Compliance testing and certification is offered through eBusinessReady, an industry-neutral software testing program, which is endorsed and recognized by RosettaNet. This new certification program continues the original vision of the RosettaNet Ready initiative to accelerate development and implementation of RosettaNet standards, and expands it to a broader market scope.

Q. What is eBusinessReady?

A.   eBusinessReady is an industry-neutral testing program for e-business software vendors that was launched in November 2001 to enable compliance and vertical and horizontal interoperability across the supply chain and distribution channels. For companies engaged in the growing electronic commerce marketplace, software compliance and interoperability is vital, and its absence can strongly inhibit supply chain implementations and add significant supply chain costs. This certification program provides compliance testing to industry standards and interoperability testing which allows different software offerings to work together in system-to-system communication for improved supply chain performance. The program, which is a joint partnership of the Uniform Code Council, Inc.® (UCC®) and Drummond Group, Inc. (DGI), brings together software vendors, exchanges, vertical industries, and the standards community in a neutral, standards-based testing environment that simulates real-world operating conditions.

Q. What is the mission?

A. To drive the adoption of open industry standards by working with software vendors, vertical industry groups and the standards community to facilitate software compliance and interoperability validation testing in a neutral, cooperative and non-competitive environment.

Q. What is the Uniform Code Council, Inc. (UCC)´s role in the eBusinessReady program? 

A. The Uniform Code Council, Inc. (UCC), a not-for-profit standards organization, administers eBusinessReady marketing and provides the ideal foundation for the program to succeed. With over 250,000 members representing 25 verticals, UCC understands that it is impossible to expect an entire supply chain to standardize on a single software product.

Q. What is the Drummond Group Inc. (DGI)'s role?

A. Drummond Group Inc. (DGI) facilitates and manages the testing process for the eBusinessReady program. DGI is a leading software testing company that drives the adoption of technical standards for supply chain optimization through compliance and interoperability testing and competitive supply chain strategies for various industries. To maintain strict vendor neutrality, DGI has sole responsibility for administering the testing process and maintaining the list of passing products. DGI neither produces nor endorses software products, and thus has no interest in which products pass or fail. DGI started compliance and interoperability testing in 1999 and has built a worldwide reputation for expertise, value and integrity using the DGI Interoperability Compliance Process™ for such standards as EDI-INT AS1, AS2, ebXML and CPFR®. The DGI Interoperability Compliance Process™ is a testing methodology which tests for interoperability among multiple software products to ensure interoperability within the supply chain and between supply chains.

Q. Why is this program important for industry supply chains?

A. The eBusinessReady program provides industry supply chain partners with a current list of software companies and their respective products, which have successfully tested compliant or interoperable among each other for a particular tested e-business standard. As the UCC is helping to implement horizontal e-business standards which will work in many supply chains, both retail and non-retail, the market for the resulting products will be larger engendering lower prices for retail and other vertical industries. Implementing supply chain automation is a complicated endeavor because partners in a supply chain are likely to have different priorities in choosing a software solution based on product features and price. Given that standardizing on a single software product is not a viable option for most supply chains, how do you avoid implementation nightmares if you and your supply chain partners are using different software products? This program removes this uncertainty by providing supply chain partners with a list of competing software products which have tested compliant on interoperable by a neutral third party.

Q. What benefits do software vendors gain from participating in the program?

A . A certified eBusinessReady solution is:

 - tested on the basis of critical features identified by the business and technical community for accepted industry standards, enabling a buyer to review test results and decide if a software offers all of the functionality deemed necessary for their company.

 - proven to be standards- compliant and interoperable with other products tested by the program. eBusinessReady ensures compliancy with industry-accepted standards, such as the EAN.UCC System, which is used by more than one million companies worldwide. The program also offers interoperability testing to ensure that the product works with other software in system-to-system communication for improved supply chain performance.

Q. What is the importance of having horizontal standards, which apply across multiple vertical industries?

A. E-business standards, such as AS1, AS2, and ebXML provide the Internet messaging layer which is critical for transmitting information in a reliable, secure, and non-repudiable manner. It is important for vertical industries to use open, interoperable standards so they can realize cost savings by utilizing the same infrastructure for cross-industry transactions.

Q. Which e-business standards have been tested so far?

A.   EDI over the Internet AS1, EDI over the Internet AS2, ebXML Message Handling,

Collaborative Planning Forecasting and Replenishment (CPFR®).

Q. What is the difference between compliance testing and interoperability testing?

A. Compliance testing ensures that a solution adheres to the requirements of a standard. eBusinessReady tests compliancy with industry-accepted standards, such as the EAN.UCC System and RosettaNet e-business process standards. Interoperability testing ensures that the product works with other software offerings in system-to-system communication for improved supply chain performance. eBusinessReady tests a product for interoperability with other software solutions within a specific round of testing.

Q. Which compliance standards have been tested so far?

A. The program currently provides compliance testing for UCCnet™ and RosettaNet, and will be adding testing for other UCC standards, including EPCglobal US™ in 2005.

Q. How are interoperability test plans developed?

A. DGI's Interoperability Compliance Process™ is a robust interoperability process methodology which enables vendors to thoroughly test and perfect their products against other participating vendors. DGI provides a vendor neutral, collaborative environment – once input is provided by standards organizations and industry verticals, the test plans are reviewed by participating vendors and modifications are made as appropriate. DGI works with the respective technical standards organization that is responsible for defining the applicable test standard. Furthermore, the lessons learned during the testing are fed back to the standards organization for review and refinement of specifications. Direct input is also solicited from the industry vertical for market validation on feature sets required by the user community. The data in the test plans is often supplied by supporting user companies to simulate real market transactions. The program only announces those vendors who have successfully completed the testing.

Q. My industry group is interested in having testing done under this program. Is it just testing for UCC-related standards, and how do I get started?

A. eBusinessReady software testing was created for industry groups within and outside of the current industries that the UCC serves. Please contact information@ebusinessready.org for more information on setting up testing for your industry standards group under this program.

Q. Is eBusinessReady certification geographic-specific?

A. No. eBusinessReady certification tests show compliance and interoperability among a specific set of vendor products which are interoperable regardless of geographic location.