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A Three-Layer Framework for Cross-Organizational e-Contract Enactment

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Web Services, E-Business, and the Semantic Web (WES 2002)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNCS,volume 2512))

Abstract

In an e-commerce environment, contracts are important for attaining business process interoperability and enforcing their proper enactment. An e-contract is the computerized facilitation or automation of a contract in a cross-organizational business process. We find that e-contract facilitation can be divided into multiple levels and perspectives, which has not been adequately addressed before. In this paper, we present a framework for e-contract enactment with three layers, viz., business layer, structural layer, and implementation layer. In the business layer, e-contracts are defined through analyzing the contract clauses to business rules and business entities. In the structural layer, requirements for the E-contract enactment workflow are elucidated through requirement analysis to cover both static and dynamic aspects. In the implementation layer, workflows and cross-organizational interoperating interfaces are implemented using contemporary Enterprise Java Bean and Web services. In this paper, we present the methodology and process for engineering the functional aspects of e-contracts from high-level business-view down to implementation layer based on this framework, illustrated with an investment example. The framework allows an e-contract to be seamlessly defined and enacted. The framework is modeled in UML.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Computer Science, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Clear Water Bay, Kowloon, Hong Kong

    Shing-Chi Cheung & Sven Till

  2. Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Chinese University of Hong Kong Shatin, NT, Hong Kong

    Dickson K. W. Chiu

Authors
  1. Shing-Chi Cheung
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  2. Dickson K. W. Chiu
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  3. Sven Till
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Oracle Corporation, 500 Oracle Parkway, Redwood Shores, CA, 94065, USA

    Christoph Bussler

  2. Bell Labs, Lucent Technologies, 600 Mountain Avenue, Room 2D-510, Murray Hill, NJ, 07974, USA

    Richard Hull

  3. Department of Computer Science, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, 94305-9020, USA

    Sheila McIlraith

  4. School of Info. Technology and Elec. Engineering, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Qld 4072, Australia

    Maria E. Orlowska

  5. Department of Electronic and Information Science, Politecnico di Milano, Piazza Leonardo da Vinci 32, 20133, Milan, Italy

    Barbara Pernici

  6. Infolab, Tilburg University, PO Box 90153, 5000, LE Tilburg, The Netherlands

    Jian Yang

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© 2002 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Cheung, SC., Chiu, D.K.W., Till, S. (2002). A Three-Layer Framework for Cross-Organizational e-Contract Enactment. In: Bussler, C., Hull, R., McIlraith, S., Orlowska, M.E., Pernici, B., Yang, J. (eds) Web Services, E-Business, and the Semantic Web. WES 2002. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 2512. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-36189-8_7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-36189-8_7

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-540-00198-0

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-540-36189-3

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