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

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Abstract

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.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Dickson Computer Systems, 7A Victory Avenue, 4th Floor, Homantin, Kowloon, Hong Kong

    Dickson K.W. Chiu

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

    S.C. Cheung & Sven Till

  3. International Institute of Information Technology, Gachibowli, Hyderabad, 500 019, India

    Kamalakar Karlapalem

  4. Department of Computer Engineering and Information Technology, City University of Hong Kong, Tat Chee Avenue, Kowloon, Hong Kong

    Qing Li

  5. Department of Marketing and Communications, Athens University of Economics and Business, Athens, Greece

    Eleanna Kafeza

Authors
  1. Dickson K.W. Chiu
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  2. S.C. Cheung
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  3. Sven Till
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  4. Kamalakar Karlapalem
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  5. Qing Li
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  6. Eleanna Kafeza
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Dickson K.W. Chiu.

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Chiu, D.K., Cheung, S., Till, S. et al. Workflow View Driven Cross-Organizational Interoperability in a Web Service Environment. Information Technology and Management 5, 221–250 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1023/B:ITEM.0000031580.57966.d4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/B:ITEM.0000031580.57966.d4

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