Report from GI-Dagstuhl Seminar 16394: Software Performance Engineering in the DevOps World

This report documents the program and the outcomes of GI-Dagstuhl Seminar 16394 "Software Performance Engineering in the DevOps World". The seminar addressed the problem of performance-aware DevOps. Both, DevOps and performance engineering have been growing trends over the past one to two years, in no small part due to the rise in importance of identifying performance anomalies in the operations (Ops) of cloud and big data systems and feeding these back to the development (Dev). However, so far, the research community has treated software engineering, performance engineering, and cloud computing mostly as individual research areas. We aimed to identify cross-community collaboration, and to set the path for long-lasting collaborations towards performance-aware DevOps. The main goal of the seminar was to bring together young researchers (PhD students in a later stage of their PhD, as well as PostDocs or Junior Professors) in the areas of (i) software engineering, (ii) performance engineering, and (iii) cloud computing and big data to present their current research projects, to exchange experience and expertise, to discuss research challenges, and to develop ideas for future collaborations

Cross-Collaboration Processes based on Blockchain and IoT: a survey

Cross-collaboration processes are decentralized by nature and their centralized monitoring can trigger mistrust. Nevertheless, a decentralized monitoring facility such as a blockchain-based and Internet-of-Things-aware (IoT-aware) business process management system can reduce this pitfall. However, concerns related to usability, privacy, and performance, hamper the wide adoption of these systems. To better understand the challenges at stake, this paper reviews the use of blockchain and IoT devices in cross-collaboration processes. This survey sheds some light on standard uses such as model engineering or permissioned blockchains which help adopt cross-collaboration business process management systems. Moreover, with respect to process design, two schools of thought coexist, addressing both constrained and loosely processes. Furthermore, a focus on data-centric processes appears to get some momentum, as many industries go digital. Finally, this survey underlines the need to orient future research towards a more flexible, scalable, and data-aware blockchain-based business process management system

Blockchains for Business Process Management - Challenges and Opportunities

Blockchain technology promises a sizable potential for executing inter-organizational business processes without requiring a central party serving as a single point of trust (and failure). This paper analyzes its impact on business process management (BPM). We structure the discussion using two BPM frameworks, namely the six BPM core capabilities and the BPM lifecycle. This paper provides research directions for investigating the application of blockchain technology to BPM.Comment: Preprint for ACM TMI

Understanding smart contracts as a new option in transaction cost economics

Among different concepts associated with the term blockchain, smart contracts have been a prominent one, especially popularized by the Ethereum platform. In this study, we unpack this concept within the framework of Transaction Cost Economics (TCE). This institutional economics theory emphasizes the role of distinctive (private and public) contract law regimes in shaping firm boundaries. We propose that widespread adoption of the smart contract concept creates a new option in public contracting, which may give rise to a smart-contract-augmented contract law regime. We discuss tradeoffs involved in the attractiveness of the smart contract concept for firms and the resulting potential for change in firm boundaries. Based on our new conceptualization, we discuss potential roles the three branches of government – judicial, executive, and legislative – in enabling and using this new contract law regime. We conclude the paper by pointing out limitations of the TCE perspective and suggesting future research directions

Designing secure business processes for blockchains with SecBPMN2BC

Collaborative business processes can be seen as smart contracts, as they are oftentimes adopted to express agreements among different organizations. Indeed, they provide mechanisms to formalize the obligations of each involved party. For instance, collaborative business processes can specify when a certain task should be executed, under which conditions a service should be offered to the other participants, and how physical objects and information should be manipulated. In this setting, to prevent misuse of smart contracts and services and information provided, it is paramount to guarantee by design that security requirements are fulfilled. With the rise in popularity of blockchains, several approaches exploiting the trusted smart contract execution environment offered by this technology to enforce collaborative business processes have been proposed. Yet, the complexity of business processes, security requirements, and blockchain applications calls for an engineering approach that guides the design of secure business processes. Such an approach should both take advantage of the possibilities offered by blockchain technology to enforce some security requirements (e.g., non-repudiation), and take into account the limitations blockchain poses for other security requirements (e.g., confidentiality). However, we are not aware of any existing work that aims at addressing such issues following a similar approach. In this article, we propose SecBPMN2BC: a model-driven approach to designing business processes with security requirements that are meant to be deployed on blockchains. SecBPMN2BC consists of: (i) an extension of BPMN 2.0 that allows designing secure smart contracts; (ii) a set of algorithms and their implementation that check incompatible security requirements and help the design of smart contracts; (iii) a workflow that guides the application of the method. The method has been validated with a survey conducted on security and BPMN experts

Applications of Blockchain in Business Processes: A Comprehensive Review

Blockchain (BC), as an emerging technology, is revolutionizing Business Process Management (BPM) in multiple ways. The main adoption is to serve as a trusted infrastructure to guarantee the trust of collaborations among multiple partners in trustless environments. Especially, BC enables trust of information by using Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT). With the power of smart contracts, BC enforces the obligations of counterparties that transact in a business process (BP) by programming the contracts as transactions. This paper aims to study the state-of-the-art of BC technologies by (1) exploring its applications in BPM with the focus on how BC provides the trust of BPs in their lifecycles; (2) identifying the relations of BPM as the need and BC as the solution with the assessment towards BPM characteristics; (3) discussing the up-to-date progresses of critical BC in BPM; (4) identifying the challenges and research directions for future advancement in the domain. The main conclusions of our comprehensive review are (1) the study of adopting BC in BPM has attracted a great deal of attention that has been evidenced by a rapidly growing number of relevant articles. (2) The paradigms of BPM over Internet of Things (IoT) have been shifted from persistent to transient, from static to dynamic, and from centralized to decentralized, and new enabling technologies are highly demanded to fulfill some emerging functional requirements (FRs) at the stages of design, configuration, diagnosis, and evaluation of BPs in their lifecycles. (3) BC has been intensively studied and proven as a promising solution to assure the trustiness for both of business processes and their executions in decentralized BPM. (4) Most of the reported BC applications are at their primary stages, future research efforts are needed to meet the technical challenges involved in interoperation, determination of trusted entities, confirmation of time-sensitive execution, and support of irreversibility

Modeling Business Processes on a Blockchain Ecosystem using CMMN

Plokiahela kohta on spekuleeritud, et see on “kõige olulisem leiutis pärast Internetti” ning et sellel on potentsiaal pakkuda märkmisväärset ärilist väärtust nii finants- kui ka teistes sektorites. Sellest tulenevalt on ettevõtted hakanud uurima, kuidas oleks neil võimalik oma äriprotsessides plokiahelatehnoloogiast kasu saada. Siiski, lihtsalt olemasolevate protsesside asendamine uute tehnoloogiatega ei paku soovitud tulemusi. Sellest tulenevalt disainitakse olukordades, kus protsessimudelid on protsessianalüüsi ning selle innovatsiooni aluseks, protsesse täiesti ümber. Käesolevas töös uuritakse, kuidas plokiahelale orienteeritud protsesse saab modelleerida CMMN modelleerimiskeele abil, kuna see on artefakti-põhine modellerimiskeel. Selline lähenemine võib olla eriti kasulik plokiahelale orienteeritud protsesside modelleerimisel, kuna plokiahelate peamine fookus on andmetel, mis on lisatud ahelasse ning jagatud erinevate osapoolte vahel. Käesolev töö põhineb juhtumianalüüsil, mis on läbi viidud mittetulundusühingus, mis tegeleb puidutoodetega kauplevate ettevõtete sertifitseerimisteenuste pakkumisega. Nimetatud organisatsiooni auditeerimisprotsessid kujundati ümber kasutades plokiahelat ning nutikaid lepingutehnoloogiaid, mille järel modelleeriti need kasutades CMMN modelleerimiskeelt. Analüüsimaks, kas CMMN modelleerimiskeel on plokiahelale tuginevate protsesside modelleerimiseks sobilik, kasutati raamistikku, mis hõlmab üldlevinud mustreid, mis on omased plokiahelale tuginevatele rakendustele. Selle tulemusena ilmnes, et CMMN modelleerimiskeele abil on võimalik plokiahelale tuginevaid protsesse üldiselt adekvaatselt kirjeldada, küll aga on siiski puudus elementidest modelleerimaks täpsemaid plokiahelatele ning nutikatele lepingutehnoloogiatele omaseid detaile.Blockchain has been speculated to be “the most important invention since the Internet” and has the potential to deliver significant business value for both financial and non-financial industries. That is why companies have started to explore how their business processes can benefit from this technology. However, a simple substitution of a current process with new technology will not provide desired outcomes. For this purpose, process redesign is used where process models are made the basis of process analysis and its innovation. This paper examines how blockchain-oriented processes can be modelled with CMMN as it is an artefact-centric modelling language. Such an approach might be particularly useful while modeling blockchain-oriented processes as the fundamental focus of blockchain is on data that is added on a chain and shared between participants. This paper is based on a case study of a non-profit organization providing certification services for companies trading timber-relates products. The auditing process of this organization was redesign using blockchain and smart contract technologies and then was modelled with CMMN. For analysis of the suitability of CMMN for modelling blockchain-based processes a framework for commonly occurring patterns that are specific to blockchain-based applications was used. As a result, CMMN can adequately represent blockchain-oriented processes. However, there is a lack of elements in the notation to accurately model certain details specific to blockchain and smart contract technologies