Interoperability - Building the case for e-business

Interoperability is the capacity to transfer and transform information between different technologies.

Interoperability is a key issue in determining the value of e-business because it affects the level of commercial and technical risk. A high level of interoperability means a business can cost-effectively integrate with the range of software applications deployed in its trading community. Information contained in purchase orders, consignment notes, invoices and so on, can be automatically exchanged and processed.

In contrast a low level of interoperability means a low level of productivity. The cost of integration can be prohibitive for small businesses as they struggle to comply with the differing technical requirements of its trading partners. Instead of automation a business finds itself manually re-keying information into its software application, generating process duplication, increasing the chance for errors, and carrying extra administrative overhead.

Interoperability is also important to public policy objectives because it helps determine the number of organisations that can engage in, and accrue benefits from, e-business technology. This in turn impacts on the large scale traction of e-business initiatives within and across supply chains, and on Australia's capacity to maximise broad based economic efficiencies.

Overview of projects

In April 2002 a national workshop on interoperability was organised by the National Office for the Information Economy (NOIE). Over 70 organisations from the vendor, service provider, standards, and industry and government user communities participated. At the workshop two projects were tabled as a practical way of improving the level of interoperability in Australia: these projects have evolved into the e-Catalogue Management and BizDex.

NOIE, and subsequently the Information Economy Division of the Department of Communications, Information Technology and the Arts (DCITA), developed a consortium of private industry and public sector organisations to lead and manage the development of these projects.

e-Catalogue Management

This project delivered the guide, From Paper to Procurement: Effective Catalogue Creation and Management for Engaging Buyers and Suppliers (File size: 561Kb) , which was launched in May 2004.

The guide is designed to help small business publish their catalogue electronically and more efficiently integrate with procurement and supply chain management initiatives. Suppliers have tended to underestimate the tasks associated with e-cataloguing: that publishing an online version of the print catalogue is adequate. The reality is that buyers use different technology systems and technical standards. This means the supplier may have to create and manage multiple versions of its catalogue as well as manually update any changes to those catalogues.

The guide addresses this issue of creating a single master e-catalogue that can be read by numerous buyers. The guide is based on the experiences of suppliers whose catalogues were enabled as part of the guide's development, against "real world" procurement scenarios such as remote shopping, direct to buyer and through a service provider. The suppliers' experiences are documented as case studies in the guide.

The guide also contains information to help small business measure the cost-benefit of e-cataloguing, scope the technical environment of a trading community, use standards, and integrating the catalogue with business processes such as sales and invoicing.

The project was led by the Australian Retailers Association. Other project members included the New South Wales Department of Commerce, South Australia Department of Administration & Information Services, Commonwealth Bank, Cyberlynx Procurement Services, Sensis, Acumen Alliance and LogicaCGM.

International e-business standards

The department also provides funding for industry representatives to participate at meetings of the United Nations Centre for Trade Facilitation and Electronic Business (UN/CEFACT). Standards Australia project manages that industry participation on the department’s behalf.

• Document ID: 17188 |
• Last modified: 6 February 2008, 10:09am