Where Might Standards Further Enterprise Integration? Analysis of Likely Possibilities

Jonathan A., Ph.D Morell

1/01/2005
(Original Publish Date: 8/16/1999)

The challenge is to improve enterprise integration, i.e. to move supply chains towards the goal of timely, appropriate, and seamless information flow among trading partners. While the true nature of the problem will have to await empirical investigation, we do have a sense of where the problems will be found. They fall into two domains (Strictly speaking, there is an intermediate category wherein a computer works at one end and a person at the other. But the existence of this category does not change the fundamental dynamics which are described here.) 1. machine generated, machine read, and 2. person generated, person read. In each case difficulties will undoubtedly be resolved through some combination of standards, technology (e.g. translation software), and labor (e.g. using people to organize information). Our task is to assess the problems and to determine the role of standards in developing solutions.