A customer-oriented approach to reduce the complexity of business process integration

One of the main objectives of electronic business is the facilitation of inter-company process integration. However, in recent years many efforts in this field did not live up to expectations. Reasons for that can be found in the enormous complexity of the integration task. The paper proposes an approach to overcome current obstacles by providing a set of business process components and a standardised document exchange format while taking into account the specific requirements of customer-oriented suppliers of the German electrical industry. The approach is embedded in a three-step implementation procedure. The paper closes with the presentation of the findings in a case-based scenario taken from the electrical power-tool industry.