3 research outputs found
Contract representation for validation and run time monitoring
PhD ThesisOrganisations are increasingly using the Internet to offer their own services and to utilise the
services of others. This naturally leads to resource sharing across organisational boundaries.
Nevertheless, organisations will require their interactions with other organisations to be
strictly controlled. In the paper-based world, business interactions, information exchange and
sharing have been conducted under the control of contracts that the organisations sign. The
world of electronic business needs to emulate electronic equivalents of the contract based
business management practices.
This thesis examines how a 'conventional' contract can be converted into its
electronic equivalent and how it can be used for controlling business interactions taking place
through computer messages. To implement a contract electronically, a conventional text
contract needs to be described in a mathematically precise notation so that the description can
be subjected to rigorous analysis and freed from the ambiguities that the original humanoriented
text is likely to contain. Furthermore, a suitable run time infrastructure is required for
monitoring the executable version of the contract.
To address these issues, this thesis describes how standard conventional contracts can
be converted into Finite State Machines (FSMs). It is illustrated how to map the rights and
obligations extracted from the clauses of the contract into the states, transition and output
functions, and input and output symbols of a FSM.
The thesis then goes on to develop a list of correctness properties that a typical
executable business contract should satisfy. A contract model should be validated against
safety properties, which specify situations that the contract must not get into (such as
deadlocks, unreachable states .... etc), and liveness properties, which detail qualities that
would be desirable for the contract to contain (responsiveness, accessibility .... etc). The FSM
description can then be subjected to model checking. This is demonstrated with the aid of
examples using the Promela language and the Spin validator.
Subsequently, the FSM representation can be used to ensure that the clauses
stipulated in the contract are observed when the contract is executed. The requirements of a
suitable run time infrastructure for monitoring contract compliance are discussed and a
prototype middleware implementation is presented.UK Engineering and Physical Sciences Research
Council (EPSRC)
Contract representation for validation and run time monitoring
Organisations are increasingly using the Internet to offer their own services and to utilise the services of others. This naturally leads to resource sharing across organisational boundaries. Nevertheless, organisations will require their interactions with other organisations to be strictly controlled. In the paper-based world, business interactions, information exchange and sharing have been conducted under the control of contracts that the organisations sign. The world of electronic business needs to emulate electronic equivalents of the contract based business management practices. This thesis examines how a 'conventional' contract can be converted into its electronic equivalent and how it can be used for controlling business interactions taking place through computer messages. To implement a contract electronically, a conventional text contract needs to be described in a mathematically precise notation so that the description can be subjected to rigorous analysis and freed from the ambiguities that the original humanoriented text is likely to contain. Furthermore, a suitable run time infrastructure is required for monitoring the executable version of the contract. To address these issues, this thesis describes how standard conventional contracts can be converted into Finite State Machines (FSMs). It is illustrated how to map the rights and obligations extracted from the clauses of the contract into the states, transition and output functions, and input and output symbols of a FSM. The thesis then goes on to develop a list of correctness properties that a typical executable business contract should satisfy. A contract model should be validated against safety properties, which specify situations that the contract must not get into (such as deadlocks, unreachable states ... etc), and liveness properties, which detail qualities that would be desirable for the contract to contain (responsiveness, accessibility ... etc). The FSM description can then be subjected to model checking. This is demonstrated with the aid of examples using the Promela language and the Spin validator. Subsequently, the FSM representation can be used to ensure that the clauses stipulated in the contract are observed when the contract is executed. The requirements of a suitable run time infrastructure for monitoring contract compliance are discussed and a prototype middleware implementation is presented.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceEngineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC)GBUnited Kingdo