Ana Inês Oliveira

Towards a framework for creation of dynamic virtual organizations

Effectiveness of the virtual organization (VO) creation process is the base for the possibility of having truly dynamic VOs in response to collaboration opportunities. A realistic approach to materialize agility in VO creation is the assumption of a VO Breeding Environment. In this context, a discussion of the process and suggested functionalities towards a VO creation framework are presented.

A framework for computer-assisted creation of dynamic virtual organisations

Being able to rapidly react to a collaboration opportunity (CO) in the fast changing market conditions is a key requirement for dynamic virtual organisations (VOs). One way to make the process of VO creation agile is assuming a context of a virtual organisation breeding environment (VBE), which operates like an alliance of organisations, guaranteeing the preparedness of its members to engage in dynamic virtual organisations to rapidly respond to a collaboration opportunity. The process for VO creation discussed here consists of a computer assisted framework to aid organisations namely in finding suitable collaboration opportunities and characterise them; making a plan for the VO that fulfils the CO requirements; and finding the right partners to accomplish the necessary actions. All these tasks are accompanied by a negotiation process either in terms of selecting the best partners or in reaching agreements on the details of the VO.

A Computer-Assisted VO Creation Framework

Computer assistance in the process of creation of virtual organizations (VO) is an important condition for the possibility of having truly dynamic VOs, in response to collaboration opportunities in fast changing market contexts. A realistic approach to materialize agility in VO creation is defined with the assumption of a VO Breeding Environment (VBE) that guarantees the preparedness of its members to quickly get engaged in collaboration processes. A discussion of the process and a set of key functionalities towards a VO creation framework are presented in this context. The approach, architecture, and first results with such tools are described and challenges for future research are identified.

Contract Negotiation Wizard for VO Creation

The establishment of collaboration commitments, represented by contracts or agreements, is a crucial step in a virtual organization (VO) creation process. The contract negotiation shall proceed in parallel with the other phases of the VO creation process, namely preparatory planning, consortia formation, and VO launching. In each step specific elements for the contract / agreement are collected as a result of a focused negotiation processes. The specifications for a contract negotiation wizard in this context are proposed.

Electronic Negotiation Support Environment in Collaborative Networks

In the current economic turbulence, it is crucial for companies and organizations to attain strategic alliances to respond to new business or collaboration opportunities. Besides the importance of understanding the structures and requirements of such alliances, it is also of extreme importance that the process of negotiation to create those alliances is properly modeled so that the elements that constitute the alliance agreements are accurately represented and the involved risks are mitigated. With this aim, this paper outlines the main requirements of an electronic negotiation support environment in a collaborative network, including a brief analysis of how it can help in reducing the risk potential, considering the relevance of the expectations of the involved partners, and highlighting the importance of a technological support environment.

Collaborative Business Scenarios in a Service-enhanced Products Ecosystem

Effective support to highly customized and service-enhanced products along their life cycle requires new organizational structures, involving the manufacturers, customers and local suppliers in a process of co-creation and co-innovation. In order to properly develop supporting infrastructures, tools and governance models, it is necessary to first identify representative business scenarios which enable individual requirements to be viewed in relation to one another in the context of the overall use case / target domain. In this context, a set of relevant business scenarios derived from the requirements of the solar energy domain are identified and discussed.

Agreement negotiation support in virtual organisation creation–an illustrative case

In the actual market conditions, where it is essential to rapidly respond to business opportunities that might emerge, the concept of virtual organisation (VO) appears particularly well suited. The possibility of rapidly forming a VO to respond to a business or collaboration opportunity gives companies an expression of agility and survival mechanisms in the face of market turbulence. Nevertheless, in the process of VO creation, the negotiation among partners is essential. It is of extreme importance to have an environment where all potential partners can come together and negotiate the necessary topics towards an agreement to regulate the consortium behaviour. Through this environment it should be possible to conduct and manage the VO negotiation process, reach agreements and commitments among partners, enclose necessary documentation, specify partners’ rights and duties, etc. To accomplish such environment, a negotiation wizard is proposed. An illustrative scenario of an agreement negotiation in a multicultural context is presented showing the applicability of the wizard.

Agreement Negotiation Wizard

Negotiation is a critical activity that encompasses all stages of the virtual organization (VO) creation process. Particularly, negotiations are needed during the selection of partners, determination of their roles and task allocation, definition of the operating conditions of the VO, etc. A synthesis of the results of the negotiation activity can be represented by an agreement among the partners that will participate in the VO. In order to reach such agreement, a negotiation wizard is proposed. Assisted by this wizard, users will be able to access an environment which allows them to negotiate the specific topics of the new VO, either in a safe bilateral way or in a multiparty context.

Care services ecosystem for ambient assisted living

Effective provision of care and assistance services in ambient assisted living requires the involvement and collaboration of multiple stakeholders. To support such collaboration, the development of an ecosystem of products and services for active ageing plays an important role. This article introduces a conceptual architecture that supports such care ecosystem. In order to facilitate understanding and better interrelate concepts, a 3-layered model is adopted: Infrastructure layer, Care and assistance services layer and Ambient Assisted Living ecosystem layer. A holistic perspective of ambient assisted living, namely considering four important life settings is adopted: (1) independent living; (2) health and care in life; (3) occupation in life and (4) recreation in life. The proposed architecture is designed in the context of a national Portuguese project and in accordance with the findings of a large European road mapping initiative on ICT and ageing.

Collaborative Business Services Provision

The association of services to manufactured products, leading to service-enhanced products, is an important mechanism for value creation and differentiation. This is particularly relevant in the case of complex, highly customized and long-life products. Suitable servicing in this context typically requires the collaboration among multiple stakeholders. Furthermore, the involvement of the customer is not limited to service consumption but rather includes contributions to new services design and configuration. As such, this paper contributes to the clarification of concepts and definition of a framework for collaborative business services design (co-creation) and delivery. Application examples are illustrated for the solar energy sector.