To the Chemical
Industry Standards Community from Tom Fannon, Chair, OAGIS Chemical
Industry Council;
When CIDX was disbanded the Chem eStandards ownership migrated into OAGi and there were funds allocated to assist in efforts to migrate the Chem eStandards into OAGIS 10. The other work within CIDX was to be migrated into the ACC ChemITC eBusiness Networking Team.
The Chem eStandards when used by ACC member companies are used in various forms. Ashland uses 2.0 for orders and 4.0 for invoices which is very common. We have not seen the need to migrate to 5.0 yet and until there is a business case to do so we probably will not. However we are concerned about some of the unique features of our supply chain that were well defined by the Order to Cash Teams over the years in CIDX that must make the transition from a industry specific standard to a global standard.
Therefore, while we as an industry may not be implementing OAGIS 10, there was a need to map the high quality Chem eStandards into OAGIS 10 for our industry.
This work is almost complete. I want to thank the folks from Dow, Rhodia, Monsanto, and Elemica for providing many hours of time and insight over the past year. Jim Wilson has provided an enormous amount of patience and guidance to the group that has allowed us to get where we are today.
Elemica also was invaluable as they provided high level message usage statistics that allowed the group to only concentrate on the used messages to accomplish our mapping exercise. As we plodded through our messages, we also relied on the folks from OAGi to enlighten us on where the best fit for our elements were.
The mapping work began in 2009 and extended throughout 2010 and 2011. CIDX monies paid for the Chemical Industry Council within OAGi where this work was conducted. We budgeted for three years of effort and as we were coming to the end of 2011, it was clear to me that we needed to find a way to extend the work for just a little while longer to ensure that there was output for our industry that would show where and how the Chem eStandards mapped into OAGIS 10.
We needed a little more money for that. I knew that we were paying the ACC for managing our meeting as a eBusiness Networking Team. That amounted to arranging the meeting, reviewing the agenda, publishing the minutes and that was about it. This was not a good use of our funds. I did not see a lot of value and approached our ACC sponsor Gary Dick about trying to take the remaining funds and use them to secure a time extension for the Chemical Industry Council in OAGi.
My thought was that by the end of 2012 our work will have been complete. Gary was okay with the idea and I proceeded down that path and am in talks with OAGi to determine what the Chemical Industry Council dues structure will be for 2012. My personal opinion is that involvement with OAGi on the various sub teams is an excellent way to keep aware of trends.
Discussions during Procure to Pay meeting about what team participants from Merck, GSX, Microsoft, Oracle, Intel and SAP are faced with as they attempt to integrate with customers or internal applications have been eye opening to say the least. Most definitely a window into the messaging future. We need a way to foster the communication of this type of information for our industry.
So while we have done a great job of working on the messaging part of our team's charter, we have struggled to create a community for our industry. Perhaps it was the time commitment or the opinion that our current message versions are good enough or the lack of support within our companies, it all added up and I failed to create the type of network we had within CIDX. I have approached some others to solicit some ideas on how to continue a networking team with little or no cost.
I am very aware of budget constraints and the current state of the economy, yet I still am a believer in maintaining a networking community within our Industry on eBusiness activities. I think it helps us all in understanding new trends in message standards, what certain industry segments are doing with messages, and ways to improve our supply chain efficiency. So I created a group within LinkedIn called "Chemical Industry eBusiness Council". If you want to be a member send me an email response. I will add you to the list. To me it is a far less expensive way to maintain a network.
Thanks for all of your time and please be on the lookout from time to time for messages from myself or Jim Wilson on OAGi related to our work on migrating the CIDX Chem eStandards. We will be seeking your input as we get closer finalizing our mapping exercise.
Feel free to contact me with any questions.
Chair, OAGi Chemical Industry Council
Manager eBusiness
Global Supply Chain * Ashland Inc.
tfannon@ashland.com
When CIDX was disbanded the Chem eStandards ownership migrated into OAGi and there were funds allocated to assist in efforts to migrate the Chem eStandards into OAGIS 10. The other work within CIDX was to be migrated into the ACC ChemITC eBusiness Networking Team.
The Chem eStandards when used by ACC member companies are used in various forms. Ashland uses 2.0 for orders and 4.0 for invoices which is very common. We have not seen the need to migrate to 5.0 yet and until there is a business case to do so we probably will not. However we are concerned about some of the unique features of our supply chain that were well defined by the Order to Cash Teams over the years in CIDX that must make the transition from a industry specific standard to a global standard.
Therefore, while we as an industry may not be implementing OAGIS 10, there was a need to map the high quality Chem eStandards into OAGIS 10 for our industry.
This work is almost complete. I want to thank the folks from Dow, Rhodia, Monsanto, and Elemica for providing many hours of time and insight over the past year. Jim Wilson has provided an enormous amount of patience and guidance to the group that has allowed us to get where we are today.
Elemica also was invaluable as they provided high level message usage statistics that allowed the group to only concentrate on the used messages to accomplish our mapping exercise. As we plodded through our messages, we also relied on the folks from OAGi to enlighten us on where the best fit for our elements were.
The mapping work began in 2009 and extended throughout 2010 and 2011. CIDX monies paid for the Chemical Industry Council within OAGi where this work was conducted. We budgeted for three years of effort and as we were coming to the end of 2011, it was clear to me that we needed to find a way to extend the work for just a little while longer to ensure that there was output for our industry that would show where and how the Chem eStandards mapped into OAGIS 10.
We needed a little more money for that. I knew that we were paying the ACC for managing our meeting as a eBusiness Networking Team. That amounted to arranging the meeting, reviewing the agenda, publishing the minutes and that was about it. This was not a good use of our funds. I did not see a lot of value and approached our ACC sponsor Gary Dick about trying to take the remaining funds and use them to secure a time extension for the Chemical Industry Council in OAGi.
My thought was that by the end of 2012 our work will have been complete. Gary was okay with the idea and I proceeded down that path and am in talks with OAGi to determine what the Chemical Industry Council dues structure will be for 2012. My personal opinion is that involvement with OAGi on the various sub teams is an excellent way to keep aware of trends.
Discussions during Procure to Pay meeting about what team participants from Merck, GSX, Microsoft, Oracle, Intel and SAP are faced with as they attempt to integrate with customers or internal applications have been eye opening to say the least. Most definitely a window into the messaging future. We need a way to foster the communication of this type of information for our industry.
So while we have done a great job of working on the messaging part of our team's charter, we have struggled to create a community for our industry. Perhaps it was the time commitment or the opinion that our current message versions are good enough or the lack of support within our companies, it all added up and I failed to create the type of network we had within CIDX. I have approached some others to solicit some ideas on how to continue a networking team with little or no cost.
I am very aware of budget constraints and the current state of the economy, yet I still am a believer in maintaining a networking community within our Industry on eBusiness activities. I think it helps us all in understanding new trends in message standards, what certain industry segments are doing with messages, and ways to improve our supply chain efficiency. So I created a group within LinkedIn called "Chemical Industry eBusiness Council". If you want to be a member send me an email response. I will add you to the list. To me it is a far less expensive way to maintain a network.
Thanks for all of your time and please be on the lookout from time to time for messages from myself or Jim Wilson on OAGi related to our work on migrating the CIDX Chem eStandards. We will be seeking your input as we get closer finalizing our mapping exercise.
Feel free to contact me with any questions.
Chair, OAGi Chemical Industry Council
Manager eBusiness
Global Supply Chain * Ashland Inc.
tfannon@ashland.com
