enable SME EBusiness Enablement for SMEs Information Technology
enable. SME E-Business Enablement for SME’s Information Technology Department National University of Ireland Galway
Why e-Business? n n In the US, ECommerce Sales in the fourth quarter of 2003 were 17. 2 billion, a 25 % increase from 2002 Similar growth figures available for Europe E-commerce revenues in Europe continue to grow - should top USD 1 trillion by 2004 (IDC Research) ¨ B 2 B sales will drive ecommerce in Europe as the use of online marketplaces and online procurement becomes more popular with business decision-makers ¨ Although B 2 C revenues in Europe doubled to USD 12. 2 billion last year, this high growth rate is not expected to continue (IDC Research) ¨ Online business-to-business transactions (B 2 B) are poised to escalate. According to Forrester Research, the European Union's (EU) online trade will surge from the 2001 figure of € 77 billion to € 2. 2 trillion in 2006 — increasing from less than 1 percent of total business trade to 22 percent. ¨
Why SME’s? n Improve existing business relationships Improved visibility for customers and suppliers ¨ Reduce order processing overhead ¨ n Make it easier to forge new business relationships ¨ More and more large enterprise are insisting on some level of B 2 B integration from their suppliers
E-Business “Capability Maturity Model” n Need to do it in a way that is comprehensible to the users, inexpensive and has a phased implementation n There are many e-business “readiness” assessments available – but they are low on technology assessment ¨ n Must have a strategy for going beyond the web page / storefront Developing an audit and phased implementation methodology backed up by a software framework which can be implemented in a staged manner
enable. SME scope n Primarily focused on the technology challenge n Provide a toolkit of methodologies, know-how and software: ¨ B 2 B Technological Readiness Assessment methodology ¨ Standard business transactions and associated (XML) documents to engage in basic B 2 B and B 2 C e-commerce ¨ Integrated software solution for B 2 B and B 2 C e-business enablement
E-business is still maturing n n Emphasis has changed as we learnt more: from ¨ intrusive process of reverse engineer and mapping of internal company processes and data n ¨ n Trying to adapt company systems to our solution Hard-coding of legacy application integration to Non-intrusive legacy integration ¨ Monitoring of important business events ¨ Separation of business logic from application logic ¨
Revised Architecture Concepts n Separation of Application Logic (e. g. ERP) from flexible Business Logic (e. g. rules in e-Business Engine) n Kitbag of Customisable Components n Base around basic (expandable) set of business transactions n No / Low Licensing fees ¨ Proven open source software n XML as format for business transacitons n Support emerging communications standards such as Web Services as well as http, e-mail
Why XML? n Only 300, 000 companies worldwide have adopted EDI because of its complexity and expense ¨ n millions have established an Internet presence EDI was never adopted widely enough to transform the way business is conducted electronically n EDI principle is good – elimination of manual processes by allowing direct information exchange between internal applications of different companies n XML allows the internal applications of different companies to share information directly. n XML is both machine and human readable while EDI is only machine-readable.
XML-Based e-Commerce bridges the manual gap Supplier MRP Sales ERP MRP Customer
Comparing XML and EDI XML e-commerce solution EDI e-commerce solution Optimized for easy programming Optimized for compressed messages Requires web server costing $0 to $5000 Requires dedicated EDI server costing $10, 000 to $100, 000 Uses your existing Internet connection Uses value-added network (VAN) charging $1 to $20 per message or more XML message format learned in hours EDI message format takes months to master Only requires Java. Script, Visual Basic, Python or Perl script writers Requires highly trained C++ programmers
Sample EDI PO BEG*1234*01/24/2001~ DTM*110*01/25/2001~ PO 1*1*232324~ NTE*Line Number 1~ PO 1*2*99999~ NTE*Line Number 2~ CTT*2*10~
Sample XML PO
Online Catalogue & B 2 C Product Data XML Live Product Catalogue Online Order Entry B 2 C Publishing Engine XML (Orders, Queries, . . ) E-Business Server Product Data Extract Product Catalogue Adaptor Legacy (e. g. MRP, ERP) Customer
Level 1: Visibility Online Secure Customer Info Visibility Online Secure Supplier Info Visibility Trading Partner Management Supplier Event Monitor Editor Trading Partner Data E-Business Server Legacy Monitor MRP Event Store Customer
Level 2: B 2 C Online Secure Customer Info Visibility Online Secure Supplier Info Visibility Trading Partner Management Supplier Event Monitor Editor Trading Partner Data Customer E-Business Server Legacy Monitor MRP Event Store Extract Product Catalogue B 2 C Server XML Live Product Catalogue Online Ordering
Level 3: B 2 B Online Secure Customer Info Visibility Online Secure Supplier Info Visibility Trading Partner Management Supplier Event Monitor Editor Trading Partner Data E-Business Rules Editor Customer E-Business Server Electronic Transactions (EDI, XML, EMail, . . ) Legacy Monitor MRP Event Store Extract Product Catalogue B 2 B Engine XML Live Product Catalogue Electronic Transactions (EDI, XML, EMail, . . )
Level 4: Business Event Management Online Secure Supplier Info Visibility purchasing sales operations Online Secure Customer Info Visibility event alerts Trading Partner Management Supplier Event Monitor Editor Trading Partner Data E-Business Rules Editor Customer E-Business Server Electronic Transactions (EDI, XML, EMail, . . ) Legacy Monitor MRP Event Store Extract Product Catalogue B 2 B Engine XML Live Product Catalogue Electronic Transactions (EDI, XML, EMail, . . )
e. SET: Business Testbed & Skilset Enhancement Tool We are also looking at developing a training and testbed environment for e-business
- Slides: 24