ISO/IEC 15944-21:2023

INTERNATIONAL ISO/IEC
STANDARD 15944-21
First edition
2023-05
Information technology — Business
operational view —
Part 21:
Guidance on the application of
the Open-edi business transaction
ontology in distributed business
transaction repositories
Reference number
ISO/IEC 15944-21:2023(E)
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ISO/IEC 15944-21:2023(E)
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© ISO/IEC 2023
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ISO/IEC 15944-21:2023(E)
Contents Page
Foreword .iv
Introduction .v
1 Scope . 1
2 Normative References .1
3 Terms and definitions . 1
4 Symbols and abbreviations .9
5 Ontology of an Open-edi Distributed Business Transaction Repository.9
5.1 Transitions of the economic claim in a business transaction . 9
5.2 Repository of business transaction information . 15
5.3 Implementation rules of a business transaction information repository . 16
5.3.1 Rule 1 . 16
5.3.2 Rule 2 . 16
5.3.3 Rule 3 . 17
5.3.4 Rule 4 . 17
5.4 Conforming ISO/IEC 15944-1 properties of an OeDBTR . 17
6 Conformance .17
Annex A (normative) Consolidated controlled vocabulary definitions and associated terms,
as human interface equivalents (HIEs), English and French language equivalency
in the IT standardization context .18
Bibliography .21
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ISO/IEC 15944-21:2023(E)
Foreword
ISO (the International Organization for Standardization) and IEC (the International Electrotechnical
Commission) form the specialized system for worldwide standardization. National bodies that are
members of ISO or IEC participate in the development of International Standards through technical
committees established by the respective organization to deal with particular fields of technical
activity. ISO and IEC technical committees collaborate in fields of mutual interest. Other international
organizations, governmental and non-governmental, in liaison with ISO and IEC, also take part in the
work.
The procedures used to develop this document and those intended for its further maintenance
are described in the ISO/IEC Directives, Part 1. In particular, the different approval criteria
needed for the different types of document should be noted. This document was drafted in
accordance with the editorial rules of the ISO/IEC Directives, Part 2 (see www.iso.org/directives or
www.iec.ch/members_experts/refdocs).
ISO and IEC draw attention to the possibility that the implementation of this document may involve the
use of (a) patent(s). ISO and IEC take no position concerning the evidence, validity or applicability of
any claimed patent rights in respect thereof. As of the date of publication of this document, ISO and IEC
had not received notice of (a) patent(s) which may be required to implement this document. However,
implementers are cautioned that this may not represent the latest information, which may be obtained
from the patent database available at www.iso.org/patents and https://patents.iec.ch. ISO and IEC shall
not be held responsible for identifying any or all such patent rights.
Any trade name used in this document is information given for the convenience of users and does not
constitute an endorsement.
For an explanation of the voluntary nature of standards, the meaning of ISO specific terms and
expressions related to conformity assessment, as well as information about ISO's adherence to
the World Trade Organization (WTO) principles in the Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT) see
www.iso.org/iso/foreword.html. In the IEC, see www.iec.ch/understanding-standards.
This document was prepared jointly by Technical Committee ISO/IEC JTC 1, Information technology,
Subcommittee SC 32, Data management and interchange.
A list of all parts in the ISO/IEC 15944 series can be found on the ISO and IEC websites.
Any feedback or questions on this document should be directed to the user’s national standards
body. A complete listing of these bodies can be found at www.iso.org/members.html and
www.iec.ch/national-committees.
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ISO/IEC 15944-21:2023(E)
Introduction
ISO/IEC 15944-4 defines the Open-edi Business Transaction Ontology (OeBTO) as a formal, rule-based
specification and definition of the concepts pertaining to business transactions and scenarios and the
relationships that hold among these concepts.
Figure 1 overviews the ontology of a business transaction. It is taken from ISO/IEC 15944-4:2015,
Figure 21, modified as follows to bring to light certain properties that were not illustrated at the time:
— the generalization of “Partner” to “Person” is according to ISO/IEC 15944-4:2015, Figure 18;
— the business policy connections between the three types (i.e. Economic Resource Type, Economic
Event Type and Economic Role) is according to ISO/IEC 15944-4:2015, Figure 13; and
— the connections of party (OeP) and counterparty (OeCP) are shown as distinct persons having
negotiated the Economic Contract.
Figure 1 — Open-edi Business Transaction Ontology
According to ISO/IEC 15944-4, each business entity, depicted as a box in the diagram, is a computable
representation of a real- world entity that participates, occurs, or is materialized during a business
transaction. These are either static representations for the duration of the business transaction or
dynamically changing representations implemented as individual state machines. Different business
events effecting the business transaction are inputs influencing different sets of one or more of the
state machines and changing their individual states. The particular states that each business entity can
exhibit are established prior to the business transaction starting in order that the state machines act
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ISO/IEC 15944-21:2023(E)
as deterministic automatons for the duration. Initiating the business transaction instantiates the state
machine of each business entity based on its negotiated definition.
The concept of a business collaboration that is illustrated in Figure 2. It has been updated from
ISO/IEC 15944-4:2015, Figure 3 to bring to light the party (OeP) and counterparty (OeCP) as distinct
persons of a generic nature, not necessarily a buyer nor a seller.
Figure 2 — Concept of a Business Collaboration
The collaboration space captures the information regarding a value exchange between the party and
counterparty who have entered into an economic contract. The business transaction occurs within
this space. The duality of the business transaction is that it involves two economic events, that is, two
transfers of value in the value exchange. One transfer of value is from the OeP to the OeCP, and the other
transfer of value is from the OeCP to the OeP.
ISO/IEC 15944-4 describes the ontology as the properties of this active multi-step process of the
business transaction between party and counterparty from planning through to post-actualization. The
business transaction transits through a series of states, one with each step, with each state stimulus
being a business event. After any business event in the business transaction one can view the status of
the interrelations between the ontology components as an outcome of that event.
This document supplements ISO/IEC 15944-4 by describing the Open-edi Distributed Business
Transaction Repository (OeDBTR) properties of an indelible history or formal record of these changes
in interrelations. This history can subsequently be queried or inspected. Without such a history of the
state transitions of business entities, there is no record of the life cycle of the business transaction from
instantiation to termination.
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INTERNATIONAL STANDARD ISO/IEC 15944-21:2023(E)
Information technology — Business operational view —
Part 21:
Guidance on the application of the Open-edi business
transaction ontology in distributed business transaction
repositories
1 Scope
This document specifies the business operational view of an implementation of an Open-edi Distributed
Business Transaction Repository (OeDBTR), building on the principles and concepts defined in
ISO/IEC 15944-4 of a business transaction. The repository stores the history of the transitions in
states of the economic claim and/or other business entities that happen over the course of a business
transaction, and does so for a collection of business events. These business events, comprised of
transactions and their states, can be identified unambiguously so as to provide the ability to inspect
or query the information at some point after the record has been made. The distributed nature of the
repository offers users ubiquitous and robust access to the recorded history.
A history of business transactions of market exchanges can be useful in auditing or other memoing-
based activities, looking back at the immutable record of the interactions between parties.
This document does not specify the Functional Services View of a particular implementation of an
Open-edi Distributed Business Transaction Repository. For best performance, candidate technologies
would likely exhibit properties of long-term permanence, robust immutability, decentralized access,
distributed resilience, and fine-grained addressability.
2 Normative References
The following documents are referred to in the text in such a way that some or all of their content
constitutes requirements of this document. For dated references, only the edition cited applies. For
undated references, the latest edition of the referenced document (including any amendments) applies.
ISO/IEC 15944-4, Information technology — Business operational view — Part 4: Business transaction
scenarios — Accounting and economic ontology
3 Terms and definitions
For the purposes of this document, the following terms and definitions apply.
ISO and IEC maintain terminological databases for use in standardization at the following addresses:
— ISO Online browsing platform: available at https:// www .iso .org/ obp
— IEC Electropedia: available at http:// www .electropedia .org/
3.1
business
series of processes (3.34), each having a clearly understood purpose, involving more than one Person
(3.33), realized through the exchange of information and directed towards some mutually agreed upon
goal, extending over a period of time
[SOURCE: ISO/IEC 14662:2010, 3.2]
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ISO/IEC 15944-21:2023(E)
3.2
business event
occurrence in time that an Open-edi Party (3.28) and an Open-edi Counterparty (3.26) in a business
transaction (3.4) wish to monitor or control
Note 1 to entry: Business events are the workflow tasks that business partners need to accomplish to complete
a business transaction among themselves. As business events occur, they cause a business transaction to move
through its various phases of planning, identification, negotiation, actualization, and post-actualization.
Note 2 to entry: Occurrences in time can either: (a) be internal as mutually agreed to among the parties to a
business transaction and/or (b) reference some common publicly available and recognized date/time referencing
schema (e.g. one based on using ISO 8601 and/or ISO 19135 standards).
[SOURCE: ISO/IEC 15944-4:2015, 3.5 (adapted)]
3.3
business operational view
BOV
perspective of business transactions (3.4) limited to those aspects regarding the making of business
decisions and commitments (3.6) among Persons (3.33), which are needed for the description of a
business transaction
[SOURCE: ISO/IEC 14662:2010, 3.3]
3.4
business transaction
predefined set of activities and/or processes (3.34) of Persons (3.33) which is initiated by a Person to
accomplish an explicitly shared business (3.1) goal and terminated upon recognition of one of the agreed
conclusions by all the involved Persons although some of the recognition might be implicit
[SOURCE: ISO/IEC 14662:2010, 3.4]
3.5
collaboration space
business activity space where an economic exchange (3.12) of valued resources is viewed independently
and not from the perspective of any business partner
Note 1 to entry: In collaboration space, an individual partner’s view of economic phenomena is de-emphasized.
Thus, the use of common business and accounting terms like purchase, sale, cash receipt, cash disbursement,
raw materials, and finished goods, etc. is not allowed because they view resource flows from a participant’s
perspective.
[SOURCE: ISO/IEC 15944-4:2015, 3.12]
3.6
commitment
making or accepting of a right, obligation, liability or responsibility by a Person (3.33) that is capable of
enforcement in the jurisdictional domain in which the commitment is made
[SOURCE: ISO/IEC 14662:2010, 3.5]
3.7
constraint
rule, explicitly stated, that prescribes, limits, governs or specifies any aspect of a business transaction
(3.4)
Note 1 to entry: Constraints are specified as rules forming part of components of Open-edi scenarios, i.e., as
scenario attributes, roles, and/or information bundles.
Note 2 to entry: For constraints to be registered for implementation in Open-edi, they shall have unique and
unambiguous identifiers.
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ISO/IEC 15944-21:2023(E)
Note 3 to entry: A constraint may be agreed to among parties (condition of contract) and is therefore considered
an "internal constraint". Or a constraint may be imposed on parties (e.g., laws, regulations, etc.), and is therefore
considered an "external constraint".
[SOURCE: ISO/IEC 15944-1:2023, 3.11]
3.8
data
reinterpretable representation of information (3.18) in a formalized manner suitable for communication,
interpretation, or processing
Note 1 to entry: Data can be processed by humans or by automatic means.
[SOURCE: ISO/IEC 2382:2015, 2121272]
3.9
eBusiness
business transaction (3.4), involving the making of commitments (3.6), in a defined collaboration space
(3.5), among Persons (3.33) using their Information Technology System (3.20), according to Open-edi
standards (3.30)
Note 1 to entry: eBusiness can be conducted on both a for-profit and not-for-profit basis.
Note 2 to entry: A key distinguishing aspect of eBusiness is that it involves the making of commitment(s) of any
kind among the Persons in support of a mutually agreed upon goal, involving their IT systems, and doing so
through the use of EDI (using a variety of communication networks including the Internet).
Note 3 to entry: eBusiness includes various application areas such as e-commerce, e-administration, e-logistics,
e- government, e-medicine, e-learning, etc.
Note 4 to entry: The equivalent French language term for “eBusiness” is always presented in its plural form.
[SOURCE: ISO/IEC 15944-7:2009, 3.6]
3.10
economic claim
expectation of one Person (3.33) to receive a future inflow of an economic resource (3.13) from another
Person because of an economic exchange (3.12) which is currently incomplete
[SOURCE: ISO/IEC 15944-4:2015, 3.21]
3.11
economic event
occurrence in time wherein ownership of an economic resource (3.13) is transferred from one Person
(3.33) to another Person
Note 1 to entry: Occurrences in time can either: (a) be internal as mutually agreed to among the parties to a
business transaction and/or (b) reference some common publicly available and recognized date/time referencing
schema (e.g. one based on using ISO 8601 and/or ISO 19135 standards).
[SOURCE: ISO/IEC 15944-4:2015, 3.25]
3.12
economic exchange
type of a business transaction (3.4) where the goal is an exchange of economic resources (3.13) between
two Persons (3.33) where both parties derive higher utility after the settlement of the business
transaction.
Note 1 to entry: An economic exchange usually involves two economic events with different types of economic
resources flowing in opposite directions. For example, an exchange of cash for a good involves a shipment with a
requited payment following.
[SOURCE: ISO/IEC 15944-4:2015, 3.27]
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ISO/IEC 15944-21:2023(E)
3.13
economic resource
good, right, or service of value, under the control of a Person (3.33)
[SOURCE: ISO/IEC 15944-4:2015, 3.28]
3.14
Electronic Data Interchange
EDI
automated exchange of any predefined and structured data for business (3.1) purposes among
information systems of two or more Persons (3.33)
Note 1 to entry: This definition includes all categories of electronic business transactions.
[SOURCE: ISO/IEC 14662:2010, 3.8]
3.15
entity
any concrete or abstract thing that exists, did exist, or might exist, including associations among these
things
EXAMPLE A person, object, event, idea, process, etc.
Note 1 to entry: An entity exists whether data about it are available or not.
[SOURCE: ISO/IEC 2382:2015, 2121433]
3.16
external constraint
constraint (3.7) which takes precedence over internal constraints (3.21) in a business transaction (3.4),
i.e. is external to those agreed upon by the parties to a business transaction
Note 1 to entry: Normally, external constraints are created by law, regulation, orders, treaties, conventions or
similar instruments.
Note 2 to entry: Other sources of external constraints are those of a sectorial nature, those which pertain to a
particular jurisdictional domain or mutually agreed common business conventions (e.g., INCOTERMS, exchanges,
etc.).
Note 3 to entry: External constraints can apply to the nature of the good, service and/or right provided in a
business transaction.
Note 4 to entry: External constraints can demand that a party to a business transaction meet specific
requirements of a particular role. For example:
a) Only a qualified medical doctor may issue a prescription for a controlled drug.
b) Only an accredited share dealer may place transactions on the New York Stock Exchange.
c) Hazardous wastes may only be conveyed by a licensed enterprise.
Note 5 to entry: Where the Information Bundles (IBs), including their Semantic Components (SCs) of a business
transaction are also to form the whole of a business transaction (e.g., for legal or audit purposes), all constraints
shall be recorded. For example, there may be a legal or audit requirement to maintain the complete set of recorded
information pertaining to a business transaction, i.e., as the information bundles exchanged, as a "record".
Note 6 to entry: A minimum external constraint applicable to a business transaction often requires one to
differentiate whether the Person that is a party to a business transaction is an "individual", "organization", or
"public administration". For example, privacy rights apply only to a Person as an "individual".
[SOURCE: ISO/IEC 15944-1:2023, 3.23]
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ISO/IEC 15944-21:2023(E)
3.17
Functional Service View
FSV
perspective of business transactions (3.4) limited to those information technology interoperability
aspects of Information Technology Systems (3.20) needed to support the execution of Open-edi
transactions (3.31)
[SOURCE: ISO/IEC 14662:2010, 3.10]
3.18
information
knowledge concerning objects (3.23), such as facts, events, things, processes (3.34), or ideas, including
concepts, that within a certain context has a particular meaning
[SOURCE: ISO 2382-1:1993 (01.01.01)]
3.19
Information Bundle
IB
formal description of the semantics of the recorded information (3.36) to be exchanged by Open-edi
Parties (3.28) playing roles (3.38) in an Open-edi Scenario (3.29)
[SOURCE: ISO/IEC 14662:2010, 3.11]
3.20
Information Technology System
IT System
set of one or more computers, associated software, peripherals, terminals, human operations, physical
processes, information transfer means, that form an autonomous whole, capable of performing
information processing and/or information transfer
[SOURCE: ISO/IEC 14662:2010, 3.13]
3.21
internal constraint
constraint (3.7) which forms part of the commitment(s) (3.6) mutually agreed to among the parties to a
business transaction (3.4)
Note 1 to entry: Internal constraints are self-imposed. They provide a simplified view for modelling and re-use
of scenario components of a business transaction for which there are no external constraints or restrictions to
the nature of the conduct of a business transaction other than those mutually agreed to by the buyer and seller.
[SOURCE: ISO/IEC 15944-1:2023, 3.11]
3.22
materialized
association between an economic event (3.11) and an economic claim (3.10) where the occurrence of the
economic event causes the economic claim to come into existence
[SOURCE: ISO/IEC 15944-4:2015, 3.40]
3.23
object
anything perceivable or conceivable
Note 1 to entry: Objects may also be material, (e.g., engine, a sheet of paper, a diamond), or immaterial, (e.g.,
conversion ratio, a project play), or imagined, (e.g., a unicorn).
[SOURCE: ISO 1087-1:2000, 3.1.1]
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ISO/IEC 15944-21:2023(E)
3.24
Open-edi
Electronic Data Interchange (3.14) among multiple autonomous Persons (3.33) to accomplish an explicit
shared business (3.1) goal according to Open-edi standards (3.30)
[SOURCE: ISO/IEC 14662:2010, 3.14]
3.25
Open-edi Business Transaction Ontology
OeBTO
formal, rule-based specification and definition of the concepts pertaining to business transactions (3.4)
and scenarios and the relationships that hold among those concepts
[SOURCE: ISO/IEC 15944-4:2015, 3.44]
3.26
Open-edi Counterparty
OeCP
Open-edi Party (3.28) distinct from another Open-edi Party where both have negotiated roles (3.38) in an
economic contract and between which there is an exchange of value in a business transaction (3.4), such
that the temporal distinction is an Open-edi Counterparty is the responding party in the relationship
initiated by another Open-edi Party
3.27
Open-edi Distributed Business Transaction Repository
OeDBTR
repository storing, in a distributed manner, sets of recorded information regarding business transactions
(3.4)
3.28
Open-edi Party
OeP
Person (3.33) that participates in Open-edi (3.24)
Note 1 to entry: Often referred to generically in this and other eBusiness standards (e.g. other parts of this
ISO/IEC 15944 multi-part “eBusiness” standard) as “party” or “parties” for any entity modelled as a Person as
playing a role in Open-edi Scenarios.
[SOURCE: ISO/IEC 14662:2010, 3.17]
3.29
Open-edi Scenario
OeS
formal specification of a class of business transactions (3.4) having the same business (3.1) goal
[SOURCE: ISO/IEC 14662:2010, 3.18]
3.30
Open-edi standard
standard that complies with the Open-edi Reference Model
[SOURCE: ISO/IEC 14662:2010, 3.19]
3.31
Open-edi transaction
business transaction (3.4) that is in compliance with an Open-edi Scenario (3.29)
[SOURCE: ISO/IEC 14662:2010, 3.23]
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ISO/IEC 15944-21:2023(E)
3.32
organization
unique framework of authority within which a person or persons act, or are designated to act, towards
some purpose
Note 1 to entry: The kinds of organizations covered by this part of ISO/IEC 15944 include the following examples:
a) an organization incorporated under law.
b) an unincorporated organization or activity providing goods and/or services, including:
1) partnerships;
2) social or other non-profit organizations or similar bodies in which ownership or control is
vested in a group of individuals;
3) sole proprietorships;
4) governmental bodies.
c) groupings of the above types of organizations where there is a need to identify these in information
interchange.
[SOURCE: ISO/IEC 6523-1: 1998, 3.1]
3.33
Person
entity (3.15), i.e. a natural or legal person, recognized by law as having legal rights and duties, able to
make commitment(s) (3.6), assume and fulfil resulting obligation(s), and able to be held accountable for
its action(s)
Note 1 to entry: Synonyms for “legal person” include “artificial person”, “body corporate”, etc., depending on the
terminology used in competent jurisdictions.
Note 2 to entry: Person is capitalized to indicate that it is being utilized as formally defined in the standards and
to differentiate it from its day-to-day use.
Note 3 to entry: Minimum and common external constraints applicable to a business transaction often require
one to differentiate among three common sub-types of Person, namely “individual”, “organization”, and “public
administration”.
[SOURCE: ISO/IEC 14662:2010, 3.24]
3.34
process
series of actions or events taking place in a defined manner leading to the accomplishment of an
expected result
[SOURCE: ISO/IEC 15944-1:2023, 3.53]
3.35
public administration
entity (3.15), i.e., a Person (3.33), which is an organization (3.32) and has the added attribute of being
authorized to act on behalf of a regulator (3.37)
[SOURCE: ISO/IEC 15944-1:2023, 3.54]
3.36
recorded information
any information (3.18) that is recorded on or in a medium (3.24) irrespective of form, recording medium
or technology used, and in a manner allowing for storage and retrieval
Note 1 to entry: This is a generic definition and is independent of any ontology (e.g., those of “facts” versus “data”
versus “information” versus “intelligence” versus “knowledge”, etc.).
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ISO/IEC 15944-21:2023(E)
Note 2 to entry: Through the use of the term “information”, all attributes of this term are inherited in this
definition.
Note 3 to entry: This definition covers:
a) any form of recorded information, means of recording, and any medium on which information can be
recorded; and,
b) all types of recorded information including all data types, instructions or software, databases, etc.
[SOURCE: ISO/IEC 15944-1:2023, 3.56]
3.37
regulator
Person (3.33) who has authority to prescribe external constraint (3.16) which serve as principles,
policies or rules governing or prescribing the behavior of Persons involved
...