An Evaluation of Inter-Organizational Workflow Modelling Formalisms

This paper evaluates the dynamic aspects of the UML in the context of inter-organizational workflows. Two evaluation methodologies are used. The first one is ontological and is based on the BWW (Bunge-Wand-Weber) models. The second validation is based on prototyping and consists in the development of a workflow management system in the aerospace industry. Both convergent and divergent results are found from the two validations. Possible enhancements to the UML formalism are suggested from the convergent results. On the other hand, the divergent results suggest the need for a contextual specification in the BWW models. Ce travail consiste en une évaluation des aspects dynamiques du language UML dans un contexte de workflow inter-organisationnel. Le choix du language par rapport à d'autres est motivé par sa richesse grammaticale lui offrant une très bonne adaptation à ce contexte. L'évaluation se fait par une validation ontologique basée sur les modèles BWW (Bunge-Wand-Weber) et par la réalisation d'un prototype de système de gestion de workflows inter-organisationnels. À partir des résultats convergents obtenus des deux différentes analyses, des améliorations au formalisme UML sont suggérées. D'un autre coté, les analyses divergentes suggèrent une possibilité de spécifier les modèles BWW à des contextes plus particuliers tels que ceux des workflows et permettent également de suggérer d'autres améliorations possibles au langage.Ontology, Conceptual study, Prototype Validation, UML, IS development methods and tools., Ontologie, étude conceptuelle, validation du prototype, UML, méthodes et outils de développement IS

Semantic discovery and reuse of business process patterns

Patterns currently play an important role in modern information systems (IS) development and their use has mainly been restricted to the design and implementation phases of the development lifecycle. Given the increasing significance of business modelling in IS development, patterns have the potential of providing a viable solution for promoting reusability of recurrent generalized models in the very early stages of development. As a statement of research-in-progress this paper focuses on business process patterns and proposes an initial methodological framework for the discovery and reuse of business process patterns within the IS development lifecycle. The framework borrows ideas from the domain engineering literature and proposes the use of semantics to drive both the discovery of patterns as well as their reuse

Engineering framework for service-oriented automation systems

Tese de doutoramento. Engenharia Informática. Universidade do Porto. Faculdade de Engenharia. 201

IT supported business process negotiation, reconciliation and execution for cross-organisational e-business collaboration

In modern enterprises, workflow technology is commonly used for business process automation. Established business processes represent successful business practice and become a crucial part of corporate assets. In the Internet era, electronic business is chosen by more and more organisations as a preferred way of conducting business practice. In response to the increasing demands for cross-organisational business automation, especially those raised by the B2B electronic commerce community, the concept of collaboration between automated business processes, i.e. workflow collaboration, is emerging. Otherwise, automation would be confined within individual organisations and cross-organisational collaboration would still have to be carried out manually. However, much of the previous research work overlooks the acquisition of the compatible workflows at build time and simply assumes that compatibility is achieved through face-toface negotiation followed by a design from scratch approach that creates collaborative workflows based on the agreement resulted from the negotiation. The resource-intensive and error-prone approach can hardly keep up with the pace of today’s marketplace with increasing transaction volume and complexity. This thesis identifies the requirements for cross-organisational workflow collaboration (COWCO) through an integrated approach, proposes a comprehensive supporting framework, explains the key enabling techniques of the framework, and implements and evaluates them in the form of a prototype system – COWCO-Guru. With the support of such a framework, cross-organisational workflow collaboration can be managed and conducted with reduced human effort, which will further facilitate cross-organisational e-business, especially B2B e-commerce practices

The Strategic Use of Blockchain and Information Technology in Financial Inclusion and Sectors

Information Technology, and more specifically Blockchain, has taken over many industries, changing their fundamentals in order to increase productivity and efficiency. The world is now moving into the Fourth Industrial Revolution, which merges the tangible and intangible world in ways previously not known to man, such as biotechnology and other disruptive technologies. Changes happening nowadays have affected the requirements for labor and their productivity, profitability of data in general, and the strategic use of Blockchain and Information Technology (IT); meanwhile, there are fears that occur from simple changes. This paper aims to understand the literature revolving the strategic use of Blockchain and IT in the realm of economics - more specifically financial inclusion and institutions, with the possible extensions it poses. It has also examined Egypt\u27s situation in terms of financial inclusion and institutions within the jurisdiction of mobile phone penetration and usage of internet. All this then boils down into a brief policy recommendati

Is blockchain able to enhance environmental sustainability? A systematic review and research agenda from the perspective of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

Blockchain is a disruptive technology that is revolutionizing information technology and represents a change of cultural paradigm for the way in which information is shared. Companies are rushing to understand how they can use blockchain distributed ledger technology to innovate processes, products and transactions. In a globalized world where environmental sustainability is a critical success factor, what is the role of the blockchain? By using a systematic review approach and the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) protocol, this study attempts to identify whether and how blockchain technology is considered able to affect environmental sustainability. Findings from 195 studies from 2015 to 2020 were analysed after the search protocol was applied. The results indicate that blockchain technology could contribute to environmentally sustainable development goals (SDGs) from different points of view, such as supporting the realization of a sustainable supply chain, improving energy efficiency and promoting the creation of secure and reliable smart cities. Furthermore, the investigation highlights the sectors where to focus research investments, providing a way to reward sustainable behaviour and increasing environmental sustainability. On the other hand, blockchain has no negligible negative effects on the environment that need to be considered before adoption

CD/CV: Blockchain-based schemes for continuous verifiability and traceability of IoT data for edge-fog-cloud

This paper presents a continuous delivery/continuous verifiability (CD/CV) method for IoT dataflows in edge¿fog¿cloud. A CD model based on extraction, transformation, and load (ETL) mechanism as well as a directed acyclic graph (DAG) construction, enable end-users to create efficient schemes for the continuous verification and validation of the execution of applications in edge¿fog¿cloud infrastructures. This scheme also verifies and validates established execution sequences and the integrity of digital assets. CV model converts ETL and DAG into business model, smart contracts in a private blockchain for the automatic and transparent registration of transactions performed by each application in workflows/pipelines created by CD model without altering applications nor edge¿fog¿cloud workflows. This model ensures that IoT dataflows delivers verifiable information for organizations to conduct critical decision-making processes with certainty. A containerized parallelism model solves portability issues and reduces/compensates the overhead produced by CD/CV operations. We developed and implemented a prototype to create CD/CV schemes, which were evaluated in a case study where user mobility information is used to identify interest points, patterns, and maps. The experimental evaluation revealed the efficiency of CD/CV to register the transactions performed in IoT dataflows through edge¿fog¿cloud in a private blockchain network in comparison with state-of-art solutions.This work has been partially supported by the project “CABAHLA-CM: Convergencia Big data-Hpc: de los sensores a las Aplicaciones” S2018/TCS-4423 from Madrid Regional Government, Spain and by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation Project “New Data Intensive Computing Methods for High-End and Edge Computing Platforms (DECIDE)”. Ref. PID2019-107858GB-I00; and by the project 41756 “Plataforma tecnológica para la gestión, aseguramiento, intercambio preservación de grandes volúmenes de datos en salud construcción de un repositorio nacional de servicios de análisis de datos de salud” by the PRONACES-CONACYT, Mexic