RE: EDI over the Internet - Next Steps

EDI over the Internet Working Group Participants:

Here are the responses from my June e-mail:
*	Two asked what the group recommended as a solution 
*	Several agreed that this group should be used as a forum to keep up
on EDI and Internet related technology
*	Two responded that they wanted to join the group

These two recommendations below were taken from the notes posted on the PUC
Web site as a result of the June 3, 1999 EDI over the Internet Group
meeting, chaired at the time by Jim Price, the link is:
http://ora.ca.gov/wk-group/dai1999/msg00092.htm.  

All other EDI over the Internet meeting notes are posted at:
http://ora.ca.gov/wk-group/#top

*	Those present unanimously agreed to the following recommendation:
"The group has worked toward a goal of identifying a technology that will
allow interoperability among market participants (trading partners).  That
is, instead of risking a situation where small market participants must
implement multiple technologies because incompatible solutions were
implemented by larger market participants, this goal is to identify a
technology that would be included in everyone's implementation.  For this
purpose, the group recommends EDI-INT as such a technology, since it is the
only technology that currently meets the five critical business
requirements.  When any other technology meets the five critical business
requirements, it will be accepted.  This is not meant to impose any limit on
innovation or implementation of additional, alternative technologies by
trading partners." 
*	The group has previously concluded that for the near term (e.g.,
7/20/99), (1) no more than a "Class 1" certificate should be required, and
(2) using the same certificate as now used for MDMA servers should be
allowed, and in the longer term, that maintaining consistency with the ISO's
practices would avoid needs to implement multiple systems, and that we
should continue discussion of requirements for certificates.  The
presentation about the ISO's plans was very informative, but the group still
prefers to not require a specific Certificate Authority (CA).  The UIG may
develop plans for a Virtual Private Network, so we should see what develops
before making specific commitments.  The group has concerns regarding
hierarchical structures of CAs and how CAs operate, which should be
discussed further.

A few more things:

I am in the process of making a contact at the UIG to see if we can get a
representative to attend one of the future OCC meetings to provide an update
on plans the UIG may have in recommending a technology to send EDI data over
the Internet and to also update us on XML for EDI.  

Additionally, I wanted to survey both the ESP's and the UDC's to find out
where they were with implementing an EDI over the Internet solution for the
810.  Please answer the following questions and respond back to me.  I will
tally the results and report out at a future OCC meeting. 

Here are the questions:

Energy Service Provider Questions:

*	Are you currently exchanging the EDI 810 via the Internet with any
UDC(s) in California?  If so with how many?

*	Are you exchanging the EDI 810 via an Internet solution in other
states?  If so please list the states and format.

*	If you are not receiving the EDI 810 via the Internet do you have
plans to implement in California, if so when? 

UDC Questions: (PG&E, SCE & SDG&E)

*	Do you have the capability to exchange EDI 810 via the Internet?  If
not when do you plan to have this capability?

*	Are you currently exchanging the EDI 810 via the Internet with any
ESP's in California?  If so how many ESP's?

*	Have you been contacted by any ESP's inquiring about the possibility
of beginning testing?  If so by how many ESP's? 


Your responses would be appreciated by August 25, 2000.

Regards,

Steve Knaebel   
Pacific Gas & Electric Co. 
External Phone  (415) 973-1131
Company Phone  223-1131



>  -----Original Message-----
> From: 	Knaebel, Steve  
> Sent:	Thursday, June 01, 2000 1:11 PM
> To:	'tariff@ora.ca.gov'; 'tariffweb@ora.ca.gov'
> Cc:	'Brubaker, Wendy'; Pete Labberton; Roseann Millington; Tom Elder
> Subject:	EDI over the Internet - Next Steps
> 
> EDI over the Internet Working Group Participants,
> 
> Since we have completed the task to gain consensus by establishing a
> recommended method of sending and receiving EDI billing data (810) through
> the Internet.  We now need to determine the next steps/tasks of this
> group.  I talked with several people at the last OCC meeting and agreed to
> send this message to suggest the next steps.  Since our initial task has
> been completed we thought that we would use this group as a forum to stay
> informed on Internet technology, as it relates to and could impact EDI
> today and in the future.  Understanding this new technology will help us
> all do a better job of planning for the future.  
> 
> At this point we don't have a next meeting planned but I wanted to get
> your ideas on future topics and potential meeting dates.  Please let me
> know within the next several weeks your thoughts and ideas. 
> 
> Thanks,
> 
> Steve Knaebel   
> Pacific Gas & Electric Co. 
> External Phone  (415) 973-1131
> Company Phone  223-1131
> 
> 
.