Intranet Boundaries as Guidelines for Systems Integration
Roberta Lamb
International Journal of Electronic Commerce,
Volume 7, Number 4, Summer 2003, pp. 9.
Abstract: Systems integration (SI) has been examined from two main vantage points. External B2B SI focuses on transactional interactions between customers and suppliers in the value chain. Internal intraorganizational SI focuses on structural interactions between functional units of the firm. Both approaches present problems for intranet integrations that serve communities of practice and formal project teams that cross organizational boundaries. This paper examines a few nontransactional intranet integrations, using a model of social actor interactions, affiliations, environments, and identities, to characterize integration types. The analysis identifies an alternative, project-based integration approach that may be more appropriate for intranets shared by interorganizational teams and communities. The model-driven evaluation also demonstrates how practitioners can use pre-integration intranet boundaries as guidelines for selectively implementing transactional, structural, and project-based integration approaches.
Key Words and Phrases: B2B e-commerce, information-system integration, intranets.