xCBL 4.0 Final Release Now Available

xCBL 4.0 is now available as a final release. Click here to find out more and download xCBL 4.0 schemas and resources.

What is xCBL?

Welcome to xCBL.org - your source for the latest information about the XML Common Business Library (xCBL). xCBL is the pre-eminent XML component library for business-to-business e-commerce. This standard is created, maintained, and supported for use - free of charge - by anyone needing document definitions for their e-commerce applications.

xCBL is a set of XML business documents and their components, distributed freely here on xCBL.org. In addition to using the business documents provided, you can also use the component library to build your own documents. Either way, using xCBL promotes interoperability between applications.

xCBL is made available in numerous formats: xCBL 4.0 is available as W3C XML Schema only. But previous versions are supplied as a set of SOX schemas (SOX is the schema language Commerce One created and used in its own products), as W3C XML Schema, in XML DTD form, and as a set of XDR schemas (with a separate set designed for use within the BizTalk environment, see the XDR page for details). Regardless of which type of structure validation syntax you use inside your applications, the business documents - with very minor modifications - remain the same. One of the hardest parts of achieving interoperability is enabling the exchange of business documents, and xCBL is your solution to this problem.

xCBL 4.0

The newest version of xCBL - xCBL 4.0 is the first release of xCBL using XSDL schema language as the canonical form. This will be the standard for future releases of xCBL. Previously, all xCBL releases were based on SOX schema. xCBL 4.0 also represents an initial alignment with the OASIS Universal Business Language (UBL) initiative. Some of the UBL recommendations have been adopted in the design of xCBL 4.0. As UBL continues to evolve and mature, additional recommendations and standards will be adopted by xCBL. With a few exceptions, business documents that existed in xCBL 3.5 have been carried over to xCBL 4.0. New documents have also been added to xCBL 4.0 to support integration of applications with backend ERP systems.

xCBL 3.5

xCBL 3.5 contains all of the documents found in xCBL 3.0 as well as 9 new xCBL documents. Some of the xCBL 3.0 documents have been modified in response to new requirements and correction of bugs. To maintain interoperability between xCBL3.5 and xCBL3.0, the only modifications allowed to an xCBL 3.0 document were the addition of new optional elements and additions to code lists. An xCBL 3.0 instance of a document is also a valid instance in xCBL 3.5. New documents for xCBL 3.5 are in the areas of: Sourcing, Informational, Order Management and Material Management.

xCBL 3.0

xCBL 3.0 was announced at the eLink conference in Hong Kong on November 29, 2000. It covers a wide variety of B2B e-commerce scenarios, in both the MRO/Indirect Procurement and Direct Goods arenas.

xCBL 2.0

xCBL 2.0 is made up of MRO documents used today in many applications.