A View-based Approach to Quality of Service Modelling in Service-oriented Enterprise Systems

Service-oriented enterprise architecture and emerging advanced technologies bring up new problems for enterprise systems engineering or, more exactly, for service-oriented enterprise systems (SoESs) engineering. One of the most important issues is the modelling of quality of services (QoS). The QoS is a complex and multi-sided concept. In various contexts and for different aims it may be defined quite differently. In the context of SoES, QoS has also some specifics that in several aspects differ from the systems implementing service-oriented architecture (SOA) in other contexts, for example, in business-to-consumer or utility-service ones. The paper suggests that it is possible to identify several understandings of QoS reflecting the viewpoints of different SoES stakeholders in a similar way as it is carried out for software products. It also proposes a conceptual view-based framework for QoS modelling in web-based SoES and for balancing different viewpoints

F.: Soknos using semantic technologies in disaster management software

Abstract. Disaster management software deals with supporting staff in large catastrophic incidents such as earthquakes or floods, e.g., by providing relevant information, facilitating task and resource planning, and managing communication with all involved parties. In this paper, we introduce the SoKNOS support system, which is a functional prototype for such software using semantic technologies for various purposes. Ontologies are used for creating a mutual understanding between developers and end users from different organizations. Information sources and services are annotated with ontologies for improving the provision of the right information at the right time, for connecting existing systems and databases to the SoKNOS system, and for providing an ontology-based visualization. Furthermore, the users ’ actions are constantly supervised, and errors are avoided by employing ontology-based consistency checking. We show how the pervasive and holistic use of semantic technologies leads to a significant improvement of both the development and the usability of disaster management software, and present some key lessons learned from employing semantic technologies in a large-scale software project.