Process-based optimisation of data exchange for B2B interaction

Abstract

The automation of business-to-business (B2B) interaction depends on considerable amounts of data being exchanged between companies. Moving from paper-based to EDI-like communication (Electronic Data Interchange) can be complex and expensive for a company. In many cases, the solution adopted is to use the electronic version of documents. Business documents are stored into files encoded in the native format of the applications from which they derive, and attached to electronic messages. In some parts of typical business transactions (e.g. negotiation) documents are often exchanged several times with only slight changes of content. The same files can be transferred a number of times between the participants, with minor structural modifications. In this paper, we propose a methodology for optimising the amount of data exchanged between business partners. The methodology focuses on automatic reconstruction of the process logic behind business interactions. Based on process information, document modifications are automatically detected and transmitted. The optimisation procedure is transparent to existing applications. A prototype is presented that explicitly targets RosettaNet compliant systems. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2002.