Abstract: A system for exchanging documents related to the life cycle of an order in electronic form over one or more data communications networks, particularly the Internet, comprising a proprietary information system for generating and managing orders and further comprising elements for defining a workflow and rules in any electronic format, elements for converting the order, the workflow and the rules into a message in a predefined standard electronic format that can be interpreted by one or more standard applications, particularly e-mail clients, and elements for sending the message from a first station to at least one other station by means of standard communications protocols, the stations being reached by data communications networks.