The United Nations Centre for Trade Facilitation and Electronic Business (UN/CEFACT) has defined a suite of standards that together create a new paradigm in semantic interoperability. At the heart of this CCTS standards stack is the Core Components Technical Specification. CCTS describes and specifies a semantic-based approach to the well-understood problem of the lack of information interoperability within and between applications and data bases in the e-business arena. SAP uses CCTS to define SAP Global Data Types (GDTs) which serve as the basis for SAP Business Objects and Enterprise Services. CCTS is gaining widespread adoption in vertical and horizontal standards development organizations around the globe and will enable SAP to provide the highest level of semantic interoperability possible between SAP and non-SAP applications. In recognition of the importance of this standards stack, SAP is significantly engaged in UN/CEFACT CCTS work to improve the CCTS standards stack as the methodology of choice to create true worldwide, business semantic interoperability. The first version of CCTS (CCTS V2.01) has been available since November 2003. Since the release of that version, CCTS has been gaining worldwide acceptance of the concepts and principles it contains because its user community understands that CCTS is especially well suited to fill the missing piece of a dynamic and flexible next generation B2B – semantic interoperability at the data level. Although the CCTS team initially envisioned a minor release for CCTS, based on the nature of comments received from the pool of CCTS implementers – to include multiple vertical standards organizations such as – OAGi, CIDX, RosettaNet, AIAG, OASIS UBL – it became clear that significant improvements were possible. These improvements help ensure that the next version of CCTS will be sufficiently stable and implementable to eliminate ambiguities and inconsistencies, meet the future needs of CCTS users, streamline the component harmonization process, and accelerate the adoption of CCTS. The results of these efforts is CCTS 3.0. CCTS 3.0 has already been released for a first round of public review in 2006, and the CCTS team has responded to comments received via the release of CCTS Version 3.0 Second Public Review. This new CCTS Version 3.0 draft second public review has just been released by UN/CEFACT for a 30 day comment period. The comments phase of this second public review runs through 15 May 2007. All interested parties are encouraged to review this specification that is playing a large role in SAP GDT definitions. You'll find this new version of CCTS and the supporting review documents at the following links:
