Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
Fig. 11.3:
Traditional and enhanced supply chains
During the evaluation phase, the described scenario was passed various times by
different test users. Even untrained test persons were able to enter capacity charac-
teristics, to perform SLA negotiations as well as SLA evaluations, and to backtrace
trade units. The evaluation scenario shows that capacity offerings and demands are
matched more precisely to reduce waste of perishable food and unused capacities.
Retailers can now offer individualized food even in very small quantities. The use
of Grid components in supply chain management leads to economically efficient
exploitation of production capacities, while data ownership is secured.
11.4.3 Summary
To summarise the results of the evaluation phase in the Business Experiment, a self-
assessment indicating progress towards meeting the success criteria was conducted.
It can be concluded, that all major success criteria and metrics were met: The
objective to enable collaboration between companies (success criteria 1) is fulfilled
by choosing a proper way of interaction (i.e., by means of VOs) and by granting
simple access to all AgroGrid services through a portal by using standard web
browsers.
The goal to leverage open value chain services (success criteria 2) is fulfilled
by using open standards such as web service technology and the Webservice-
Agreement protocol for negotiation. In AgroGrid, authentication and authorisation
are used to implement trust-building and commercialisation support mechanisms
(success criteria 3), while charging and billing services have not yet been finalized.
Additionally, the security concepts of the Gridsphere portal server and the GTNet®
system are made use of. Additionally, the SLA concept used in AgroGrid allows
continuous monitoring of SLAs, including important SLA parameters such as the
