Value-chains and Mass-Customization

In an e-business world, configuration processes are becoming increasingly distributed. Collecting product information to process it in a centralized configuration system is only feasible in some domains. This short paper argues that in telecommunications, a distributed configuration transaction-oriented process is required. After the theorectical arguments, a particular service management system is discussed to illustrate the arguments. Configuration Issues A value-added product consists of many components from various suppliers, including internal divisions. Due to the resulting value-chains, mass customization requires information-chains. That means that the configuration information has to be assembled along the supply-chain of each product. This poses many questions, including: Are standard formats for product descriptions needed or can ontologies mediate between different domains? Should the information be collected by the valueadded producer or should the configuration be carried out in a distributed fashion? How much information is exchanged between the various suppliers, some of which might also be in competition?