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Organisations as well as SLA-based negotiation, monitoring and evaluation.
Table 11.3 gives an overview of which Grid or Grid-related concepts were used and
what tasks they fulfill.
Table 11.3: Grid concepts and their roles in AgroGrid
Grid(-related) concept
Task in AgroGrid
Gridsphere Portal Server
User Management, Role Management, Rights Management, Portlet
Container, Authorisation, Access point of all services
Service Level Agreements
Negotiation of SLAs, SLA-Template-
Repository, SLA-Monitoring & Evaluation
Virtual Organisation
Management and visualisation of supply chains represented as VOs
Beside the use and integration of existing concepts, sector- and domain-specific
concepts were developed and integrated in the AgroGrid solution. For example,
AgroGrid provides a set of predefined templates for the description of supply
chains. These templates can be created and managed within the AgroGrid portal
and set out the right sequence of the companies in a VO.
11.3.2 Changes on the User-Side
AgroGrid offers a number of core benefits to AgroGrid users. In order to profit
from these benefits, only a small number of changes on a user's site with respect to
process and infrastructure adaptations is required. This is mainly due to the fact that,
first, AgroGrid's Grid-enabled marketplace for production and logistics capacities
is made available through the AgroGrid portal for which users only need Internet
access and a standard browser. Heterogeneous and distributed tracking and tracing
data are integrated through the GTNet®. Second, in addition to the collaboration
with GTNet®, AgroGrid and GTNet® are marketed as a bundled solution. This
implies that AgroGrid is promoted in the early market introduction phase towards
existing GTNet® customers. Such customers already have most of the required
local infrastructure available from a previous GTNet® installation, so that only
smaller local changes have to take place. New users of AgroGrid will not have
to change their whole processes or infrastructure. Since AgroGrid and GTNet®
are sold as Software-as-a-Service, new customers will only need a common web
browser and, of course, a license to access AgroGrid. GTNet® interoperates with
all common ERP systems and user will be able to work with their graphical user
interfaces they are familiar with. The only change in a user's day to day processes is
that they are able to sell their overcapacities through the AgroGrid system instead of
using telephone, fax or email. In further details, AgroGrid user changes are summa-
rized as follows:
• AgroGrid users profit with AgroGrid from an efficient tool to manage product
offering, transaction negotiations and actual purchase of available production
capacities. This happens through the AgroGrid portal. This portal, which is
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