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- Prepared for unit IT in E-Commerce (COMP3410) at the ANU ,
- Introduces: Metadata and Electronic Document Management/Digital Library.
- One case study is used to introduce the topic: Commonwealth Government e-payments
- One of the unsolved problems for e-commerce.
- A number of possible answers, with incompatible and overlapping standards.
Definitions
Metadata (Data about Data) is essential for e-commerce, as it provides standard data items to allow parties to communicate about their organisations, products, terms and conditions. Also the actual payment and the "money" itself consists of data in an agreed meta-data format, in an electronic transaction.
Electronic Document Management allows legally recognised documents used in e-commerce transactions to be created, transmitted and stored. Without electronic document management, fast and efficient e-commerce transactions would be buried under mounds of paper documenting the transactions. The Digital Library has the potential to allow access to electronic documents, while respecting the intellectual property right of the author.
Commonwealth Electronic Procurement Implementation
Strategy
- Strategy released on 3 April 2000 to assist Commonwealth agencies and their suppliers implement online procurement.
- Framework and series of projects
- Two goals for Commonwealth Government agencies:
- All suppliers will be paid electronically by the end of 2000.
- All suppliers involved in simple procurement will have the option of dealing with the Government Commonwealth electronically, using open standards, by the end of 2001
Online Strategy
The e-procurement strategy is part of the Government's overall Online Strategy:
- Enabling actions
- Pilots and demonstrations
- Cooperation with industry
- Cooperation with other jurisdictions
- Marketing and communications strategy
- Promoting best practice
- Monitoring progress
Origins can be traced back to: Network Services ( Clarke 1994 )
Three projects under this strategy are:
- Government Single Supplier Database Phase one: data fields for the database. Phase two: develop web-based process for businesses to register
- BEP Government Tender Discoverability single search facility for Commonwealth, State and Territory Government tenders
- Remittance Advice draw on existing international standard document definitions (eg UN/EDIFACT, ANSI X12) to determine the standard content of a remittance advice to accompany government electronic payment to suppliers
Getting paid on the Internet
- Payment clearing is the exchange of payment instruction, represented by Payment Instruments , such as cheques, for value between providers of payment services.
- Clearers provide the means for individuals and businesses to transfer value, one to the other, regardless of where particular accounts are held.
- Credit Cards may be suitable for low value, one off consumer transactions
- Direct entry (DE) is more applicable for high value and repeated transactions in B2B
Eighteen Character Problem
The Commonwealth Electronic Procurement Implementation Strategy proposes use of the Direct Entry system to pay all suppliers electronically by the end of 2000.
The banking system only provides an 18 character description field sent with the payment in which to record what the payment is for.
BPAY electronic bill payment service, uses check digits to detect transcription errors in the reference field. However, the standardised finanacial system has no such checking.
How to fit a standard, complete and reliable description of the payment into this small field can be termed the Eighteen Character Problem.
Proposed payment process
Electronic remittance advice will be provided in one of the following ways:
- the agency sends an electronic remittance advice to the supplier either directly or through a third party who delivers the advice in a format acceptable to the supplier (e.g. EDIPOST, FaxPOST, Lettergram); or
- the agency's bank transmits the electronic remittance advice on the agency's behalf (allowing for consolidation of payments and respective remittance advice).
Postscript: The Zero Character Problem
- Remitted tax payments by direct credit to the ATO
- Used Internet banking
- Receipt shows the Reference Number entered in the description field
- ATO asked what the money was for: nothing in the description field
- Fault in the financial system?
- The Zero Character Problem". ;-)
Further Information
Acknowledgments:
Material from the Office for Government Online , Department of Communications, Information Technology and the Arts and the Business Entry Point Management Branch , Department of Employment, Workplace Relations and Small Business, is Copyright (Commonwealth of Australia) and is used by permission.
References: See accompanying text: http://www.tomw.net.au/2000/ecp.html
Comments and corrections to:webmaster@tomw.net.au
Copyright © Tom Worthington 2000