Business mashups have a number of characteristics that make them especially suitable for use in companies: • Process-oriented: Mashups can be utilized by a number of users on a team to process a task in a sequence. The mashup represents a window to a collaborative process. 

• Persistent: If it is to offer useful support for a process, the information about activities and status must be securely stored, independently of the duration and the point in time of access by users, until the process has been finally concluded. 

• Consolidated view: The mashup provides a uniform view of data and information from various sources and systems in a company. This is handled by means of transformation functions on the mashup server or in the SOA ecosystem.

• Auditable: The execution of the mashup is documented by a log file on a central server which can store information about performed transactions, data access, and error messages.  

• Controllable: The access to a mashup and the data used with it are controlled centrally by an authorization system which allows access only to authorized users. • Reusable: Mashups can be executed, but can also be stored in a library as routines. They can be adapted or combined as the basis for new mashups. 

• User-configurable: The tools for assembling and modifying the mashups are oriented to normal users in the company. They offer visual assembling without requiring classic programming code, supported by extensive help functions. 

• Reachable everywhere: Since a mashup is accessed in a normal Web browser environment, its functionality is available at any location where the company’s mashup server can be reached via a secure Internet connection.   

Broad range of possible uses in companies   

What are some of the possible uses for business mashups? In sales, for example, the mashup can be used to combine internal and external customer information from the CRM system, the stock market, or general news services, to represent the course of a sales activity, or to coordinate an offer process. In purchasing, the mashup compiles information about suppliers from various sources, monitors the status of a purchasing process, checks on delivery dates. Generally speaking, a mashup can be used anywhere a number of people work together in an activity, whether in parallel or in sequence, e.g., during auditing or approval processes, document the status, and track the operation. Project teams can use mashups to assign tasks, communicate the project status, and respond quickly to new requirements or crises. Fraud management also requires functionalities to combine external and internal data, e.g., in a dashboard. The ­mashup automatically launches activities when threshold values are ­exceeded or rules are violated. And the search for external data during research work can be automated to link the results to internal ­material. Furthermore, measurement series and processes for material procurement can be managed with the aid of the ­mashups and the status of the research can be communicated.