Location: 2005 APEC Symposium on the Assessment and Benchmark of Paperless Trading, Beijing / Conference Start Date: Sep 1, 2005

1. Paperless Trading Infrastructure
Technology Development in Hong Kong
2005 APEC Symposium on
the Assessment and Benchmark of Paperless Trading
September 1-3, 2005, Beijing, China
Mr. Thomas Lee
Chief Technology Officer
Center for E-Commerce
Infrastructure Development
The University of Hong Kong
Hong Kong, China

2. Trading with FAX
PO
PO
1/9/2005
1/9/2005
ABC Co.
ABC Co.
order food
order food
Repetitive data entry and
checking
Low productivity
Prone to human errors
Making e-commerce everyday commerce 2
Center for E-commerce Infrastructure Development

3. Paperless Trading
Fax machine for electronic documents?
System-to-system data
exchange
01010101
01010101
10101010
10101010
Manual data entry and
01010101
01010101 checking saved
Accurate data exchange
Human fraud avoided
Round-the-clock operation
Making e-commerce everyday commerce 3
Center for E-commerce Infrastructure Development

4. Paperless Trading
Infrastructure Technology
Software
Message gateway for data exchange on Internet
Factors for adoption: cost and complexity
Standards
Standards on communication protocols, electronic
documents, business processes
Factors for adoption: sanction, traction, openness,
localization
Making e-commerce everyday commerce 4
Center for E-commerce Infrastructure Development

5. eCommerce Software
Infrastructure
In 2002, HKSARG Innovation and Technology
Commission funded CECID HK$9.5M (US$1.2M)
Build ebXML software infrastructure in HK
Very successful R&D project:
Open-sourced software deliverables
Hermes Message Gateway as flagship technology
Lowered barriers for SMEs to do B2B e-commerce
Widely adopted in HK and internationally
Gained international recognitions
Making e-commerce everyday commerce 5
Center for E-commerce Infrastructure Development

6. B2B EDI on the Internet
EDI Private
Network
Order
Doc
EDI gateway EDI gateway
(EDI)
Buyer Seller
Expensive !!
With Hermes
Internet
Order
Doc
Hermes Hermes
Buyer (XML)
Seller
Cost effective,for E-commerce Infrastructure Development
Center
affordable byeveryday commerce
Making e-commerce SMEs !! 6

7. Cost of Ownership
EDI * Hermes
Initial cost US$40,000 – $80,000 (Unix FREE
or Windows based) If running on Linux
US$120,000 (mainframe)
Programming cost US$40,000 - $120,000 US$3,000
(app development)
Operational US$0.25 - $1 per document Internet subscription
expenses (flat fee for unlimited usage)
* Source: “The Total Economic Impact of EDI” by Forrester Research
Making e-commerce everyday commerce 7
Center for E-commerce Infrastructure Development

8. Worldwide Adoption of Hermes
Potentially largest user base among ebXML products
Recorded downloads from 80+ economies (Australia, Canada, China, Chinese
Taipei, Denmark, France, Germany, India, Korea, Japan, Macau, Myanmar, New
Zealand, Singapore, Thailand, UK, USA, Vietnam, …)
Integrate Hermes into products and services
TIE (The Netherlands), Webswell (US), Crimsonlogic (Singapore), HK Govt EGIS
Many production cases in local and overseas projects, e.g.
Dairy Farm Group (HK large consumer goods retailer chain)
HKSAR Government (G2B document submission)
HMV HK
MTRC (HK major subway operator)
OOCL (international shipping company)
Sony Music HK
Daganet (Malaysia)
Spherion Technology (IT consulting in Australia)
Tedis (IT consulting Australia)
Making e-commerce everyday commerce 8
Center for E-commerce Infrastructure Development

9. Electronic Invoicing Between
Buyer and Supplier
MTRC user orders via 2 Physical goods 3 MTRC user mark 4 E-invoice delivery
1
bigboXX web application delivery goods received via Hermes
Procurement
web application
3 1 1 1
Auto
Auto User Browser
Reconciliation
Reconciliation
Vendor
Internet Backend
System
Electronic goods
receiving
intranet system 4 4
4 4
Hermes Hermes
2 2
Making e-commerce everyday commerce 9
Center for E-commerce Infrastructure Development

10. eCommerce Standards
Infrastructure
In 2004, HKSARG ITC funded CECID HK$14M
(US$1.8M) to build e-business interoperability
platform
Methodology and tools for e-business
information and process standardization
Localized international standardization practices
for adoption for many corporate and
government data standardization projects
Actively contributing to local and international e-
commerce standardization
Making e-commerce everyday commerce 10
Center for E-commerce Infrastructure Development

11. Local Standardization
eGovernment data standardization
Developed XML Schema Design and Management Guide under
eGovernment Interoperability Framework
HKSARG established Registry of Data Standards
(www.xml.gov.hk) to manage common XML schemas
e.g. person name, HKID, address, etc.
Software vendors need to follow the Guide and standards to
implement G2G and G2B projects
Digital Trade and Transportation Network electronic
document standardization
DTTN Co. standardized 60+ trade documents in XML with
industry and academia
Contributed the standards to develop Universal Business
Language 2.0
Making e-commerce everyday commerce 11
Center for E-commerce Infrastructure Development

12. Regional and International
Standardization
Hong Kong actively participates in ebXML Asia
Committee (eAC) and OASIS Universal Business
Language (UBL)
To define cross-border trade standards in XML
UBL Library defines common trade documents
E.g. purchase order, invoice, despatch advice
Localized in different languages, e.g. Chinese, Japanese, Korean,
Spanish
UBL v2 aims to develop all trade documents mentioned in APEC
Paperless Trading Initiative paper
HKSAR and Singapore contributed local standards to develop
transport documents in UBL v2
Danish government mandates UBL for G2B invoicing
Potential saving estimated to be 160M euros per year
Making e-commerce everyday commerce 12
Center for E-commerce Infrastructure Development

13. FAX Machine for Electronic Documents
OGCIO Dept B
Dept C
e-Government
Web Services Infrastructure
Hermes / ebXML Service (EGIS)
HKSARG OGCIO
Recruitment Issuance Shipping Clinics
Agents Companies Agents
B2B Hermes
Connector
(Hermes Linux Other
Box) products
Making e-commerce everyday commerce 13
Center for E-commerce Infrastructure Development

14. Conclusion
Software and standards are core paperless
trading infrastructure technology
Technology must be affordable, simple, and
open for wide adoption
Open source and open standards
Technology must be developed in a global
perspective
Government leadership in e-commerce adoption
is a critical success factor
Making e-commerce everyday commerce 14
Center for E-commerce Infrastructure Development

15. About CECID
R&D Center under Faculty of Engineering in the
University of Hong Kong
Our mission:
To create an infrastructure and environment that
allows e-commerce to pervade large and small
businesses through technology innovation, industry
collaboration, and knowledge cultivation.
20+ full-time staffs to develop innovative e-
commerce technology and provide R&D
outsourcing services to the industry
Making e-commerce everyday commerce 15
Center for E-commerce Infrastructure Development

16. Thank You
Thomas Lee
ytlee@cecid.hku.hk
http://www.cecid.hku.hk