COLLECTION OF RAW DATA TASK FORCE MEETING N 7 12 MARCH Doc. CoRD 096. XML for Foreign Trade Statistics. For information

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1 COLLECTION OF RAW DATA TASK FORCE MEETING N 7 12 MARCH 2003 Doc. CoRD 096 XML for Foreign Trade Statistics For information

2 Abstract This paper gives the updated progress report on the development of EDIFACT and XML messages for Foreign Trade Statistics by Working Group 5 of ebes/eg6 (e-business Board for European Standardisation, Expert Group 6 (Statistics), Working Group 5 (Foreign Trade Statistics)). The main tasks of the previous reports are kept and updated in order to give to the reader an overview of the complete EDI development of Foreign Trade statistics. The group has developed and maintains EDIFACT messages for the Intrastat declaration (CUSDEC/INSTAT), the extra-community trade statistics declaration (CUSDEC/EXSTAT) and the response to INSTAT and EXSTAT (CUSRES/INSRES). User documentation called MIG (Message Implementation Guideline) has been written for each EDIFACT message. Almost 60,000 traders submit their monthly Intrastat declarations in the EDIFACT CUSDEC/INSTAT message. However, despite this success in Intrastat, the use of EDIFACT has been less than expected in many domains, mainly due to complex and expensive implementation. The general trend now is to migrate to XML message definition since XML has become the standard of data exchange on the Web. XML software will be much more widely available than EDIFACT. Currently, EEG6/WG5 faces the transition to XML. This involves work on the Intrastat System Implementation Model, a general documentation providing different diagrams in UML. This model gives a clear statement of the business and the context of a message. An XML schema for the Intrastat declaration in XML (called INSTAT/XML) has been derived from this model in accordance with W3C recommendations. A MIG (Message Implementation Guideline) of INSTAT/XML has been written in order to offer to the user a detailed documentation of the Intrastat declaration in XML. The Intrastat System Implementation Model and the MIG of INSTAT/XML were submitted to ebes/tcg (ebes/technical Coordination Group). TCG assessed INSTAT/XML and set up their rules of evaluation of XML messages. Since September 2002, INSTAT/XML specifications are being processed to be the first XML message to get a CEN Workshop Agreement (CWA) in February Public comments received during this procedure are favourable. INSRES/XML, the XML response to INSTAT/XML, was developed. INSRES/XML is the XML format for responses which up to now were sent by fax or mail from the Collecting Centres to the declarants. The Message Implementation Guideline of INSRES/XML is submitted to ebes/tcg in order to complete the CEN Workshop Agreement of INSTAT/XML. ebes/tcg should begin the assessment of INSRES/XML in February A style-sheet in XSL, associated with INSRES/XML, was developed. In this case the Collecting Centre sends INSRES/XML with INSRES/XSL to the declarant, who can display the response to INSTAT/XML with his browser. IDEP/CN8 includes the INSTAT/XML generator option since January Luxembourg offers this option the declarants and collects INSTAT/XML since January A complete scenario of exchanges of XML messages between the declarant and the administration began to be studied by demonstrations of prototypes implementing new XML techniques (embedded XML, style-sheets, etc ). This study will be carried on by taking into account the new ebxml technical specifications developed by UN/CEFACT (United Nations Centre for Trade Facilitation Date: 19/02/03-2 -

3 and Electronic Business) and OASIS (Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards) in XML/EDI. This will permit to prepare the submission of INSTAT/XML to the future international process of standardisation. In addition to the work of standardisation for INSTAT/XML, EEG6/WG5 began the development of EXSTAT/XML (the declaration of extra-community Trade Statistics). Date: 19/02/03-3 -

4 EDIFACT and XML messages in Foreign Trade Statistics are developed within the framework of the EDICOM programme for the following systems: Intrastat, relating to statistics of trading of goods between Member States, Extrastat, relating to extra-community trade statistics. Delegates from Member States and Eurostat study these messages in the group EEG6/WG5 (e- Business Board for European Standardisation, Expert Group 6 (Statistics), Working Group 5 (Foreign Trade Statistics)). EDIFACT message development and maintenance The group has developed EDIFACT messages for the Intrastat declaration (CUSDEC/INSTAT), the extra-community trade statistics declaration (CUSDEC/EXSTAT) and the response to INSTAT and EXSTAT (CUSRES/INSRES). User documentation called MIG (Message Implementation Guidelines) has been written for each EDIFACT message developed for trade statistics related to different EDIFACT Directories. These documents have been published on CIRCA in English, French and German. The list of the MIGs published on paper or in the electronic format PDF is available on CIRCA from the 91.1 up to the D.99A directory. EEG6/WG5 ensures the maintenance of trade statistics messages and corresponding MIGs in response to changes of EC regulations or in EDIFACT. Almost 60,000 traders submit their monthly Intrastat declarations in the EDIFACT CUSDEC/INSTAT message, in 13 Member States. XML development Need of the XML version of INSTAT However, despite this success in Intrastat, the use of EDIFACT has been less than expected in many domains mainly due to complex and expensive implementations. The general trend now is to migrate to XML message definition since XML has become the standard of data exchange on the Web. XML software will be much more widely available than EDIFACT. Several National Administrations (CNAs) already implemented Web forms for Intrastat. Generating Intrastat declarations in XML is an important technical extension of Web forms because XML is both a browser language at declarant side and a format taken into account by more and more database interfaces at CNA side. Software developers require a common format of the Intrastat declaration in XML that they can implement in their commercial packages. Adopted approach Date: 19/02/03-4 -

5 EEG6/WG5 began this study by gaining knowledge in XML, and other linked techniques, by prototyping Intrastat declarations in XML and XSL. In September 2000, EEG6/WG5 studied the first XML schema of INSTAT, based on the EDIFACT CUSDEC/INSTAT Message Implementation Guideline, but met problems about the definition of the information. The group then decided: to build a stable data model of Intrastat, syntax neutral, in which everyone involved in the specification could share the same view of the Intrastat system; to derive any data exchange specification from this model, in particular the Intrastat declaration in XML, called INSTAT/XML. The Intrastat System Implementation Model was developed in order to respond to these requirements. Intrastat System Implementation Model The System Implementation Model is the general documentation of the system in which messages are exchanged. This documentation must be self-contained and give a clear statement of the business and the context of the messages. It provides different models in UML (Unified Modeling Language) as the basis for the definition of the Intrastat declaration and its response in EDI (EDIFACT, DTD or XML schema): Use Case diagram Collection of intra-community Trade Statistics : this diagram gives a general view of the system with a description of the different actors involved in different functions; Sequence diagram Submit Intrastat declarations : this diagram shows, in time sequence, how the actors cooperate and also the exchanges of messages between these actors; Activity diagram Submit Intrastat declarations : this diagram shows actors, chain of activities, decisions and the flows associated with the use case Submit Intrastat declaration; Class diagram of the Intrastat system: this diagram shows the static structure of the Intrastat system for application purpose. It describes the application domain. It is the basis of the class diagrams associated with INSTAT and INSRES EDI messages; Class diagram of the INSTAT message: this class diagram is based on the class diagram of the Intrastat system, it shows the structure basis of the INSTAT EDI message; the purpose of this model is to provide a basis for the definition of the DTD or the XML schema of INSTAT/XML, the XML format of the Intrastat declaration; Class diagram of the INSRES message: this class diagram is based on the class diagram of the Intrastat system, it shows the structure basis of the INSRES EDI message; the purpose of this model is to provide a basis for the definition of the DTD or the XML schema of INSRES/XML, the XML format of the response to the Intrastat declaration. Message Implementation Guideline of INSTAT/XML Date: 19/02/03-5 -

6 The MIG (Message Implementation Guideline) of INSTAT/XML is a proposal of user documentation of INSTAT/XML, the Intrastat declaration in XML. The structure of the XML resulting document (DTD or XML schema of INSTAT/XML) should reflect the message class diagram (class diagram of the INSTAT message). This means that the class diagram of the INSTAT message described in the Intrastat System Implementation Model and the structure of INSTAT/XML described in the MIG of INSTAT/XML provide the correlation between the two documentations. This document is structured in nine sections: Introduction; Legal basis: list of the Intrastat rules; MIG version: giving the changes included in current version of the MIG; INSTAT/XML diagram: providing the structure of the XML document; Description of the prolog: description of the XML declaration beginning each XML document; Cross reference: two tables sorted in different orders showing the cross-reference between information to be collected and the elements of INSTAT/XML; Description of the XML elements: detailed description of every element of INSTAT/XML presented in the order of the diagram; XML schema of INSTAT; Example of an Intrastat declaration using INSTAT/XML. Standardisation process INSTAT/XML specifications are reliable relating to: data modelling i.e. the class diagram of Intrastat in UML, implementation of W3C recommendations in XML. Concerning message standardisation, the strict procedures of EDIFACT standardisation are changing to accommodate the new XML standard. At European level, ebes/tcg (e-business Board for European Standardisation/Technical Coordination Group) is the group evaluating EDIFACT messages. This group is now evaluating XML messages. It encourages participation with ebes/tcg in the development of EDI or e- Business solutions. The evaluation will follow the rules developed by ebes/tcg (modelling and XML checklists). EEG6 submitted INSTAT/XML to TCG in January By reviewing INSTAT/XML specifications (Intrastat System Implementation Model and Message Implementation Guideline of Date: 19/02/03-6 -

7 INSTAT/XML), TCG set up and achieved rules of evaluation. These rules are included in new Modeling and XML Technical Assessment Checklists. These checklists are different from the existing UN/EDIFACT checklist. This period of evaluation was from January to July 2002 and this study represented: a practical exercise for TCG by reviewing XML specification and building their XML checklist, a good review for the improvements of INSTAT/XML specifications. The Intrastat System Implementation Model and the Message Implementation Guideline of INSTAT/XML were submitted to the ebes Plenary of September These two documents were published on the ebes Web site for public comments. Public comments received during this period of evaluation are favourable. INSTAT/XML specifications are in line to get in February 2003 the first CWA (CEN (Comité Européen de Normalisation European Committee for Standardisation) Workshop Agreement) given to XML specifications. The Intrastat System Implementation Model is the first part of a global CWA. The Message Implementation Guidelines for the two messages (INSTAT/XML, INSRES/XML) will be issued as separate parts of the same CWA. INSRES/XML is presented in the next paragraph. At UN level, ebxml sponsored by UN/CEFACT (United Nations Centre for Trade Facilitation and Electronic Business) and OASIS (Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards) is a modular suite of specifications that enables enterprises of any size and in any geographical location to conduct business over the Internet. The mission of ebxml is to provide an open XML-based infrastructure enabling the global use of electronic business information in an interoperable, secure and consistent manner by all parties. Having INSTAT/XML specifications in accordance with ebxml technical specifications will be studied in order to prepare the submission of INSTAT/XML to the future international standardisation procedures. INSRES/XML EEG6/WG5 developed INSRES/XML, the XML response to INSTAT/XML. This response is an acknowledgement of receipt, an acceptance or a rejection of the Intrastat declaration(s) contained in INSTAT/XML. UML specifications related to INSRES are included in the Intrastat System Implementation Model. EEG6/WG5 submitted version 1.0 of the Message Implementation Guideline of INSRES/XML to ebes/tcg in order to complete the last part of the CWA of INSTAT/XML. ebes/tcg should begin the assessment of INSRES/XML in February XSL (Extensible Style Language) is a specification for separating style from content when creating HTML or XML pages. The specifications work much like templates, allowing designers to apply single style documents to multiple pages. An interesting application for the Collecting Centre is to send INSRES/XML associated with a style sheet in XSL to the declarant. Then the declarant can display INSRES/XML with his browser. Maintenance and publication Date: 19/02/03-7 -

8 Every change request must be approved by EEG6/WG5 before updating the Intrastat System Implementation Model or the Message Implementation Guidelines of INSTAT/XML and INSRES/XML. These documents are available on CIRCA in PDF and HTML. The layout of these documents should be modified into the CEN layout when they will get the CWA. XML implementation in IDEP/CN8 IDEP/CN8 is the Intrastat Data Entry Package developed by Eurostat, set-up and distributed by the CNAs to the declarants. INSTAT/XML specifications are the basis of XML tools developed for IDEP/CN8. These tools, presented in Figure 1, are: the generator producing well-formed and valid INSTAT/XML messages, integrated in IDEP/CN8, the analyser prototype parsing INSTAT/XML and storing the data in a database. IDEP /CN8 XML generator INSTAT/XML XML declaration XML Analyser (Prototype) DataBase Declarant side Collecting Centre Administration side Figure 1: XML tools developed for IDEP/CN8 XML Generator in IDEP The INSTAT/XML Generator is integrated into IDEP/CN8 for Windows and works in parallel with the EDIFACT generator. By using a MS Parameter it is possible to choose between XML and EDIFACT generation. For the user of IDEP/CN8 for Windows this is transparent. INSTAT/XML generator is now integrated in the current version of IDEP/CN8 distributed to the Member States. Since January 2003, Luxembourg distributes to the traders IDEP/CN8 including the option for generating INSTAT/XML and collects the XML Intrastat declarations in the INSTAT/XML format. Prototype XML Analyser The INSTAT/XML Analyser Prototype was previously presented to the IDEP/CN8 Working Group. It was intended to illustrate the feasibility and ease of implementation of an XML analyser for the CNA. The analyser prototype was a standalone tool that was capable of analysing an INSTAT/XML message and storing the data it contains in an MS-Access database. Date: 19/02/03-8 -

9 The first results of the prototype suggested a very high performance in processing the XML message. This performance gain must be offset against the size of the XML message, which is much large compared to an equivalent EDIFACT message. Scenario of exchanges of XML messages between the declarant and the administration EEG6/WG5 is working on a scenario of exchanges of XML messages between the declarant and the administration. The overall intention is to produce a complete demo XML-message-chain including an INSTAT/XML message, storage of the information, extraction of the response information, production of an INSRES/XML message, presentation of the response information in the browser of the declarant. First achievements of this study were the production of prototypes implementing new XML techniques like INSRES/XML embedded into an HTML document presented by Belgium or different XML style-sheets associated with INSRES/XML. This study will be carried on by exploring the other parts of the scenario. The new ebxml technical specifications and in particular the ebxml technology will be taken into account in this study. EXSTAT/XML EEG6/WG5 began the study of EXSTAT/XML, the XML declaration of the Extra Community Trade statistics. For the moment, the group is defining the Extrastat System Implementation Model. Date: 19/02/03 Version: (of 9)