e.docs

Keyflow Enables E-Commerce

By Liz Levy

E-commerce means different things to different people. To Keyfile (www.keyfile.com), it means automating business transactions over the Internet. Keyfile’s Keyflow Commerce solution automates the behind-the-scenes business processes between customers, employees, suppliers and partners. It’s designed to speed Internet-, intranet- and extranet- based transactions such as approving a loan, customizing a product or processing a purchase order.

Keyflow Commerce has three core modules: a Workflow Server, an Active Document Workspace and a new XML Engine. The software’s use of message-based workflow in conjunction with online XML-based forms is quite powerful. The online forms will handle transactions such as online purchasing, user registration and bill presentment, and the workflow portion will speed the processing, improving customer service and relationships.

Keyflow Commerce will support Microsoft’s BizTalk Framework by employing an XML (eXtensible Markup Language) workflow schema. BizTalk is a set of guidelines for publishing schemas in XML,and it will allow software programs to work together.The schemas are used within Keyfile’s XML forms to define how the information will be received and processed in an e-commerce transaction. This allows Keyflow Commerce to exchange data with any application or system that also supports BizTalk.

The XML Forms designer is used to create intelligent forms that are a step up from HTML-based forms.The forms are viewable in standard browsers (above version 4.0) without a plug in, yet they support field validation and calculations, as well as database lookups when integrated in a workflow. This adds a transaction front end to the workflow process that improves the accuracy of online activities such as purchasing, registration and bill presentment.

Keyfile’s Workflow Designer features an intuitive visual interface that makes it easy to map customized business processes.Users can set up “if then” business rules for creating multiple scenarios for the routing of tasks and documents. The Workflow Server also supports enterprise reporting for tracking customer transactions.

The Active Document Workspace is where users access documents that relate to their own business work processes without having to search multiple applications. Users can navigate file cabinets and folders, check documents in and out, and edit compound documents over the Internet. Documents can be displayed and edited within their native application. The XML forms are also accessible from the Workspace, and the information is rendered exactly the way it was filled in online.

Keyflow Commerce is an intelligent combination of workflow,XML forms and Web-based document management.The use of BizTalk will strengthen the product’s ability to support e-commerce transactions between other systems and applications.
 

InfoBytes Electronic commerce will provide total annual cost savings of $1.25 trillion in industrialized nations by 2002, with half those savings occurring outside the United States, according to Giga Information Group. Using Internet technologies will reduce or eliminate many costs by improving core business processes. For more forecasts and insights visit Giga Group’s website (www.gigaweb.com).

Resource Locator

• The BizTalk Framework is a Microsoft-sponsored XML initiative to define a set of guidelines for how to publish schemas in XML that will allow software programs to work together. Visit www.biztalk.com to learn and share information about the applications that support the BizTalk Framework. There’s a library of XML schemas available that you can download.

• The Workflow Management Coalition, a non-profit, international organization of workflow vendors, users, analysts and university/research groups, promotes the establishment of standards for software terminology, interoperability and connectivity between workflow products. Visit them at www.aiim.org/wfmc/mainframe.htm.