Enterprise COllaboration and INteroperability (COIN) Platform: Two Case Studies in the Marine Shipping Domain

Enterprise Collaboration and Enterprise Interoperability are two key aspects of networked enterprises, which proceed along parallel tracks with rare opportunities to convene, support and influence each other. To resolve this issue we propose the use of the COIN platform, which allows exposure, combination and integration of Web Services to support these aspects in different business sectors. Suitable COIN collaboration and interoperability services were selected based on the requirements analysis performed with Donnelly Tanker Management, our industrial partner in Cyprus. These services adhere to requirements of the shipping sector, such as negotiation of voyage terms, trusted information sharing, document management and user management. Using COIN, a web-based enterprise system was created that supported two case studies. Useful results were obtained by marine experts, which revealed the positive impact of the platform in managing and reducing the time to execute these processes.