| A Web-based system, such as a supply chain system, usually includes large-scale coordination of applications, information flows, and data interchange. Because the Web was originally designed for displaying data, it lacks an abstract mechanism for supporting applications in heterogeneous environments. Additionally, many existing Internet-based systems can not painlessly migrate to Web-based environments. Therefore, large-scale Web-based application development is a major research topic. To implement enterprise applications over the Web, object technology (OT) is essential since OT provides abstract and transparent mechanisms for creating interfaces and mappings between heterogeneous applications. A Web-based system within OT however is not enough by itself, it requires organizing abstractions, such as those presented in this dissertation.; This research explores some difficulties of developing large-scaled Web-based applications and provides methodologies to address them. A Web supply chain in this research simulates the implementation of a large-scale Web application design. Two methodologies are proposed in this research: Integrated Web-Enabled Application Prototype (IWEAP) and Executable Literature Document (ELD).; IWEAP consists of several approaches that correspond to specific problem domains, such as how to integrate heterogeneous applications, manage information and exchange data. IWEAP utilizes the synergy of object technologies ranging from high-level architectures to low-level data repositories. These object technologies include presentation platform (Web browser, and HTML), middle tier (Web server, applications server, Java servlets, CORBA, and COM), and data repository (databases, and XML/DOM/XSL).; ELD addresses some issues involved in combining human literature documents and systems automation to create knowledge bases to support decision-making process. Traditionally, a machine to machine approach relies on pre-loaded, expensive, and inflexible knowledge base that can not provide as high customer satisfaction as a human/automated system. Therefore, involving human creativity is an effective way to support the “what if” decision workflow. ELD is utilized to collect semi-structured information from knowledge workers into a knowledge base. It operates on a decision workflow and provides a cost-effective way to generate the humanizing automation decision-making process. |
