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tion, negotiation and settlement phase (compare Schmid; Schmid & Zbornik, 1991;
Williamson, 1985). In the following, these phases are subdivided (see Table 1). In
the table, data input, market overview
and offer collection
can be assigned to
the information phase. Offer evaluation and auction can be assigned to the ne-
gotiation phase. Document dispatch and tracking and tracing
can be assigned
to the settlement phase.
Marks in brackets denote agent support not necessarily but optionally
involved in the process.
An entire transaction with software agent support can be detailed into several steps,
refining the activities (represented by columns in Table 1).
Table 1: Processes and their agents
Data Market
Offer
Offer
Document Tracking
Input Overview Collection Evaluation Auction Dispatch & Tracing
FORWARDER
Human
agent
X
(X)
(X)
(X)
User
agent
X
(X)
(X)
(X)
Supervising
agent
X
X
X
X
X
Coordination
agent
X
X
X
X
X
X
AIRLINE
Reply
agent
X
X
X
X
User
agent
(X)
(X)
(X)
Human
agent
(X)
(X)
(X)