La vérification de patrons de workflow métier basés sur les flux de contrôle : une approche utilisant les systèmes à base de connaissances

This thesis tackles the problem of modelling semantically rich business workflow templates and proposes a process for developing workflow templates. The objective of the thesis is to transform a business process into a control flow-based business workflow template that guarantees syntactic and semantic validity. The main challenges are: (i) to define formalism for representing business processes; (ii) to establish automatic control mechanisms to ensure the correctness of a business workflow template based on a formal model and a set of semantic constraints; and (iii) to organize the knowledge base of workflow templates for a workflow development process. We propose a formalism which combines control flow (based on Coloured Petri Nets (CPNs)) with semantic constraints to represent business processes. The advantage of this formalism is that it allows not only syntactic checks based on the model of CPNs, but also semantic checks based on Semantic Web technologies. We start by designing an OWL ontology called the CPN ontology to represent the concepts of CPN-based business workflow templates. The design phase is followed by a thorough study of the properties of these templates in order to transform them into a set of axioms for the CPN ontology. In this formalism, a business process is syntactically transformed into an instance of the CPN ontology. Therefore, syntactic checking of a business process becomes simply verification by inference, by concepts and by axioms of the CPN ontology on the corresponding instance.Cette thèse traite le problème de la modélisation des patrons de workflow sémantiquement riche et propose un processus pour développer des patrons de workflow. L'objectif est de transformer un processus métier en un patron de workflow métier basé sur les flux de contrôle qui garantit la vérification syntaxique et sémantique. Les défis majeurs sont : (i) de définir un formalisme permettant de représenter les processus métiers; (ii) d'établir des mécanismes de contrôle automatiques pour assurer la conformité des patrons de workflow métier basés sur un modèle formel et un ensemble de contraintes sémantiques; et (iii) d’organiser la base de patrons de workflow métier pour le développement de patrons de workflow. Nous proposons un formalisme qui combine les flux de contrôle (basés sur les Réseaux de Petri Colorés (CPNs)) avec des contraintes sémantiques pour représenter les processus métiers. L'avantage de ce formalisme est qu'il permet de vérifier non seulement la conformité syntaxique basée sur le modèle de CPNs mais aussi la conformité sémantique basée sur les technologies du Web sémantique. Nous commençons par une phase de conception d'une ontologie OWL appelée l’ontologie CPN pour représenter les concepts de patrons de workflow métier basés sur CPN. La phase de conception est suivie par une étude approfondie des propriétés de ces patrons pour les transformer en un ensemble d'axiomes pour l'ontologie. Ainsi, dans ce formalisme, un processus métier est syntaxiquement transformé en une instance de l’ontologie

Ensuring the Semantic Correctness of Workflow Processes: An Ontological Approach

International audienceWorkflow verification has been known as an important as-pect of workflow management systems. Many existing approaches con-centrate on ensuring the correctness of workflow processes at the syntac-tic level. However, these approaches are not sufficient to detect errors at the semantic level. This paper contributes to ensure the semantic cor-rectness of workflow processes. First, we propose a formal definition of semantic constraints and an O(n 3)-time algorithm for detecting redun-dant and conflicting constraints. Second, by relying on the CPN Ontology (a representation of Coloured Petri Nets with OWL DL ontology) and sets of semantic constraints, workflow processes are semantically created. And third, we show how to check the semantic correctness of workflow processes with the SPARQL query language

Ensuring the Correctness of Business Workflows at the Syntactic Level: An Ontological Approach

International audienceHigh quality business workflow definitions play an important role in the organization. An incorrectly defined workflow may lead to unexpected results. Therefore, each business workflow definition should be carefully analyzed before it is put into use. In this paper, we propose an ontological approach which is suitable for ensuring the syntactic correct-ness of business workflows. In details, to represent CPNs with OWL DL, we first introduce the CPN Ontology. Then, we define axioms, which are added to the CPN Ontology to provide automated support for establishing the correctness of business workflows. Finally, by relying on the CORESE semantic engine, SPARQL queries are implemented to detect shortcomings in concrete workflows. To the best of our knowledge, this is a novel approach for the representation and verification of business workflows based on ontologies

Coloured Petri Nets-based Approach for Manipulating RDF Data

International audienceThis paper introduces a solution for controlling RDF data manipulation operations. We propose a formal approach to manage any modification, query or adaptation of the data to satisfy end-user/application criteria (e.g., RDF filtering). An overview of the RDF data manipulation framework with its main components is first presented. We then introduce the RDF-oriented Composition Definition Language (RDFCDL) including the syntax and its graphical representations defined based on CPNs. The language aims to support both expert and non-expert developers to create/compose RDF manipulation operations. Besides, an ontology for representing processes modelled with the RDFCDL language is developed in order to share and reuse the processes more easily. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first approach providing a means for end-users to create activity nodes over RDF data based upon system-defined functions and allowing manipulating processes to be stored in RDF file format

Representation of RDF-oriented Composition with OWL DL Ontology

International audienceThis paper introduces a solution for representing RDF-oriented compositions with OWL DL ontologies. Firstly, we present an overview of RDF-oriented Composition Definition Language (RDFCDL), which is defined for creating/composing RDF manipulation operations. Secondly, we propose an approach for representing RDFNet with OWL DL ontology. We focus on translating some key components of the RDFCDL language into classes, properties and axioms of OWL DL ontology

An Ontological Approach for Organizing a Knowledge Base to Share and Reuse Business Workflow Templates

International audienceBusiness process models have been used in a lot of enterprise applications. Along with their popularity, the problem of how to create them correctly in terms of semantics and syntax while effectively promoting the reuse of suitable parts of existing models is increasingly interest. This paper describes how to organize a knowledge base to facilitate the shareability and reusability of business workflow templates. We first introduce a repository consisting of business workflow templates which are well-checked at the syntactic and semantic level. An organizational mechanism for control flow-based business workflow templates is therefore provided to ensure an effective search of templates. We then propose a process for developing workflow templates. Thereby for each use case, users can select and modify suitable workflow templates from the knowledge base

Ontology-Based Workflow Validation

International audienceIn order to ensure a workflow to be executed correctly, many approaches were introduced. But not many of them consider the semantic correctness of the workflow in the design time and the run time. In this paper, a solution to check the semantic correctness of the workflow automatically is presented. To do that, the workflow must be represented in a machine understandable form, an ontology-based approach to represent a workflow is proposed. In addition, we also provide a set of changed operations allowing the users to customize a workflow for using in their organizations. Their change can be made while ensuring the correctness of the workflow. Moreover, a verification method is proposed for checking the semantic correctness of workflow

INFLUENCING FACTORS TO LOGISTICS CENTRE FORMATION – A STUDY OF VIETNAM-BASED LOGISTICS SECTOR

Purpose of the study: The paper tries to model dynamic interactions of factors that contribute to the logistics center building. Conducting the desk review and expert consultation, the causality of the factors is systemized in a form of Causal Loop Diagram using the System Dynamics approach. Methodology: System Dynamics (SD) is an approach for studying interlinked behaviors within a system and reflects the interactions of feedback loops. Compared to other approaches, SD demonstrates the real world by using factors and stocks for components and feedback loops for inter-relationships among them. SD model qualitatively illustrates the causal relationship among factors that influence the building of the logistics center. Main Findings: A combination of four different sub-systems, using a questionnaire survey conducted with logistics service users and providers to sort out the high scored factors. Besides, the survey also helps to study the practical conditions and characteristics in showing the demand, the trend, and the development of logistics centers in Vietnam. Applications of this study: Logistics centers (LCs) can be considered as a depot for vehicles where drivers and managers of vehicles are supposed to maintain, repair vehicles, and adjust vehicle operation schedules. Novelty/Originality of this study: As defined by the scope of the project, the SD model provides a qualitative demonstration of the interaction among factors. The built model gives a systematic insight into how factors link to each other