Conceptual and Methodological Guidelines for E-Business Systems Development

This paper sets out to explore relevant conceptual and methodological tools employed for e-business systems development and to supply a set of guidelines aimed at Business-to-Business (B2B) solutions. This approach is endorsed by an easily noticeable fact: B2B represents the most challenging e-business component due to specific issues that are difficult to handle on a software level, given the complexity and heterogeneity of business entities, from both technological and organizational perspectives.

As the subject of e-business systems development is approached in a manner that proceeds from general to particular, the content of the paper could be broadly structured in two parts. The first part deals with generic interoperability issues, as well as with process orientation and service orientation as complementary trends in addressing e-business solutions. The second part of the paper elaborates on B2B protocols modeling and their support in the form of dedicated software services that must be adapted to match the requirements of various external partners of the focal company.

This work is aimed at students who study the development of business information systems, particularly those interested in the analysis, design and implementation of software solutions directed at the organizational interface and the operationalization of the concept of "extended enterprise".