Re: multiparty (was) Fwd: Re: message routing

[bhaugen <linkage@interaccess.com>]

A couple of minor points, just so I don't get misquoted in the future:

> > There are lots of rules for business deals before ecommerce.
> > It ain't as loosey-goosey as Horshack may think.
> 
> Rules were made to be broken. I'm more inclined to believe
> that it IS in fact as loosey-goosey as Horshack thinks.

The fact that rules are broken does not mean there are no rules.
It just means people can break them as exceptions.

> > In an offer-acceptance transaction, in the meat world, the offerer
> > controls (decides whether the acceptance closes the deal or not).
> > In as order-fulfillment collaboration, the party whose commitment
> > is supposed to be fulfilled decides whether it was or was not
> > fulfilled.  If I owe you $10 and pay you $9, do I get to say
> > we're even?
> 
> This is very different than characterizing control as singular,
> but there's more to it than just who can say we're done.

I would not characterize control as singular.  Maybe it's
better to say "who decides when this particular step
succeeds, or is complete".  And then of course the other
party or parties may dispute that, thus Jamie has paying
work...

The other aspect of control is if people really do create
these large multi-party business process documents,
who creates them?  Where do they reside? Who gets
a copy? Do they get everything, include parts that
are none of their business?  Can security breaches
occur because process details get spread beyond
those who need to know?  Etc.

> The reality is that stuff happens, there is no denying this
> fact. We cannot ever hope to achieve some nirvana of perfect
> order and/or control according to some predetermined rules.

> I've had a LOT of folk tell me that their customers
> routinely allow things to proceed even though it would appear
> on the surface that the "rules" have been broken. That's
> how business gets done in the real world. In the real world,
> a PO received one day after the quote had expired MAY be
> honored/accepted depending upon who the customer is, how
> much business he does, how quickly he pays his bills, etc.

Of course, I agree with both of the above paragraphs and
everything else you wrote about bending the rules.
I don't think electronic business will ever get away
from human judgment, especially in the hard cases.

But I think the practical management of this stuff will
require that people expect the expected and deal with
the exceptions as exceptions, as usual.

Ok, Horshack?

-Bob Haugen