Business Process Decomposition and Distribution for Adaptive Internet of Things

Asjade internet (IoT) pakub suurt potentsiaali mitmetes erinevates valdkondades. Selleks, et seda potentsiaali realiseerida, on vaja veel palju takistusi ületada. Üheks takistusteks on see, kuidas integreerida IoT süsteemid äriportsesside juhtimiseks mõeldud standarditega. Käesoleva magistritöö esimene osa annab ülevaate erinevate äriprotsesside standardite sobivusest IoT platvormiga. Teises osas võetakse luubi alla esimeses osas sobivaimaks tunnistatud äriprotsesside juhtimise modelleerimisstandard ja keskendutakse IoT platvormi probleemidele, mis on seotud koduautomaatikaga. Esimene väljakutse on selles, et kuna turule tuleb üha uusi IoT andureid ja seadmeid, mis võimaldavad suuremaid ja keerukamaid lahendusi nagu näiteks näotuvastusel toimiv tark ukselukk, siis need seadmed nõuavad ka suuremat arvutusvõimsust. Kodused kontrollerid on aga sageli piiratud ressursiga seadmed ning on seetõttu pudelikaelaks sellistes targa kodu süsteemides. Teine väljakutse on see, et erinevad tootjad tulevad turule endakoduautomaatika süsteemidega, mis omavahel suhelda ei suuda. Seega läheb vaja mitut rakendust, et tarka kodu juhtida. Nende probleemide lahendamiseks esitan kontseptuaalse IoT terviksüsteemi, mis võimaldab protsessid lõhkuda osadeks ja need osad käivitada teistes süsteemides, et vähendada koduse kontrolleri jõudlusvajadust. IoT seadmed selles terviksüsteemis on ühendatud kasutades platvormi, mis võimaldab erinevad koduautomaatika süsteemid üheks luua. Magistritöö raames valmis laiendus Camunda töövoo juhtimise platvormile, mis realiseerib esitatud terviksüsteemi. Esitan selle laienduse nõuded ja piirangud ning ilmestan neid kasutades targa kodu protsesse.The Internet of Things (IoT) offers a great potential in many different application areas such as health care and home automation. However, in order to realize this potential, significant hurdles still have to be overcome. One of the hurdles is how to integrate IoT systems into business processes in the context of using standards such as BPMN2.0. In this thesis I present the results of a state of the art synthesis of Business Process Driven Internet of Things approaches. Based on the results, a business process modelling standard was chosen and used to overcome challenges which are related with IoT and home automation. The first challenge is the adaptiveness of the current IoT systems. For example, while new and more capable sensors enable complex applications such as smart door locks with face recognition that require significant computing resources, home controllers are often resource-constrained devices and therefore considered as a bottleneck for these complex systems. The second challenge is the interoperability of the current home automation systems because systems provided by different vendors cannot be controlled by the same application. To address these issues, this thesis proposes a software framework that enhances the adaptiveness and performance of IoT solutions. This is achieved through a novel approach where the process model is decomposed and the decomposed subparts are offloaded to an external entity. A prototype of this framework has been implemented using Camunda workflow engine. The framework supports IoT by integrating with the OpenHAB smart home system. The performance and scalability of the system is evaluated through a series of experimental case studies. Results showed that offloading can help in case of compute intensive tasks, a face recognition task performed three times faster for example

A Model-Driven Approach for the Design, Implementation, and Execution of Software Development Methods

[EN] Software development projects are diverse in nature. For this reason, software companies are often forced to define their methods in-house. In order to define methods efficiently and effectively, software companies require systematic solutions that are built upon sound methodical foundations. Providing these solutions is the main goal of the Method Engineering discipline. Method Engineering is the discipline to design, construct, and adapt methods, techniques, and tools for the development of information systems. Over the last two decades, a lot of research work has been performed in this area. However, despite its potential benefits, Method Engineering is not widely used in industrial settings. Some of the causes of this reality are the high theoretical complexity of Method Engineering and the lack of adequate software support. In this thesis, we aim to mitigate some of the problems that affect Method Engineering by providing a novel methodological approach that is built upon Model-Driven Engineering (MDE) foundations. The use of MDE enables a rise in abstraction, automation, and reuse that allows us to alleviate the complexity of our Method Engineering approach. Furthermore, by leveraging MDE techniques (such as metamodeling, model transformations, and models at runtime), our approach supports three phases of the Method Engineering lifecycle: design, implementation, and execution. This is unlike traditional Method Engineering approaches, which, in general, only support one of these phases. In order to provide software support for our proposal, we developed a Computer-Aided Method Engineering (CAME) environment that is called MOSKitt4ME. To ensure that MOSKitt4ME offered the necessary functionality, we identified a set of functional requirements prior to developing the tool. Then, after these requirements were identified, we defined the architecture of our CAME environment, and, finally, we implemented the architecture in the context of Eclipse. The thesis work was evaluated by means of a study that involved the participation of end users. In this study, MOSKitt4ME was assessed by means of the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) and the Think Aloud method. While the TAM allowed us to measure usefulness and ease of use in a subjective manner, the Think Aloud method allowed us to analyze these measures objectively. Overall, the results were favorable. MOSKitt4ME was highly rated in perceived usefulness and ease of use; we also obtained positive results with respect to the users' actual performance and the difficulty experienced.[ES] Los proyectos de desarrollo de software son diversos por naturaleza. Por este motivo, las compañías de software se ven forzadas frecuentemente a definir sus métodos de manera interna. Para poder definir métodos de forma efectiva y eficiente, las compañías necesitan soluciones sistemáticas que estén definidas sobre unos fundamentos metodológicos sólidos. Proporcionar estas soluciones es el principal objetivo de la Ingeniería de Métodos. La Ingeniería de Métodos es la disciplina que aborda el diseño, la construcción y la adaptación de métodos, técnicas y herramientas para el desarrollo de sistemas de información. Durante las dos últimas décadas, se ha llevado a cabo mucho trabajo de investigación en esta área. Sin embargo, pese a sus potenciales beneficios, la Ingeniería de Métodos no se aplica ampliamente en contextos industriales. Algunas de las principales causas de esta situación son la alta complejidad teórica de la Ingeniería de Métodos y la falta de un apropiado soporte software. En esta tesis, pretendemos mitigar algunos de los problemas que afectan a la Ingeniería de Métodos proporcionando una propuesta metodológica innovadora que está basada en la Ingeniería Dirigida por Modelos (MDE). El uso de MDE permite elevar el nivel de abstracción, automatización y reuso, lo que posibilita una reducción de la complejidad de nuestra propuesta. Además, aprovechando técnicas de MDE (como por ejemplo el metamodelado, las transformaciones de modelos y los modelos en tiempo de ejecución), nuestra aproximación da soporte a tres fases del ciclo de vida de la Ingeniería de Métodos: diseño, implementación y ejecución. Esto es a diferencia de las propuestas existentes, las cuales, por lo general, sólo dan soporte a una de estas fases. Con el objetivo de proporcionar soporte software para nuestra propuesta, implementamos una herramienta CAME (Computer-Aided Method Engineering) llamada MOSKitt4ME. Para garantizar que MOSKitt4ME proporcionaba la funcionalidad necesaria, definimos un conjunto de requisitos funcionales como paso previo al desarrollo de la herramienta. Tras la definción de estos requisitos, definimos la arquitectura de la herramienta CAME y, finalmente, implementamos la arquitectura en el contexto de Eclipse. El trabajo desarrollado en esta tesis se evaluó por medio de un estudio donde participaron usuarios finales. En este estudio, MOSKitt4ME se evaluó por medio del Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) y del método Think Aloud. Mientras que el TAM permitió medir utilidad y facilidad de uso de forma subjetiva, el método Think Aloud permitió analizar estas medidas objetivamente. En general, los resultados obtenidos fueron favorables. MOSKitt4ME fue valorado de forma positiva en cuanto a utilidad y facilidad de uso percibida; además, obtuvimos resultados positivos en cuanto al rendimiento objetivo de los usuarios y la dificultad experimentada.[CA] Els projectes de desenvolupament de programari són diversos per naturalesa. Per aquest motiu, les companyies es veuen forçades freqüenment a definir els seus mètodes de manera interna. Per poder definir mètodes de forma efectiva i eficient, les companyies necessiten solucions sistemàtiques que estiguin definides sobre uns fundaments metodològics sòlids. Proporcionar aquestes solucions és el principal objectiu de l'Enginyeria de Mètodes. L'Enginyeria de Mètodes és la disciplina que aborda el diseny, la construcció i l'adaptació de mètodes, tècniques i eines per al desenvolupament de sistemes d'informació. Durant les dues últimes dècades, s'ha dut a terme molt de treball de recerca en aquesta àrea. No obstant, malgrat els seus potencials beneficis, l'Enginyeria de Mètodes no s'aplica àmpliament en contextes industrials. Algunes de les principals causes d'aquesta situació són l'alta complexitat teòrica de l'Enginyeria de Mètodes i la falta d'un apropiat suport de programari. En aquesta tesi, pretenem mitigar alguns dels problemes que afecten a l'Enginyeria de Mètodes proporcionant una proposta metodològica innovadora que està basada en l'Enginyeria Dirigida per Models (MDE). L'ús de MDE ens permet elevar el nivell d'abstracció, automatització i reutilització, possibilitant una reducció de la complexitat de la nostra proposta. A més a més, aprofitant tècniques de MDE (com per exemple el metamodelat, les transformacions de models i els models en temps d'execució), la nostra aproximació suporta tres fases del cicle de vida de l'Enginyeria de Mètodes: diseny, implementació i execució. Açò és a diferència de les propostes existents, les quals, en general, només suporten una d'aquestes fases. Amb l'objectiu de proporcionar suport de programari per a la nostra proposta, implementàrem una eina CAME (Computer-Aided Method Engineering) anomenada MOSKitt4ME. Per garantir que MOSKitt4ME oferia la funcionalitat necessària, definírem un conjunt de requisits funcionals com a pas previ al desenvolupament de l'eina. Després de la definició d'aquests requisits, definírem la arquitectura de l'eina CAME i, finalment, implementàrem l'arquitectura en el contexte d'Eclipse. El treball desenvolupat en aquesta tesi es va avaluar per mitjà d'un estudi on van participar usuaris finals. En aquest estudi, MOSKitt4ME es va avaluar per mitjà del Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) i el mètode Think Aloud. Mentre que el TAM va permetre mesurar utilitat i facilitat d'ús de manera subjectiva, el mètode Think Aloud va permetre analitzar aquestes mesures objectivament. En general, els resultats obtinguts van ser favorables. MOSKitt4ME va ser valorat de forma positiva pel que fa a utilitat i facilitat d'ús percebuda; a més a més, vam obtenir resultats positius pel que fa al rendiment objectiu dels usuaris i a la dificultat experimentada.Cervera Úbeda, M. (2015). A Model-Driven Approach for the Design, Implementation, and Execution of Software Development Methods [Tesis doctoral no publicada]. Universitat Politècnica de València. https://doi.org/10.4995/Thesis/10251/53931TESI

Aspect-Oriented Business Process Modeling Approaches: An assessment of AOP4ST

Aspect-oriented business process modeling (AOBPM) is an emerging discipline which has recently attracted the attention of researchers and professionals. In 2014, Amin Jalali reviewed the state of the art of AOBPM and proposed a framework to assess the available approaches. We have developed AOP4ST, an aspect-oriented process for the software development life cycle, which includes the business process modeling as its first phase, and which follows the Jalali’s recommendations. In this paper, we present the assessment of the AOP4ST’s business modeling capability by comparing it with all of the original proposals assessed by Jalali’s framework. Finally, we present ongoing work for the improvement of our approach on its AOBPM capabilities and its ability to detect and separate concerns at early stages of the development.Sociedad Argentina de Informática e Investigación Operativ

Aspect-Oriented Business Process Modeling Approaches: An assessment of AOP4ST

Aspect-oriented business process modeling (AOBPM) is an emerging discipline which has recently attracted the attention of researchers and professionals. In 2014, Amin Jalali reviewed the state of the art of AOBPM and proposed a framework to assess the available approaches. We have developed AOP4ST, an aspect-oriented process for the software development life cycle, which includes the business process modeling as its first phase, and which follows the Jalali’s recommendations. In this paper, we present the assessment of the AOP4ST’s business modeling capability by comparing it with all of the original proposals assessed by Jalali’s framework. Finally, we present ongoing work for the improvement of our approach on its AOBPM capabilities and its ability to detect and separate concerns at early stages of the development.Sociedad Argentina de Informática e Investigación Operativ

Modelado de negocios orientado a aspectos con AOP4ST

A lo largo de la historia de la informática hemos visto, y vemos sucederse, nuevas propuestas tecnológicas, cambios de paradigmas, etc. Y, al mismo tiempo, también hemos sido testigos tanto del éxito de muchas de ellas como también de las que pasaron al olvido. Un ejemplo de esto han sido las bases de datos orientadas a objetos, las que más allá de la enorme popularidad del paradigma y de lo promisorios que sonaban los beneficios que ofrecían, no tuvieron la presencia en la industria que era de esperarse. El paradigma de la orientación a aspectos también se encuentra en una fase en la que sus promesas son mayores que sus realidades. Por esta razón es que en algún momento nos planteamos el desafío de encontrar una manera de que sus beneficios pudieran verse materializados más rápidamente en la industria. Así es que diseñamos AOP4ST, acrónimo de Aspect- Oriented Process for a Smooth Transition, que es un proceso marco de desarrollo de software orientado a aspectos que ofrece la posibilidad de aprovechar los beneficios de la orientación a aspectos en las diferentes fases del ciclo de visa del desarrollo de software mediante la aplicación real y completa del paradigma, pero a través de herramientas y técnicas hoy ampliamente difundidas y aceptadas en la industria. En un primer proyecto de investigación impulsamos AOP4ST, y en este nuevo proyecto nos dedicamos a profundizar el primero de los modelos que lo componen, el modelo de negocio. En la fase de modelado de negocio todavía no existe una cantidad de propuestas lo suficientemente numerosas y con gran consenso. Así, el objetivo de nuestro proyecto consiste en establecer un conjunto de reglas que permitan el empleo del paradigma orientado a aspectos en la fase de modelado de negocio, mediante el empleo de BPMN y de herramientas disponibles en el mercado, en forma totalmente estándar, realizando un aporte real a la disciplina de modelado de procesos de negocio.Eje: Ingeniería de Software.Red de Universidades con Carreras en Informática (RedUNCI

Aspect-Oriented Business Process Modeling Approaches: An assessment of AOP4ST

Aspect-oriented business process modeling (AOBPM) is an emerging discipline which has recently attracted the attention of researchers and professionals. In 2014, Amin Jalali reviewed the state of the art of AOBPM and proposed a framework to assess the available approaches. We have developed AOP4ST, an aspect-oriented process for the software development life cycle, which includes the business process modeling as its first phase, and which follows the Jalali’s recommendations. In this paper, we present the assessment of the AOP4ST’s business modeling capability by comparing it with all of the original proposals assessed by Jalali’s framework. Finally, we present ongoing work for the improvement of our approach on its AOBPM capabilities and its ability to detect and separate concerns at early stages of the development.Sociedad Argentina de Informática e Investigación Operativ

A novel workflow management system for handling dynamic process adaptation and compliance

Modern enterprise organisations rely on dynamic processes. Generally these processes cannot be modelled once and executed repeatedly without change. Enterprise processes may evolve unpredictably according to situations that cannot always be prescribed. However, no mechanism exists to ensure an updated process does not violate any compliance requirements. Typical workflow processes may follow a process definition and execute several thousand instances using a workflow engine without any changes. This is suitable for routine business processes. However, when business processes need flexibility, adaptive features are needed. Updating processes may violate compliance requirements so automatic verification of compliance checking is necessary. The research work presented in this Thesis investigates the problem of current workflow technology in defining, managing and ensuring the specification and execution of business processes that are dynamic in nature, combined with policy standards throughout the process lifycle. The findings from the literature review and the system requirements are used to design the proposed system architecture. Since a two-tier reference process model is not sufficient as a basis for the reference model for an adaptive and compliance workflow management system, a three-tier process model is proposed. The major components of the architecture consist of process models, business rules and plugin modules. This architecture exhibits the concept of user adaptation with structural checks and dynamic adaptation with data-driven checks. A research prototype - Adaptive and Compliance Workflow Management System (ACWfMS) - was developed based on the proposed system architecture to implement core services of the system for testing and evaluation purposes. The ACWfMS enables the development of a workflow management tool to create or update the process models. It automatically validates compliance requirements and, in the case of violations, visual feedback is presented to the user. In addition, the architecture facilitates process migration to manage specific instances with modified definitions. A case study based on the postgraduate research process domain is discussed

Mobiilse värkvõrgu protsessihaldus

Värkvõrk, ehk Asjade Internet (Internet of Things, lüh IoT) edendab lahendusi nagu nn tark linn, kus meid igapäevaselt ümbritsevad objektid on ühendatud infosüsteemidega ja ka üksteisega. Selliseks näiteks võib olla teekatete seisukorra monitoorimissüsteem. Võrku ühendatud sõidukitelt (nt bussidelt) kogutakse videomaterjali, mida seejärel töödeldakse, et tuvastada löökauke või lume kogunemist. Tavaliselt hõlmab selline lahendus keeruka tsentraalse süsteemi ehitamist. Otsuste langetamiseks (nt milliseid sõidukeid parasjagu protsessi kaasata) vajab keskne süsteem pidevat ühendust kõigi IoT seadmetega. Seadmete hulga kasvades võib keskne lahendus aga muutuda pudelikaelaks. Selliste protsesside disaini, haldust, automatiseerimist ja seiret hõlbustavad märkimisväärselt äriprotsesside halduse (Business Process Management, lüh BPM) valdkonna standardid ja tööriistad. Paraku ei ole BPM tehnoloogiad koheselt kasutatavad uute paradigmadega nagu Udu- ja Servaarvutus, mis tuleviku värkvõrgu jaoks vajalikud on. Nende puhul liigub suur osa otsustustest ja arvutustest üksikutest andmekeskustest servavõrgu seadmetele, mis asuvad lõppkasutajatele ja IoT seadmetele lähemal. Videotöötlust võiks teostada mini-andmekeskustes, mis on paigaldatud üle linna, näiteks bussipeatustesse. Arvestades IoT seadmete üha suurenevat hulka, vähendab selline koormuse jaotamine vähendab riski, et tsentraalne andmekeskust ülekoormamist. Doktoritöö uurib, kuidas mobiilsusega seonduvaid IoT protsesse taoliselt ümber korraldada, kohanedes pidevalt muutlikule, liikuvate seadmetega täidetud servavõrgule. Nimelt on ühendused katkendlikud, mistõttu otsuste langetus ja planeerimine peavad arvestama muuhulgas mobiilseadmete liikumistrajektoore. Töö raames valminud prototüüpe testiti Android seadmetel ja simulatsioonides. Lisaks valmis tööriistakomplekt STEP-ONE, mis võimaldab teadlastel hõlpsalt simuleerida ja analüüsida taolisi probleeme erinevais realistlikes stsenaariumites nagu seda on tark linn.The Internet of Things (IoT) promotes solutions such as a smart city, where everyday objects connect with info systems and each other. One example is a road condition monitoring system, where connected vehicles, such as buses, capture video, which is then processed to detect potholes and snow build-up. Building such a solution typically involves establishing a complex centralised system. The centralised approach may become a bottleneck as the number of IoT devices keeps growing. It relies on constant connectivity to all involved devices to make decisions, such as which vehicles to involve in the process. Designing, automating, managing, and monitoring such processes can greatly be supported using the standards and software systems provided by the field of Business Process Management (BPM). However, BPM techniques are not directly applicable to new computing paradigms, such as Fog Computing and Edge Computing, on which the future of IoT relies. Here, a lot of decision-making and processing is moved from central data-centers to devices in the network edge, near the end-users and IoT sensors. For example, video could be processed in mini-datacenters deployed throughout the city, e.g., at bus stops. This load distribution reduces the risk of the ever-growing number of IoT devices overloading the data center. This thesis studies how to reorganise the process execution in this decentralised fashion, where processes must dynamically adapt to the volatile edge environment filled with moving devices. Namely, connectivity is intermittent, so decision-making and planning need to involve factors such as the movement trajectories of mobile devices. We examined this issue in simulations and with a prototype for Android smartphones. We also showcase the STEP-ONE toolset, allowing researchers to conveniently simulate and analyse these issues in different realistic scenarios, such as those in a smart city.  https://www.ester.ee/record=b552551