14.1 Business scenario

< Day Day Up >

As described in 6.3, "Inter-enterprise scenarios" on page 121, ABC Electronics wishes to enable their external resellers to place orders to the wholesale group. Currently, the resellers fill out an order form and mail it to the wholesale organization. Difficulties arise when orders cannot be filled because of latency in the manual process and outdated inventory.

The Extended Enterprise business pattern applies to this situation. This pattern can be applied for inter-enterprise integration activities. It will enable ABC Electronics to integrate their business processes with processes and information that exist at partner organizations.

When an external reseller needs to notify the wholesale department that a part must be ordered, the Message variation of the Exposed Direct Connection application pattern can be applied. This Application pattern is suitable because the external reseller will be notifying the wholesale department that a part must be ordered, but the reseller does not require any response as part of this process.

When the external reseller needs to know the expected delivery date for a part on order, the Call variation of the Exposed Direct Connection application pattern can be applied. In this instance, the external reseller requires a response from the wholesale department, advising them of the expected delivery date for the part in question.

The Web service can be applied to both processes. Web services used with the HTTP transport allow integration between business partners via the Internet. Web services also have the advantages of providing heterogeneous platform support and loose coupling between the two systems.

This chapter extends, for inter-enterprise use, the intra-enterprise Web services scenarios from previous chapters, specifically:

Chapter 8, "Using RPC style Web services" on page 147
Chapter 9, "Using document style Web services" on page 183
Chapter 10, "Using the Web Services Gateway" on page 215

< Day Day Up >