Diagnosing and measuring incompatibilities between pairs of services

International audienceThis text presents a tool, from its design to its implementation, which detects all behavioural incompatibilities between two service interfaces. Unlike prior work, the proposed solution does not simply check whether two services are incompatible or not, it rather provides detailed diagnosis, including the incompatibilities and for each one the location in the service interfaces where these incompatibilities occur. A measure of similarity between interfaces which considers outputs from the detection algorithm is proposed too. A visual report of the comparison analysis is also provided which pinpoints a set of incompatibilities that cause a behavioural interface not to simulate another one

A theorem proving framework for the formal verification of Web Services Composition

We present a rigorous framework for the composition of Web Services within a higher order logic theorem prover. Our approach is based on the proofs-as-processes paradigm that enables inference rules of Classical Linear Logic (CLL) to be translated into pi-calculus processes. In this setting, composition is achieved by representing available web services as CLL sentences, proving the requested composite service as a conjecture, and then extracting the constructed pi-calculus term from the proof. Our framework, implemented in HOL Light, not only uses an expressive logic that allows us to incorporate multiple Web Services properties in the composition process, but also provides guarantees of soundness and correctness for the composition.Comment: In Proceedings WWV 2011, arXiv:1108.208

Application-Layer Connector Synthesis

International audienceThe heterogeneity characterizing the systems populating the Ubiquitous Computing environment prevents their seamless interoperability. Heterogeneous protocols may be willing to cooperate in order to reach some common goal even though they meet dynamically and do not have a priori knowledge of each other. Despite numerous e orts have been done in the literature, the automated and run-time interoperability is still an open challenge for such environment. We consider interoperability as the ability for two Networked Systems (NSs) to communicate and correctly coordinate to achieve their goal(s). In this chapter we report the main outcomes of our past and recent research on automatically achieving protocol interoperability via connector synthesis. We consider application-layer connectors by referring to two conceptually distinct notions of connector: coordinator and mediator. The former is used when the NSs to be connected are already able to communicate but they need to be speci cally coordinated in order to reach their goal(s). The latter goes a step forward representing a solution for both achieving correct coordination and enabling communication between highly heterogeneous NSs. In the past, most of the works in the literature described e orts to the automatic synthesis of coordinators while, in recent years the focus moved also to the automatic synthesis of mediators. Within the Connect project, by considering our past experience on automatic coordinator synthesis as a baseline, we propose a formal theory of mediators and a related method for automatically eliciting a way for the protocols to interoperate. The solution we propose is the automated synthesis of emerging mediating connectors (i.e., mediators for short)

Advancement of ERP in Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs)

The purpose of this paper is to understand the concept of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) and how it has advanced in small and medium enterprises (SMEs). ERP is the most talked about word in the business world these days. ERP is a method for integrating data and the processes pertaining to an organization in one whole system. The ERP field is under continuous research and development. A number of companies have made efforts to implement ERP systems into their existing business systems. This paper concentrates on the efforts made by small and medium sized enterprises. The concept of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) has been studied in detail during the course of the project. The resources were drawn from a number of research articles on the subject. The types of ERP software programs that are available for companies are explored. The characteristics of different open source and proprietary software programs available in the market today are compared. The paper explains the implementation of ERP in Small Medium Enterprises (SMEs). This is elucidated by surveys conducted on two manufacturing companies which have successfully implemented ERP. The Critical Success Factors (CSFs) involved while implementing the ERP are also discussed briefly. The paper helped us to understand the advantages and limitations of the various ERP software applications and their limitations. The surveys conducted on the companies helped us understand the advancement of ERP in SMEs