Framework Architecture Enabling an Agent-Based Inter-Company Integration with XML

More and more cooperating companies utilize the World Wide Web (WWW) to federate and further integrate their heterogeneous business application systems. At the same time, innovative business strategies, like virtual organizations, supply chain management or one-to-one marketing as well as trendsetting competitive strategies, like mass customisation are realisable. Both, the necessary integration and the innovative concepts are demanding software supporting automation of communication as well as coordination across system boundaries. In this paper, we describe a framework architecture for intercompany integration of business processes based on commonly accepted and (partially) standardized concepts and techniques. Further on, it is shown how the framework architecture helps to automate procurement processes and how a cost-saving black-box re-use is achieved following a component oriented implementation paradigm