Nutzung der XML-Technologie für den elektronischen Austausch strukturierter Geschäftsdaten

In this work the application of the XML technology in the context of electronic data interchange is introduced. Traditional electronic data interchange (EDI) has been established for ages, but exhibits some serious problems. Installation and operation of such traditional systems are usually associated with substantial efforts and high expenses. Therefore in many cases small and medium-sized enterprises have no chance to participate in electronic business processes. But only if a critical mass of enterprises is able to participate, then the entire potential of electronic data interchange, and electronic business respectively, can be realized. XML promises to cause significant improvements of the mentioned problem areas, enabling also small and medium-sized enterprises to conduct electronic business. The focus of this work is on the possibilities of using XML for electronic data interchange, on current XML-based EDI standards and also on future developments (e.g. semantically enriched XML and ontologies).