隨著網際網路這個虛擬環境，不僅提供了使用者所需的商品或服務，也對企業經營管理提供了知識蒐集、整合等有效的方法與途徑，在這整個虛擬的仲介環境中，所涉及的將是設計、製造、行銷以及消費者所回饋的資訊，因此要將一個產品從設計、製造、行銷以及消費者所回饋的資訊；分屬不同階段的資訊整合起來，並提供分享，誠屬不易。但從產品開發的生命週期角度來看，這些階段的工作都牽動著企業的成本、品質及管理；甚至是公司未來企業經營成敗的關鍵，因此若能透過一些管理作業的資訊化，進而將這些資訊妥善的整合在一起，提供企業運用，是本研究值得探討的議題。
有鑑於此，本研究將藉由XML 的特性建構一工業設計網路仲介產品知識分享環境，以XML 資料作為交易媒合流程知識文件交換與儲存格式的基礎，將系統平台內使用者對產品的設計、製造、行銷等不同知識領域所包含的概念種類及關聯特性整合進仲介交易的程序過程中。透過XML 技術作為仲介交易程序過程的基礎，不僅交易後的知識能結構化的被保留下來，也便於傳遞在各使用者之異質系統間，讓文件中的資料得以一致的被運用。而文件資料標籤與文字內容的定義明確也讓各使用者在搜尋知識時能更為正確便利與快速。

With the rise of the Internet as a virtual environment, it not only furnishes the user with the needed product and service but provides the business manager with an effective method and channel by which knowledge can be collected and integrated. In the intermediary environment which is totally virtual, the information concerned covers the design, production, marketing, and user feedback of a particular product. As a result, it is rather difficult to integrate all the above-mentioned information associated with different stages of the product and then share it with
others interested. However, when considered from the angle of the life cycle of a product, all of the various tasks have a great effect on the cost, quality, and management of a business and will even become the key to its successful operation. In such a case, this research is directed at how the business management information can be digitized as well as integrated properly, and then be utilized by other businesses.
In view of the above, this research takes advantage of the features of the Extensible Markup Language (XML), constructing an Internet-mediated, knowledge-sharing environment where product information management (PIM) is fully implemented. Therein XML files serve as the basic exchange and storage format of knowledge texts in the transaction-matching process. Under this configuration, all sorts of product information stored by the user in the system platform which contains various concepts and related features involving such different fields as the design, production, and marketing of a product, are integrated into the programmed process of an
intermediary transaction. With XML technology adopted as the foundation of the programmed intermediary transaction, the transaction knowledge will not only be stored structurally but be transmitted conveniently among the heterogeneous systems of the users, and the file data can be used uniformly. Besides, the specific text file markers and text definitions in the XML make it possible for the users to search the information more accurately, efficiently, and quickly.