Document Type

Dissertation

Date of Award

Spring 5-31-2001

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy in Computing Sciences - (Ph.D.)

Department

Computer and Information Science

First Advisor

Gary L. Thomas

Second Advisor

Peter A. Ng

Third Advisor

Daochuan Hung

Fourth Advisor

Ajaz A. Rana

Fifth Advisor

Ronald S. Curtis

Abstract

Document processing is a critical element of office automation. TEXPROS (TEXt PROcessing System) is a knowledge-based system designed to manage personal documents. However, as the Internet and e-Business changed the way offices operate, there is a need to re-envision document processing, storage, retrieval, and sharing. In the current environment, people must be able to access documents remotely and to share those documents with others. e-DOCPROS (e-DOCument PROcessing System) is a new document processing system that takes advantage of many of TEXPROS's structures but adapts the system to this new environment. The new system is built to serve e-businesses, takes advantage of Internet protocols, and to give remote access and document sharing. e-DOCPROS meets the challenge to provide wider usage, and eventually will improve the efficiency and effectiveness of office automation. It allows end users to access their data through any Web browser with Internet access, even a wireless network, which will evolutionarily change the way we manage information. The application of e-DOCPROS to e-Business is considered. Four types of business models re considered here. The first is the Business-to-Business (B2B) model, which performs business-to-business transactions through an Extranet. The Extranet consists of multiple Intranets connected via the Internet.The second is the Business-to-Consumer (B2Q model, which performs business-to-consumer transactions through the Internet. The third is the Intranet model, which performs transactions within an organization through the organization's network. The fourth is the Consumer-to-Consumer (C2C) model, which performs consumer-to consumer transactions through the Internet.

A triple model is proposed in this dissertation to integrate organization type hierarchy and document type hierarchy together into folder organization. e-DOCPROS introduces new features into TEXPROS to support those four business models and to accommodate the system requirements.

Extensible Markup Language (XML), an industrial standard protocol for data exchange, is employed to achieve the goal of information exchange between e-DOCPROS and the other systems, and also among the subsystems within e-DOCPROS. Document Object Model (DOM) specification is followed throughout the implementation of e-DOCPROS to achieve portability.

Agent-based Application Service Provider (ASP) implementation is employed in e-DOCPROS system to achieve cost-effectiveness and accessibility.

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