Global supply chain integration

The migration to a global economy is accompanied by a rapid change in communication technologies. The WebProM collaborative environment (WCE) supports communication along the supply chain. The WCE consists of Internet-based product library, multimedia email and conferencing system. The main focus is the product library which is used for information distribution to a broad audience and for data exchange in virtual teams with members of different companies. The overall goal of this product library application is to enable easy integration of as many companies as needed into one digital information exchange network. Therefore the application addresses issues like common data formats, data security, heterogeneous platforms, and simple maintenance of contents, users and access rights.