Albert Bokma

ONAR: An Ontologies-based Service Oriented Application Integration Framework

The evolving technologies of Semantic Web and Web services are providing new means for application integration frameworks. The need for semantically enriched information exchange over the flexible environment of the internet provides a valuable enhancement to traditional methods and technologies for Enterprise Application Integration. However the utilization of the Semantic Web and Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) is not as straightforward as it appears and has specific limitations and inefficiencies due to the fact that is was not originally designed for that purpose. This paper presents a methodology that aims at the exploitation of these two technologies and the definition of an ontologies based enterprise application integration framework (ONAR).

Ontologies within extended enterprises

The notion of supply chains has been current for some time in the literature and in practice. Recently, this has been extended to consider so-called extended enterprises. The paper considers extensible ontologies as a principle for integrated information and knowledge management and for knowledge sharing. Providing links between companies for the purpose of supporting extended products requires a degree of information and knowledge sharing that that is not adequately addressed by current ERP systems. The paper considers some of these issues and indicates an approach being explored within the context of a research project funded by the European Commission.

Partner Evaluation and Selection in Virtual Enterprises Using a Profile Theory Based Approach

Virtual enterprises have been widely promoted as a new business paradigm that will allow participants from several organisations to jointly respond to business opportunities that would have been beyond the reach of them individually. Several reference models have been proposed that address issues such as the co-ordination and management of virtual enterprises, but are missing a crucial element, namely the prior evaluation of the potential for success, based on the resources brought together by the participating organisations. What is required is a systematic approach, which will provide for selection and evaluation of participants in order to form viable virtual enterprises. This paper discusses the importance of capability and compatibility factors of the candidate companies that wish to join a virtual enterprise. An approach has been developed and is presented here together with the results of an evaluation.

CogNet: Integrated information and knowledge management and its use in virtual organisations

As the amount of information that individuals and organisations have to deal with on a daily basis increases dramatically, new ways of information management are needed. The individual needs to effectively manage large collections of information and associated knowledge that builds up around these collections as well as to effectively share these collections of information and the knowledge with others in a collaborative environment. Current information management strategies in our view are inadequate for more intuitive browsing of information and knowledge. An innovative approach to personal information and knowledge management and sharing, based on conceptual organising principles is presented and which will support flexible working environments and help individuals to effectively share information and knowledge in the virtual organisation.

Process support for virtual projects in the construction sector

The construction sector has for some time been working in a virtual enterprise fashion but with little technological support. As pressures are increasing in the industry to improve on cost-effectiveness and quality there is a growing need for adequate process support. Currently available process support technologies tend to be difficult and time-consuming to set up to support such projects and are therefore not very practical despite their potential benefits. The paper reports on current research into a user operated process design approach that will allow the easy generation of process support tailored to a particular project and which will generate the infrastructure of a virtual enterprise for a given construction project and help manage the project execution phase.

From Patient Information Services to Patient Guidance Services-The iCare Approach

The provision of the Health services in the EU despite the evolvement of ICT follows a rather traditional path were the patient is totally dependable from his/hers doctors seeking guidance for every decision he/she needs to take related to his/her condition. The vision of the iCare approach is to provide better support to patients from the comfort of their home. This paper presents a new innovative approach to improve Patient Guidance Services (PGS). iCare approach takes full advantage of Semantic Web technologies and IoT and provides a new approach that would put the demands of the patient in the center and exploiting the available sources it will offer patient guidance services reducing dramatically the patient dependency from his/her doctors.

Information and Knowledge Management: Dilemmas and Directions

As the amount of information that individuals and organisations have to deal with on a day-by-day basis increases dramatically, new ways of information management are needed. This need manifests itself both in the need of the individual to effectively manage large collections of information and associated knowledge that builds up around these collections as well as the need to effectively share these collections of information and the knowledge with others in a collaborative environment. Current information management strategies in our view tend to be search-based and are inadequate for more intuitive browsing of information and knowledge. The paper introduces the dilemmas and presents an innovative approach to the management of documents and associated knowledge. The paper will present the use case and sketches a solution that will provide an intuitive, user-oriented solution and the benefits resulting.

Tomorrow’s company reporting ‐ Stakeholder dialogue in the digital age

The end of the millennium is a useful time to stop and reflect, to review and maybe to ask some big questions. This paper asks a very big question indeed for the accountancy profession ‐ ‘What might corporate reporting look like in the 21st Century ?’ This paper looks at issues surrounding the likely future of corporate reporting in the digital age. The Royal Society of Arts Tomorrow’s Company Inquiry (1995) is used as a possible model of corporate information needs in the next millennia. The implications of the model for corporate accounting and information systems are examined. A move from shareholder reporting, to stakeholder reporting and finally to stakeholder dialogue is envisaged. The model raises a number of problems and the use of digital technology is considered as a partial solution to some of these problems.

Modeling enterprise dependency networks using an object oriented paradigm

The vast amount of information related to industrial sectors makes modeling seem an impossible task. On top of that, there is a need to consider the nature of dependencies between enterprises on a supply chain network in order build a model based on a realistic view of the world. This paper describes the attempts made so far in the Department of Computing and Information Systems at the University of Sunderland to develop a model which takes into account the relationships of enterprises, as well as their effects on all the levels of operations (tactical, operational, strategic). The objective is to discuss a decision support tool which can assess the impact and the effects on a supply chain every time an enterprise enters or leaves the chain.