title: Business data management for business-to-business electronic commerce
abstract: Business-to-business electronic commerce (B2B EC) opens up new possibilities for trade. For example, new business partners from around the globe can be found, their offers can be compared, even complex negotiations can be conducted electronically, and a contract can be drawn up and fulfilled via an electronic marketplace. However, sophisticated data management is required to provide such facilities. In this paper, the results of a multi-national project on creating a business-to-business electronic marketplace for small and medium-sized enterprises are presented. Tools for information discovery, protocol-based negotiations, and monitored contract enactment are provided and based on a business data repository. The repository integrates heterogeneous business data with business communication. Specific problems such as multilingual nature, data ownership, and traceability of contracts and related negotiations are addressed and it is shown that the present approach provides efficient business data management for B2B EC
keyphrases: business data management business-to-business electronic commerce electronic marketplace multi-national project small and medium-sized enterprises information discovery protocol-based negotiations monitored contract enactment business data repository heterogeneous business data business communication data ownership traceability multilingual system