Zbigniew Paszkiewicz

MAPSS, a Multi-Aspect Partner and Service Selection Method

In Service-Oriented Virtual Organization Breeding Environments (SOVOBEs), services performed by people, organizations and information systems are composed in potentially complex business processes performed by a set of partners. In a SOVOBE, the success of a virtual organization depends largely on the partner and service selection process, which determines the composition of services performed by the VO partners. In this paper requirements for a partner and service selection method for SOVOBEs are defined and a novel Multi-Aspect Partner and Service Selection method, MAPSS, is presented. The MAPSS method allows a VO planner to select appropriate services and partners based on their competences and their relations with other services/partners. The MAPSS method relies on a genetic algorithm to select the most appropriate set of partners and services.

Modeling Virtual Organization Architecture with the Virtual Organization Breeding Methodology

While Enterprise Architecture Modeling (EAM) methodologies become more and more popular, an EAM methodology tailored to the needs of virtual organizations (VO) is still to be developed. Among the most popular EAM methodologies, TOGAF has been chosen as the basis for a new EAM methodology taking into account characteristics of VOs presented in this paper. In this new methodology, referred as Virtual Organization Breeding Methodology (VOBM), concepts developed within the ECOLEAD project, e.g. the concept of Virtual Breeding Environment (VBE) or the VO creation schema, serve as fundamental elements for development of VOBM. VOBM is a generic methodology that should be adapted to a given VBE. VOBM defines the structure of VBE and VO architectures in a service-oriented environment, as well as an architecture development method for virtual organizations (ADM4VO). Finally, a preliminary set of tools and methods for VOBM is given in this paper.

Process Mining Techniques in Conformance Testing of Inventory Processes: An Industrial Application

Contemporary business information systems record business events in event logs. Process mining techniques permit to explore these logs to understand and analyze processes. Although, there are a number of case studies demonstrating usefulness of process mining techniques in real-life case studies, process conformance check techniques miss such practical evaluation. Also the commercial tools have not been tested for complementarity with the widely used academic tool ProM Framework in context of conformance check. In this paper an application of process conformance check techniques in a production company is described. Using a variety of techniques, an inventory processes supported by Warehouse Management System (WMS) have been analyzed. In particular, special attention has been put on Product Management process. The goal of this paper is to demonstrate the applicability of conformance check techniques to quality management in a production company. Both academic and commercial tools are used and evaluated in terms of efficiency and complementarity with each other.

Reference Model for Performance Management in Service-Oriented Virtual Organization Breeding Environments

Performance management (PM) is a key function of virtual organization (VO) management. A large set of PM indicators has been proposed and evaluated within the context of virtual breeding environments (VBEs). However, it is currently difficult to describe and select suitable PM indicators because of the lack of a common vocabulary and taxonomies of PM indicators. Therefore, there is a need for a framework unifying concepts in the domain of VO PM. In this paper, a reference model for VO PM is presented in the context of service-oriented VBEs. In the proposed reference model, both a set of terms that could be used to describe key performance indicators, and a set of taxonomies reflecting various aspects of PM are proposed. The proposed reference model is a first attempt and a work in progress that should not be supposed exhaustive.

Application of the Service-Oriented Architecture at the Inter-Organizational Level

In this chapter, flexibility and adaptation of collaborative processes occurring among organizations by applying the Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) at the inter-organizational level are considered. First, an in-depth rationale for a service-oriented approach to inter-organizational collaboration is presented. The need for SOA at the inter-organizational level is explained by the ubiquity of services and the economically legitimated need of organizations to collaborate to gain and retain competitive advantage. Second, two SOA-based methods are proposed: the CMEAP method supporting flexibility, and a method for adaptation of service protocols supporting process adaptation. The CMEAP method allows administrative procedures to be automatically composed in a flexible manner, based on modeling legislative provisions in a form of elementary processes, decision rules, and domain ontology. The proposed method for adaptation of service protocols allows collaborators to modify the process model ruling their collaboration at run time, taking into account their social relations. Third, two prototype systems, the PEOPA platform and the ErGo system, implementing the proposed methods for the needs of the collaborators of the construction sector are detailed. Finally, a case study illustrates how the prototype systems may support the construction processes.

Modeling competences in Service-Oriented Virtual Organization Breeding Environments

Support for organization competences is an important function of Virtual Organization Breeding Environments (VOBEs), allowing VOBE members to publish and consult about the activities they may perform. In Service-Oriented VOBEs (SOVOBEs), organized systematically around the concept of services, existing competence models should be extended to support the service-orientation of SOVOBEs. In this paper, a refinement of the 4-C competence model is presented. The main enhancements consist of 1) the redefinition of the concept of a service as regards competences 2) a clear distinction of the relations between activities, services, capabilities and competences, and 3) the introduction of contextual capabilities.

Computer supported contractor selection for public administration ventures

Ventures undertaken by public administration significantly contribute to development of economy. Such ventures are usually complex, so they require effective collaboration of a number of autonomous organizations. To face the challenge of efficient cooperation, public administration should adopt the model of Virtual Organizations (VO). A key phase in each VO life-cycle is selection of partners which in case of public administration takes a form of public auctions. In this paper a Collaborative Contractor Selection method, denoted C-CS, is proposed to support selection of contractors for a portfolio of public ventures. In the C-CS method a number of requirements are considered associated with contractor offer properties, contractor competences, and social relationships among them. The selection is performed step by step as successive ventures are performed. If justified, the selection is done in collaboration between administrative units and potential contractors. The C-CS method provides an opportunity for better computer support of public auctions leading to more efficient and effective realization of public administration ventures.

Computer-Supported Collaboration of SMEs in Transnational Market

The role of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the economic and social development of the advanced and developing countries is well established. SMEs operating in a transnational market must constantly adapt to changing and turbulent organizational environment and search for new possibilities of gaining competitive advantage. To face this challenge, SMEs base their operation on collaboration within virtual organizations (VOs). VO operation is based on collaborative processes. Due to dynamism and required flexibility of collaborative processes, existing business information systems are insufficient to efficiently support them. In this article, a novel RMV method for supporting collaborative processes based on process mining techniques is proposed. The RMV method allows activity patterns in various instances of collaborative processes to be identified and used for recommendation of activities. This method provides an opportunity for better computer support of collaborative processes leading to more efficient and effective cooperation of small and medium-sized enterprises.