The Backchannel WG has, since mid-October 2003, been considering
a proposal that would change the way that backchannel message
content is carried in the backchannel message. Discussion of
this issue has produced a proposal which would result in a backwards
incompatibility which, while relatively minor in nature, would
have required the approval of all members before being included
in the messagebatch.dtd. In the meantime, a number of members
have requested further changes to the messagebatch.dtd to deal
with issues and requirements including:
the way in which the sender and recipient of the message
are identified;
the way in which status information is conveyed;
the desire to define the message more strictly in order
to reduce the possibility for inconsistent usage of the standard
by different parties;
the use of the backchannel to exchange information about
applications that were not submitted electronically using
CAL;
the use of the backchannel to convey approval conditions.
This is merely a summary of the issues raised. Please refer
to Backchannel Discussion if you would like to see the detailed
discussion threads.
Given the scope of change that is now being proposed and the
fact that some of the issues raised overlap with issues that
are currently being considered for CAL 1.3 by the Vocabulary
WG (eg. the capture of status information), it is essential
that the Backchannel WG document the business requirements
which are driving the proposed changes, before determining
how this is to be achieved technically. The main sponsors of
the changes, Erik Fenna of AFG and Guy Gregson of ANZ, have
kindly agreed to prepare a requirements document. Once this
document is complete it will be posted to the Backchannel Discussion
group so that all members can consider and post their comments
on it. Following this, a meeting of the Backchannel WG will
be held. That meeting will consider the proposed changes and,
if the requirements can be agreed, allocate responsibility
for drafting the necessary changes to the messagebatch.dtd.
Members will have at least one week to digest and comment on
the requirements document before the next meeting of the Backchannel
WG is held.
All LIXI full members are encouraged to get involved in this
process, as the backchannel is assuming growing importance to
all interactions in the lending process, not just those between
Lenders and Brokers. If you have any requirements that you would
like to see reflected in the next version of the backchannel,
do not wait until the requirements document comes out. Post
them to Backchannel Discussion so that they can be included
in the requirements document. Even better, volunteer to write
a section that can be included in the requirements document.
I would be more than happy to assist or guide anyone who wishes
to do so, and to make sure that this work makes its way into
the requirements document.
