A Knowledge-based Approach to Handling Exceptions in Workflow Systems

This paper describes a novel knowledge-based approachfor helping workflow process designers andparticipants better manage the exceptions (deviationsfrom an ideal collaborative work process caused byerrors, failures, resource or requirements changesetc.) that can occur during the enactment of aworkflow. This approach is based on exploiting ageneric and reusable body of knowledge concerning whatkinds of exceptions can occur in collaborative workprocesses, and how these exceptions can handled(detected, diagnosed and resolved). This work buildsupon previous efforts from the MIT Process Handbookproject and from research on conflict management incollaborative design.     

Caterpillar: A business process execution engine on the Ethereum blockchain

Blockchain platforms, such as Ethereum, allow a set of actors to maintain a ledger of transactions without relying on a central authority and to deploy programs, called smart contracts, that are executed whenever certain transactions occur. These features can be used as basic building blocks for executing collaborative business processes between mutually untrusting parties. However, implementing business processes using the low-level primitives provided by blockchain platforms is cumbersome and error-prone. In contrast, established business process management systems (BPMSs), such as those based on the standard Business Process Model and Notation (BPMN), provide convenient abstractions for rapid development of process-oriented applications. This article demonstrates how to combine the advantages of a BPMS with those of a blockchain platform. The article introduces a blockchain-based BPMN execution engine, named Caterpillar. Like any BPMN execution engine, Caterpillar supports the creation of instances of a process model and allows users to monitor the state of process instances and to execute tasks thereof. The specificity of Caterpillar is that the state of each process instance is maintained on the (Ethereum) blockchain and the workflow routing is performed by smart contracts generated by a BPMN-to-Solidity compiler. The Caterpillar compiler supports a large array of BPMN constructs, including subprocesses, multiple-instance activities, and event handlers. The paper describes the architecture of Caterpillar and the interfaces it provides to support the monitoring of process instances, the allocation and execution of work items, and the execution of service tasks.     

A system design framework-driven implementation of a learning collaboratory

This paper describes a design process to support the development of a learning collaboratory, a distributed, computer-based, virtual space for learning and work. A learning collaboratory, as a distributed distance learning environment, offers great opportunities to expand the way people teach and learn and to broaden educational opportunities to an ever increasing range of learners. The challenge is to design distance learning technologies that engender meaningful learning experiences that take full advantage of the power of computer-mediated communication to support innovative learner-centered and collaborative interactions between students, teachers, subject experts, and resources. First, the paper describes the learning collaboratory design framework (LUCIDIFY), a design process that integrates methods and concepts from cognitive systems engineering, theories of learning and instruction, distributed computing, and computer-supported collaborative learning to guide the principled design of learning collaboratories. Next, the paper describes how LUCIDIFY was used in the design and implementation of the collaborative learning environment for operational systems (CLEOS), a learning collaboratory for teachers, students, and practitioners in the physical sciences. CLEOS features two virtual instrument tutorials, an asynchronous messaging system, a project-based design and management application, and a collaborative multi-user domain infrastructure.     

从私有过程提取公共过程构建业务协同的方法

业务过程协同允许组织之间彼此进行通信、交互和协作以完成特定的业务目标.为了确保实施的正确性和一致性,需要对业务过程协同进行建模和分析.针对从私有过程(组织所拥有的完整流程)中抽取公共过程(组织参与协同的流程)以构建业务过程协同,首先定义业务过程模型以表示组织的私有过程,该模型由内部视图和公共视图组合而成,且内部视图是自由选择网结构;进而将业务过程模型抽象为4种基本块,即顺序块、选择块、并发块及迭代块;针对这4种基本块提出各自的抽取规则集以获得组织的公共过程,并从理论上证明了这些规则集能够保持协同中接口一致性,从而确保了每一次抽取是上下文无关的.通过对协同制造中供应链进行建模并与现有的、典型的方法进行对比分析,结果表明：相对于已有的工作,在考虑隐私保护原则的情况下,所提方法能够更加有效地对业务过程协同进行建模和分析.     

An Overview of Process Technology Activities at the Software Engineering Institute

This paper provides an overview of the rationale for, and direction of the process technology work being pursued at the Software Engineering Institute. The paper then describes some of the activities that the SEI has recently been involved in: process definition, process simulation, and technology for collaborative process support.     

Serendipity: Integrated Environment Support for Process Modelling, Enactment and Work Coordination

Large cooperative work systems require work coordination, context awareness and process modelling and enactment mechanisms to be effective. Support for process modelling and work coordination in such systems also needs to support informal aspects of work which are difficult to codify. Computer-Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW) facilities, such as inter-person communication and collaborative editing, also need to be well-integrated into both process-modelling tools and tools used to perform work. Serendipity is an environment which provides high-level, visual process modelling and event-handling languages, and diverse CSCW capabilities, and which can be integrated with a range of tools to coordinate cooperative work. This paper describes Serendipity's visual languages, support environment, architecture, and implementation, together with experience using the environment and integrating it with other environments.     

Establishing a systems integration process intrastructure

With the steady fall of prices and margins of computer hardware, back in the 1980s, many hardware manufacturers have tried to diversify their range of offerings. Bull Information Systems has chosen to change its major business direction to become a systems integrator and solution supplier. It has been a real challenge and a big success for Bull to succeed in changing its business direction from being a hardware/software mannfacturer to becoming a leading systems integration (SI) company. For a business to be successful in making such a change it needs to work more efficiently and to react faster, while preserving its stability. Although there are many ways for achieving such change, the experience highlighted in this paper describes how a process focus played a critical part in realizing such change. Creating a systems integration business process and a process-focused organization have been critical factors in achieving the change of business direction. A process focus has an impact on the organizational structure; management practices; employees' skills and training; and on measurements of business performance. This paper describes the experiences at Bull Information systems in creating a systems integration business process-focused organization and it outlines the mechanms which are in place to ensure ownership and improvement of the process. It summarizes the main lessons earnt as a result of creating systems integration business processes.     

Tracking product specification dependencies in collaborative design for conflict management

The main difficulty associated with a collaborative design process is understanding the product data exchanged during the design. Efficient and effective coordination of design activities relies on a thorough understanding of the dependencies between shared product specifications throughout the entire development cycle. This paper explores the linkages between the design process features and product specification dependencies, and suggests ways of identifying and managing specification dependencies to improve collaborative process performance. Using a UML (Unified Modeling Language) specification, we propose a process traceability tool to track the design process in an ongoing manner. Based on the information captured, the dependencies between specifications involved in the tracked process are identified and inserted in a dependency network, which is maintained throughout the design process. A set of mechanisms is then proposed to qualify the identified dependencies. Extracting and qualifying specification dependencies could be useful in many design situations; for example, during an engineering change management process to assess impacts and study change feasibility, or during a conflict management process to assist designers in resolving conflicts and maintaining the coherence of the design process (knowing that change management is a tool to conduct conflict management). Special attention is paid to the conflict management process. By means of a case study, we show how the solution we propose can assist designers during the conflict management process.     

Internet Based Collaborative Product Conceptual Design

Generation of Product Concept needs to give full play to the designers' innovative potential and collaborative work of experts in different fields. However, the collaborative innovative capabilities of geographically distributed designers are often limited and hindered by space and time. Therefore, on the basis of the requirements analysis of Internet based collaborative conceptual design and the research work we have done, this paper proposes the overall framework of supporting collaborative conceptual design on Internet. Based on this overall framework, the authors further put forward collaborative conceptual design process model that includes three stages: concept generation, concept communication and optimal product concept selection. At the end of the paper, the experiment environment of collaborative design is described. The overall framework and collaborative conceptual design process model proposed can take full advantage of Internet and give full play to experts' experiences and wisdom, so that the rapid development and innovative design of product can be provided with effectively and efficiently implemental mode and support on Internet.     

Knowledge capitalisation through case bases and knowledge engineering for road safety analysis

New generation knowledge-based systems should be fully integrated into their environment, by exploiting existing information sources, and should be flexible and easily extensible. This article describes the architecture of an organisational memory (OM) for road safety analysis. Starting from the design of a knowledge-based system, we show how we address knowledge capitalisation issues through the building of an OM. We present its main components and describe how knowledge engineering techniques can be exploited to build and enrich it. We then describe the major task that exploits the OM as decision support for site analysis. We also explain how domain knowledge can be exploited and capitalised using case-based reasoning and collaborative work.     

A distributed and interactive system to integrated design and simulation for collaborative product development

The goal of applying collaborative product development in industry has raised the need to develop software tools supporting system integration and group collaboration. Current methods and tools mainly focus on the collaborative creation of design components and assemblies. However, few of them support the collaborative work in developing simulation models so that proposed design concepts and solutions can be evaluated by integrating expertise from several disciplines. The purpose of this research is to develop a distributed and interactive system on which designers and experts can work together to create, integrate and run simulations for engineering design. To develop such a system, a number of issues, e.g. effectiveness and efficiency of modeling work, the re-use of models, interaction and cooperation, accuracy of simulation, collaborative operation on models, etc., need to be addressed. This paper describes an open architecture to developing simulations for engineering design in a distributed and collaborative environment, identifies a set of key issues raised in this architecture, and presents the techniques employed in our solution.     

Views of work and the design and use of group support systems

The view of work embodied in a group support system constitutes a designer's understanding of how work gets done in collaborative settings. This paper argues that a designer's view of collaborative work shapes the design space of a group support system. This in turn affects the system's functionality, as well as the manner in which it is used. An analysis of the views of work underlying four group support systems used in research and commercial domains, reveals sharp differences in their perspectives on collaborative work. Our approach suggests three implications. First the design process should be driven by an explicit articulation of the view of work. Second, examining convergence between a system's view of work and the work practices of a setting, can usefully indicate whether the system is appropriate for the setting. Finally, research on the mediating role of the view of work in the effectiveness of group support systems, can lead to a richer understanding of the impact of such systems.     

Deriving business processes with service level agreements from early requirements

When designing a service-based business process employing loosely coupled services, one is not only interested in guaranteeing a certain flow of work, but also in how the work will be performed. This involves the consideration of non-functional properties which go from execution time and costs, to trust and security. Ideally, a designer would like to have guarantees over the behavior of the services involved in the process. These guarantees are the object of Service Level Agreements.We propose a methodology to design service-based business processes together with Service Level Agreements that guarantee a certain quality of execution, with particular emphasis on security. Starting from an early requirements analysis modeled in the Secure Tropos formalism, we provide a set of user-guided transformations and reasoning tools the final output of which is a set of processes in the form of Secure BPELs together with a set of Service Level Agreements to be signed by participating services. To show the potential impact of the approach, we illustrate the functioning of the methodology on a collaborative procurement scenario derived from the application domain of a research project.     

Business programmes and information systems methodologies

Abstract. An Information Systems Methodology is usually presented as a sequential set of tasks — planning, analysis, design and construction — resulting in a new business application. This classical 'forward-engineering' approach must be adapted to changing business needs — business process redesign, quality management, process and systems templates, advanced technologies, application packages, the reuse of existing information systems resources, and rapid delivery cycles. Using the most general concept of a Business Programme, this paper describes a methodological approach incorporating these modern themes that is qualitatively and quantitatively different from the classical model. It provides a framework for the integration of otherwise independent methodologies, and shows how an entire programme can be formulated, planned and executed. An example is provided, and the approach is justified.     

Improving the tutoring of software design using case-based reasoning

Judging by results, the methods undertaken to teach software development to large classes of students are flawed; too many students are failing to grasp any real understanding of programming and software design. To address this problem the University of Wales, Aberystwyth has developed VorteX, an interactive collaborative design tool that captures the design processes of novice students, provides a diagnosis system capable of interpreting the students’ work, and advises on their design process.This paper provides an overview of VorteX, its capabilities and use, and explains how the case-based system identifies redundancies in the storage of student designs and reduces data volume. The paper describes how equivalence maps merge similar classes to reduce the design structure possibilities, how snippets eliminate the replication of components and how abstract snippets represent the design intent of students in a minimalist form. Finally it concludes with comments on the student experience of the VorteX case-based reasoning assistant.     

基于角色/命名空间的元过程实例生成器研究

以协同工作流平台项目研究为背景,着重解决实例生成器的软件构架设计与实现问题。首先给出一种基于元过程表示的实例生成器MPIG的软件构架,从域的角度对模型进行描述。进而阐述软件构架中如何体现元过程的思想和协同特性。随后重点描述软件构架中的协同框架,并引入角色协同和命名空间技术。最后运用BPEL对部分内容进行可实现性描述。所提出的基于角色/命名空间的软件协同设计方法具有一般理论意义和工程实践价值。     

A Blockchain-Based Trust Model for Supporting Collaborative Healthcare Data Management

The development of information technology allows the collaborative business process to be run across multiple enterprises in a larger market environment. However, while collaborative business expands the realm of businesses, it also causes various hazards in collaborative Interaction, such as data falsification, inconstancy, and misuse. To solve these issues, a blockchain-based collaborative business modeling approach was proposed and analyzed. However, the existing studies lack the blockchain risk problem-solving specification, and there is no verification technique to examine the process. Consequently, it is difficult to confirm the appropriateness of the approach. Thus, here, we propose and build a blockchain-based trust model to strengthen and verify the integrity and security of the collaborative business process; Integrity and security address the validity of collaborative interactions in terms of a trust, and we construct a blockchain pattern based on trust elements to meet the required the characteristics. Specifically, a trust model can be applied to the healthcare data-sharing process, and then the achievement of the trust-based safe data-sharing process can be proven. Our model can be used as a trust-building guidance tool or for integrity and security verification with the collaborative business process in a distributed environment with blockchain.     

Human-centred design methods: Developing scenarios for robot assisted play informed by user panels and field trials

This article describes the user-centred development of play scenarios for robot assisted play, as part of the multidisciplinary IROMEC¹ project that develops a novel robotic toy for children with special needs. The project investigates how robotic toys can become social mediators, encouraging children with special needs to discover a range of play styles, from solitary to collaborative play (with peers, carers/teachers, parents, etc.). This article explains the developmental process of constructing relevant play scenarios for children with different special needs. Results are presented from consultation with panel of experts (therapists, teachers, parents) who advised on the play needs for the various target user groups and who helped investigate how robotic toys could be used as a play tool to assist in the children’s development. Examples from experimental investigations are provided which have informed the development of scenarios throughout the design process. We conclude by pointing out the potential benefit of this work to a variety of research projects and applications involving human–robot interactions.     

‘Worksome but Rewarding’ –Stakeholder Perceptions on Value in Collaborative Design Work

In this paper, we examine collaborative design projects in school contexts with many different stakeholders. We look at the value created for and by different stakeholders, focusing on value as a benefit, which is experienced – perceived and determined – by the beneficiaries themselves in the value co-creation process. As our focus is in “value-in-use”, i.e., value which emerges through activities taking place in a specific space, time, and context, we define value through subjective experience of people involved. We apply in our study the concept of value co-creation, where value is understood emerging from collaborative activity between actors participating in the activity. We see that the value co-creation lens provides a useful means for the CSCW community to scrutinize and make sense of collaborative design projects. We categorized the perceived value for each stakeholder and discuss how these categories can help in gaining a deeper understanding of the value gained in collaborative design work as well as how value co-creation lens in more general can be used as a tool in collaborative design projects.