WG1/index.htm. Approximately 42% of UN/EDIFACT data elements have been documented, some of which are available in French and German, as well as English. Complete French and German versions are in development, and Chinese, Czech, and Japanese versions have been promised once the English language version is approved.
This work is under the overall direction of ISO/TC154: processes, data elements, and documents in commerce and administration. Cooperation to extend the scope beyond commerce to include data from finance, health care, product/Standard for Exchange of Product data (STEP) environments and more has commenced. The ISO/BSR is currently under evaluation for use in the Comite Europeen de Normalisation (CEN) Product and Business Data Harmonization Project for harmonization and alignment of UN/EDIFACT and STEP data, and the Society for Worldwide Inter-bank Financial Telecommunications (SWIFT) who will be recommending its use for the harmonization of international finance data.13
Full details of the project are available at the ISO/BSR Web site (http://forum.afnor.fr/afnor/WORK/AFNOR/GPN2/TC154WG1/index.htm). A brief summary of the project objectives and structure is provided at this site.
An internationally agreed upon register of multilingual data must have:
· Clear, unambiguous definitions.
· Reference identifiers.
An internationally agreed upon register of multilingual data will:
· Be the basis for new information systems development.
· Be the basis for upgrading the quality of data in directories supporting existing international and corporate information systems.
· Facilitate harmonization among existing directories by providing the pivot for cross-referencing equivalent data from different sources.
· Be stored in a publicly available database with defined access.
Figures 3.0-1 through Figure 3.0-3 are provided to give a brief overview of the BSR project and its relationship to other standards and entities. The figures also illustrate the core technology concepts and products that BSR provides.
Figure 3.0-1 Basic Semantic Repository Directory Inter-Relationships14
The BSR architecture can provide the common standard for data specification across multiple directories and repositories. The BSR can serve as the "pivot" for cross-referencing the various directories and repositories. The BSR architecture is designed such that bridges link the semantic units within the BSR to the various entities, such as the ANSI X12 and UN/EDIFACT. Figure 3.0-2 illustrates this relationship.
Figure 3.0-2 Basic Semantic Repository Components and Inter-Relationships15
While the bridges link various entities to the semantic units, the semantic units or BSUs are provided for various languages. The BSR takes a multilingual approach to the registration of the semantic units as shown in Figure 3.0-3.
Figure 3.0-3 Multilingual Basic Semantic Repository16
The BSR approach takes into account the need for multilingual and semantic equivalence analysis. Other repositories have not addressed such language barriers, as has the BSR.
11 BSR Basic Reference Document, ISO Web site http://www.iso.ch/BSR
14 Position Statement on Global Repositories for XML.
The XML/EDI Group, July 1998, Betty Harvey, Dennis Hill, Ron Schuldt, Martin Bryan, Will Thayer, Dick Raman and David Webber Version: 0.98 http://www.xmledi.com/repository/xml-rep.htm
