Towards a Negotiation Protocol for ebXML
Hércules Antonio do Prado
1,2
, Edilson Ferneda
1
, Gentil José de Lucena Filho
3
,
Aluizio Haendchen Filho
4
and Newton Castilho Lavoyer
1
1
Graduate Program on Knowledge and IT Management, Catholic University of Brasilia,
SGAN 916 Av. W5, 70790-160, Brasília, DF, Brazil
2
Secretariat for Management and Strategy, Embrapa, Parque Estação Biológica, PqEB s/n°, 70770-90, Brasília, DF, Brazil
3
Laboratory for Research on Conversations in Organizations, Homero Reis and Consultants,
SCN - Q. 01 - Bld. E-50- Room 1102 Ed. Central Park, CEP 70.711-903, Brasília, DF, Brazil
4
UNIDAVI - Universidade para o Desenvolvimento do Alto Vale do Itajaí,
Rua Dr. Guilherme Guemballa, Rio do Sul, SC, Brazil
Keywords: Electronic Business, Web Services, e-Business, B2B, Ontology of Language.
Abstract: In the last decades many research efforts have been devoted to improve electronic business among partner
enterprises. The well succeeded results of these efforts led to the widespread use of tools like eCO-
Framework (Macro-Economic Framework), EDI (Electronic Document Interchange) and SWIFT (Society
for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication). More recently, the ebXML standard has been
developed to expand the B2B (Business to Business) practice, assuring security at a low cost and enabling
the commerce among small and medium businesses. However, ebXML provides only physical connection
among the parts, lacking support for a business protocol capable of helping a negotiation. A well succeeded
negotiation requires a dialog, involving customers and suppliers, product specification, requests, offers,
requirements, all in a cycle of successive refinement of expectations. This paper aims at contributing to
bridge this gap by means of a conceptual model for negotiation based on the client satisfaction cycle of
Flores. Additionally, we demonstrate the electronic commerce route among the enterprises, describe some
patterns that led to the arising of ebXML and that are part of its current core, specify the ebXML and
propose some trends for the B2B commerce.
1 INTRODUCTION
The electronic business among enterprises, aka B2B,
appeared in the 1960s, along with the first systems
for Electronic Documents Interchange (EDI). The
advances of communication technology and the
Internet, along with the development of the
eXtensible Markup Language (XML) enabled a
more secure and cheap business practice. These
changes took the advantages of electronic commerce
to small and medium business, beyond the big ones,
leading to a joint effort from the Organization for
Advancement of Structured Information Standards
(OASIS) and United Nations Center for Trade
Facilitation and Electronic Business (UN/CEFACT).
This led, in 1999, to the development of the
specification Electronic Business XML (ebXML).
The paper is organized as follows. In Section 2, a
historic context for its proposal is provided by
means of a short description of other related
standards. The XML specifications, Web Services
Description Language (WSDL), Universal
Description, Discovery and Integration (UDDI),
Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP), and EDI
are discussed. Section 3 presents ebXML standard
and, in Section 4, the business process encompassed
by ebXML is discussed. The connection between
ebXML and the Client Satisfaction Cycle (Flores,
1997) is clarified in Section 5, along with a
discussion on how the conversations requirements in
business could be covered by the proposed model. A
logical structure is presented that encompasses the
elements involved in this proposal. Finally, the
ongoing work is described in Section 6.
277
do Prado H., Ferneda E., de Lucena Filho G., Haendchen Filho A. and Castilho Lavoyer N..
Towards a Negotiation Protocol for ebXML.
DOI: 10.5220/0004098602770282
In Proceedings of the 14th International Conference on Enterprise Information Systems (ICEIS-2012), pages 277-282
ISBN: 978-989-8565-11-2
Copyright
c
 2012 SCITEPRESS (Science and Technology Publications, Lda.)

2 eb
X
2.1
X
XML st
a
Consort
i
of inter
o
was b
a
Langua
g
electron
i
for text
m
XM
L
b
ecause
marking
b
y posi
n
fragmen
t
fragmen
t
The
specific
a
languag
e
mark-up
XML p
r
creating
instead
o
which a
d
The
m
ability t
o
that an
from th
marked
how the
each p
a
differen
t
(Tidwel
l
2.2
W
Web se
r
can be
f
standar
d
Vinoski,
The
W3C (2
Registry
p
ublishe
informa
t
standar
d
any ent
i
service;
the serv
i
to enca
p
applies
informa
t
X
ML PR
E
X
ML
a
ndard was d
e
i
u
m
(W3C) i
n
o
perability a
m
a
sed on St
a
g
e (SGML),
i
c publishing
m
ar
k
-up.
L
, like HTM
L
it allows st
r
tags. Text c
h
n
g a tag mark
i
t
and anothe
r
t
.
W3C object
i
a
tion (W3C,
2
e
for data de
model, use
f
r
ovides the a
u
its own
m
o
f restricting
t
d
op
t
s fixed ta
g
m
ost importa
n
o
interchang
e
enterprise,
o
e same ent
e
data throug
h
source syste
m
a
rt involved
t
tools to gen
e
l
, 2002).
W
eb Servic
r
vices are ap
p
f
ound and re
d
s like SOAP,
2001).
web services
004b),
p
rese
n
is the
p
l
a
d, being
a
t
ion is org
a
d
; the consum
e
i
ty that use
s
Service Prov
i
i
ce, making i
t
p
sulate infor
m
the SOA
P
t
ion in UDDI
E
DECES
S
e
veloped by
W
n
order to ad
d
m
ong divers
e
a
ndard Gen
e
a standar
d
industry that
L
, is called a
m
r
ucturing a t
e
h
aracteristics
i
ng in the be
g
r
tag marking
i
ve, as descr
i
2
004a), was t
o
scription,
b
y
f
ul to write
u
thor features
m
arking label
s
t
he mar
k
-up
s
g
s.
n
t characteris
e
data. It all
o
o
r even diff
e
e
rprise, to i
n
h
the Web,
i
m
is organize
d
in data inte
r
e
rate and trea
t
es
p
lications tha
t
ferenced by
UDDI and
W
architecture
s
n
ts the follo
w
a
ce where
t
a
vailable f
o
a
nized accor
d
e
r of a given
s
s
the actual
i
de
r
is the en
t
t
available fo
r
m
ation, the s
e
P
p
rotocol,
registry.
S
ORS
W
orld Wide
W
d
ress the nece
s
e
application
s
e
ralized Ma
r
d
used for
provides su
p
m
ar
k
-up lang
u
e
xt by mean
may be indi
c
g
inning of the
at the end o
f
i
bed in the
X
o
define a
p
or
t
means of a
Web docum
e
for defining
s
and attrib
u
chema of HT
t
ic of XML i
s
o
ws, for exa
m
e
rent depar
t
m
n
terchange X
M
i
ndependentl
y
d
. In other w
o
r
change can
t
XML docu
m
t
, once publi
s
HTTP and
X
W
SDL (Smith
s
, as specifie
d
w
ing compon
e
t
he services
o
r search.
d
ing the U
D
s
ervice or clie
or even an
o
t
ity that publi
r
search. In
o
e
rvice publis
h
mapping
s
W
eb
s
sity
s
. It
r
kup
the
p
port
u
age
n
s of
c
ated
text
f
the
X
ML
t
able
new
e
nts.
and
u
tes,
T
ML,
s
the
m
ple,
m
ents
M
L-
y
on
o
rds,
use
m
ents
s
hed,
X
ML
and
d
b
y
e
nts:
are
The
DDI
e
n
t
is
o
ther
i
shes
o
rder
hing
s
uch
2.
3
ED
b
u
s
(G
r
int
e
aut
o
20
0
acc
Fo
r
for
m
Do
c
Ge
n
Au
d
am
o
F
to
b
co
n
Th
i
net
w
tra
n
ad
d
b
u
s
the
p
ri
v
ap
p
3
W
h
spe
en
a
on
e
inf
r
ha
n
the
(H
a
p
u
b
eb
X
fol
l
3
EDI
I is a stand
a
s
iness docu
m
r
aham, 2003).
e
rchange of
o
matized wa
y
0
4). Accord
omplishes th
e
r
mat convers
i
m
at; Keepi
n
c
uments inte
r
n
eration an
d
iting and lo
g
o
ng the parts.
F
igure 1: Infor
m
The client a
p
b
e formatted
b
n
ver
t
s these
d
i
s can be sen
t
w
or
k
to the
E
n
slation that
d
ressed applic
a
The enterpri
s
s
iness docum
e
high cost
o
v
ate networ
k
p
lication.
THE eb
X
ITS BU
S
h
en OASIS
a
cify a new
a
ble the elect
r
e
became res
p
r
astructure a
n
n
d, UN/CEF
A
technical sp
e
a
kvoort, 2004
)
The first rel
e
b
lished in 2
0
X
ML as th
e
l
owing set of
s
a
rd that ena
b
m
ents among
Likewise, it
d
ocuments i
n
y
among or
g
i
ng to R
a
e
following fu
n
i
on from E
D
n
g track o
f
r
change amo
d
acknowl
e
g
ging; and
Ne
m
ation flow in
E
plication tra
n
b
y the EDI tr
a
d
ata into a m
e
t
directly or
b
E
DI receptor,
w
shall be u
n
a
tion.
s
es have use
d
e
nts, but the l
a
o
f implement
a
k
s have st
r
X
ML ST
A
S
INESS P
R
n
d UN/CEF
A
XML-
b
ased
o
nic commer
c
p
onsible for
n
d the XML
A
CT assumed
e
cification o
f
)
.
e
ase of ebX
M
0
01 and, in
e
15000 sta
n
s
pecifications
b
le the inter
c
commercial
can be defi
n
n
a standar
d
g
anizations (
H
a
wlins (200
2
u
nctions (See
F
D
I to the a
p
f
these co
n
o
ng business
e
dgments
fo
e
gotiation ma
n
E
DI (Hakvoort
,
n
smi
t
s its
b
us
i
anslato
r
, whi
c
e
ssage in E
D
b
y means of
which
p
erfor
m
n
derstandabl
e
d EDI to in
t
a
ck of stand
a
t
ation and t
h
r
ongly restr
i
A
NDARD
A
R
OCESS
A
CT joined
e
standard th
a
ce in Interne
t
defining the
issues. On
t
d
the respons
i
f
the core co
m
M
L specifica
t
2004 ISO
n
dard, acco
r
s
: ISO 15000-
c
hange of
partners
n
ed as the
d
ized and
H
akvoort,
2
), EDI
F
igure 1):
p
plication
n
ve
r
sions;
partners;
o
llow-up;
n
agement
,
2004).
i
ness data
c
h in turn
D
I format.
a private
m
s a new
e
by the
t
erchange
r
dization,
e use of
i
cted its
A
ND
e
fforts to
a
t would
t
, the first
technical
t
he other
i
bility for
m
ponen
t
s
t
ions was
approved
r
ding the
1
ebXML
ICEIS2012-14thInternationalConferenceonEnterpriseInformationSystems
278

Collaborative Partner Profile Agreement (ebCPP);
ISO 15000-2 ebXML Messaging Service (ebMS);
ISO 15000-3 ebXML Registry Information Model
(ebRIN); ISO 15000-4 ebXML Registry Services
(ebRS). In 2005 the specification 15000-5 ebXML
Core Components (ebCC) was also approved.
According to Liang (2012), the ebXML standard
was proposed to “provide an open, XML-based
infrastructure to enable the global use of e-business
information in an interoperable, secure, and
consistent manner by all trading partners, targeting
to the B2B market.” The standard has enabled the
B2B practice among small and medium enterprises.
3.1 ebXML Components
The practice of electronic cooperation among
commercial partners requires the definition of a
business process. In order to achieve a common
objective (Irani, 2002), a business process defines
rules and responsibilities for each partner and is
composed by a set of activities that are performed in
a pipeline.
The architectural model of ebXML defines two
kinds of visions that cover the relevant aspects of
business interactions. These visions were inherited
from OpenEDI of UN/CEFACT and define
operational and functional issues for performing an
electronic cooperation among business partners. The
operational vision of a business for Business
Operational View (BOV) includes conventions,
agreements, mutual obligations, and requirements
for the commercial integration. The Functional
Service View (FSV) addresses the support services
for establishing a negotiation under ebXML and has
three phases: implementation, discovery and
publishing, and execution. The first phase describes
the procedures for creating an ebXML application.
Discovery and publishing refers to the search and
discovery of services in the ebXML registry. The
third phase addresses the scenarios for executing the
ebXML transactions (Webber, Dutton, 2000).
The ebXML standard defines an architecture in
modules that offer a variety of components that
assure the interoperability among the business
processes regarding not only the technical
infrastructure but also commercial aspects of the
business (ebXML, 2012). The architecture
encompasses the following components: Core
Components (ebCC) – libraries of reusable and
extensible components able to support the business
processes; Business Process (ebBP) – composed by
metamodels of the enterprise business processes;
Collaboration Protocol Profile (CPP) and
Collaboration Protocol Agreement (CPA) – allows
an enterprise to specify its business process and
establish the collaboration rules with its partners;
Registry (ebRS): repository for business objects; and
e-business Message Service (ebMS): provides the
message interchange structure that enables
interoperability among the business partners. Figure
2 depicts the technical infrastructure of ebXML.
Figure 2: ebXML components.
3.2 Core Components
According to the specification document (ebXML,
2012), the Core Components (ebCC) are defined in
such a way that it can be shared by many business
types. They persist in the Registry and can be
accessed as models for defining a business process
for an organization.
A component represents a business concept from
the real world and holds a set of data that
encompasses a minimum set of business
information. An analogy that clarifies this concept is
the building blocks in which the blocks can be
combined for more complex components. The core
components are written in XML and are stored and
retrieved from a core library in the ebXML registry.
The core components are designed to be reused and
extended to define any business process.
Additionally, an enterprise developing an ebXML
application can define new components that can be
published in the registry and become part of the core
component’s library (ebXML, 2012).
3.3 Business Process
The Business Process (ebBP) models describe the
operation of the enterprise business process by
means of scenario specifications that must be clear
enough to be understandable by other enterprises.
This allows the integration of business processes
among partners. The models are based on ebXML
metamodels and are designed in UML and UMM.
Transport and Routing
Registry and Repository
Trading Partner Profile
Business Process
CC
TowardsaNegotiationProtocolforebXML
279

3.4 CPP and CPA
CPP (ebXML, 2012) is presented as a XML
document, according to a Document Type Definition
(DTD) kept in ebRS. It specifies the technical details
and information related to the capability of an
enterprise to support a given business process in an
electronic collaboration. CPP represents information
related to: the location and the enterprise contacts,
industry classification, messages and transportation
protocol applied by the enterprise, security
restrictions, and interfaces used to enable
interchange of business documents.
CPP is related to one or more business process
supported by a business partner, as well as to the
rules accepted by this partner for each business
process. An enterprise interested in taking part of a
commercial collaboration process using ebXML
should generate the CPP document, describing its
business profile and publishing it in ebRS, allowing
potential business partners to understand the process.
The rules in CPP are defined in the Business Process
Specification (BPS).
CPA is an XML document, also defined by
means of a DTD in ebRS, and specifies the
information interchange among business partners, in
an ebXML collaboration process. CPA represents
the intersection of the CPP business partners
involved in a commercial interaction and keeps the
results of the partners’ agreement. The rules to be
followed by the partners must be described in CPA,
and include transportation protocols and business
messages, security resources (eg, encryption and
authentication), and the definition of the business
process to be performed (ebXML, 2012).
3.5 Registry Services
The Registry Services (ebRS) component is a
repository that provides a set of services to enable
information sharing. Information is stored as objects
in the repository and managed by ebRS specific
processes. An item in the repository refers to an
object submitted to be stored, for example an XML
document representing an invoice. Each item in the
repository is described by means of metadata as an
ebRS entry (ebXML, 2002).
3.6 Message Services
The Message Services (ebMS) component defines a
set of formats and protocols for message interchange
and the use of HTTP and SMTP protocols (Hofreiter
et al., 2002). It is based on SOAP extensions,
including SOAP Message Attachment that enables
the attachment of documents and other items to the
message (Hakvoort, 2004).
This component is organized in three levels: an
interface to access the service, methods to handle the
service, and the mapping of the transportation
services (HTTP, SMTP, FTP e IIOP). The methods
to handle the service provides the functions:
Processing Manager, responsible for building the
handling based upon invoked application
parameters; Security Service, that authenticates and
authorizes the signatures; Message Reliability
Service, responding for persistence, retransmission,
error notification, and message reception; Packaging
Service, which handles the message packaging
inside the SOAP packages along with the
attachments; and Errors Management Service, that
catalogs the errors and keeps track of them. Figure 3
depicts ebMS and respective levels.
Figure 3: Message services (Hakvoort, 2004).
3.7 ebXML Business Process
The business process in ebXML (Figure 4) starts
when a company interested in doing business
accesses the internet and query the scenarios and
ICEIS2012-14thInternationalConferenceonEnterpriseInformationSystems
280

p
rofiles
After re
v
b
uild its
means o
f
Figure
4
2004).
The
technica
l
that ca
n
p
artner
(
docume
n
looking
conside
r
requests
negotiat
i
to build
agreeme
n
commer
c
4 T
H
C
Y
In their
establis
h
organiz
a
The Cli
e
emerge
d
Fig
u
CSC
represen
Enterprise A
d
I
Clien
t
C
o
available o
n
v
iewing the
b
own busines
s
f
a CPP docu
m
4
: Interaction
document
c
l
capabilitie
s
n
be interes
t
(
step 2). Next
,
n
t in ebXML
for partners
,
r
s it interes
t
the CPP do
c
i
on phase, de
p
an agreemen
t
nt, A and B
c
e in the ebX
M
H
E CLIE
N
Y
CLE
original wor
k
h
ed a cha
l
a
tions define
d
e
nt Satisfacti
o
d
from this co
n
u
re 5: Client sat
i
provides
a
n
t, in a formal
c
B
usiness details
requests
I
mplements its application
t
S
atisfaction
declaration
o
ntextualization
Evaluation
n
ebXML re
p
b
usiness mo
d
s
application,
m
ent.
B2B under
e
c
ontains all
s
, restriction
s
t
ing for a
p
,
enterprise A
(step 3). Ente
,
finds the
p
t
ing (step
4
c
ument from
p
arting from
t
t
(step 5). Af
t
are ready t
o
M
L context (
s
N
T SATIS
k
, Winograd
a
l
lenging vi
s
d
as commi
t
o
n Cycle (CS
n
cep
t
(see Fig
i
sfaction cycle
a
model to
and complet
e
ebXML
registry
e
R
egister
business pro
f
and implem
e
f
R
g
A
gree
m
doing
b
A
g
r
Reques
t
Completion
declaration
Reliance
Client
interests
Provider
interests
p
ository (ste
p
d
els, it decid
e
which is ma
d
e
bXML (Hak
v
information
, and scena
r
p
otential busi
publishes its
C
r
prise B, whi
c
p
rofile of A
4
). Enterpris
e
A and start
s
t
he CPP or a
C
er establishin
o
make elect
r
s
tep 6).
F
ACTIO
N
a
nd Flores (1
9
s
ion of
m
t
ments netw
o
C
) (Flores, 1
9
u
re 5).
(Flores, 1997).
understand
e
way, the ge
n
Enter
p
f
iles
e
ntation details
R
ecover business
s
cenarios
of enterprise A
m
ent fo
r
b
usiness
h Do business
Pro
v
r
eemen
t
Negotiation
Completion
p
1).
e
s to
d
e by
v
oort,
(eg,
r
ios)
i
ness
CPP
c
h is
and
e
B
s
the
C
PA
n
g an
r
onic
N
9
87)
m
odel
or
ks.
9
97)
and
n
eric
rel
a
In
p
ro
oc
c
tak
e
are
fro
m
the
i
wh
a
uni
v
co
n
the
co
n
p
h
e
oc
c
co
n
po
s
the
s
act
s
s
ta
t
mo
m
p
er
v
co
n
me
r
an
d
hu
m
5
An
y
use
sit
u
Th
e
suc
ha
p
int
e
b
ro
the
co
n
p
ro
fac
i
or
d
fra
m
the
ne
g
a l
o
(la
n
co
n
ex
p
res
t
p
rise B
s
v
ider
a
tions
b
etwee
n
this paper,
v
iding more
c
urring in eb
X
e
n as commi
t
constituted o
m
the conver
s
i
r environm
a
tever it is
(
v
ersity, a
f
n
stituted, bec
o
basis of
n
versations.
e
nomena fro
m
c
ur. In these c
o
n
cerns arise
,
s
sibilities are
o
s
e activities
a
s
" like req
u
t
ements whic
h
m
ent, but r
a
v
ade human
i
n
versations,
a
r
e rational i
s
d
emotional
c
m
an nature of
THE B
U
ebXML
y
negotiatio
n
s a design
p
u
ations given
e
possibility
cessive offe
r
p
pen, preclu
d
e
raction
b
eyo
n
ad theory of
relations exi
s
n
versation c
y
v
ider, defini
n
i
litates the n
er to achie
v
m
ework is pr
o
conversatio
n
g
otiation cycl
e
o
gical layer o
n
In spite of
t
n
guage, em
o
n
versations, i
n
p
loring the l
t
rict our consi
n
p
artners in
we instant
i
flexibility to
X
ML. Accor
d
t
ments netw
o
r
, in o
t
her te
r
s
ations that a
r
e
nt. Every
(
eg, a comp
a
f
amily, a
d
o
mes unique
t
he power
These conv
m
which wo
r
o
nversations,
,
assessme
n
o
pened or cl
o
a
re manifest i
n
u
ests, promi
s
h
are not mer
e
a
the
r
, are re
c
nteractions.
A
a
s human
m
sues, also c
a
c
omponents
w
the
b
eings th
a
U
SINESS
L
involving a
n
p
rotocol dep
a
by the avail
of a real
n
r
s and requ
e
d
ing the p
n
d predefine
d
speech acts,
s
ting in nego
t
y
cle between
n
g roles and s
t
e
gotiation u
n
v
e a more f
l
o
posed
b
ased
n
cycle of F
l
e
. This frame
w
n
ebXML plat
f
t
he wide sco
p
o
tion, and
n
the prese
n
i
nguistic di
m
d
erations to t
h
a business tr
a
i
ate CSC a
i
the business
d
ing to Flor
e
o
rks, the org
a
r
ms, get their
r
ise and deve
l
social org
a
a
ny, public
a
d
rugstore, et
and disting
u
tha
t
charac
t
v
ersations a
r
r
k is establi
s
actions are d
n
ts are m
a
o
sed. Linguis
t
i
n the form o
s
es, declarat
i
r
e circumstan
c
c
urrent struc
t
A
t the same ti
m
m
anifestations
,
a
rry in its na
t
w
hich derive
a
t generate th
e
L
INK FO
R
a
n ebXML t
r
a
rting from
l
able busines
s
n
egotiation,
e
sts usually
p
arts from
d
models. B
a
Flores (199
7
t
iations. He
pr
n
the client
t
ructuring flo
w
n
til its comp
l
fl
exible nego
t
on mapping
s
l
ores and th
e
w
ork can be c
o
t
form.
o
pe of the d
i
body) inv
o
nt
work we
m
ension. Th
a
h
e speech an
d
a
nsaction.
i
ming at
relations
s (1997),
a
nizations
identities
l
op inside
a
nization,
a
gency, a
c
.) once
u
ished on
t
erize its
r
e social
s
hed and
e
veloped,
a
de and
ically, all
f
"speech
i
ons and
c
es of the
t
ures that
m
e, these
,
besides
t
ure body
from the
e
m.
R
r
ansaction
i
nflexible
s
models.
including
does not
a richer
a
sed on a
7
) studie
d
r
oposes a
and the
w
s which
l
etion. In
t
iation, a
s
between
e
ebXML
o
nsidered
mensions
o
lved in
are only
a
t is, we
d
listening
TowardsaNegotiationProtocolforebXML
281

acts immersed in the conversations that generate the
commitments in business transactions occurring in
the ebXML virtual space. An important challenge
for this proposal is to understand the types of
conversations that occur during an electronic
business transaction. Moreover, these conversations
must be mapped, classified, and organized. Work is
being carried out towards finding and characterizing
a conversational ontology able to: capture concepts
and relations inside the business domain; derive a set
of axioms that enable translating and modeling a
B2B representation; and capture subtle issues typical
from human nature such as the ones occurring in
electronic business transactions. In order to envision
the mode and context of these conversations, a
mapping from the elements of CSC and the
negotiation cycle of ebXML is proposed (see Figure
6). The relationship between the CSC and ebXML
are only graphically presented due to space
limitations.
Figure 6: CSC and ebXML components.
6 ONGOING WORK
The current efforts include the creation of an agent
organization and the specification of a normative
environment in which possible behaviors in the
ebXML context can be defined. Agents can be used
to establish automatic or semiautomatic
conversations or even to help in the negotiations. In
this context, some questions like the following must
be considered: What are the most likely or possible
conversations? Are them recurrent? Can they be
classified, organized, mapped? According to Paes et
al (2005), the interaction among agents in an
organization can be considered in the following
levels: content level, related to the content of the
information interchanged between agents; intention
level, referring to the expression of the agent
intention, usually by means of an ACL (Agent
Communication Language); conversation level,
which concerns to the shared conventions during the
interchange of utterances; transportation level that
provides mechanisms to help in the transportation of
utterances; and the connection level, involving
protocols as TCP/IP, IIOP, among others. The
conversation protocols can be seen as coordination
patterns that restrict the utterance sequences
interchanged during a conversation, that is what can
be said, by whom and when (Martin et al, 1999).
Moreover, an ontology must be defined to establish
the possible values for the concepts in the ebXML
context and the regulations for the agents. These
regulations define the agents’ possible behavior and
the consequences of their actions (Esteva, 2003).
REFERENCES
Ebxml, 2012. http://www.ebxml.org.
Esteva, M., 2003. Electronic Institutions: from
specification to development. IIIA, Barcelona, Spain.
Flores, F., 1997. Creando Organizaciones Para El Futuro.
Dolmen Ediciones S.A. 5ª Edición.
Graham, I., Pollack, N., Smart, A., Williams, R., 2003.
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Hakvoort, R., 2004. ebXML and its impact on
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Hofreiter, B., Huemer, C., Klas. W., 2002. ebXML:
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Irani, R., 2002. An Introduction to ebXML. Collaborative
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Martín, F. J., Plaza, E., Rodriguez-Aguilar, J. A., 1999. An
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Rawlins, M. C., 2002. ebXML - A Critical Analysis,
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Smith, D. C., Vinoski, S., 2001. Object Interconnections:
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Enterprise
B
R
evision of
CPP and BP
CPA
Reques
t
/offe
r
Completion
declaration
Reliance
Client
interests
Provider
interests
CPP(A) / CPP(B)
Business completion
CPP and EBPS
Evaluation
Repository
register/recover
Proposa
l
Counter-offe
r
Accept
Refuse
Completion
ICEIS2012-14thInternationalConferenceonEnterpriseInformationSystems
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