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The Open Applications Group is a nonprofit consortium that promotes business software integration, especially in the area of ERP (enterprise resource planning) applications and XML integration. The Open Applications Group was originally comprised of eight ERP vendors, including American Software, CODA Financials, Dun&Bradstreet Software, Marcam, Oracle, PeopleSoft, SAP, and Software 2000. OAG consists of over 37 members including customer organizations, systems integrators, and middleware vendors, and as well as application software vendors.

In the mid-1990s, the OAG developed a model for business software component interoperability called OAGIS (Open Application Group Integration Specification). The model consists of an application architecture, business software component definitions, component integration scenario diagrams, detail definitions of the APIs necessary to integrate business software components, and a full data dictionary describing the individual elements of the APIs. Along with this model is a repeatable process that enables companies to design integrated business software components.

The OAG is dedicated to developing XML for electronic commerce and business applications. It publishes XML-based business information and has developed methods that help businesses quickly integrate XML into their business processes and supply chain functions. In particular, the OAG's work has made XML the standard for data description in ERP applications, which, in turn, has promoted standard definitions for business processes and better integration of supply chain applications and processes.

The OAG Web site is at http://www.openapplications.org/.

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