Permanent IT-Support in Electronic Commerce Transactions

by Markus Lindemann, Alexander Runge, University of St.Gallen, Switzerland* All CommerceNet members are being encouraged to deploy their eCommerce applications and services as eCo Systemcompliant objects. Each such object is assured a basic level of interoperability (achieved through a standard “agent” interface, and access to core security, accounting, payment and directory services) and can thus build upon each other’s services. Members with related applications are being organized into task forces and charged with creating frameworks that abstract the common functionality. Each task force will define literally what it means to be, for example, a payment service, a catalog service, a procurement service, a shipping service, or a spot market for memory chips. The task forces will also be defining the business objects on which these messages operate – invoices, contracts, products and the like. Collectively, the messages and objects represent a Common Business Language – a long overdue object-oriented alternative to the ad hoc text strings currently used in EDI transactions. Background and State of the Art Electronic Commerce transactions involve actions in three phases as described in the next chapter. Tools and systems for a support in some phases of Electronic Commerce transactions do exist and are comfortably usable in individual phases. Therefore, an integrating environment has to be built up. However, it is of no use to simply provide platforms and with them a permanent IT-support. Those platforms cause further apparent problems of Electronic Commerce, as described in the chapter after next, which have to be taken into consideration.