Silvana Castano

WIDE workflow development methodology

The development of workflows (WFs) for complex organizations to be interfaced with existing information systems requires a specific methodological approach to guarantee benefits and effectiveness of the final results. In fact, the WF should be well integrated in the organization both from the technical and the organizational point of view. While the characteristics of the Workflow Management System (WFMS) platform adopted in the implementation are relevant to establish the boundary between the workflow system and other related applications, it is also important that the analysis and design phases are developed independently of those characteristics.The WF development methodology proposed in this paper starts with an analysis phase based on UML, adopted for business process descriptions and business goals. The design phase proposes a pattern-based approach to workflow schemas design, based on the WIDE WF model. This model allows a flexible representation of the exceptions which may occur during WF execution. It also considers the interaction of the WF with external applications and information systems. Finally, the paper briefly discusses the mapping to commercial and prototype WFMSs.

Classifying and Reusing Conceptual Schemas

The paper presents a methodological approach to guide the application engineer to construct a Library of Entity-Relationship schemas, classified by means of indexing criteria and clustering techniques, and to extract reusable components from the existing selected schemas. Reusable components are defined as generic entities with associated meta-entities providing guidelines for reuse in a given application. Generic entities are derived from the analysis of the entities belonging to similar schemas within clusters of the Library. A set of reuse guidelines in form of meta-entities are given, suggesting how generic entities can be modified and tailored according to the needs of the application to be developed.

A constructive approach to reuse of conceptual components

A methodological approach to the design-for-reuse process is presented. Reusability at the conceptual design level is considered, and tools for preparing reusable components to be exploited for designing applications not from scratch, but tailoring and adapting existing components are presented. Reusable components are defined as generic components with associated metacomponents providing guidelines for reuse in a given application.<<ETX>>

Reuse of conceptual requirement specifications

A methodological approach is presented to guide the definition of reusable components to be exploited for designing applications not from scratch, but by tailoring and adapting existing components. Reusability at the requirements specification level is considered, and tools to define reusable components are illustrated. Reusable components are defined as generic components with associated meta-components providing guidelines for reuse in a given application.<<ETX>>

Building reusable components through project evolution analysis

Abstract A methodological approach apt to facilitate reuse of project components by exploiting temporal information related to actual project evolution, is presented. A temporal model is defined to represent, in a repository, project histories and reuse histories in different applications. The approach is intended to support the reuse engineer in determining candidate project components for reuse and in maintaining existing reusable components in the repository. Reusability of conceptual components, in the framework of information systems conceptual design, is considered.

Reusing Process Specifications

ABSTRACT A methodological approach to the reuse of process behavior specifications is presented, from a design-for-reuse perspective. More precisely, we present modeling and methodological tools for preparing reusable behavioral components to be exploited for designing dynamic specifications of applications not from scratch, but tailoring and adapting existing components. Reusable behavioral components are defined as generic process classes with associated meta-process classes providing guidelines for reuse in a given application.

Reuse of Object-Oriented Requirements Specifications

Characteristics of object-oriented requirement specifications are considered and a methodological approach for their reuse is presented. According to the design-for-reuse perspective, we present modeling and methodological tools for preparing reusable components to be exploited for designing applications not from scratch, but tailoring and adapting existing components. In particular, we focus on reuse of object behavior specifications. Reusable behavioral components are defined as generic process classes with associated process guideline classes providing suggestions for reuse in a given application.

Emergent Semantics and Cooperation in Multi-knowledge Communities: the ESTEEM Approach

In the present global society, information has to be exchangeable in open and dynamic environments, where interacting users do not necessarily share a common understanding of the world at hand. This is particularly true in P2P scenarios, where millions of autonomous users (peers) need to cooperate by sharing their resources (such as data and services). We propose the Esteem approach (Emergent Semantics and cooperaTion in multi-knowledgE EnvironMents), where a comprehensive framework and a platform for data and service discovery in P2P systems are proposed, with advanced solutions for trust and quality-based data management, P2P infrastructure definition, query processing and dynamic service discovery in a context-aware scenario. In Esteem, semantic communities are built around declared interests in the form of manifesto ontologies and their autonomous nature is preserved by allowing a shared semantics to naturally emerge from the peer interactions. Inside the borders of semantic communities data and services are discovered, queried and invoked in a resource sharing scenario, where the context in which users interoperate and the trust of exchanged information are also relevant aspects to take into account.