Slides "Short presentation of the eBIZ reference architecture: vision and features, the direction of next steps". Presented in Frankfurt at eBIZ FAshion Forum, organised by GCS, ENEA and Euratex on 19th September 2018 in the framework of th eeBIZ 4.0 project.

1. eBIZ Fashion Forum, Frankfurt
19 September 2018
Enhancing textile/clothing sector by eBIZ and RFIds
technologies adoption — eBIZ-4.0
GA 733434
Short presentation of the eBIZ reference architecture:
vision and features, the direction of next steps

2. • eBIZ vision and features
• The scenarios
• The approach
• eBIZ (easy) adoption
• The direction of eBIZ

3. eBIZ Vision:
going beyond EDI technologies and fully exploit Internet
technologies to get better Quality information for inter-
organisation Collaborations
eBIZ Vision
“You have invested a lot of money on your optimized supply
chain management and planning systems,
now you should invest a bit to get the INFORMATION you need
to make them WORK ...”
An IT provider to his customers

4. • Multy purpose
• Multiple organisation
scenarios
• Incremental adoption
• Fully exploit XML
technology potential
• Sector oriented and
ready to use
eBIZ (initial) features/1
Unambiguous Full Technical description
(for example supporting subcontracting)
Simple and normalised data exchanges
(supporting most common retail processes)

5. • Multy purpose
• Multiple organisation
scenarios
• Incremental adoption
• Fully exploit XML
technology potential
• Sector oriented and
ready to use
eBIZ (initial) features/2
Different organisations compose the chain
with their own know-how, planning strategies
and objectives
Chain participants may or may not share such
knowledge
R.M.
Yarns Fabrics
Clothing
Trade org.
Accessories
Q.Check
Feed-back
SubcontractorsSubcontractorsSubcontractors
2nd level Subcontractors

6. • Multy purpose
• Multiple organisation
scenarios
• Incremental adoption
• Fully exploit XML
technology potential
• Sector oriented and
ready to use
The eBIZ (initial) features/3
Incremental adoption is suggested and
supported,
reference processes offer guidance

7. • Multy purpose
• Multiple organisation
scenarios
• Incremental adoption
• Fully exploit XML
technology potential
• Sector oriented and
ready to use
The eBIZ (initial) features/4
• Machine-to-machine communication
• Internet aware and implementation
independent
• Human readibility
• Structural flexibility (non positional
meaning)
• Powerful Tools allow strict validation
• Security by channel and or by any kind
of XML signature
• Multilingual support (for example
description with Bulgarian characters)
• Multimedial, documents like pdf or
images embedded inside or referred on
the Internet

8. • Multy purpose
• Multiple organisation
scenarios
• Incremental adoption
• Fully exploit XML
technology potential
• Sector oriented and
ready to use
The eBIZ (initial) features/5
Terminology and concepts of the Textile
Clothing Footwear Industry are explicit
The transaction specifications are Ready
to use for interoperability with clear rules
for variations:
A car (with some variants),
not the kit to build a car

9. • Multy purpose
• Multiple organisation
scenarios
• Incremental adoption
• Fully exploit XML
technology potential
• Sector oriented and
ready to use
The eBIZ (initial) features/6
Terminology and concepts of the Textile
Clothing Footwear Industry are explicit
The transaction specifications are Ready
to use for interoperability with clear rules
for variations:
A car (with some variants),
not the kit to build a car
When you receive the message you are
ALWAYS able to understand its content,
without ambiguity and without need
for a User guide

10. What do we mean as ‘ready to use’ for interoperability
DESPATCH
ADVICE
…
HORIZONTAL standard
specification
HORIZONTAL specification versus VERTICAL specification
(UBL, EANCOM, EDIFACT,..)
Not domain specific
Require Use Guide for specific domain
Usually need «labels» to be agreed and
assigned to the sector specific terms
(i.e. ‘Piece’, ‘Selvedge’, ..)
(Papinet, Accord, eBIZ, ..)
Domain specific
Already have Use Guide and business process
transactions
Already include terms for the sector specific terms
(i.e. ‘Piece’, ‘Selvedge’, ..)
Domain specific use guide
or a VERTICAL standard
• Unit of measure is only
piece or mt or …
• Packing types for fabrics
• Piece Packing Type codes
are …
• Sender and Receiver
• Despatch date
• Despatched good Id and
Qty
• IncoTerms codes are …
Business process transaction
• Pre-despatch notification might not
include the Despatch date
• Despatch notification must include
• Pre-despatch notification must have
TAType=‘PRE’

11. DESPATCH
ADVICE
…
HORIZONTAL standard
specification
HORIZONTAL specification versus VERTICAL specification
(UBL, EANCOM, EDIFACT,..)
Not domain specific
Require Use Guide for specific domain
Usually need «labels» to be agreed and
assigned to the sector specific terms
(i.e. ‘Piece’, ‘Selvedge’, ..)
(Papinet, Accord, eBIZ, ..)
Domain specific
Already have Use Guide and business process
transactions
Already include terms for the sector specific terms
(i.e. ‘Piece’, ‘Selvedge’, ..)
Domain specific use guide
or a VERTICAL standard
• Unit of measure is only
piece or mt or …
• Packing types for fabrics
• …
• Sender and Receiver
• Despatch date
• Despatched good Id and
Qty
• …
Business process transaction
• Pre-despatch notification might not
include the Despatch date
• Despatch notification must include
• Pre-despatch notification must have
TAType=‘PRE’Results in a published study (*):
the PURCHASE ORDER of UBL: much more than 1.000.000 possible
paths for information it might contain,
the eBIZ FABRIC PURCHASE ORDER: a bit more than 80!
(*) “Use profile management for standard conformant customisation”,
proceedings of I-ESA 2010 Conference, Coventry, April 13-15th 2010, published by Springer-Verlag,
London 2010, ISBN 978-1-84996-256-8 e-ISBN 978-1-84996-257-5
What do we mean as ‘ready to use’ for interoperability

12. • The vision: industry digitalisation and eBIZ features
• The scenarios
• The approach
• eBIZ (easy) adoption
• The direction of eBIZ

13. The evolution of the eBIZ scenario
EPC
GTIN
GLN
SSCCRaw
materials
.
Yarns Fabrics Clothing Trade org.
Accessories
Quality.Check
Subcontractors
Subcontractors
Components
Assembling
Footwear
Feed-back
SCM flows
Collaboration analysis methodology
Reference collaboration process
XML Business Document templates
Company Use Profile for eBIZ customization
Automatic conformance and interoperability testing tool
eBIZ Domain
Identification
Value for CompanyIn eBIZ you find
RFID
Technology
Since 2013 eBIZ is a lightweight free,
public, standardised specification (CEN
CWA 16667) for data exchange in the
fashion supply chains promoted by
EURATEX

14. The evolution of the eBIZ scenario
Raw
materials
.
Yarns Fabrics Clothing Trade org.
Accessories
Quality.Check
Subcontractors
Subcontractors
2nd tier
Subcontractors
Components
Assembling
BRAND
EC Platforms
Other channels
…
Footwear
Other
Fashion
goods
Feed-back
SCM flows
Collaboration analysis methodology
Reference collaboration process
XML Business Document templates
Company Use Profile for eBIZ customization
Automatic conformance and interoperability testing tool
eBIZ Domain
Value for Company
In eBIZ you find
EPC
GTIN
GLN
SSCC
Any other
Identification
Technology
RFID
NFC, others

15. • The vision: industry digitalization and eBIZ features
• The scenarios
• The approach
• eBIZ (easy) adoption
• The direction of eBIZ

16. eBIZ architecture
Models of PROCESSes: description of the sequence of the data exchange between
the different roles (fabric producer, vendor managed inventory, subcontracting,…)
Models of DOCUMENTs Models of electronic Documents: they define the data
models and make the exchanged data not ambiguous (i.e. order, textile quality
report, sales report, offer request,…). Their use is mandatory.
Product and party identification methods (towards retail: GS1 GTIN and GLN)
Reliable and safe communication protocols for data exchange
Specific issues deepening:
RFID
eInvoice
Business models classification
Customised products (footwear)
It is not a software, it is a
specification that rules messages
exchange between different
organisations of the TCF supply
chains.
Reference: CEN CWA 16667

17. eBIZ architecture: sample processes
Process Activity
Fabric subcontracted darning Subcontracted fabric darning
Fabric subcontracted
manufacturing
Subcontracted warping
Subcontracted weaving
Subcontracted fabric dyeing-finishing
Subcontracted fabric printing
Fabric supply Selection of fabrics
Purchase of fabrics
Fabric delivery with quality reporting by Producer
Despatch of fabrics with groupage
(Alternative to the previous one)
Fabric delivery with quality reporting by Controller
(Alternative to the previous one)
Invoicing of fabrics
Garment accessory supply Purchase of Garment accessory
Delivery of Garment accessories
Knitwear subcontracted
manufacturing
Knitting and assembling
Knitwear finishing
On line stock service Offer stocks on-line
Yarn subcontracted
manufacturing
Subcontracted dyeing of raw material
Subcontracted spinning of raw material
Subcontracted yarn twisting
Subcontracted yarn dyeing
Yarn supply Purchase of yarn
Delivery of yarn
Reference
Processes,
made of Activities,
with possible
alternatives,
and supporting
document schemas
Processes are
suggestions
Document Schemas
are mandatory
Fabric master data
alignment
Production options
and forecasting
Order and order response
Order advancement
status
Despatch request to
third party
Piece quality report
Despatch advice and
Freight receiveing

18. How eBIZ is managed
Permanent Board promoted by EURATEX to foster adoption and manage
updates of eBIZ (usually a version within 1-3 years)
New versions are back-compatible (incremental approach)
Look-up tables of codes frequently improved
ENEA plays as technical secretariat, collects new requirements and, if the
case, analyses them and produces usable DRAFT proposals for the next
releases
Today eBIZ 4.0 project is working on a NEW DRAFT VERSION (*)
Technical documentation on
http://ebiz-tcf.eu/what-is-reference-architecture
Community : eBIZ group, Twitter: #eBIZ4.0
(*) example of improvement: multiple ID codes supported by XML Schemas in order to support multiple RFID, NFC, QR

19. • The vision: industry digitalization and eBIZ features
• The scenarios
• The approach
• eBIZ (easy) adoption
• The direction of eBIZ

20. eBIZ adoption
FTP, eMail attachment, WEB Services, …
REST ful service (soon with JSON) …
• Usual ones from EDI: Order,
Subcontracting, Sales reporting,
catalogue…
• Technical instructions for subcontracting
• Direct machine to machine
• Multiple transfer prot.
• Transaction models
• Implementation
scenarios
• On-line resources
• Interfaces cost
• Scalable / Good for
large as well as small
organisations

21. • Multiple transfer prot.
• Transaction models
• Implementation
scenarios
• On-line resources
• Interfaces cost
• Scalable / Good for
large as well as small
organisations
eBIZ adoption
0. Direct P2P
1. Multimodal SCM Company portals (eBIZ is
embedded or in a dedicated module)
2. Interfacing modules directly from ERP with
SCM capabilities
3. Third party Hub with eBIZ interfaces
ERP
IS
browser
….SCM
IMP/
EXP
ERP
with SCM
IS
xml
browser
other
HUB
ERP
ERP
ERP
xml

22. • Multiple transfer prot.
• Transaction models
• Implementation
scenarios
• On-line resources
• Interfaces cost
• Scalable / Good for
large as well as small
organisations
eBIZ adoption
www.ebiz-tcf.eu
• User Guides
• XML-Schema
• Examples
• XSLT
• Dictionary of
Terms
• Reference
processes
• Look-up tables
of codes
• Automatic
conformance
Test

23. eBIZ adoption
Based on XML the cost is «Up to 1/3 of an EDI
interface» (witness from a pilot of eBIZ-TCF in
2013)
In a recent survey from eBIZ 4.0 (about one
hundred TCF industries in Europe) the
adopters and ‘experts’ in eBIZ where both in
small and large companies
• Multiple transfer prot.
• Transaction models
• Implementation
scenarios
• On-line resources
• Interfaces cost
• Scalable / Good for
large as well as small
organizations

24. • The vision: industry digitalization and eBIZ requirements
• The scenarios
• The approach
• eBIZ (easy) adoption
• The direction of eBIZ

25. Where we are and where we are going to
• XML is the core
• EANCOM as alternative for RETAIL (same
data model)
• JSON and JSON Schema
Soon released XML Schema <-> JSON Schema
for each document
Experience: Data Flows to create Catalogues,
Customers’ database, and manage orders in a
B2B portal (ready in stock service, based on
Magento)
Multiple syntaxes:
XML, EANCOM,
JSON (soon)
Data flows towards
ePLATFORMS
Direct Machine2Machine
and/or IOT protocol
Support for traceability data
flow and collection

26. Where we are and where we are going to
Experience: near real-time (2 minutes reaction
between 2 different cities) collaborative
scheduling with subcontractor between TWO
schedulers (case of Yarn mill CARIAGGI)
Multiple syntaxes:
XML, EANCOM,
JSON (soon)
Data flows towards
ePLATFORMS
Direct Machine2Machine
and/or IOT protocol
Support for traceability data
flow and collection

27. Where we are and where we are going to
Experience: RFID on the conveyer at the
subcontractor plant and sending of
production order advancement through
eBIZ
(case of Yarn mill Quadrifoglio)
1. RFID reading step by step
2. Data grouping for
Advancements or
Defects at floor level
3. Automatic data flow to customer
Multiple syntaxes:
XML, EANCOM,
JSON (soon)
Data flows towards
ePLATFORMS
Direct Machine2Machine
and/or IOT protocol
Support for traceability data
flow and collection

28. Where we are and where we are going to
eBIZ for supporting different traceability
goals:
Product Origin, Ethic issues, Customer
safety, Anti-counterfeiting, Anti-parallel
markets, etc.
thanks to:
- capability to reach the «nth-tier»
- support for:
a) logistic data and product data
(IDs, …)
b) certifications as embedded
documents
- offering contents/semantic for
Blockchain based distributed ledgers
(near future)
Multiple syntaxes:
XML, EANCOM,
JSON (soon)
Data flows towards
ePLATFORMS
Direct Machine2Machine
and/or IOT protocol
Support for traceability data
flow and collection

29. This presentation is part of the project eBIZ-4.0, which has received funding from
the European Union’s COSME Programme (2014 - 2020).
Project:
Enhancing textile/clothing sector by eBIZ and RFIds
technologies adoption — eBIZ-4.0
GA 733434
Contact: mauro.scalia@euratex.org, piero.desabbata@enea.it
Partners: