A recent report, published
by consultants Accenture, entitled "The Unexpected e-Europe",
suggests European e-commerce projects are on the rise. In particular
back-office, B2B projects in support of purchasing, logistics
and human resources were singled out in the report. It is expected
that these projects will provide systems integrators with lucrative
opportunities in 2002.
One of the key technologies
for enabling improved integration will be Extensible Markup Language
(XML), and this was one of the topics addressed at the recent
eBusiness and eWork conference (e-2001), which was held in Venice,
October 17-19.
XML brings structure to the
Internet and is particularly useful for user interfaces and for
making assertions and assumptions about the meaning and relevance
of data.
XML applied to remote control
of public kiosk systems was discussed at the conference. In the
approach presented, central problems like separation of application
logic and presentation, communication and user interface management
were discussed and it was shown how these problems have been
solved by means of XML technologies.
Another presentation dealt
with the creation of an enhanced ERP system which facilitates
the automated collection of performance data across the supply
chain using Internet/XML technology to improve SMEs position
in global supply chains. The presentation described a framework
for real-time, operational performance measurement combined with
performance benchmarking. This illustrated how enterprises and
business networks could use the system as a means for decision
support in daily management and improvement work.
The use of XML structuring
knowledge was discussed. The collection of knowledge is a challenge,
but structuring knowledge even more so. The presentation described
a three-layer-architecture for collecting, structuring and browsing
of information items. The architecture is based on open standards
like XML. The user can access the knowledge collection via intranet/internet
with conventional web-browsers.
FactWrangler, a modular XML
content editor's application that makes it easy to enhance different
types of digital content assets through classification, editorial
context, semantic mark-up and cross referencing of related documents
was presented to the conference delegates. FactWrangler supports
a variety of different document formats typically found on intranets
and external websites.
The eBusiness and eWork event
is the conference for RTD projects in Key Action II of the IST
Programme, who are also the primary sponsors of the eBusiness
and eWork conference series.
Ends
Notes to Editors
The following are a selection
of papers relevant to XML that were presented at the e-2001 conference.
These papers can be found in the published proceedings (see news
release dated 29 October 2001).
- The KOD Packager: An XML adaptive
learning content management system
Fabrizio Cardinali, GIUNTI Ricerca, Italy
XML used for Remote Control of Public Kiosk Systems (POI, POS)
Rainer Malkewitz, ZGDV, Germany
Structuring Knowledge with XML
Erik Meißner, Computer Graphics Center, Germany
FactWrangler - Providing classification and mark-up capabilities
for content management
Paul Cunningham, International Information Management Corporation,
Ireland
APM - Automated Performance Measurement
Neil Ferguson, National University of Ireland, Galway, Ireland
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