Federated process framework for synchronous process information sharing in a virtual enterprise

Abstract

Process information sharing is a beneficial tool through which participating organizations in a virtual enterprise can improve their business performance and customer services. However, autonomy and agility of the organizations have placed limitations in the development of process information sharing, which the previous research has not satisfactorily addressed. This thesis proposes a federated process framework that facilitates synchronous process information sharing in the Internet environment while supporting the autonomy and agility of the organizations. The federated process framework is composed of a process model integration method, a system design, and an view synchronization mechanism. First, the process model integration method supports a flexible sharing policy to control the amount of shared data so that it can be applied to a wide variety of practical situations from loosely-coupled cases to tightly-coupled cases. The algorithms of the method are also verified in terms of soundness and consistency. Second, the system design supports the entire life cycle of process information sharing by allowing sufficient adaptability to the changes of business environments. Third, the view synchronization mechanism facilitates the development of a web-based user view synchronized with multiple collaborating business processes. To evaluate the effectiveness of the framework in the Internet environment, a prototype system has been implemented based on an object-oriented database and Extensible Markup language.