211,948 research outputs found
A flexible approach for automatic process decentralization using dependency tables
International audienceWeb service paradigm and related technologies have provided favorable means for the realization of collaborative business processes. From both conceptual and implementation points of view, the business processes are based on a centralized management approach. Nevertheless, it is very well known that the enterprise-wide process management where processes may span multiple organizational units requires particular considerations on scalability, heterogeneity, availability and privacy issues, that in turn, require particular consideration on decentralization. In this paper, our aim is to reconcile the decentralization of processes as a step towards the enterprise-wide solutions. We propose a methodology for transforming a centralized process specification into a form that is amenable to a distributed execution and to incorporate the necessary synchronization between different processing entities. The proposed technique has the advantage of being flexible that it computes the abstract constructs and provides a generalized approach to the decentralization of processes
Toward synchronization between decentralized orchestrations of Composite Web Services
International audienceWeb service paradigm and related technologies have provided favorable means for the realization of collaborative business processes. From both conceptual and implementation points of view, the business processes are based on a centralized management approach. Nevertheless, it is very well known that the enterprise-wide process management where processes may span multiple organizational units requires particular considerations on scalability, heterogeneity, availability and privacy issues, that in turn, require particular consideration on decentralization. In a previous work , we have described a flexible methodology for splitting a centralized process specification into a form that is amenable to a distributed execution. The approach is based on the computation of very basic dependencies between process elements. In this paper, we extend this approach to support advanced patterns such as Loops, Multiple instances and Discriminator, and incorporate the necessary synchronization between the different processing entities. We also detail our interconnection mechanism and explain how to handle control and data dependencies between activities of the different partitions through asynchronous message exchanges. The proposed methodology preserves semantics of the centralized process with a peer-to peer interactions among the derived decentralized processes
SECURITY POLICY ENFORCEMENT IN APPLICATION ENVIRONMENTS USING DISTRIBUTED SCRIPT-BASED CONTROL STRUCTURES
Business processes involving several partners in different organisations impose demanding
requirements on procedures for specification, execution and maintenance. A
framework referred to as business process management (BPM) has evolved for this purpose
over the last ten years. Other approaches, such as service-oriented architecture
(SOA) or the concept of virtual organisations (VOs), assist in the definition of architectures
and procedures for modelling and execution of so-called collaborative business
processes (CBPs).
Methods for the specification of business processes play a central role in this context,
and, several standards have emerged for this purpose. Among these, Web Services
Business Process Execution Language (WS-BPEL, usually abbreviated BPEL) has
evolved to become the de facto standard for business process definition. As such, this
language has been selected as the foundation for the research in this thesis.
Having a broadly accepted standard would principally allow the specification of
business processes in a platform-independent manner, including the capability to
specify them at one location and have them executed at others (possibly spread across
different organisations). Though technically feasible, this approach has significant
security implications, particularly on the side that is to execute a process.
The research project focused upon these security issues arising when business processes
are specified and executed in a distributed manner. The central goal has been the
development of methods to cope with the security issues arising when BPEL as a
standard is deployed in such a way exploiting the significant aspect of a standard to be
platform-independent
The research devised novel methods for specifying security policies in such a manner
that the assessment of compliance with these policies is greatly facilitated such that the
assessment becomes suited to be performed automatically. An analysis of the securityrelevant
semantics of BPEL as a specification language was conducted that resulted in
the identification of so-called security-relevant semantic patterns. Based on these
results, methods to specify security policy-implied restrictions in terms of such semantic
patterns and to assess the compliance of BPEL scripts with these policies have been
developed. These methods are particularly suited for assessment of remotely defined
BPEL scripts since they allow for pre-execution enforcement of local security policies
thereby mitigating or even removing the security implications involved in distributed
definition and execution of business processes.
As initially envisaged, these methods are comparatively easy to apply, as they are based
on technologies customary for practitioners in this field. The viability of the methods
proposed for automatic compliance assessment has been proven via a prototypic
implementation of the essential functionality required for proof-of-concept.Darmstadt Node of the NRG Network at University of Applied Sciences Darmstad
Designing a novel virtual collaborative environment to support collaboration in design review meetings
Project review meetings are part of the project management process and are organised to assess progress and resolve any design conflicts to avoid delays in construction. One of the key challenges during a project review meeting is to bring the stakeholders together and use this time effectively to address design issues as quickly as possible. At present, current technology solutions based on BIM or CAD are information-centric and do not allow project teams to collectively explore the design from a range of perspectives and brainstorm ideas when design conflicts are encountered. This paper presents a system architecture that can be used to support multi-functional team collaboration more effectively during such design review meetings. The proposed architecture illustrates how information-centric BIM or CAD systems can be made human- and team-centric to enhance team communication and problem solving. An implementation of the proposed system architecture has been tested for its utility, likability and usefulness during design review meetings. The evaluation results suggest that the collaboration platform has the potential to enhance collaboration among multi-functional teams
Towards the realisation of an integratated decision support environment for organisational decision making
Traditional decision support systems are based on the paradigm of a single decision maker working at a stand‐alone computer or terminal who has a specific decision to make with a specific goal in mind. Organizational decision support systems aim to support decision makers at all levels of an organization (from executive, middle management managers to operators), who have a variety of decisions to make, with different priorities, often in a distributed and dynamic environment. Such systems need to be designed and developed with extra functionality to meet the challenges such as collaborative working. This paper proposes an Integrated Decision Support Environment (IDSE) for organizational decision making. The IDSE distinguishes itself from traditional decision support systems in that it can flexibly configure and re‐configure its functions to support various decision applications. IDSE is an open software platform which allows its users to define their own decision processes and choose their own exiting decision tools to be integrated into the platform. The IDSE is designed and developed based on distributed client/server networking, with a multi‐tier integration framework for consistent information exchange and sharing, seamless process co‐ordination and synchronisation, and quick access to packaged and legacy systems. The prototype of the IDSE demonstrates good performance in agile response to fast changing decision situations
Grid-enabled Workflows for Industrial Product Design
This paper presents a generic approach for developing and using Grid-based workflow technology for enabling cross-organizational engineering applications. Using industrial product design examples from the automotive and aerospace industries we highlight the main requirements and challenges addressed by our approach and describe how it can be used for enabling interoperability between heterogeneous workflow engines
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