Lucien Vincent

An Approach for the Evaluation of the Agility in the Context of Enterprise Interoperability

Today the concept of agility has become popular and is still growing in popularity in the management and technology literatures. How do we really define an agile information system? How do we know if an information system is agile? And how do we evaluate the agility in the context of enterprise information systems? This paper tries to answer some of these questions. It precisely aims to present the concept of agility of information systems and also provides an approach for the evaluation of this agility, namely POIRE approach that evaluates the agility as an amalgamation function that combines the agility measure of five complementary aspects that are Process, Organizational, Informational, Resource and Environmental aspects. Finally, this paper studies the role of interoperability in achieving agility and also the rapprochement of the concept of interoperability with the concept of agility.

CWSC4EC: how to employ context, web service, and community in enterprise collaboration

Web services are becoming an essential support for inter-enterprise collaborative business process. Nevertheless, in spite of the crucial progress in Web service technologies there is some shortage especially in the discovery and selection phase. In fact, Web services are selected based on functional criteria. But, in the case of business process collaboration there is a need to consider more pragmatic criteria such as context parameters. In this work we present a framework for collaboration process creation. It enables Web services selection based on contextual description. For this end, we present a novel categorization for the context suitable to the inter-enterprise collaboration. The context categorization is represented using a flexible and dynamic ontology-based model. In order to enhance Web service selection and to improve the manageability of a high number of Web services, we use the community concept in order to gather specific domain Web services. The presented framework uses abstract templates called Goal templates to insure an abstract description of required web services. Goal templates gather both functional and contextual parameters used to select suitable services.

Exploiting semantic web services in achieving flexible application integration in the microelectronics field

Nowadays, semantic integration constitutes an important approach to deal with heterogeneity within large and dynamic enterprises. Currently, the existing solutions are mainly based on the use of some standards and also middlewares in order to overcome the integration problem. These solutions generally fail as they do not scale to large number of applications and also fail as they do not provide more flexibility and agility. Here, solutions based on semantic web services are promising and they are being actively researched. The paper outlines the potential role that these technologies can offer in solving some key challenges such as semantic mediation and interoperation. In particular, the paper proposes a flexible approach called ODSOI (Ontology-Driven Service-Oriented Integration) that combines both service-oriented architectures and ontologies and that aims to deal correctly with some application integration issues.

A Framework for Semantic Enterprise Integration

Nowadays, Enterprise Integration (EI) constitutes a real and growing need for most of enterprises, especially for large and dynamic ones. It constitutes the main approach to deal with heterogeneity, and particularly to deal with semantic heterogeneity, which it forms the crucial problem of EI. This last problem is not correctly addressed by today’s EI solutions that focus mainly on the technical and syntactical integration. Addressing the semantic aspect will promote EI by providing it more consistency and flexibility. Some efforts are suggested to solve the semantic problem at different level, but they are still not mature. Here, solutions based on service-oriented architectures and semantic web are promoted as nirvana of the integration problem, and they are being actively researched. The paper will outline the potential role that semantic web technologies can offer in solving some key challenges such as semantic mediation. In particular, the paper will propose a flexible approach called ODSOI (Ontology-Driven Service-Oriented Integration) that aims to extend the state-of-the-art in EI, especially in EAI (Enterprise Application Integration), in order to address the semantic problem.

Collaborative network with SMEs providing a backbone for urban PSS: a model and initial sustainability analysis

High-technology Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) have regularly shown their capacities for creating and developing innovative services. However, their reduced size often confines them to vertical applications and limits the possibilities for broader development. Strategies grouping SMEs into collaborative networks are possible but sometimes need a strong leader to ensure credibility. On the other hand, large integrator–operators cannot be proficient in all the necessary domains, particularly when applications move very fast. They very much need the diversity and the dynamics of these SMEs to provide service packages with a common service backbone. Uniting the different actors is a challenge displaying good promises from various perspectives including sustainability. However, it is necessary that the links between the different partners and their corresponding activities be correctly represented in a model to be understood. This article proposes a new model for activities and processes in firms collaborating together in a network. A clearer understanding of the organisation acquired with the model, which is then used to discuss sustainability issues within the network.

A Multi-layer Framework for Virtual Organizations Creation in Breeding Environment

Nowadays collaboration among organizations in the so called Virtual Organizations (VOs) is the most advanced form to make business. Their emergence and growing are closely related to integrated information and communication technology (ICT). One of the promising approaches to carry out the agility and flexibility in VO creation is defined under the assumption of a VO Breeding Environment (VBE). To support such agile organizations, an efficient IT system and methodologies should be set in order to facilitate their daily management activities. Service-oriented software technologies provide promising means to regulate and enforce coordination of cross-organisational business services interactions but lack organizational abstractions and methodology. This paper proposes a framework for collaborative network coordination in the VBEs’s context. The proposed framework satisfies flexibility and agility requirements of virtual organization using a multi layer approach combining VBE management systems layer that assist flexible VO creation, a semantic interoperability layer essential for promoting integration on the basis of common language that describe VO concepts and inherent dependencies, and a service oriented layer that introduces the concept of service domain that encapsulates business processes fitting VO requirements.

An Aspect Oriented Approach for Context-Aware Service Domain Adapted to E-Business

This paper proposes an architecture for a high-level structure called Service Domain which orchestrates a set a of related IT services based on BPEL specification. Service Domain was developed to enhance the Web service concept to suit e-business collaboration. Service Domains are developed to be context aware. Our approach highlights the benefits of bringing Aspect Oriented Programming to ensure context aware services. Thus, context awareness is guaranteed by enhancing BPEL execution using Aspect oriented paradigms. The proposed approach is illustrated with a running example that shows how Service Domain presents different behaviours according to the context changes.

Towards a Modelling Framework for Networks of SMEs

Networks of SMEs can be seen as particular instantiations of the virtual enterprise concept. Due to the reactivity and flexibility abilities required by this emerging organisation, modelling frameworks need to be adapted. For this purpose, a diagnostic-based framework, able to capture the organisational evolutions is proposed and connected to traditional modelling approaches so that configuration models and strategic scenarii can be integrated.

Modeling Adaptable Business Service for Enterprise Collaboration

Nowadays, a Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) seems to be one of the most promising paradigms for leveraging enterprise information systems. SOA creates opportunities for enterprises to provide value added service tailored for on demand enterprise collaboration. With the emergence and rapid development of Web services technologies, SOA is being paid increasing attention and has become widespread. In spite of the popularity of SOA, a standardized framework for modeling and implementing business services are still in progress. For the purpose of supporting these service-oriented solutions, we adopt a model driven development approach. This paper outlines the Contextual Service Oriented Modeling and Analysis (CSOMA) methodology and presents UML profiles for the PIM level service-oriented architectural modeling, as well as its corresponding meta-models. The proposed PIM (Platform Independent Model) describes the business SOA at a high level of abstraction regardless of techniques involved in the application employment. In addition, all essential service-specific concerns required for delivering quality and context-aware service are covered. Some of the advantages of this approach are that it is generic and thus not closely allied with Web service technology as well as specifically treating the service adaptability during the design stage.

Context-Aware Data and IT Services Collaboration in E-Business

This paper discusses the use of services in the design and development of adaptable business processes, which should let organizations quickly react to changes in regulations and needs. Two types of services are adopted namely Data and Information Technology. A data service is primarily used to hide the complexity of accessing distributed and heterogeneous data sources, while an information technology service is primarily used to hide the complexity of running requests that cross organizational boundaries. The combination of both services takes place under the control of another service, which is denoted by service domain. A service domain orchestrates and manages data and information technology services in response to the events that arise and changes that occur. This happens because service domains are sensible to context. Policies and aspect-oriented programming principles support the exercise of packaging data and information technology services into service domains as well as making service domains adapt to business changes.