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Upgradeability Concept for Collaborative Blockchain-Based Business Process Execution Framework

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Blockchain – ICBC 2020 (ICBC 2020)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNSC,volume 12404))

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Abstract

Inter-organizational business processes involve different independent participants to interact with each other to run a collaborative business process. To date, central, trusted third parties mediate between non-trusting participants adding additional process complexity as well as administrative and run costs. Recent research showed that Blockchain and Smart Contracts can replace the role of a central trusted authority in collaborative execution of processes. Smart Contracts, that represent business process logic, cannot be altered due to immutability constraints of Blockchain systems. Yet, with the help of advanced technical upgradeability concepts, upgrading contracts, therefore enabling versioning of processes on a Blockchain is possible. This paper analyzes and implements three different upgradeability concepts. The implemented patterns are evaluated with regard to an existing blockchain-based execution framework for inter-organizational business processes. Our findings suggest the Unstructured Storage Proxy pattern to be the most promising for practical use, especially regarding cost-effectiveness and minimal added complexity. The findings are derived from simulations on a real-world use case stemming from a large German electronics manufacturing company.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Lange Gasse 20, 90403, Nuremberg, Germany

    Philipp Klinger, Long Nguyen & Freimut Bodendorf

Authors
  1. Philipp Klinger
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  2. Long Nguyen
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  3. Freimut Bodendorf
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Philipp Klinger .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Mercy College, Dobbs Ferry, NY, USA

    Zhixiong Chen

  2. Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, China

    Laizhong Cui

  3. University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, USA

    Balaji Palanisamy

  4. Kingdee International Software Group Co, Ltd., Shenzhen, China

    Liang-Jie Zhang

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Klinger, P., Nguyen, L., Bodendorf, F. (2020). Upgradeability Concept for Collaborative Blockchain-Based Business Process Execution Framework. In: Chen, Z., Cui, L., Palanisamy, B., Zhang, LJ. (eds) Blockchain – ICBC 2020. ICBC 2020. Lecture Notes in Computer Science(), vol 12404. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-59638-5_9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-59638-5_9

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-59637-8

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-59638-5

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