Building Database-Driven Web Catalogs

Chapter 1: Evolution of Computer

Applications in the Enterprise

Since the inception of computers, enterprises have been busy implementing productivity-enhancing applications for their internal business processes-order processing, invoicing, manufacturing, etc. Very little was done, however, to implement applications that enhanced communication with customers and suppliers. When customers want to track an order, for example, they have to call customer service. When suppliers want to track a payment, they have to call supplier relations. Each company has its own set of applications, and its employees are trained to use these applications. The customers and suppliers of a company do not have direct access to its internal applications, so when buyers from one company want to order a product, they have to use the internal applications of their own company to issue a purchase order. The purchase order is then printed and mailed or faxed to the supplier. When the supplier receives the purchase order, an operator enters the order manually in the internal applications of the supplier. To invoice the buyer, the supplier's internal applications print an invoice that is sent to the buyer. When the invoice is received by the buyer, an operator enters it manually in the buyer's accounting application.

EDT (Electronic Data Interchange) is a standard that was created to allow companies to exchange business documents (purchase orders, invoices, etc.) in electronic form. Its objective was to eliminate the need for paper and people to communicate information between companies. When a company receives an EDI document, it is automatically processed without human intervention. But EDI is limited to certain types of documents, and it is so complex and expensive to implement that only a small percentage of businesses have embraced it. EDI also lacks a very important feature: interactivity. It basically consists of a means for mailing electronic documents (POs, invoices, etc.) that are formatted according to a predefined standard.

Now let's look at the Internet. The Internet is a public network for computers, just as the telephone network is a public network for telephones. Any business can connect its computers to the Internet. This has allowed companies to publish thousands of documents electronically using the Internet instead of paper. A few years ago, when I needed information on a company I would look for their 800 number and give them a call. Today I look for their URL and give them a hit. This phenomenon has dramatically improved the publishing power of businesses. But while the Internet has allowed millions of people to access millions of pages of information, it hasn't had defined standards to allow computers to exchange documents like EDI. What the Internet has done, however, is open the door for customers to access the internal applications of their suppliers, and for suppliers to access the internal applications of their customers. This could have a much greater impact than EDI.

Accessing Applications Instead of Documents on the Internet

Imagine now that buyers use their browser to go directly to the order-entry application of a supplier to place an order. Imagine also that suppliers can use their browser to go directly to the accounting application of a buyer to track a payment. No more phones, faxes, or e-mail. In other words, buyers and suppliers can now be doing what the customer representatives and the supplier relations specialists have been doing. This is called an extranet, which allows the customers and suppliers of a company to access its internal applications directly from the Internet. Although this might sound very promising, there is a catch. Internal applications were developed to communicate with dumb terminals. They are not userfriendly, and they can often be understood only by trained users. Just think of the complex commands that your travel agent enters to make an airline reservation. So to implement a successful extranet, companies must install "translators" to convert the cryptic language of these legacy applications into user-friendly HTML pages that can be accessed by a Web browser. Popular examples of successful Extranet implementations are the Federal Express package tracking system, and the SABRE airline reservation system.

Accessing Product Information on the Internet

Now let's move to product information, which has always been communicated to customers through printed catalogs. There are few companies with internal applications that allow the employees of a company to navigate its catalog and locate products quickly and easily...