A Collaborative Commerce Application DesignFest Problem Aness Dhala, Sanhitha Seerapu, Vandana Sunkara, Mohamed Fayad, PhD [email protected], and {sseerapu, vandana, fayad}@cse.unl.edu Abstract: Our problem is to design a collaborative commerce (c-commerce) application. The principle of C-commerce is to bring together employees, customers, and business partners in order to improve trust, share information, reduce costs, increase market share and eliminate any friction associated with business transactions. It includes enterprise resource planning (ERP), customer relationship management (CRM), supply-chain management (SCM) and e-procurement technologies to provide real-time access to the demand, inventory, price, sourcing, and production data to be shared by manufacturers and their suppliers. Although the members of the system act independently, they reinforce each other, in the process, adding value to the overall platform. Description of the Domain: The idea behind c-commerce is to improve information exchange through systems integration and Internet-based communication. C-commerce has been adopted in a number of industries, for example, chemical, medical, electrical and electronics, computer hardware, automobiles, manufacturing, etc. The main features of the system are more or less the same for all industries, and hence a system designed for one industry can be used in another with a few modifications. For our system, in particular, we have chosen the Construction Industry. The customer (buyer) is the person who wants to build a house. He goes to a construction company (seller), which is the center of the system. The construction company collaborates with suppliers of different construction materials that the customer might need. For example, there are suppliers of wood, metal rods, doors, windows, furniture, kitchen sinks, taps, bathroom fittings, lights, heaters, tiles, etc. There may or may not be direct contact between the customer and the supplier he chooses. This problem domain is more clearly explained in the diagram that follows.Suppliers Company Customers The Traditional Value ChainBlock Diagram: (From http://www.valicert.com/corporate/library/pdf/product_collab_whitepaper.pdf)Description of the Program that is wanted: The application should incorporate the following features: • Buyer should be able to specify requirements • The construction company added to the requirements, if needed. • Suppliers should have access to customer requirements • Suppliers should bid for deals • The best deal is selected by the buyer and seller together • Delivery is arranged for. • Billing between the buyer and the seller and between the seller and the suppliers is handled • Suppliers should be able to collaborate with each other to design and produce goods, if necessary The system looks different to each of its categories of users. A buyer logs on to his construction companies website. Here he is able to communicate with the company, as well as has access to the company’s suppliers. When the construction company logs into its system, it has access to all its customer’s records as well as to all its suppliers. When a supplier accesses his system, he can access records of all the construction companies it Posted on Sellers Portal Invoice sent to Buyer and Seller End item is shipped to customer site via warehouse/distribution system Goods are manufactured Customer places order for non-standard item Collaboration with suppliers For non standard item Suppliers Bid for deals Best Deal Selectedcaters to. For each of these companies, he can view all active requirements as well as its competitor’s bids for those requirements. Detailed Requirements: The program is a web-service which integrates processes, customer satisfaction and product design. The buyers, sellers and suppliers communicate through a web portal. The buyer, in this case, the person building his house, visits the portal of the seller (Construction Company). Here, he has access to information about the construction company, as well as the suppliers of the company. The buyer expands his requirements, the range of price he is willing to pay for them, the quantity he needs and the date the products are to be delivered. If more detailed specifications are needed, these are provided by the construction company. Through the c-commerce application, these requirements can be accessed by all the suppliers. Each supplier who thinks he can meet the buyer’s requirements, bids for the contract. There is a last date for bidding, after which no bids are accepted. The best deal is then selected by the construction company in association with the buyer. In the case that one company cannot meet the full requirements of the customer, it is the duty of the system to accept as much as possible from the best bid, the next possible quantity from the next best bid and so on, at the best possible price. The final bid is to be approved by the customer. Some degree of collaboration is also possible among the different suppliers of the same product. After the bid is accepted, there is no further communication between the suppliers and the buyer. The construction company then communicates with its suppliers to coordinate delivery of goods and payment methods (which is done on a periodic basis, rather than a per contract basis). The system should also keep track of billing information between the buyer and the seller and between the seller and its suppliers. Use Cases and User Context: Customer use cases: Logon: The customer goes to the construction company’s c-commerce website. He types in the user name and password given to him by the construction company. Specify requirements: The basic requirements have been input by the construction company specified by the customer when he meets them for the first time. The customer can add to these requirements, specifying models, colors, price range etc. View models: The customer clicks on the ‘View Models’ button next to his requirement. This link takes him to all the models of that product provided by the suppliers of the company and among these models he can select any of the models or request for some specific models.View and select bids: The customer clicks on the ‘View Bids’ link next to his requirement. The bids for that particular requirement along with the construction company’s ranking of each bid can be viewed. Either he can