Andreas Schönberger

Translating shared state based ebXML BPSS models to WS-BPEL

In the Business-to-Business integration (B2Bi) domain, ebXML BPSS (ebBP) as dedicated B2Bi choreography standard is well-suited as means for agreement upon the overall message exchanges among integration partners while executable WS-BPEL orchestrations derived from ebBP choreographies are well-suited for governing the local message flow of each individual participant. In order to enable complex integration scenarios, this paper introduces the concept of partner-shared states into ebBP. We describe the modelling of shared states in ebBP and specify the formalisation and operational semantics of shared state-based ebBP models. A prototypic translation tool provides the realisation of the operational semantics as WS-BPEL orchestrations.

Edit distance-based pattern support assessment of orchestration languages

Orchestration languages are of paramount importance when implementing business processes based on services. Several languages for specifying Web Services-based orchestrations are available today. Examples are the Web Services Business Process Execution Language or WindowsWorkflow. Patterns for process-aware information systems have frequently been used to assess such languages. Various studies discuss the degree of support such languages provide for certain sets of patterns. However, the traditional trivalent support measure is limited in terms of granularity and selectivity. This paper proposes an edit distance complexity measure that allows to overcome these issues. The applicability of this measure is demonstrated by an analysis of several orchestration languages using four different pattern catalogs.

Visualizing B2Bi choreographies

The implementation of cross-organizational processes in the context of Business-to-Business integration (B2Bi) requires extensive communication between all interacting parties and adequate solutions for the integration of existing IT systems. In the SOA domain, choreography languages have been put forward for the specification of the publicly visible message exchange sequences of interacting parties. Choreography models serve as basis for communication between stakeholders and as reference for aligning business services which is a core SOA concept. However, visual choreography modeling guidelines that are both, tailored to B2Bi and unambiguous in semantics, have not been proposed so far. This paper fills in this gap by showing how BPMN choreography notation can be used to represent so-called B2Bi choreographies with unambiguous semantics. The work has been validated by a series of real-world use cases of the RosettaNet community and has been accepted by the RosettaNet Message Control and Choreography team as core part of a RosettaNet standard.

The CHORCH B2Bi Approach: Performing ebBP Choreographies as Distributed BPEL Orchestrations

Applying choreography and orchestration technology has become a popular method of attacking Business-2-Business integration (B2Bi) challenges like agreement and communication among integration partners, compatibility of interacting processes and distributed computing. ebXML BPSS (ebBP) as dedicated B2Bi choreography standard and WS-BPEL as number one Web service orchestration language are particularly promising technologies. While ebBP can be used as means for agreement and communication among integration partners WS-BPEL and Web services can be used to solve distributed computing issues. The CHORCH approach applies model driven development to the ebBP-BPEL tool chain in order to further foster conformance of WS-BPEL orchestrations to ebBP choreographies, compatibility of interacting WS-BPEL processes and efficient software development cycles. This paper introduces 10 requirements for applying choreography and orchestration technology to B2Bi and shows how these are reflected in the CHORCH approach by applying three different types of ebBP modeling flavors.

Towards Executing ebBP-Reg B2Bi Choreographies

Applying choreography and orchestration technology to Business-to-Business integration (B2Bi) scenarios has become a popular technique for very good reasons. Choreography descriptions can be used to capture B2Biscenarios from a global and abstract perspective while orchestrations then can be used to specify the local implementation of each integration partner. ebXML BPSS(ebBP) is a prominent B2Bi choreography standard with very helpful domain-specific concepts, but clear guidelines for creating executable choreographies are missing. In order to create ebBP models that are both adequateand executable, expressiveness, comprehensibility and standard-conformance have to be weighed up. In this paper, we introduce ebBP-Reg as an ebBP modeling flavor that is designed such that ebBP-Reg choreographies are executable as WS-BPEL orchestrations. At the same time, ebBP-Reg models strictly conform to the ebBP standard and support concurrency and decomposition. We characterize syntactic validity of ebBP-Reg models by means of language production rules and show how instances of ebBP-Reg can be implemented using WS-BPEL.

QoS-Enabled Business-to-Business Integration Using ebBP to WS-BPEL Translations

Business-To-Business Integration (B2Bi) is a key mechanism for enterprises to gain competitive advantage. However,developing B2Bi applications is far from trivial. Inter alia,agreement among integration partners about the business documents and the control flow of business document exchanges, applying suitable communication technologies for overcoming heterogeneous IT landscapes as well as ensuring a Quality of Service (QoS) level that is sufficient for B2Bi are major challenges.In this context, applying choreography languages like ebXML BPSS (ebBP) for agreement among integration partners, orchestration languages like WS-BPEL for specifying partner-specific behavior, and Web Services for communication promises seamless interactions among business partners. In this scenario, the conformance of orchestration models to choreography models and cost-effective development are of paramount importance.Consequently, top-down approaches that automatically translate choreography models into orchestration models have been proposed.By now, the realization of QoS attributes has not yet received the necessary attention that makes such approaches suitable for B2Bi. In this paper, we describe a proof-of-concept implementation of a translation of ebBP choreographies into WS-BPEL orchestrations that respects B2Bi relevant QoS attributes.

Using Variable Communication Technologies for Realizing Business Collaborations

In today’s business world, enterprises are not only using WebServices for implementing B2Bi. Instead, AS2 for realizingInternet based EDI, ebXML Messaging and even SMTP andFTP are used for exchanging business documents. HarmonizingB2Bi communication technology in a way that solelyuses Web Services is barely an option for large enterprises asthis would result in losing investments in existing IT systems.Moreover, forcing a specific communication technology uponall business partners is neither intended nor realistic inpractice. At the same time, existing business documentexchanges frequently only implement B2Bi scenarios partly.This paper focuses on a method for composing existing andnew business document exchanges without replacing communicationtechnology already in use. First, ebXML BPSSis proposed for describing the choreography of businessdocument exchanges in a technology agnostic way. Second,ebXML CPPA is used to define messaging characteristics atthe level of ebBP BusinessTransactions. Third, an integrationarchitecture for performing ebXML BPSS choreographiesusing BPEL processes that execute each integration partner’smessage exchanges is proposed. These BPEL processesassume Web service wrappers for reusing the functionalityof messaging systems that are responsible for performingthe actual business document exchanges and for providingsufficient status information to the caller. Different messagingsystems then can be used for incorporating variablecommunication technologies in business collaborations.

A Model-Driven Approach for Monitoring ebBP BusinessTransactions

ebXML BPSS (ebBP) is well-suited to specify Business-to-Business (B2B) interactions as choreographies of so-called Business Transactions. Web Services and WS-BPEL as dedicated interface technologies then can be used to provide the implementation of such choreographies. Tracking and ensuring the progress of choreographies calls for monitoring facilities that require gathering information from log data of the runtime systems that execute WS-BPEL processes. However, the information provided by WS-BPEL monitoring tools is fine-granular so that information about the actual progress in terms of choreographies must be extracted manually. Our approach streamlines the monitoring of ebBP Business Transactions leveraging model-driven engineering. First, hierarchical communicating automata are used to formalize Business Transactions. Second, WS-BPEL implementations of these automata are derived such that monitoring events are propagated to a monitoring service whenever a transition of the underlying automaton fires. Third, the monitoring service translates the monitoring events into choreography progress by visually highlighting the active and visited states within the hierarchical automata. It thus presents a user-friendly model that abstracts from the details of the implementing WS-BPEL processes. This makes tracking the current state of choreographies accessible to business users.

Introducing partner shared states into ebBP to WS-BPEL translations

Business-to-Business integration (B2Bi) as a core concept of Supply Chain Management (SCM) is a key success factor for enterprises today. Frequently, choreography models are used for agreeing about the overall message exchanges among integration partners, while orchestration models are used to specify the local message flow of each individual participant. Choreography standards like ebXML BPSS (ebBP) and orchestration standards like WS-BPEL have been developed which promise to provide standards based support for interoperability among integration partners. Further, the translation of ebBP models to WS-BPEL models has been proposed in order to ensure, among others, conformance of orchestrations to choreographies. This paper focuses on the agreement function of choreography models and introduces the concept of partner-shared-states to ebBP models in order to better capture the effect of business document exchanges. The translation of a restricted set of partner-shared-state based ebBP models to WS-BPEL has been implemented in order to prove the feasibility of the approach. The resulting WS-BPEL processes are used to guarantee an order of message exchanges that is choreography-compliant, while a backend services interface encapsulating business logic is used for providing the control process with business documents, business decisions and events. The overall approach is evaluated using a Roset-taNet PIP based use case.

Sequential composition of multi-party choreographies

For Business-To-Business (B2Bi) scenarios, the application of choreography and orchestration technology has become a core technique for resolving discrepancies between the interaction logic of individual partners and the intended overall message flow. While orchestrations govern the message exchanges of each single partner, choreographies define constraints and requirements for the message flow between all partners. Using choreographies, B2Bi scenarios can be analyzed from a global perspective before the business services of the integration partners for implementing orchestrations are developed. So far, B2Bi choreographies mostly have been binary, i.e., performed by exactly two partners. This paper shows how multi-party B2Bi choreographies can be composed from binary choreographies, how the multi-party perspective lends itself to attacking the so-called partial termination problem and how projections for the individual partners can be derived.