The STAR eXchange

Traditionally the STAR Architecture Workgroup has been focused on the delivery and maintenance of the STAR Transport packages:

• STAR Web Services – specifying the Generic and BOD Specific WSDLs.
• ebMS – covers the STAR specific profiles for ebMS 2.0 (ebXML).
• Transport Package – covers the overall direction and guidelines regardless of the transport being used.
• STAR Web Services Quickstart Guide – samples and available tooling that can be used to implement the STAR web services guide.

Over the last several years, most of the work has been concentrated on the Web Services portion. In the past the name of the group was the Transport Workgroup, but that was changed in recent years. However, the overall direction didn’t change with it.

I’m now managing the Architecture Workgroup and Jason Loeffler from Karmak is the workgroup lead. Together we are trying to broaden the horizon. We want to make it more than just working on specifications. Architecture around standards covers more than just the transport layer. It covers design and implementation of the standards. Security. Integration of various tools and technologies.

We want the group to evolve into an information resource for both STAR members as well as the general community. So I’m asking for some community input. What do you want to see from the workgroup. What is missing from an architecture standpoint that STAR members should be trying to address? Collaboration is what helps drive standards forward, now is the time to weigh in on the direction that the Architecture Workgroup at STAR should take. Please leave a comment here with your ideas and suggestions.

When we asked users to submit testimonials describing the value that they have derived from STAR standards, we were not exactly sure what type of responses we would get, if any. It has been my experience that so many companies, believing the myth that there are competitive advantages in data formats, prefer to keep their implementation of STAR standards close to the vest – even their successes. This is a myth that, even after 9 years, STAR is still trying to debunk.

Myths aside, I have been pleasantly surprised with the responses that we have received thus far. We have received testimonials from various retail system providers including IPS , PBS Systems, and RouteOne. We have also received our first OEM testimonial from Ford Motor Credit Company, and even a testimonial from the Motorcycle Industry Council (MIC) whose members implement STAR.

The benefits noted in the responses vary with some focusing on the overall benefits of STAR including, as MIC puts it, “an opportunity for substantial cost savings when building and supporting data communications throughout the value chain”. While others, such as IPS, focus on the percentages of increased efficiencies and reuse. According to the IPS, testimonial there was a “50-60 % time savings” and code and data reuse of “80% or higher” through the use of STAR standards.

While I am incredibly grateful for ALL forms of testimonials, I must admit that I am a sucker for numbers. When an implementer tells me that STAR standards have saved them close to 60% in time savings and upwards of 80% in code and data reuse….well my heart goes all a twitter. There is a certain sense of a job well done that comes from knowing that STAR standards really do provide value to the community, and in this current economic “climate” (ahhh… think of the trade winds of the Hawaiian islands) showing value is paramount. And really, that gets back to the original purpose of these testimonials.

As an architect of the standard, it is not part of my job to actually implement what I have created. I design and code the standard based on member input and then, with the membership’s blessing, send it off into the world to create value. So to a certain extent I work in, dare I say …, a vacuum? I know it sounds awful but it is reality. I will not know the true value of what I have created until I receive feedback from implementers, i.e., testimonials.

So the next time you are able to reuse code, or you saved yourself time because you are implementing a STAR standard, think of me…and think of the STAR community….then go directly to STAR and submit a testimonial!