Workflow View Driven Cross-Organizational Interoperability in a Web Service Environment

Workflow technology has recently been employed not only within businesses but also as a framework for implementing e-services over the Internet. Such e-services typically require collaborative enactment of workflows across multiple organizations. In this paper, we propose the use of workflow views as a fundamental support mechanism for the interoperability of multiple workflows across business organizations. We present a meta-model of workflow views and their semantics using a cross-organization workflow example based on a supply-chain e-service. We also formulate an interoperation model of workflow views and its consistency criteria. Finally, this paper presents an implementation of the model based on XML and contemporary Web services technologies, with adaptation to our E-ADOME workflow engine.     

应用云计算架构六螺旋协同创新平台

为了“产、学、研”更好、更快的协同创新,以云计算、三螺旋和协同创新为理论基础,提出应用云计算技术架构六螺旋协同创新平台的设想,并对协同创新平台的五层体系结构和部分功能模块进行了详细设计。此平台能整合各种科技资源、人力资源和服务资源,还能使“政、企、校、研、中、金”六螺旋可以在自主式、交互式的环境中获取最新的信息、需求和供给,实现跨部门合作、跨学科合作、协同创新。对于稳固产学研交流合作渠道,促进高校、科研单位成果产业化,加快中小企业信息化建设和技术升级,实现协同创新等有重要意义。     

移动工商政务管理系统整合技术研究与实现

该项目依托中国移动公司的无线移动网络平台,采用Web Service技术,研究和解决无线移动平台和原有工商业务管理系统的信息整合等问题。利用MAS所具有的自主能力、交互能力、反应能力和自适应性,用全新的系统架构方法,开发基于SOA和MAS的信息集成与无线发布平台,它支持工商业务流程重组和系统重构,并实现异构信息系统的集成与信息资源的共享。在软件平台上通过建立各应用的Web Service,实现动态和有效的查询结果,根据具体的工商管理业务流程和需求,构建和实现工商移动综合业务管理系统。     

面向制造业产业链的集成体系框架研究

针对面向制造业产业链协同的实际需要,在分析了企业群产业链之间合作特点的基础上,构建了产业链协同模型、企业群集成管理模型,提出了面向产业链的集成服务平台框架.该框架实现了在企业群模式下各业务系统的松耦合集成,通过在支持多核网状式企业群协作的售后服务管理系统的开发和实施中的应用,验证了所提供平台模型的可行性和有效性.     

Supporting the entire life-cycle of the extended manufacturing enterprise

This paper presents a framework to support the full life-cycle of extended manufacturing enterprises, from creation to operation and dissolution phases. The deployment and operation of such enterprises can be compared with the concept of ‘plug-and-play’, as the internal processes and legacy systems of the companies involved are smoothly integrated within an overall business process designed, validated and executed according to a specific business opportunity. During the plug phase, the specific business requirements are elicited and integrated with the design of the extended business processes. On the other hand, in the play phase, those predefined processes are executed in order to run the extended enterprise successfully. The paper describes an application case regarding an engineer-to-order and one-of-a-kind engineering product. This scenario is common to a large number of technology-driven SMEs, and illustrates the value of the framework to exploit business opportunities that require a combination of skills and resources that do not exist in-house. The case shows how the platform addresses the two main challenges in the deployment of an extended enterprise. The first challenge is finding the right set of partners to address a new business opportunity and the design of the underlying collaborative processes. The second challenge is mostly technical, and focuses on the integration of the legacy systems of the partners participating in the network so that cooperation can take place quickly and seamlessly.     

面向联盟定制的产业链协同平台演化技术

结合面向联盟定制的产业链协同平台的实际需求,提出基于构件组装的软件即服务(SaaS)平台体系结构,对平台数据特点进行分析,给出基于业务数据库模板的分联盟数据管理方案,研究联盟定制过程中与业务功能关联的数据库动态生成算法,以及在联盟使用过程中基于用户身份的业务数据库动态连接技术。汽车产业链协同SaaS平台上的应用实例证明了该演化技术的有效性。     

网格中基于角色的协同电子商务研究*

协同电子商务是电子商务发展的高级阶段,其内部和外部复杂的交互和协作要求有一个强大的网络平台作为支撑。网格就是一个拥有强大计算能力,能提供多种服务,支持各种交互,开放且能够处理异构和分布式资源的网络平台。将角色的概念引入协同电子商务可以增强其实用性和协同度,因此网格中基于角色的协同电子商务将大大提高协同电子商务中的集成和协作效率。     

An agent-based service-oriented integration architecture for collaborative intelligent manufacturing

The rapidly changing needs and opportunities of today's global market require unprecedented levels of interoperability to integrate diverse information systems to share knowledge and collaborate among organizations. The combination of Web services and software agents provides a promising computing paradigm for efficient service selection and integration of inter-organizational business processes. This paper proposes an agent-based service-oriented integration architecture to leverage manufacturing scheduling services on a network of virtual enterprises. A unique property of this approach is that the scheduling process of an order is orchestrated on the Internet through the negotiation among agent-based Web services. A software prototype system has been implemented for inter-enterprise manufacturing resource sharing. It demonstrates how the proposed service-oriented integration architecture can be used to establish a collaborative environment that provides dynamic resource scheduling services.     

Method for identification and integration of design automation tasks in industrial contexts

Current industrial practice does not reflect the opportunities provided by state-of-the-art design automation methods. The limited application of computational methods to support the design process by automating design tasks is caused by the lack of methods for comprehensive design automation task definition. Therefore, potential design automation tasks are not recognized and already deployed solutions lack integration to design practice from a product lifecycle management (PLM) perspective. In response to these shortcomings, this work proposes a method for identification and integration of design automation tasks that features collaborative workshops and enterprise architecture modelling for comprehensive analysis of design processes including its technological environments. The method applies design automation task templates that contextualize the knowledge levels required for design automation task definition and the design process including its technological environments. Evaluation with three industrial cases shows that the method enables efficient identification and integration of potential design automation tasks in a PLM context. The application of knowledge levels in conjunction with enterprise architecture modelling support the identification and validation of the relevant sources of knowledge required for design automation task formalization. Thus, this work contributes by introducing and evaluating a novel method for design automation task definition that brings the opportunities of state-of-the-art design automation methods into line with requirements stemming from design practice and the related PLM.     

中小企业电子商务平台建设研究

本文对中小企业电子商务系统进行详细的、系统的分析,集成SOA技术、流程引擎技术、CA安全技术研发中小企业电子商务平台,并通过SaaS模式为本地区中小企业提供B2B和B2C电子商务服务,采用RatlOnal统一过程(RUP)为软件开发方法,以统一建模语言(UML)为分析设计描述语言,以JZEE为技术平台,完成了系统的架构设计和详细设计,并最终设计出了一个跨区域、跨平台的,包含信息展示、后台管理、商务中心三个子系统的面向中小企业的电子商务系统.     

产业互联下面向云平台的智造供应链信息协作

平台的供应链信息协调问题,探索产业资源协作效率路径.本文提出云平台解决智造供应链信息协作的方案,该方案考虑了分布式协作理论应对庞大供应链业务数据的技术优势,构建了分布式下实时动态更新算法和共享数据资源池相结合的供应链企业数据互联互通协作模型,以提升产业制造的“智造”能力.最后以家居产业供应链进行分析论证,验证了云平台模型构建的可行性和有效性.     

SMEs and Mass Collaborative Knowledge Management: Toward Understanding the Role of Social Media Networks

ABSTRACT

This article proposes that mass collaborative knowledge management (MCKM) and social media networks (SMNs) tend to enhance productivity in small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). A case study methodology was employed to highlight the complementary advantages of MCKM related to the use of SMNs in a small business operating in southern Italy. The research aims to contribute to the ongoing discussion on MCKM. This article offers a fresh perspective by discussing the relevance of this construct for SMEs.     

Implementing organisational interoperability—The SUddEN approach

Dynamic markets require enterprises to collaborate in organisational networks. Current support for automotive supply networks is limited to logistic aspects. In the European project SUddEN an approach to support coordination and organisational interoperability in supply networks is researched. These networks are seen as complex adaptive systems, with their structure changing permanently and dynamically. This has impact on the flow of materials and information across the network. Coordination and interoperability are important aspects that enable the required business performance in order to survive in today's global competing business environment. The SUddEN ICT approach supports collaborative performance measurement system development. This allows network partners to adapt their individual processes to improve organisational interoperability. For this approach, an architecture has been designed and a prototype has been implemented.     

Collaborative competencies in professional social networking: Are students short changed by curriculum in business education?

Social networks have earned their indisputable place as a collaborative learning tool in education. In this paper, we address the gap in literature on developing a set of competencies to allow graduates to make the most of collaborative technologies for business and professional activity as well as career management. Based on a survey of over 600 business school graduates from AMBA accredited UK universities, we are able to identify the level of awareness and degree of application of professional usage of social networks amongst students. Our results show that work experience and age of the business students play a significant role in their usage of social networks for professional purposes, knowledge and career management. The data shows that younger students are more social networking savvy when it comes to identifying business opportunities, while older graduates are less confident. This is important as traditionally graduate students are individuals in their mid careers and the skill gap between generation Y and the experienced graduates need to be bridged by adequate curriculum changes.     

Is Formality in Knowledge Management Practices Related to the Size of Organizations? The Basque Case

This article's objectives are to analyze the trends related to knowledge management process in small and medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs) and to compare these findings with the conclusions of other research studies designed for SMEs and to examine the level of formality in knowledge management processes according to the size of enterprise. As well, to propose a model suited to the characteristics of the small business. The information is collected from 22 Basque Country SMEs grouped into industrial clusters, through a survey that is conducted to identify the use of practices related to knowledge management. Results show that informal practices figure prominently in the day to day of the SME and that the knowledge management process is not standardized but that is performed by the collaborative work between people, among others. Besides, the size of the SME acts as a factor in regard to the level of formality in knowledge management process. This study helps SME managers understand where the organizational knowledge is found within organizations and, consequently, to not neglect the importance of people in keeping competitiveness high. The article provides new information on how firms located in a particular region of Spain perform in relation to knowledge management, and it could be considered a sort of benchmarking practice on the behavior of SME in managing knowledge, which will be useful for the organization when taking management decisions.     

Industrial Design and Development Software System Architecture Based on Model-Based Systems Engineering and Cloud Computing

Oriented to the new generation of cyber-physical manufacturing, this paper introduces two breakthroughs of industrial design and development software system: model-based systems engineering (MBSE) and cloud computing. Based on the classic V model for product development, an MBSE double-Vs model is refined which takes both model life-cycle and product life-cycle into consideration for design process re-engineering. Then cloud computing and its re-structuring on traditional industrial software system are discussed. Shift from classic single approach, this research proposes an industrial design and development software system architecture based on model-based systems engineering (MBSE) and cloud computing. The new architecture is shown in a stereoscopic way which amply utilizes the respective advantages of MBSE and cloud computing. At the end of the paper, as an example of actual cases, a flight management system (FMS) design and development platform is detailed to verify the effectiveness of this new architecture. The implement of new system architecture creates an efficient collaborative mechanism for FMS developing.     

The antecedents and consequences of technology standardizations in Korean IT small and medium-sized enterprises

With rapid changes in the business environment, leading or utilizing technology standards may help firms gain better performance through competitive advantage. Such activities related to technology standards are likely to provide numerous opportunities or benefits to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the highly technological divide among firms. However, few studies have paid attention to drivers, obstacles, and results of technology standards activities in SMEs. Consequently, this study bridges this research gap by identifying the factors influencing technology standardizations, which in turn contribute to firm performance in SMEs. The analytic results of survey data collected from 250 SMEs in the Korean IT sector reveal that all technology standardizations have an effect firm performance. Benefits from standards, R&D capability, and insufficient resources are influential factors of all technology standardizations. However, support of related institutes only affects inbound standardization. This study discusses theoretical and practical implications on technology standardizations in SMEs based on these findings.     

An information architecture for a performance management framework by collaborating SMEs

Recently, much attention has been given to performance management within collaborative environments resulting in a wide variety of performance measurement/management frameworks. However, practically all of these frameworks present a common gap regarding the information treatment needs that support these frameworks. This issue is even more important in the case of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) due to their special characteristics. For that purpose, this paper presents an approach called Global Performance Management (GPM) Framework composed of a methodology, an information architecture and a technological solution, focusing mainly on the information architecture. The methodology guides SMEs when defining, developing, deploying and operating the GPM framework. The information architecture consists of a set of elements that support the tasks of collection, treatment and analysis of the used information, which complement the methodology to build a real model for the GPM framework. Finally, the technological solution bridges the engineering and conceptual environment, with the real-world operational and executable environment, following the path defined by the methodology. The information architecture was applied to two European pilots, achieving satisfactory results, which are highlighted in the paper as well as the main barriers encountered and solutions provided.