CPML
Today, the exchange of physical mail and packages is facilitated by posts and carriers who provide transit logistics and other services based on fairly static mailing and shipping products. In the future, we expect the posts and shippers to create and advertise such products more dynamically using formal languages, e.g., the UPU's Extensible Postal Product Model and Language (EPPML) XML specification and other formal specifications. Should the use of formal representations for carrier products become widespread, mailers will be inundated with potential products, in a plethora of markup languages, and will have to face the task of deciding which of the offered products best fit their needs for exchanging physical goods.
The Carrier Product Markup Language (CPML) specification is targeted at describing postal and carrier products from the point of view of the mailers. When new product announcements arrive from carriers, the announcements can be transformed - using a set of pre-canned XSLT adaptors - into this common representation, so that mailers need only understand and work with one language. As such, CPML will describe qualifications for use of the announced products, description about all services available when using the product, delivery options, and requirements for preparing and inducting the goods to be exchanged. Posts and carriers may also elect to use the CPML formalization for their product descriptions, should all users of the descriptions benefit from the same level of detail as mailers.
This description is intended to cover most of the services available today, including single package shipment to commercial mail and drop shipments. It has been designed to work in tandem with mail transaction messaging standards, e.g., the IDEAlliance Mail.XML standard.
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The original CPML documentation and two example carrier product instance files are included in the library window below. Note that the CPML document uses invalid links to project files. All references files are either included in the window below or in the document library window on the CPML Schemas page. The document was included because it provides details about encoding the CPML information model into XML and describes an example for supporting a product loosely based on the USPS presort of first class machinable letters. These sections include a lot of figures, that are difficult to translate to this environment. Given the time constraints, it is our best option for ensuring that enough information is available for those interested.
