Business Level Service-Oriented Enterprise Application Integration

In this paper we propose a new approach for service-oriented enterprise application integration (EAI). Unlike current EAI solutions, which mainly focus on technological aspects, our approach allows business domain experts to get more involved in the integration process. First, we provide a technique for modeling application services at a sufficiently high level of abstraction for business experts to work with. Next, these business experts can model the orchestration as well as the information mappings that are required to achieve their integration goals. Our mediation framework then takes over and realizes the integration solution by transforming these models to existing service orchestration technology

EDOC: meeting the challenges of enterprise computing

An increasing demand for interoperable applications exists, sparking the real-time exchange of data across borders, applications, and IT platforms. To perform these tasks, enterprise computing now encompasses a new class of groundbreaking technologies such as Web services and service-oriented architecture (SOA); business process integration and management; and middleware support, like that for utility, grid, peer-to-peer, and autonomic computing. Enterprise computing also influences the processes for business modeling, consulting, and service delivery; it affects the design, development, and deployment of software architecture, as well as the monitoring and management of such architecture. As enterprises demand increasing levels of networked information and services to carry out business processes, IT professionals need conferences like EDOC to discuss emerging technologies and issues in enterprise computing. For these reasons, what started out as the Enterprise Distributed Object Computing (EDOC) conference has come to encompass much more than just distributed objects. So this event now used the name International EDOC Enterprise Computing Conference, to recognize this broader scope yet also retain the initial conference's name recognition

CSMA

Since the beginning of the Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) paradigm, with its various implementation technologies such as Web services, the focus of industrial communities has been on providing tools that would allow seamless and flexible application integration within and across enterprises\u27 boundaries. In this paper, the authors present a Context-based, Service-oriented Modeling and Analysis (CSMA) method that guides service engineers in their choices of identifying, defining, and analyzing adaptable business services. The proposed method is business centric and comprises a set of structured steps grouped in two phases. Besides, the CSMA embraces Model-Driven Architecture (MDA) principles to model and refine adaptable business services models in the PIM level. The results from a pilot validation of CSMA for SOA enablement of a realistic enterprise training solutions are also presented

Vision of Multilevel Modelling of Processes in Enterprise Architectures Affected by Big Data Collection and Analysis

Business process modeling has a long history of development. Encapsulated in a broader notion of BPM (business process management) it was researched together with the analysis, design, implementation, optimization and monitoring of business processes (Sanz, 2014). In this work we analyze how to cope with different semantic backgrounds in a multi-organizational setting when the integration scope of the company grows. This research paves the way towards ad-hoc business process altering in the concept of SoEA and results in updating the business model selecting business services from the virtual SOA and represents the basis for quickly adjustable “real-time” service-oriented enterprise architectures

Ontological Map of Service Oriented Architecture Based on Zachman

Service orientation is an approach in the field of enterprise architecture, business information systems and software application that its main element is the service. Shared services is an organization model of sharing, across an organization. It enables collaboration among the functions/departments. Main motivations for shared services are sharing, promote efficiency, reduce cost, and support scalability. Despite of the widespread use of these two approaches in information technology, there is no tool to optimize the management of them. The aim of this study is Ontological map of service oriented architecture based on zachman framework to adapt it in the reference enterprise architecture framework through implementation ontology views on system architect software and as well as equivalent ontology component with UML diagrams. After the implementation of the suggested model, the results showed that ontology is a formal description and explicit display of objects, concepts and other entities in the relationship between them. In other words, there is a model that describe all that is in fact in to understandable language for the system. Thus the proposed establishes have association between all aspects of zachman framework, also to create a clear description of business concepts in the management of shared services and is effective to provide a unified platform for enterprise modeling

Comparison of Supply Chain Process Models based on Service-oriented Architecture

With the passage of time, supply chain processes have shifted toward IT-based business processes regarding service-oriented architecture (SOA) to augment the agility, integration, and flexibility of IT-based applications in enterprise networks. SOA, as a fast-growing paradigm in IT, uses Web service technologies and provides new pattern integration and interoperability in processes, services, and data. Consequently, many reference models have been developed in the field of SC processes to support the requirements for the related modeling, as well as to apply the development and implementation of supply chain information systems. The aim of this paper is to compare six main supply chain reference models regarding SOA and its underlying concepts and to identify which reference model can support different stages of information system development. The results show that no supply chain reference model can support both the coordination and interaction of process models in more detail and with a service-oriented approach in supply chain process modeling. Moreover, there is a need for a plausible methodology for business process modeling based on the service-oriented approach in the domain of supply chain management (SCM)

Non-functional properties in the model-driven development of service-oriented systems

Systems based on the service-oriented architecture (SOA) principles have become an important cornerstone of the development of enterprise-scale software applications. They are characterized by separating functions into distinct software units, called services, which can be published, requested and dynamically combined in the production of business applications. Service-oriented systems (SOSs) promise high flexibility, improved maintainability, and simple re-use of functionality. Achieving these properties requires an understanding not only of the individual artifacts of the system but also their integration. In this context, non-functional aspects play an important role and should be analyzed and modeled as early as possible in the development cycle. In this paper, we discuss modeling of non-functional aspects of service-oriented systems, and the use of these models for analysis and deployment. Our contribution in this paper is threefold. First, we show how services and service compositions may be modeled in UML by using a profile for SOA (UML4SOA) and how non-functional properties of service-oriented systems can be represented using the non-functional extension of UML4SOA (UML4SOA-NFP) and the MARTE profile. This enables modeling of performance, security and reliable messaging. Second, we discuss formal analysis of models which respect this design, in particular we consider performance estimates and reliability analysis using the stochastically timed process algebra PEPA as the underlying analytical engine. Last but not least, our models are the source for the application of deployment mechanisms which comprise model-to-model and model-to-text transformations implemented in the framework VIATRA. All techniques presented in this work are illustrated by a running example from an eUniversity case study

Dynamic Multilevel Workflow Management Concept for Industrial IoT Systems

Workflow management is implemented in manufacturing at many levels. The nature of processes variesat each level, hindering the use of a standard modeling orimplementation solution. The creation of a flexible workflow management framework that overarches the heterogeneous business process levels is challenging. Still, one of the promisesof the Industry 4.0 initiative is precisely this: to provideeasy-to-use models and solutions that enable efficient execution of enterprise targets. By addressing this challenge, this articleproposes a workflow execution model that integrates information and control flows of these levels while keeping their hierarchy. The overall model builds on the business process model andnotation (BPMN) for modeling at the enterprise level and recipemodeling based on colored Petri net (CPN) at the production level. Models produced with both alternatives are implemented and executed in a framework supported by an enterprise servicebus (ESB). Loosely coupled, late-bound system elements are connected through the arrowhead framework, which is builtupon the service-oriented architecture (SOA) concept. To proveits feasibility, this article presents the practical application ofthe model via an automotive production scenario

A COMMITMENT-BASED REFERENCE ONTOLOGY FOR SERVICE: HARMONIZING SERVICE PERSPECTIVES

Nowadays, the notion of service has been widely adopted in the practice of economic sectors (e.g., Service, Manufacturing, and Extractive sectors), as well as, in the research focus of various disciplines (e.g., Marketing, Business, and Computer Science). Due to that, a number of research initiatives (e.g., service ontologies, conceptual models, and theories) have tried to understand and characterize the complex notion of service. However, due to particular views of these disciplines and economic sectors, a number of different characterizations of service (e.g., service as interaction, service as co-creation of value, and service as capability / manifestation of competence, among others) have been proposed. The existence of these various non-harmonized characterizations, and the focus on a terminological debate about the service concept, instead of about the service phenomena from a broad perspective, make the establishment of a unified body of knowledge for service difficult. This limitation impacts, e.g., the establishment of unified conceptualization for supporting the smooth alignment between Business and IT views in service-oriented enterprise architecture (SoEA), and the design and usage of service modeling languages. In this thesis we define a theoretical foundation for service based on the notion of service commitment and claims as basic elements in the characterization of service relations along service life-cycle phases (service offer, service negotiation, and service delivery). As discussed in this work, this theoretical foundation is capable of harmonizing a number of service perspectives found in the literature. Such theoretical foundation is specified in a well-founded core reference ontology, named UFO-S, which was designed by adopting a sound ontological engineering apparatus (mainly, a well-founded ontology representation language, OntoUML, and approaches of model verification and model validation). As a kind of theory, UFO-S was applied in the analysis of SoEA structuring principles in order to define a commitment-based SoEA view, which remarks social aspects inherent in service relations usually underexplored in widely adopted service-oriented approaches (such as SOA-RM by OASIS, ITIL, and ArchiMate). Based on this, UFO-S was also applied in an ontological analysis of service modeling at ArchiMates Business layer. Such ontological analysis showed some limitations concerned to semantic ambiguity and lack of expressiveness for representing service offerings (and type thereof) and service agreements in SoEA. In order to address these limitations, three service modeling patterns (service offering type pattern, service offering pattern, and service agreement pattern) were proposed taking as basis UFO-S. The usefulness of these patterns for addressing these limitations was evidentiated by means of an empirical evaluation. Finally, we can say that, beyond offering a broad and well-founded theoretical foundation for service able to harmonize service perspectives, UFO-S presented benefits as a reference model in the analysis of SoEA structuring principles, and in the (re)design of service modeling languages