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 Earl J. Bass e-Business Achievement Award
Honoring Current Contributions that Advance E-Business Message Development
Purpose
The Bass award recognizes outstanding achievements and leadership in support of the development and use
of electronic data interchange (EDI) standards and eXtensible Markup Language (XML) messages during the
past year.
Earl J. Bass, known by all as "Buddy," was the principal author of the first set of EDI standards manuals
based on input from transportation industry work groups. He designed the format and specified the content
of those documents with a clear path toward continuous updates. Hailed as one of the "founding shapers of
EDI," Buddy's initial assignment was to ensure that the work group developed a comprehensive and
understandable manual. That first publication, in July of 1975, created without assistance from computer
automation and completed over three months, included forty-five transaction sets, sixty-eight segments,
and 189 data elements.
As a technologist, perhaps Buddy's most significant contribution to EDI is the simple, elegant, coded
syntax notes used to unambiguously describe the conditional requirements of data elements within a segment.
Buddy coined a significant amount of EDI terminology, such as the terms "reference designator" and
"requirement designator," as well as the use of the words "mandatory," "conditional," and "optional."
Buddy was a member of the U.S. Joint EDI committee that aligned the segment and data element directories
of several standard setting organizations, including that original transportation focus, the ASC X12
community - primarily focused on general business applications, along with the grocery and warehousing
industries. As chair of ASC X12, Buddy was instrumental in securing the U.S. role within the international
EDI community under ASC X12's control.
As he accepted DISA's Edward A. Guilbert Award in 1995, Mr. Bass expressed an essential tenet of the
standards setting process: "...leave your corporate hat at home and wear your industry hat; come to
negotiate and compromise and don't push your own company's systems and procedures-that way we'll end up
with the best standards."
Evaluation Criteria
Nominees are assessed based on:
- Stellar, Pioneering Achievements
- Leadership in the development and use of CICA documents and other components used to
construct eXtensible Markup Language (XML) schemas used to validate XML messages.
- Information on the nominee's professional career, as it relates to
significant achievements over the past year in e-business message development
- Additional Statement from the Nominee's Sponsor Regarding Qualifications
Nomination Period
Nominations for this award are accepted through June 10, 2009.
Help DISA identify industry peers who deserve to be recognized for their contributions to the industry.
Evaluation Process
The nominations are reviewed by a panel of respected industry professionals, based on the
Evaluation Criteria, according to information presented in the individual's nomination and what
is known of the candidate.
Each nomination is given a numeric score, based on the judging criteria. The nominee with the highest
average will be selected as the recipient of the award.
Presentation of Awards
DISA's prestigious awards are presented during the General Session of the
ASC X12 Fall Trimester Meeting.
2008 Bass Award Recipients
David Feinberg, Rensis Corporation
Dave is the president of Rensis Corporation, which specializes in inter-computer healthcare information
interfacing and electronic data interchange (EDI), along with Master Person Index (MPI) mediation. He is
a nationally known healthcare leader in the X12 HIPAA EDI world. He is also known for his comprehensive
understanding of HIPAA government regulations as well as an outstanding developer and national educator of
EDI standards.
Dave is an active X12 member and he co-chaired the X12 Insurance Subcommittee's HIPAA Implementation and
Coordination work group, and is a member of multi-organizational (X12, HL7), joint, cross-domain work
groups defining the methodology for electronically communicating healthcare attachment information.
Dave was a founding member of the Insurance Education Task Group and he continues to write and teach
classes. He also contributes to the products of the Patient Information work group and Insurance
Subcommittee leadership. Through his ongoing e-mail messages and X12 web site postings, David is a
primary source of current information to X12 members and the broader EDI community.
Terry Garber, South Carolina Department of Revenue
Terry Garber is the Information Technology Manager in the Information Resources Management Division of
the South Carolina Department of Revenue.
Under Terry's direction as the X12G/TG2 Tax task group Chair, more than a dozen tax-related standard
electronic transactions using EDI including those enabling electronic filing, payment, acknowledgment,
internal data exchange, tax jurisdiction sourcing, and others, have been created.
Over the last year, Terry has contributed to the development of an approach to the creation of XML
standards and schemas covering essential elements of filing such as liability, payment, acknowledgment,
authentication, business and individual tax return filings and other components which employ the
cooperative effort of states and federal governments.
In her role as X12G/TG2 Chair, she has served as the central state coordinator for rollout of the
IRS-Modernized Fed-State 1120 Corporate E-File Program, 1065 and currently the 1040 E-File - all using
standards developed via ASC X12G/TG2. These programs will bring state and federal uniformity to programs
affecting millions of United States taxpayers in both the business and individual arenas.
On a nationwide basis, Ms. Garber has been highly involved in the deliberations of the Streamlined Sales
Tax Program (SST). Designed to simplify sales tax filing for hundreds of thousands of businesses across
the U.S., she has provided essential standards expertise and guidance in the creation of the SST
Registration System and authored standard SST XML schemas necessary to implement streamlined registration,
filing, payment, and audit, again benefiting millions of taxpayers.
Bass Award Recipients
| 2008 |
David Feinberg
Terry Garber |
| 2007 |
Don Bechtel |
| 2006 |
June Arnold
Lisa Shreve |
Questions?
Please contact Guy Mayer at gmayer@disa.org or (703) 970-2059.
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