User:CiecaOperations/sandbox

CIECA
CIECA (Collision Industry Electronic Commerce Association) is a non-profit organization created to develop data standards for the collision industry. CIECA is a membership-based organization that develops and publishes standards for the exchange of data between trading partners across all segments of the collision ecosystem.

History
CIECA was founded in 1994 as a collaboration between companies from various segments of the US collision industry to address new business needs created by the introduction of technology into the industry. As the industry transitioned from paper-based processes to electronic processes, it became apparent that the industry needed a common vocabulary to communicate digitally.

The initial goal of CIECA was to develop a standard that would allow body shops to export an estimate from any estimating system into any shop management system. In the years that followed, additional standards were developed to address other workflows such as parts ordering, rental car, towing, salvage handling and total loss processing.

Data Standards
CIECA has developed three generations of data standards as technology evolves and new business needs arise.

EMS (Estimate Management System)
The first-generation standard was developed in 1994 using dBase IV as a means of exporting a database record from an estimating system for import into shop management system. The EMS standard contains data only related to the estimate.

BMS (Business Messaging Suite) ￼
The BMS is an XML based standard that supports a wide range of collision industry related workflows such as inspection assignment, estimate & photo upload, parts ordering, rental car assignment, invoicing, salvage assignment, etc.

CAPIS (CIECA API Standards)
The CIECA API Standards are JSON based standards designed to support all major industry workflows. The CAPIS standards provide users with the option to develop JSON based API's.