InformationWeek

August 21, 2000

More Than Just Exchanging Data

.D. Edwards' new OneWorld XE software will let companies manage business processes across trading exchanges--including handling versioning for documents; ensuring the integrity of forecasting, collaborative planning and design, purchasing information, and fulfillment; and transparently supporting inventory-management tasks such as vendor-managed replenishment.

J.D. Edwards is confident it can provide tight integration between users of multiple marketplaces. Key to OneWorld XE are "databots," Java-based applets with workflow-management controls that work together with the Extensible Markup Language and other technologies to do more than simply exchange data in a particular format. "It's almost like what you send becomes a self-aware document," says Patrick Hogan, J.D. Edwards' VP of technology, B2B E-commerce. Hogan says such documents travel through exchanges accompanied by business rules, which enable automated courses of action. For instance, rules can dictate that a purchase be approved automatically if the supplier's cost is no more than 5% higher than expected. Or they might note that a purchaser is to be notified as soon as a document is pushed back to the exchange if one source can't fill an entire order, or that a second source is automatically contacted to make up the difference.

Analysts think J.D. Edwards is on the right track. Many companies that have exclusive arrangements with an exchange are rethinking that strategy, says AMR Research analyst Rod Johnson. "Any one exchange is a small part of the potential landscape, and buyers and sellers want to take advantage of what's available on other exchanges."

Return to main story, "Opening Up The E-Markets."

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