• Metatude Dialogue Server
• Metatude Channel Integration Components
• Metatude Dialogue Designer
• Metatude Project Manager

The Metatude architecture

1. Metatude Dialogue Server, Java application, stores and serves dialogues
2. Directories and databases with stakeholder information. The Metatude Dialogue Server can connect to these using SQL or LDAP
3. Database to store results. This can be an Oracle, Microsoft (Access/SQL), IBM DB2 or Postgres database
4. SMTP server to send out e-mail invitations to stakenholders
5. Email client and web browser of the stakeholder
6. Metatude Channel Integration Component (MCIC) installed on an Microsoft IIS or Apache/Tomcat webserver
7. Metatude Dialogue Designer
8. Metatude Project Manager

The Metatude Dialogue Server (1) is the central application. All logic resides on the server and the server performs nearly all the operations. The server hosts and serves dialogues and maintains connections with other elements of the Metatude infrastructure.

First of all the server connects to one or multiple databases/directories (2) with stakeholder information. Here information on stakeholders is stored, like name, department and email address. With this information dynamic target groups can be defined and stakeholders can be contacted via email. The server can connect to directories in two ways. It can use the Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) or it can access a relational database using SQL.

The Metatude Dialogue Server needs a database (3) to store information on projects and to store results. This can be an Oracle, Microsoft (Access/SQL) or Postgres database. During installation of the server you state which type of database you want to use and where this database is located. The database can run on a different server. In this case the Dialogue Server connects via TCP/IP to this database.

The Metatude Dialogue Server uses an external SMTP-server (4) to send out personalized emails to the persons in the target group.

Persons selected in the sample receive an email containing a unique URL. When they hit this URL in their email client (5), their browsers contact the web server and a dialogue is launched.

A Metatude Channel Integration Component (MCIC) (6) is installed on the web server. This MCIC communicates between the web server and the Metatude Dialogue server, converting dialogues and results from XML to HTML using a style sheet and vice versa. The MCIC?s are available for the Apache and Tomcat web server as a servlet and for the Microsoft Internet Information Server (IIS) as a C++ application.

The MCIC retrieves the XML dialogue from the Metatude Dialogue Server, translates it into HTML and sends it to the browser of the respondent. The respondent can now fill out the questionnaire. After completion he can submit the questionnaire, after which the results are received by the web server. The MCIC translates the results to an XML message that is passed on to the server. The server stores the results in the database together with the attributes of the respondent.

The XML messages are sent using the Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP). This way messages are much more likely to get trough firewall servers since it uses the HTTP protocol and HTTP requests are usually allowed through firewalls.

The client side

On the client side users work with two win32 applications. With the Metatude Dialogue Designer (7) they can design questionnaires. This is an intuitive application that allows managers and researchers to design questionnaires themselves. All the dialogue information is stored in a special designed XML format (Document Type Definition).

The Metatude Project Manager (8) is a win32 client for the Metatude Dialogue Server. Anywhere where users have an internet connection they can log on to the Dialogue Server to manage projects and retrieve results. The communication between clients and server is authenticated with encrypted passwords. With the Project Manager you can:
- Upload XML-dialogues
- Manage users
- Connect directories and databases
- Define target groups
- Manage projects
- Retrieve results
The communication between the Project Manager and the server is also based on the XML/SOAP standard to enable it to work within nearly every environment, even behind firewall and proxy servers.

(Patent granted october 2002, Dutch Patent Office nr 1017865)