Green XML

BASDA Green XML – Roadmap

The BASDA Green XML standard was released at the RSA on the 15th of November 2011 following a year long consultation period that started off  at the Bio-Diversity Summit in London on 13th July 2010 (see www.businessofbiodiversity.co.uk), BASDA members are now developing against the standard and the standard will go live on the 15th of May 2012, with a launch at the BASDA AGM and Cloud Software Summit in London 2012!

The schedule for release is as follows:

• Draft ratified for consultation by BASDA Ebiz Special Interest Group of 9th June 2010
• Initial Consultation started on 14th June 2010
• Consultation completed on 28th June 2010
• Results of consultation reviewed by BASDA Green SIG on 29th June 2010
• Launched at Bio-Diversity Summit on 13th July 2010
• Review of pilot and inclusion into first draft of BASDA XML V3.10 by BASDA eBiz SIG on 8th September 2010
• Launch of @UK PLC Green Marketplace by Richard Benyon Minister of the Natural Environment using BASDA Green XML as the basis for the Marketplace 7th October 2010
• Review of second round of pilot and second draft of V3.10 by BASDA eBiz SIG on 8th December 2010
• Further development of BASDA Utilities XML during  2011
• Release of BASDA Utilities XML and BASDA Green XML at RSA on 15th November 2011
• Production pilots of BASDA Utilities XML and BASDA Green XML during 2012
• Launch of BASDA 3.10 including BASDA Utilities XML and BASDA Green XML 15th May 2012

Background

The BASDA XML was developed in 1999, and has become the most widely used XML format since it was adopted by the major financial system vendors as a vendor neutral protocol that allows all applications to interoperate, and exchange orders and invoices electronically.  The Hub Alliance, a global network of leading e-business exchanges, confirms that BASDA XML is the predominant form used, and its interoperability is a mandatory condition for exchanges that join the Hub Alliance.

BASDA XML is now a mature stable standard, and has not required any updates in the past five years, however as part of the current review, BASDA is once again leading the way by adding this Green Extension.    Indeed, BASDA is the first body to add a green extension to XML, and has been working on the extension since 2009 in consultation with other bodies.

The concept grew from the commitment of BASDA members to their ‘Green Charter’, and the requirement to enable green accounting in BASDA applications.  The objective behind Green XML is to define a data structure that supports the full scope of Green information, that businesses will need increasingly to process and exchange, and that BASDA members will need to support within and between their applications.  The eBiz data standard will be able to draw on this to support the components relevant to specific documents types, such as invoices, orders, product data etc.

BASDA Green XML will be available for other XML standards to quickly extend into carrying green elements in their messages, and has been designed with the developers of other standards to make it easy to extend all XML standard that use the elements of BASDA Green XML.  Green XML is complex, so a single reference implementation that can be used by all standards will make interoperability significantly easier.

The following the extensive consultation and trials which were vital to ensuring that the BASDA Green XML is correct, and supports the needs of all sections of the Green agenda.  It was very important that interested parties took part in the consultation exercise and the subsequent pilot trials to ensure that BASDA Green XML delivers the requirements of buyers, suppliers, government, NGOs and other interested parties.

Now that BASDA Green and Utilities XML have been finalised and put into production it does not mean that it is too late to comment.  We expect there to be a number of changes as the software and utilities industries implement the standards and will continue to welcome feedback.  Once all the Financial Systems and  Utilities have implemented and rolled out the standard changes will become much more expensive so it is important that any interested parties contribute with any issues asap.

A major driver behind the development of BASDA Green XML is that Carbon Emission trading is now a significant international business, and furthermore, there is a movement towards legislating for carbon accounting for all businesses.   Without an agreed standard for interoperability between systems however, it will not be possible to extend from the current very large projects with significant measurement overhead, to a business-as-usual landscape.   Thus there was a requirement for XML interoperability standards to be created and tested, so that financial software can be updated to support carbon, and other message types.

Content

BASDA Green XML has the following ‘Green’ sections:

• Carbon footprints and offsets
• eco-labels and certifications
• Embedded/virtual water
• Waste management
• COSHH/REACH data sets
• Bio-Diversity
• Input/Output analysis

BASDA have already recruited external experts for each area, who have provided feedback, but additional experts are sought in all areas, along with pilots that wish to put the system into production.

Environmental Sustainability briefing
Published August 2010 – A Business Imperative

Download eBIS XML 3.09 Suite

Download eBUILD Schemas 3.02 Suite

The consultation and trials are being lead by Ronald Duncan of @UK PLC, please provide any feedback to BasdaGreenXMLConsultation@ronaldduncan.com