07:43 Wed 15 Sep 2004 REF:1UCACBR2
TO: Duane NICKULL cc Halisa Consultants
Vice-Chair UN/CEFACT OIC Management Committee
UNITED NATIONS
Duane - this is the second e-mail {R2} to provide some background for a proposal to provide
relevant UNeDocs support for Slide 28 and Slide 30 of the draft UN/CEFACT Vision
These e-mails are now placed on the following web page to facilitate links to supporting
documents
>Thank you for the Draft PPT which I have reviewed and add some
>comments in R3
>
>Rather than respond in one lengthy e-mail I thought it may be useful
>to include the thoughts and findings of many of my colleagues for your
>consideration hence the response is in 3 separate e-mails:
R1 - What is the Problem ?
R2 - The UN and Ports - THIS E-MAIL
R3 - the UN/CEFACT slides
R2 THE UNITED NATIONS & THE PORTS
In 1976 the 'United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and
the Pacific' commissioned the PORT Management Information System
[PORTMIS] to enable Asian and Pacific countries to implement Port
EDI Systems
However John RAVEN the facilitation adviser to the International Association
of Ports and Harbours (IPAH) provide a report that stated:
"current EDI practices are temporary relief which plaster twentieth
century techniques over nineteenth century procedures and enforce
the employment of very expensive Value Added Network Suppliers"
Ref: Peter BROWN Executive Director Australian Association of Port
and Marine Authorities letter 14 Jan 1988
This is the real issue of a total review of the Business Process re-engineering for
Trade Facilitation.
CURRENT IPAH MEMBERS
IPAH has categorised its members into 3 regions
3 Regions: Total - 231
A Africa/Europe 105
1 Scandinavia 13
2 Europe 65 - 23 UK Ports
3 Africa 27
Associate Members 51
B North & South America 32
1 North America 24
2 South America 8
Associate Members 17
C Asia/Oceania 94
1 Australia 12
2 Indonesia Area 17
3 Japan 27
4 China/Korea 23
5 India/Middle East 15
Associate Members 40
There are 231 Port lists as full members. There are 108 listed Associates
EDI AND EUROPE 1988-1992
In Jun 1987 I attend my first EDI Conference in San Francisco "Input '87".
In Sep 1987 the Yankee Group were commissioned by the Government to produce a Report
"EDI in Australia".
This report stated that the RUBAC Information Management Methodology was "Way beyond EDI"
In Feb 1988 I attend Compat'88 in the Hague. At this conference I met with:
1 Alain BELLEGO Head United Nations Trade Facilitation
2 Emile PEETERS Head DGXIII in the European Community
3 Maurice WALKER Head of EDIFACT Board and European
Customs Harmonised System implementations
As a result of discussions with a number of speakers at that conference
a series of presentations were set up in Austrade in London. These
presentations resulted in over 15 letters of support for the RUBAC
concept including letters from
1 UK Customs
Douglas TWEDDLE - Head Customs Directorate
2 UK Simpler Trade Procedures
Ray WALKER CEO
3 Lloyds London Press
Dr Elizabeth MULLER Executive Director
4 UK Article Number Association [ANA]
Nigel FENTON Secretary
5 Maritime Cargo Processing - Felixstow
John HAMMOND CEO
John HAMMOND was one of the very few people who appreciated that the RUBAC Information
Management methodology would "automatically communicate and file electronic information"
21 CENTURY PROCESSES NOT 19th CENTURY PRACTICES
I come back again the the report by John RAVEN to the IPAH that
"current EDI practices are temporary relief which plaster twentieth century techniques over
nineteenth century procedures and enforce the employment of very expensive Value Added
Network Suppliers"
This is re-inforced by the e-mails received this week that confirm that, although an
Australian Value Added Network Service [VANS] has received two Federal Government Grants
in the last 5 years, EDI in the Ports has not progressed any further than 1988.
UN/CEFACT is probably an appropriate body to commission a business provess review of Port
Information flows to ensure that the Ports have 21st century procedures in place for EDI.
This may be particularly important for the Asia and Pacific Ports that do not have the
necessary skills available locally for the sophisticated Import/Export process developed
in the European/US ports.
NEXT STEPS
Duane - This e-mail is to outline how the Ports/Airlines are really the
start of the E-business process for any country.
Up to now, as the e-mails from various EDI Port operatives and Port users (eg Ben ANSON -
Sydney Ports Corporation Nov 2003) have confirmed, E-commerce is not operating to the
satisfaction of any of the parties involved.
Would UN/CEFACT be in a position to provide funding for a prototype project for the
Ports/Airports using the RUBAC Information Management Methodology ?
Regards
Stephen GOULD
Partner e-Projects
HALISA INTERNATIONAL NETWORK
19:22 W 2004/09/15 Syd 2089 - please note this for R3
E: sggould@halisa.net
W: SGG Expertise in Ecommerce
On 10 Sep 04, at 9:42, Duane Nickull wrote:
> Stephen:
>
> I think that the UN is better equipped to deal with this issue. I have
> been working with UN/CEFACT for a while and recently got elected as vice
> chair. Attached is a "DRAFT" PPT explaining our vision to level the
> playing field for international trade (bridging the gap between the rich
> and the poor). Please note that this is draft and should not be
> distributed.
>
> WRT one XML language, I respectfully submit that is flawed logic.
> Einstein once said "When solving a problem, you must use different
> thinking than you did when you created the problem". The problem is
> that every single standard to date was designed with the notion that the
> entire world should use one standard. ebXML was and is still the only
> infrastructure that is built on a premise that one standard for business
> transactions will never work. We built an infrastructure that can
> facilitate interoperability upon multiple XML and non XML languages.
> The mechanism is core components (currently being worked on in UN/CEFACT).
>
> I believe CC's hold the key.
>
> Duane
>