Studying the OSI model has helped me envision the services I want to provide to streamline a change management system we use — away from e-mailed spreadsheet coordination and towards a Web-enabled change management application. I foresee being able to do this once an appropriate XML-based presentation layer language has been designed to track the change process along the steps necessary instead of requiring the procedural e-mail steps seen in the latter half of the image to the left (our current process).

Everyone associated with the change management process will login to a change tracking application that will intelligently present the markup language contents in a useful manner — similar to the spreadsheet view we are accustomed to sharing via e-mail, but with the exception of providing a smarter user interface that will highlight the steps in change tracking as they are undertaken.

Change tracking documents will open and close within the new Web-aware application and will be managed via a password-protected session management process where one person will be able to have access to a document at a time. Data associated with change tasks will also be managed via the change management process.

Because every byte of content used in change management is necessary for application use, standard Web browser facilities for TCP transmission, IP networking, and browser integration with client operating systems can be used in the lower layers without having to build anything new for streamlining purposes.