Overview of the ePSA Standard

The ePSA standard is based on the RosettaNet standard developed for the IT industry (http://www.rosettanet.org). It is organize into five segments, called Framework, Dictionaries, Transactions, Directories and Trading Partner Agreements.

The Framework defines how information is moved among business partners. RosettaNet calls this layer the RosettaNet Information Framework (RNIF). The primary Internet technologies involved at this layer are HTTP, HTTPS, MIME, S/MIME, SMTP, XML, Digital Certificates and encryption (PKCS#7).
 
The Dictionaries record and define the words used to describe the trading relationships, products and transactions that occur among business partners. The technologies of this layer include Data Modeling, XML, Relational Database,  International Business Codes and Dictionaries.

Regarding dictionaries; it is very important to be precise, unambiguous and consistent in how we use business and product words in our documents. It is also important to be consistent in how we structure those documents. This is so because these documents must be interpreted by both computers and people and computers are not good at second guessing meanings.

This data dictionary is called the  ePSA Business Dictionary. It contains a complete set of words to describe the structure of our business documents, our trading partners, our business services and our business commitments. At this point, it is an XML repository.

The meta dictionary is called the Product Dictionary Builder. It contains the structure and words used to describe our products.  

The Transactions segment defines the actual business transactions that take place to satisfy trading relationships. The Technologies at this layer include XML, XSL, XML Schemas (dtds), and Business Process Modeling. Many of these transactions were developed by RosettaNet and they are called Partner Interface Processes or PIPs. ePSA has developed transaction for artwork and proofs following the RosettaNet model. They are called Trading Partner Transactions or TPTs.

There are currently over 80 PIPs in the RosettaNet standard. They are organized into categories and subcategories called clusters and segments. PIP 3A6, for example, is the sixth PIP in the A cluster under segment three. ePSA, to date, has verified nine of those PIPs. ePSA has also defined 12 TPTs.

The Directory determines how trading partners discover one another and the eCommerce services they support. The directory standard that both RosettaNet and ePSA have chosen is called the UDDI. Universal Business Registry. UDDI standards for Universal Description, Discovery and Integration . The core component of the UDDI directory is the UDDI business registration, an XML file used to describe a business entity and its Web services.