E-Commerce

Modular architecture framework for cross-organizational electronic interaction 55X 5Modular architecture framework for crossorganizationalelectronic interactionChristoph Schroth and Beat F. SchmidUniversity of St. Gallen, MCM InstituteSwitzerland1. IntroductionNowadays governmental authorities as well as companies have to manage a rising numberof dynamic inter-organizational business relationships, calling for means that allow for theirefficient and effective management (Hagel & Singer, 2008). Gartner Research emphasizes theincreased relevance of information technology (IT) in this context: “We expect that by 2011,midsize- and large companies will have at least doubled the number of multienterpriseintegration and interoperability projects they're managing and will be spending at least 50%more on B2B projects, compared with 2006. We also believe that, from 2008 to 2013,multienterprise traffic will at least triple.”(Lheureux & Malinverno, 2008)OrganizationLanguageWS-Interf.InformationObjectWS-Interf.SOASystem CServices & Infrastructure----------SOASystem ARegistrySOASystem BFig. 1. Service-oriented architecture, according to St. Gallen Media Reference Model (MRM)During the past years, Service-Oriented Architectures (SOAs) have become anacknowledged general architectural style underlying the implementation of crossorganizationalelectronic interaction (see Figure 1). The widely accepted normative OASISReference Model for SOA defines SOA as “…a paradigm for organizing and utilizingdistributed capabilities that may be under the control of different ownership domains. Itprovides a uniform means to offer, discover, interact with and use capabilities to producedesired effects consistent with measurable preconditions and expectations”(Mackenzie etal., 2007). Figure 1 illustrates the fundamental concept of SOA. On the lowest level,