The AIAG Electronic Commerce Steering Committee is chartered to direct initiatives to optimize the electronic flow and presentation of information in the automotive supply chain. The goal is to initiate and continually improve AIAG products and services to meet our customers' needs, building on the synergy of AIAG members, related organizations, and the global vehicle industry.

This project is a joint effort by AIAG, JAMA/JAPIA, Odette and STAR to develop a harmonized data model to be used globally across the automotive industry.

OEM's and their suppliers currently exchange electronic data through mandated point to point high cost network connectivity solutions. Also various OEM's have differing requirements/approved vendors for network connectivity there by increasing the cost for suppliers doing business with multiple OEMs.

Through this project we will define industry standard for network connectivity which will result in reduced set of company access points, resulting in reducing cost, complexity, operating and maintenance expenditures. The project will leverage the public internet which provides new ubiquitous availability and is fast becoming the defacto standard of communication between businesses. In addition public internet often is the only network available in new/emerging markets. Adoption of the project deliverables will not only save costs for the whole supply chain but will also enhance the agility of adopters by supporting faster entry into new/emerging markets and better ability to respond to changing market conditions.

The goal of Technical Framework Workgroup is to promote the use of XML and internet-enabled communications to improve the communication and effectiveness between trading partners. The intent is to not only prove the efficacy and validate the feasibility of these techniques, but also to drive their adoption in the automotive industry.

The BOD Development Workgroup provides technical support to other AIAG and JAI workgroups for issues related to XML, OAGIS, Core Components (CCTS) and data modeling. The group serves as a central point of knowledge and control for XML work at AIAG, and is responsible for AIAG workgroup adherence to the AIAG and OAGIS methodologies.

The group is also responsible for approving the Business Object Document (BOD) schema and supporting documentation for AIAG publication.