Auto Industry Leverages OAGi Integration Standards The auto industry, with slim margins and a large value chain, envisions moving toward a make-to-order operation. However, customer driven manufacturing requires high levels of integration among suppliers, partners, customers and production applications. Facing applications integration on a large scale, auto manufacturers, through the AIAG, are partnering with OAGi as an essential element of their integration roadmap. Integration of businesses and applications has become necessary to achieve customer driven manufacturing. The auto industry is facing applications integration on a large scale to achieve its vision, and is partnering with OAGi as an element of its integration standards landscape.

1. THOUGHT LEADERS FOR MANUFACTURING & SUPPLY CHAIN
ARC INSIGHTS
By Robert Mick
Integration of businesses and applications
has become necessary to achieve
customer driven manufacturing. The auto
industry is facing applications integration
on a large scale to achieve its vision, and
is partnering with OAGi as an element of
its integration standards landscape.
INSIGHT# 2003-36E
SEPTEMBER 3, 2003
Auto Industry Leverages OAGi
Integration Standards
Keywords
Automotive, Discrete, Integration, EAI, AIAG, OAGI, OAGIS, ebXML
Summary
The auto industry, with slim margins and a large value chain, envisions
moving toward a make-to-order operation.
However, customer driven manufacturing re-
quires high levels of integration among suppliers,
partners, customers and production applications.
Facing applications integration on a large scale,
auto manufacturers, through the AIAG, are part-
nering with OAGi as an essential element of their
integration roadmap.
Analysis
The auto manufacturers are continually striving to reduce costs, improve
time to market, and move to a make-to-order model. The industry contin-
ues to go though tough times with cost cutting as the most dominant
business priority. Furthermore, changing quality and reporting regulations
require more accountability and traceability for manufacturers and their
suppliers, making cost cutting even more difficult.
Time to market has become critical for auto companies to be successful.
This has led to the development of sophisticated product simulation tech-
niques to eliminate expensive and time consuming prototyping. It has also
made collaborative design and development processes more important.
Today the auto industry makes products to forecast and places it in distri-
bution centers and dealers. Customers are matched to product by dealers
and this is fine as long as an acceptable product is within reach – otherwise
the buyer moves on. The vision is to avoid this loss of a sale by being capa-
ble of quickly delivering what the customer wants – either out of stock or
production. For this to occur, manufacturers must have good visibility into
distribution and must be able to respond very rapidly to changes in pro-

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duction. Consequently, supplier response to changes and optimized logis-
tics will take on an even higher level of significance.
The Automotive Vision Makes Integration a Technical Priority
Lean manufacturing processes require rapid supplier response, enabled by
fast and accurate communications. Furthermore, customer driven manu-
facturing strategies raise the requirement, making paper systems
inadequate. As a result, performance metrics could eliminate some suppli-
ers because they are not capable - or can not afford - the investment of
independent implementations with EDI level complexity.
Integration in the auto industry is not new.
Companies continue to successfully use EDI
broadly for production materials. While
many auto industry suppliers still use paper
systems, there is a migration to more cost ef-
fective, internet-based integrations. These are
required to include many of the less sophisti-
cated lower levels of the multi-tiered supply
chain.
Auto industry organizations, including AIAG
(Automotive Industry Action Group) and AAIA (Automotive Aftermarket
Industry Association) recognize that the lack of integration precludes con-
tinuing cost reductions and customer driven business models.
Consequently AIAG and AIAA are partnering with the OAGi (Open Appli-
cation Group, Incorporated) to support standards for interoperability
between business systems, suppliers, production, customers, logistics, etc.
The Standards Landscape - No Single Standard Is Sufficient
The adoption of standards is an obvious good practice, but it is far from
easy. There are many standards bodies with overlapping and competing
objectives and approaches. This complexity is compounded by the relative
maturity of various standards and their relevance to current technologies.
A consistent method of talking about and comparing standards is needed.
(See the figure below.) Terminology and models are typically specific to a
vertical industry segment. Architectures, processes, and documents (mes-
sage contents) are also quite industry specific but some elements (such as a
purchase order) can be applied to almost all industries.
Standards Are Critical for Supplier and
Customer Facing Integrations
Production
Design
Logistics
Business
CustomersSuppliers

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Delivery strategies and physical transports are
almost always generally useful, though some
industries may consider some unacceptable.
Similarly, there are large volumes of support-
ing standards (XML for example) that can be
leveraged for any vertical industry’s standards
development. More recently service, interface,
and message definitions (meta-data) have been
stored in standardized registries to facilitate the
management of integration elements for a
broad range of applications across versions.
OAGi Focuses on Architecture, Processes, and Documents
OAGi is a non-profit consortium focusing on best practices and processes
for e-business and application integration. OAGi has been around since
1995, consisting of a blend of end user organizations, integration software
suppliers, and application suppliers. It has active participation by large
automotive OEM’s.
The OAGi core body of work is OAGIS (Open Applications Group Integra-
tion Specification), now at version 8.0. OAGIS defines architecture,
documents and processes for general business functions. The architecture
includes business object documents
(BOD) made up of “Nouns” and
“Verbs.” Nouns represent objects
and Verbs are actions.
As detailed in the table to the left,
OAGIS covers the upper levels in the
standards model for suppliers, pro-
duction systems and customer
interactions. It does not cover the
delivery or physical transport func-
tions. OAGI relies on other
standards for delivery and offers de-
scriptions about how this can be
accomplished over ebXML (OAGIS),
RosettaNet, and BizTalk Framework.
Processes Documents
GeneralStandards
Delivery
Physical Transport
Terminology and Models
DiscoveryandManagement
Interfaces Messages
Architecture
Standards Bodies Typically Focus on
Part of the Functional Landscape
Area Used Nouns (objects)
Supplier RFQ, Quotes, Purchase Orders, Requisition,
Credit Status, Invoice, Inventory Con-
sumption, Delivery Receipt, Electronic
Catalog, Price List
Sales and
Financial
Sales Order, Product Availability, Chart of
Accounts, Actual Ledger, Payable, Em-
ployee Time, Work Schedule
Production Production Order, Costing Activity, Mainte-
nance Orders, Eng. Change Order, Bill of
Materials, Inventory, Consumption, Pick
List, Item Master, Dispatch List, Sequence
Schedule, Shipment Schedule, WIP
Verbs
(Applied to
Nouns)
Add, Allocate, Cancel, Change, Confirm,
Get, Get List, … , Show Update, Sync
OAGIS BOD Are Messages Comprised of
Nouns (Objects) and Verbs (Actions)

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Software Suppliers Are Helping
A large number of software suppliers have been active in OAGIS efforts,
including several end user pilots. In ad-
dition to suppliers who are organizational
members, ERP suppliers who have been
involved include Baan (SSA), Geac, Ora-
cle, PeopleSoft, and QAD. SAP was a
founding member. Intercim, iBASEt, In-
vensys, and Indus are examples in the
other application areas that support the
standards efforts. Covisint, the automo-
tive e-market, has also added momentum
by adopting OAGIS.
Auto Manufacturers Point to OAGIS and ebXML
Several of the automotive manufacturers are looking at their future archi-
tectures and OAGIS as part of their plans. Ford has been an open supporter
and active participant of OAGIS activities using ebXML as the delivery and
transport. General Motors has presented its future architecture at OAGi
meetings and has pointed to Web services, ebXML and OAGIS BODs.
Recommendations
• The development of a complete standards architecture and develop-
ment of all associated elements will take several years. OAGIS is one of
the more mature elements. It is important that all automotive industry
participants support and contribute to the evolution of OAGi efforts to
help it evolve in line with urgent business needs and new technologies.
• Other industries should look closely at the AIAG approach and OAGIS
specifications to leverage the general standards where possible, focus-
ing new efforts on industry specific needs.
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Business Examples
Organizations AIAG, AIAA, OAGIS, OMG, NADA, NIST
Auto OEM Daimler-Chrysler, GM, Ford, Toyota
Integration
Suppliers
IBM, iWay, Mercator, Oracle, Sterling
Commerce, Sun, TIBCO, Vitria, web-
Methods, XML Global, Contivo
End Users,
Suppliers,
Integrators
Several other organizational and indi-
vidual members
OAG Organizational Members