1. Description

CEF eDelivery uses the SMP (Service Metadata Publisher) specification originally developed by PEPPOL [BDEN_SMP] and generalized and standardized by OASIS [SMP-v1.0]. The SMP specification defines an XML-based service metadata data model and a REST binding to retrieve service metadata:

• The Metadata Publisher hosts service metadata for each participant ID at a predefined URL
• The sender uses this URL in a HTTP GET operation to obtain the metadata relating to that recipient's capabilities

Figure 1. Sender transmitting document to recipient procedure.

The sender can retrieve the information necessary for setting up an interoperability process. The Service Metadata Publisher stores the interoperability metadata, which enables routing of documents received from a sender to the correct recipient. SMP service metadata is a combination of information on the end entity recipient (its identifier, supported business documents and processes in which it accepts those documents) and the gateway (metadata which includes technical configuration information on the receiving endpoint, such as the transport protocol and its address). Every community participant is registered in only one SMP registry. 

The SMP specification usually complements the BDX Location specification [BDX-Location-v1.0].

OpenPEPPOL uses an earlier version of SMP [BDEN_SMP] for resolving which PEPPOL BIS/CEN BII profiles to use. The SMP is also being used for Change- and Release management of communication protocols.

2. Base Specification

This specification is based on the following OASIS Standard:

• [SMP-v1.0] The OASIS SMP Specification

3. Implementation guidelines

Implementations MUST produce and consume SMP XML content compliant with the OASIS SMP XML schema.

Section 3.4 of [SMP] defines the ServiceGroup and SignedServiceMetadata resource retrieval methodes.  An SMP client MAY use either the ServiceGroup or SignedServiceMetadata resources (defined in section 3.4) to retrieve SMP service metadata.  An SMP server MUST support both resource retrieval methods.  

When using this specification in conjunction with BDX Location e-SENS BDXL 1.5, the URI path values from section 3.4 MUST be suffixed to the URI retrieved from the BDX Location U-NAPTR record.  

When, as part of a migration in a domain that uses the legacy SML protocol, this specification is used in conjunction with the SML protocol, the URI scheme MUST be set to "https" and the authority to the domain name value retrieved from the SML CNAME record.

The participant {identifier scheme} and participant {id} values MUST follow ISO6523 and MAY conform to e-SENS ebCore Party Id 1.3.

The document {docType} value MAY conform to the document identifier format defined in section 2.4.6 of [SMP], but this is NOT REQUIRED. Domains MAY use different document identifier formats.  For example, domains that model exchanges in a service-oriented rather than document-oriented way could use this SMP element to encode the "action" associated with the exchange.

When using this specification in conjunction with eDelivery AS4 - 1.12, an SMP server MUST identify compliant endpoints by setting the value of the "transportProfile" attribute on smp:Endpoint to "bdxr-transport-ebms3-as4-v1p0".  A compliant SMP client MUST similarly select an smp:Endpoint element using this attribute value.

When used in conjunction with eDelivery AS4 - 1.12, this specification MAY be used to select an AS4 Processing Mode to be used by a C2 (Corner 2) to communicate with the C3 (Corner 3) responsible for receiving messages on behalf of a C4 (Corner 4),  according to information published in an accessible SMP server.  In making this selection, the values of the following three SMP elements and PMode parameters MUST match.

SignedServiceMetadata/ServiceMetadata/ServiceInformation/DocumentIdentifier : PMode[1].BusinessInfo.Action
SignedServiceMetadata/ServiceMetadata/ServiceInformation/Processlist/Process/ProcessIdentifier :  PMode[1].BusinessInfo.ServiceSignedServiceMetadata/ServiceMetadata/ServiceInformation/Processlist/Process/ServiceEndpointList/Endpoint/EndpointURI : PMode[].Protocol.Address

For dynamic discovery to work also Corner 3, as receiver of the message, must be able to accept messages from previously unknown senders. This requires Corner 3 to have one or more P-Modes configured for all registrations ii has in the SMP. Therefore for each SMP Endpoint registration of Corner 3 with the type attribute set to 'bdxr-transport-ebms3-as4-v1p0' there MUST exist a P-Mode that can handle a message with the following attributes:

Service = ancestor::ServiceMetadata/ServiceInformation/Processlist/Process/ProcessIdentifier
Service/@type = ancestor::ServiceMetadata/ServiceInformation/Processlist/Process/ProcessIdentifier/@scheme
Action = ancestor::ServiceMetadata/ServiceInformation/DocumentIdentifier

Because the senders of the messages are not known beforehand the PMode.Initiator parameters SHOULD NOT be set.

Both corners must also be able to validate the certificates used to sign the User Message and Receipt. Therefore both corners MUST include the certificates of either all trusted access points in the domain or of the trusted certificate authorities in their trust store.

4. Ownership

The SMP technical specification is Copyright © OASIS Open 2017. All Rights Reserved.

The SMP technical specification is created by by the OASIS BDXR Technical Committee which operates under the Non-Assertion Mode of the OASIS IPR Policy. OASIS is not aware of any statements or declarations regarding IPR related to the work of this technical committee.

Part of this specification is an evolution of work done in the EU e-CODEX project [ECODEXD5.11], which specifies the use of ebMS3/AS4 with the BDX Metadata Service Location and SMP specifications for dynamic discovery. That functionality is implemented in the e-CODEX eDelivery software. E-CODEX can be contacted as follows:

Ministry of Justice NRW, Martin-Luther-Platz 40 - 40212 Düsseldorf (GERMANY).

All other content of this specification was created in the former EU e-SENS project. The EU e-SENS project formally transferred ownership of its specifications to the European Commission, which accepted it for further maintenance in the context of the CEF Programme. Information on governance and procedures for eDelivery is available from Governance and Procedures.

5. References

[BDEN_SMP] PEPPOL SMP Specification

[BDX-Location-v1.0] Business Document Metadata Service Location Version 1.0. OASIS Standard, 01 August 2017. http://docs.oasis-open.org/bdxr/BDX-Location/v1.0/  

[ECODEXD5.11] e-CODEX D5.11: Concept of Implementation. D5.11 Concept of Implementation v2

[SMP-v1.0] Service Metadata Publishing (SMP) Version 1.0. OASIS Standard, 01 August 2017. http://docs.oasis-open.org/bdxr/bdx-smp/v1.0/.

6. Contributors

The eDelivery team is in charge of the maintaining the current version of the specification.

Details about contributors of previous versions of this specification can be consulted on the e-SENS website.

7. History

Details about previous versions of the specifications can be consulted on the e-SENS website.