Fluent Logic Workflow Analyser: A Tool for The Verification of Workflow Properties

In this paper we present the design and implementation, as well as a use case, of a tool for workflow analysis. The tool provides an assistant for the specification of properties of a workflow model. The specification language for property description is Fluent Linear Time Temporal Logic. Fluents provide an adequate flexibility for capturing properties of workflows. Both the model and the properties are encoded, in an automated way, as Labelled Transition Systems, and the analysis is reduced to model checking.Comment: In Proceedings LAFM 2013, arXiv:1401.056

Pattern-based software architecture for service-oriented software systems

Service-oriented architecture is a recent conceptual framework for service-oriented software platforms. Architectures are of great importance for the evolution of software systems. We present a modelling and transformation technique for service-centric distributed software systems. Architectural configurations, expressed through hierarchical architectural patterns, form the core of a specification and transformation technique. Patterns on different levels of abstraction form transformation invariants that structure and constrain the transformation process. We explore the role that patterns can play in architecture transformations in terms of functional properties, but also non-functional quality aspects

Possibilistic Information Flow Control for Workflow Management Systems

In workflows and business processes, there are often security requirements on both the data, i.e. confidentiality and integrity, and the process, e.g. separation of duty. Graphical notations exist for specifying both workflows and associated security requirements. We present an approach for formally verifying that a workflow satisfies such security requirements. For this purpose, we define the semantics of a workflow as a state-event system and formalise security properties in a trace-based way, i.e. on an abstract level without depending on details of enforcement mechanisms such as Role-Based Access Control (RBAC). This formal model then allows us to build upon well-known verification techniques for information flow control. We describe how a compositional verification methodology for possibilistic information flow can be adapted to verify that a specification of a distributed workflow management system satisfies security requirements on both data and processes.Comment: In Proceedings GraMSec 2014, arXiv:1404.163

An LTL Semantics of Business Workflows with Recovery

We describe a business workflow case study with abnormal behavior management (i.e. recovery) and demonstrate how temporal logics and model checking can provide a methodology to iteratively revise the design and obtain a correct-by construction system. To do so we define a formal semantics by giving a compilation of generic workflow patterns into LTL and we use the bound model checker Zot to prove specific properties and requirements validity. The working assumption is that such a lightweight approach would easily fit into processes that are already in place without the need for a radical change of procedures, tools and people's attitudes. The complexity of formalisms and invasiveness of methods have been demonstrated to be one of the major drawback and obstacle for deployment of formal engineering techniques into mundane projects

XSRL: An XML web-services request language

One of the most serious challenges that web-service enabled e-marketplaces face is the lack of formal support for expressing service requests against UDDI-resident web-services in order to solve a complex business problem. In this paper we present a web-service request language (XSRL) developed on the basis of AI planning and the XML database query language XQuery. This framework is designed to handle and execute XSRL requests and is capable of performing planning actions under uncertainty on the basis of refinement and revision as new service-related information is accumulated (via interaction with the user or UDDI) and as execution circumstances necessitate change

Feasibility of EPC to BPEL Model Transformations Based on Ontology and Patterns

Model-Driven Engineering holds the promise of transforming\ud business models into code automatically. This requires the concept of\ud model transformation. In this paper, we assess the feasibility of model\ud transformations from Event-driven Process Chain models to Business\ud Process Execution Language specifications. To this purpose, we use a\ud framework based on ontological analysis and workflow patterns in order\ud to predict the possibilities/limitations of such a model transformation.\ud The framework is validated by evaluating the transformation of several\ud models, including a real-life case.\ud The framework indicates several limitations for transformation. Eleven\ud guidelines and an approach to apply them provide methodological support\ud to improve the feasibility of model transformation from EPC to\ud BPEL