One of the key benefits of Office System
is the tighter integration between the Office products and
XML. This has enabled Smart Documents technology,
document-based solutions that give users access to external data
within the context of their Office application. Microsoft is
looking to extend the "vision" of bridging line-of-business
applications with back-end systems through the Information Bridge
Framework. The Information Bridge Framework (IBF) is a collection of
tools and guidelines for leveraging Web services and bringing corporate
data directly to desktop-based emails, spreadsheets, and documents. This article will discuss
the technology associated with the Information Bridge Framework and highlight
some key business benefits.
What is the Information Bridge Framework?
The Information Bridge Framework is a
collection of software components and guidelines for connecting
Office applications with Web services. With IBF, information
workers can access back-end system data through Outlook 2003, Word
2003 or Excel 2003. The Information Bridge Framework,
currently available in Beta, includes:
- A server-based component, the
Information Bridge metadata service, which provides metadata
that allows a client component to connect to Web services
- A client-based component that presents
contextual information within the Office application task pane
- An add-in for Visual Studio .NET, the
Information Bridge Metadata Designer, which provides programming
capabilities for designing and building IBF solutions
- A set of documentation that includes an Architecture and
Planning Guide, an Installation and Deployment Guide, and a
Metadata Reference help file
What are the system requirements?
On the
server, the Information Bridge Framework requires:
- Windows Server 2003, including IIS 6.0
- SQL Server 2000, SP3 or later
- .NET Framework 1.1
On the client, the Information Bridge Framework requires:
- Windows XP Professional or Windows 2000
Professional
- Office 2003 Professional
- .NET Framework 1.1
- Office Interop Assemblies for Outlook, Word, and
Excel
How does it work?
The
Information Birdge Framework
is based on metadata and Web services. Web services
expose business objects and IBF solutions map these objects
to an Office application user interface. Users access
this information within the context of a specific application
through the task
pane.
The Web services assoicated with Information Bridge Framework
solutions provide self-describing XML and metadata that are
consumed by the IBF client component. The client component
caches the metadata and uses it to interpret the context within an
Office document. The metadata also determines which actions
to make available in the task pane.
When a user selects a particular portion of an IBF-enabled
Office document, the client component add-in calls a Web Service,
accepts specific XML and metadata, and renders the appropriate
action items in the task pane user interface. The developer
of an IBF solution has full control over where to place
context-sentitive data, through the use of Smart Tags, and what
actions are initiated in the task pane.
What are some key business benefits?
Solutions based on the
Information Bridge Framework allow information workers to access
business critical data within the context of familiar desktop
applications. This gives them immediate visibility into
corporate information, across disparate data sources, and provides
for faster response time and decision making. Requests to IT
and other specialized groups for specific data are eliminated; all
the necessary data is accessible via the task pane in Word, Excel,
or Outlook. This also eliminates the need to manually
collect and publish this content. From an organizational
perspective, business benefits include:
- An improved decision making process as
information workers now have access to all data necessary
to analyze and address business issues
- Line-of-business applications will be
easier to use as the Office application becomes a single source
for data and business logic
- Reduced cost associated with information worker research and
data integration; user won't need to request and aggregrate
information from mulitple sources, the application does
it
Summary
Currently, developing
Smart
Documents is difficult and labor-intensive. While the
business benefits are obvious, the development time associated with
a Smart Document solution has forced organizations to look
at upgrading specific Office applications rather than making enterprise-level
architectural changes. The Information Bridge
Framework will ease some of the development burden and
offers faster time to deployment. With the next version of
Visual Studio, currently scheduled for release in mid-2005, Smart
Document development will become even easier as task pane
functionality will be exposed through the .NET development
tools. The Information Bridge Framework offers a good
immediate approach; one that leverages current technology and
one that will scale nicely as Smart Document technology
evolves.
