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April/May 2006 Newsletter
From the Executive Director
Now that the eOTD is on a regular monthly release schedule we are working on improving the associated documentation and this includes our newsletter. I have spoken to a number of the eOTD application and service providers as well as to the leading eOTD implementers and I believe we can look forward to some very interesting articles in the newsletter over the next few months.
There is a lot of activity surrounding the eOTD, from the ISO standards development through to the new content standardization councils, the localizations, the development of the web services interface and last but not least the new eOTD cataloging training course.
We are working with DLIS and AC/135 on a project to convert the Federal/NATO Item Identification Guides into eOTD Identification Guides in XML so that these can be used as cataloging template plug-ins in cataloging applications. Associated with this I am pleased to report that at least one, (possibly two), commercial versions of the eOTD catalog builder are under development and I believe these will be also using the new web services interface to the ESN Registry for eOTD compliance certification (ISO 8000).
We have been asked to consider the development of an ECCMA vendor number registry along the same lines as the ECCMA stock number registry. The registry would provide a mechanism for pooling vendor master data (Names, addresses and contact information) amongst ECCMA members and would be modeled on and synchronized with the NCAGE. I would like to hear from any other ECCMA member who would have an interest in such a registry.
Our ISO work continues to absorb a lot of our available time and beyond our participation in ISO TC 84/SC4 we have been asked to participate in a joint working group with ISO JTC1/SC31 the committee responsible for the RFID standards. The working group will address improving the representation of industrial data in the RFID standard. Our interest in this committee is to ensure that the RFID standards remain open and in particular that the standard does not create a monopoly in the resolution of the RFID identifiers. While the standard can currently accommodate an ESN there is also an industry need to include characteristic data in the RFID tag and one of the proposed solutions is the use of eOTD for meta data tagging. In participating with this group it is evident that the eOTD provides a truly unique depth of industrial knowledge and an unrivaled methodology for creating scalable standardized content that reaches from the smallest spreadsheet catalog through to the most complex industrial manufacturing models.
We are seeing the first signs of a growing recognition of the importance of information quality in both procurement and supply chain management. Managers are increasingly looking for better transactional clarity and better data integration and they now understand that this can only be achieved with reliable and consistent meta data tagging such as that offered by eOTD implementations. It was interesting to hear that cataloging is now being viewed as an essential risk management tool and as a driver in business reengineering projects that are focused on achieving a common business language across the enterprise while respecting local languages and expertise.
Respectfully submitted,
Peter Benson
Executive Director, ECCMA
ECCMA Catalog training course
Peter Benson, ECCMA
Steve Arnett (DLIS) and I have recently completed the first of what will be a series of eOTD cataloging training courses. The course was held in Johannesburg South Africa at the offices of Anglo American. Twenty four students attended the two and a half day course that covered basic data modeling through to practical eOTD coding. The next course is scheduled in Santiago, Chile and Dr. Gerry Radack (CTC) and I will be the instructors. The courses are priced at $750 for ECCMA Members and $1,250 for non-ECCMA members and include the course materials and catering. ECCMA members who are interested in participating in an ECCMA Catalog training course or in hosting one please contact Dan.King@eccma.org.
The following is an outline of the course agenda:| DAY ONE | | | 08:00-08:15 | Introduction of attendees | | 08:15-09:00 | Session 1- History of the NATO Codification system and the eOTD
| | 09:15-10:00 | Session 2- Fundamentals of data modeling
- Entity
- Attribute
- Relationship
| | 10:15-11:00 | Session 3- eOTD Data models
| | 11:15-12:00 | Session 4- Practical cataloging I
- Preparing the data
- Adding the class
| | 12:15-13:00 | Session 5- Practical cataloging II
- Identifying properties
- Abstracting property values
| | 14:00-14:45 | Session 6- eOTD Identification Guide
| | 15:00-15:45 | | | 16:00-16:45 | Review of topics covered | DAY TWO | | | 08:00-08:15 | Schedule review | | 08:15-09:00 | Session 8- Defining and managing a data cleaning project
- Costing outsourced data cleaning projects
| | 09:15-10:00 | Session 9- ECCMA Stock Number registry (ESNR)
| | 10:15-11:00 | | | 11:15-12:00 | | | 12:15-13:00 | Session 12- Supplier enablement strategies
| | 14:00-14:45 | Session 13- Cataloging tools
| | 15:00-15:45 | Session 14- Developing a cataloging cost benefit analysis
| | 16:00-16:45 | Review of topics covered | DAY THREE | | | 08:00-08:15 | Schedule review | | 08:15-09:00 | - Team presentation preparation
The presentation should attempt to explain to the theoretical participants in the organization why they should cooperate with the project as well as seek to explain to financial controllers why they should dedicate the necessary resources. The presentation should outline the procedures for cleaning and maintaining data as well as the metrics driving cost and benefits. Consideration should be given to how to assign priorities and how to measure progress as well as which components of the project can be outsourced and how the outsourced work will be specified and managed. | | 09:15-12:00 | | | 12:00-14:00 | Completion Certificate awards followed by lunch |
Content Standardization Councils
Peter Benson, ECCMA
The interest in the eOTD is growing at an exponential rate and we are seeing industry groups coming together to ensure that both the eOTD meets the specific industry requirements and that the implementation of the eOTD is consistent across the industry.
Following on from the formation of the Natural Resources Industry Content Standardization Council that organized the ECCMA catalog training course in South Africa we have agreed to assist with the formation of a content standardization council for the services industry and we expect this to be followed shortly by a council for Upstream Oil and Gas, one for office products, one for furniture manufacturing, one for clothing and textiles and one for optical equipment.
We are working with these councils to ensure they adopt a consensus process that allows them to be recognized as standard development organizations in their own right under ISO 22745 as this will allow them to submit terminology to ECCMA for inclusion in the eOTD. Also to support the work of these councils as well the increasing number of ECCMA members that are developing Identification Guides, we have been working on improving the basic ECCMA on-line identification guide editor and the ECCMA Identification Guide Registry.
The following are the basic terms of reference for a Content Standardization council:
Purpose and Scope: - To build and maintain eOTD Identification Guides; and
- To develop associated terminology for inclusion in the eOTD.
Basic Requirements:
1.The Content Standardization Council shall develop and register with ECCMA a charter that shall include:- its name;
- a description of the domain of interest; and.
- an operating procedure that ensures fundamental fairness, that is open and transparent and that achieves consensus by a balance of materially-affected interests (reference: Due process requirements for American National Standards”.)
2.The Content Standardization Council shall adopt ISO 22745-11 as its standard for the development of terminology.
3.The Content Standardization Council shall ensure that its members are members in good standing of ECCMA.
4.The members of the Content Standardization Council, in recognition of the importance of their mission shall agree:- to act honestly and in good faith with a view to the best interest of the ECCMA membership and the users of the eOTD;
- to avoid real or perceived conflicts of interest whenever possible and to disclose them to affected parties when they do exist;
- to avoid injuring others, their property, reputation, or employment by false, malicious or improper action; and
- to ensure that any public statements relating to ECCMA which are not official statements of ECCMA, are properly portrayed as the opinion of the individual making them.
5.The Content Standardization Council shall designate one of its members as the official ECCMA point of contact for the council.
6.In recognition of the formation of the Content Standardization Council ECCMA shall:- issue an eOTD organization identifier to be associated with the eOTD Identification Guides and terminology submitted by the council; and
- register a domain name for the Content Standardization Council and reference this to the ECCMA website.
eOTD Version Release
Dan King, ECCMA
The May 2006 release of the eOTD is posted to the ECCMA website and is available for download. The updated version contains 619,419 terms and 404,582 definitions.
Included in the terms there are currently 81,074 Classes, 59,652 Properties, 96,586 Property Values, 2,632 Units of Measure, 363 Currencies, 120 Features, 9 Representations, and 6 Qualifiers of Measure.
The 619,419 terms and 404,582 definitions include the following localizations:
| Language | Terms | Definitions | | Czech as spoken in the Czech Republic | 72,155 | 59,128 | | French as spoken in France | 71,934 | 33,463 | | Korean as spoken in Korea | 44,554 | 31,788 | | Italian as spoken in Italy | 42,732 | 26,809 | | Hungarian as spoken in Hungary | 36,646 | 24,976 | | German as spoken in Germany | 33,876 | 25,431 | | Spanish as spoken in Spain | 30,684 | 16,846 | | Dutch as spoken in the Netherlands | 23,410 | 22,078 | | Polish as spoken in Poland | 9,216 | 8,231 |
Any questions about the above statistics or the eOTD in general can be directed to Dan.King@eccma.org.
Upcoming Events
Peter Benson, ECCMA
Confirmed Presentations and meetings:
June 2006
- 14th – 15th: eOTD Training, Santiago, Chile – Gerry Radack and Peter Benson
- 25th – 30th: ISO TC184/SC4, Toulouse, France – Steve Arnett, Gerry Radack, Peter Benson, Barry Frye
July 2006
- 18th – 19th: American Defense Acquisition & Procurement Transformation Conference, Arlington, VA – Steve Arnett and Peter Benson
September 2006
- TBA: ISO 8000 workshop, CEN Brussels, Belgium
6th Annual ECCMA International Cataloging Conference
The ECCMA conference is rapidly taking the shape of a truly unique event bringing together international cataloging experts and catalog users from government and industry as well as the industry leading cataloging application and service providers. The traditional Tuesday night ECCMA speaker's dinner is being combined with the ISO TC 184/SC4 awards ceremony that celebrates the 50th meeting of the committee and its exemplary work in driving the international standardization of industrial data; this promises to be an exciting start to the ECCMA conference. The Wednesday evening dinner will include a presentation and chocolate tasting led by Ed Seguine the Vice President of research and development at Guittard Chocolate to ensure that the conference attendees and ISO experts leave the meeting with yet another unique expertise.
If you have not already registered for the conference now would be a good time to do so. If you wish to stay at the Hotel Hershey early reservations are highly recommended. You may make reservations on line by going to the link posted on our website or you may call the hotel for reservations at 717-534-8668.
Whilst the framework of the conference is set we are still considering a number of presentations for the ECCMA panel on Wednesday morning. The workshops will be focused on implementation issues and will cover the following topics:- eOTD cataloging training,
- cleaning and managing a mateial master,
- cleaning and managing a vendor master,
- integrating distributed catalogs,
- evaluating and managing data quality,
- applying classifications for spend analysis reporting,
- inventory rationalization strategies,
- managing diminishing manufacturing sources,
- managing distributed inventory,
- localization solutions
- managing access to hosted XML catalogs,
- implementing UID and RFID solutions,
- using externally hosted characteristic data,
- integrating eOTD cataloging into design applications.
Outline conference schedule
Tuesday October 24th- 17:00-22:00 Join ISO and ECCMA Awards Dinner
(Dress Code: Black Tie Optional)
Wednesday October 25th (Dress Code: Business Casual)- 07:00-08:00 Registration Breakfast
- 08:00-10:00 ISO panel presentation
- 10:00-10:30 Morning Break
- 10:30-12:00 ECCMA panel presentation
- 12:00-13:00 Lunch
- 12:30 Exhibition opens
- 15:00-15:30 Afternoon break
- 17:30 Exhibition closes
- 19:00-21:00 Joint ECCMA and ISO Dinner and Chocolate tasting
(Dress Code: Evening Resort Attire)
Thursday October 26th (Dress Code: Business Casual)- 07:00-08:00 Joint ISO - ECCMA Breakfast
- 08:00-10:00 ECCMA Workshops
- 10:00-10:30 Morning Break
- 10:30-12:00 ECCMA Workshops
- 12:00-13:00 Lunch
- 13:00-15:00 ECCMA Workshops
- 15:00-15:30 Afternoon Break
- 15:30-17:00 ECCMA Workshops
- 17:00 ECCMA Conference ends
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