The interconnected chain of enterprises as presented by the Purdue Enterprise TReference Architecture

Enterprise integration programs need throughout their life cycles the many products and/or services that can be provided by other enterprises. At its operational stage, every enterprise can become such a provider of products or services to answer othersʹ needs. This paper will show that such a product/service, provider-receiver relationship can be illustrated by using Purdue Enterprise Reference Architecture (PERA)ʹs own unique diagram as the basic unit to form an interconnected chain of the enterprises involved. According to the roles on this chain played by the different enterprises or enterprise programs, only four basic types of enterprises need to be defined to describe this chain. The PERA diagram can be used recursively to describe each of these basic types and the relations between them. Therefore, PERA is able to present a complete description of this evolving chain of enterprises regardless of the origin or field of application of the systems involved.