Proposal XML is an open standard
What is an open standard? Why is this important for eBusiness?
An open standard is a technical specification that is publicly available. Anyone can use it and it is fee-free.
An open standard in an eBusiness environment allows vendors to program transactions and application systems on behalf of their clients that will reliably interoperate with the systems used by the clients’ trading partners.
Who developed the specifications and business rules for Proposal XML?
Multiple buy-side and sell-side vendors participated in the development of the technical specifications for Proposal XML transactions between trading partners.
Trading partners (media buyers and media sales organizations) also joined the discussion. They helped define the business rules, to ensure they accurately reflect the way they work with each other. In order for specifications to be accurate and the rules defining their use to be effective, the rules must be based on real-world business practices between trading partners.
What makes Proposal XML a useful standard?
The more complicated the transaction set involved in a standard, the more room for error, and therefore, the more important it is for complete clarity in the rules. This type of clarity allows vendors to program applications that provide reliability to their clients.
Proposal XML delineates a specific set of rules that vendors must follow when implementing the specification. This approach shortens overall time-to-market because of the clear understanding among all participating vendors.
When the vendor has implemented these rules, the vendor’s system will be able to work with all other compliant vendor systems. The vendor needs to implement the rules only once, regardless of how many other vendor systems their clients would like to work with.
No extra effort is needed as vendor systems are added, since no customization is required. Once a vendor implements a standard, they know that they will be able to work with any other vendor that has also implemented the standard. They also know what behavior to expect in return from the other vendor’s system.
The clearly defined transaction set also enables vendors to easily add elements and remain within the interoperable spec.
Why xml?
Extensible markup language (xml) is often used to program open specifications, since it facilitates the sharing of structured data across different technical operating platforms.
A key characteristic of xml for the Proposal XML spec is the language’s extensibility. That is, it can be easily expanded upon, accommodating new business rules as they evolve. It’s very straightforward to incorporate new business rules into Proposal XML.
Proposal XML opens eBusiness to the entire industry
The primary goal of Proposal XML is to maximize the amount of information that can be communicated electronically.
Focusing on interoperability across vendor systems with clear, well-documented expectations enhances the ability of vendor systems to conduct eBusiness with each other.
By developing Proposal XML using interoperable xml standards, we have the
- least chance of unexpected errors and incompatibilities
- least amount of implementation effort
- greatest reach with participating vendors
- greatest understanding of what the standard is trying to achieve
Vendor collaboration
The Proposal XML project was started mid-2006 by Mediaocean (formerly Donovan Data Systems). This project was a response to two requests from our clients (and their trading partners). First, they wanted to be able to share more information than the older TV Avail Manager (TAM) transaction could handle. Second, both our buy-side clients and sell side-clients wanted to participate with more trading partners than those that supported TAM. Mediaocean realized that a more robust specification was required.
We did all the initial specification design and detail authoring. In February 2007, we convened a group of sell-side vendors to start the collaboration process. Many meetings, conference calls and emails later, the beta version emerged (Autumn 2007). Additional vendors were brought into the discussion. Most vendors began implementation work. Inter-vendor testing started in Q4 2007. By the beginning of 2008, live transactions were moving between trading partners.
An Open Standards success story!
Several media buying software vendors and media sales software vendors participated in defining the requirements for the Proposal XML spec.