![](bg8.png)
service contents. Similar difficulties may well exist
with also with other e-business processes.
5 CONCLUSIONS AND FUTURE
WORK
We have presented a design and implementation of a
prototype system for supporting design data
management in product development (PD) networks.
The prototype system integrates design document
management systems (DMS) using the RosettaNet e-
business framework. It can automatically deliver and
receive e.g. the latest version of design documents.
Our experiences with the implementation and use
indicate that using RosettaNet e-business framework
for this purpose seems basically feasible. However,
there are also major potential problems regarding the
effort to implement the integration and the level of
support offered by RosettaNet. The resources used
for implementation were significant as this relatively
simple implementation took about 1000 hours,
including only the actual implementation time. The
secure delivery of documents according to
RosettaNet Implementation Framework was easy to
implement, but attachments handling is ineffective.
The RosettaNet specifications for the common
processes and the related business document
definitions should support design document
information exchange better, e.g. by ensuring
common understanding of important terms and
providing better guidelines for the usage. As
business document definitions currently enable
misusing the standard, two implementations of the
same RosettaNet process are not necessarily
compatible. Hence, the aim of industry-wide cost-
effective B2B integration through the use of the e-
business frameworks may be compromised,
particularly in the case of PD. This lack of support
by the e-business framework may also affect other
business processes besides PD.
Future work includes further testing of our
prototype system and integrating it with different
DMS and messaging servers. In addition, the utility
of the prototype system and the effect of this type of
DMS integration on the whole PD process
effectiveness should be evaluated. As the existing
RosettaNet specifications lacked the support for
design document information exchange, the relevant
future specifications should be tried. Furthermore,
more empirical data on integration efforts is needed
to better understand what is the impact of e-business
frameworks in practical systems integration efforts.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
We gratefully acknowledge the financial support
from the National Technology Agency of Finland
(Tekes). We thank Jukka Borgman and Simo Jokela
for their advice on the requirements, Hannu Peltonen
for support in the implementation, and the students
who participated in the implementation.
REFERENCES
Borgman, J. and Sulonen, R. 2003. A Case Study of the
Impacts of Preliminary Design Data Exchange on
Networked Product Development Project
Controllability, in Proc. of 14
th
Int. Conf on
Engineering Design.
Clark, K. and Fujimoto, T. 1991. Product Development
Performance: Strategy, Organisation, and
Management in the World Auto Industry, Harvard
Business School Press.
Domazet, D.R., Miao Chun Yan, Chee Fook Yew, Kong,
H.P.H. and Goh, A. 2000. An Infrastructure for Inter-
Organizational Collaborative Product Development”,
in Proc. of the 33rd Hawaii Int. Conf. on System
Sciences, pp. 2176 –2185.
Jokinen, K. 2003. A Standard Data Model for Product
Development Documents. Master's Thesis. Helsinki
School of Economics.
Kotinurmi, P., Borgman, J. and Soininen T. 2003. Design
Document Management in Networked Product
Development Using Standard Frameworks, in Proc. of
14th Int. Conf. on Engineering Design.
Lee, H and Whang, S. 2001. E-Business and Supply Chain
Integration, Stanford Global Supply Chain
Management Forum SGSCMF- W2-2001.
Liu, D.T., Xu and X. W. P. 2001. A review of web-based
product data management systems, in Computers in
Industry, v.44, n.3, p.251-262.
Nurmilaakso, J.M. 2003. XML-based Supply Chain
Integration: A Review and a Case Study. Licentiate
theses, Helsinki University of Technology.
Peltonen, H. 2000. Concepts and an Implementation for
Product Data Management. In Acta Polytechnica
Scandinavica, Mathematics and Computing Series No.
105. The Finnish Academies of Technology, Espoo.
RosettaNet, 2003, http://www.rosettanet.org/.
Sayal, M., Casati, F., Dayal, U. and Shan, M-C. 2002.
Integrating Workflow Management Systems with
Business-to-Business Interaction Standards, in Proc.
of 18th Int. Conf. on Data Engineering, pp. 287 –296.
Shim S.S.X., Pendyala, V.S., Sundaram, M. and Gao, J.Z.
2000. Business-to-Business E-Commerce
Frameworks, IEEE Computer 33(10): pp. 40-47.
Sundaram, M. and Shim, S. 2001. Infrastructure for B2B
Exchanges with RosettaNet, in Proc. of the 3
rd
Int.
Workshop on Advanced Issues of E-Commerce and
Web-Based Information Systems, pp. 110-119.
INTEGRATING DESIGN DOCUMENT MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS USING THE ROSETTANET E-BUSINESS
FRAMEWORK
509