An Interoperability Approach for CCISs based on Business Objects and WorkFlows

Zakaria Maamar

Interoperability Research Group

Information System Technology Section

Defence Research Establishment Valcartier

2459 Pie-XI Blvd North, Val-Bélair QC, G3J 1X5, Canada

zakaria.maamar@drev.dnd.ca

Abstract. The paper introduces the concepts of Business Objects (BOs) and WorkFlow (WFs) for the design and development of interoperable environments. Interoperability is a process that allows cooperative interactions between several systems. These systems are distributed across networks and present incompatibilities at different levels (material, software, and terminology). Our research is applied to the IC2IS project that aims at developing an interoperable environment for Command & Control Information Systems (CCISs). The use of a single CCIS seems “easy”. However, the operation becomes much complex when several CCISs, generally distributed and heterogeneous, are required. Therefore, we intend to set up BOs to support the interoperability of these CCISs. Moreover, given the complexity of managing such CCISs, we suggest specifying the operating mode of these BOs, using WFs.

Keywords. Interoperability, Business Objects, WorkFlows, CCIS.

 

Patel , D., Sutherland, J., Miller, J., (Eds.) Business Object Design and Implementation II: OOPSLA'99 Workshop Proceedings. Springer, 1999 (full text available at the Workshop).

References

M. Baker. Workflow meets business objects. In the proceedings of OOPSLA'96 Workshop, Business Object Design and Implementation II: Business Objects as Distributed Application Components - the enterprise solution? , 1996.

BOMA. Business Object Management Group, http://www.sesh.com/Guide/BusinessObjects.html.

T. Cai, P. Gloor, and S. Nog. Dartflow: A workflow management system on the web using transportable agents. Technical report, PCS-TR96-283, Department of Computer Science,

  Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH 03755, 1996.

D. Chess, G. Harrison, and A. Kershenbaum. Mobile agents: Are they a good idea? Technical report, IBM Research Division, RC 19887, 1994.

R. Davis and R.G. Smith. Negotiation as a metaphor for distributed problem solving. Artificial Intelligence, 20:63--109, 1983.

P. Eeles and O. Sims. Building Business Objects. John Wiley, 1998.

D. Georgakopoulos, M. Hornick, and A. Sheth. An overview of workflow management: From process modeling to workflow automation infrastructure. Distributed and Parallel Database, 3:119-153, 1995.

T.R. Gruber and G.R. Olsen. An ontology for engineering mathematics. In J. Doyle, P. Torasso, and E. Sandewall, editors, the proceedings of Fourth International Conference on Principles of Knowledge Representation and Reasoning. Morgan Kaufmann, 1994.

P. Herzum and O. Sims. The business component approach. In the proceedings of OOPSLA'98 Workshop, Business Object Design and Implementation IV: From Business Objects to Complex Adaptive System, Vancouver, Canada, 1998.

D. Jones, T. Bench-Capon, and P. Visser. Methodologies for ontology development. In the proceedings of IT&KNOWS - Information Technology and Knowledge Systems, 15th IFIP World Computer Congress. Vienna (Austria) and Budapest (Bulgaria), 1998.

S. Malerud, Feet E.H., and U. Thorsen. A method for analysing command and control systems. Norwegian Defence Research Establishment (FFI) N-220 Kjeller, Norway.

B. Moulin and M. Brassard. A scenario-based design method and an environment for the development of multiagent systems. In First Australian Workshop on Distributed Artificial Intelligence, n. 1087, pages 216-231. D. Lukose, Zhang C. (edts.), Lecture  Notes in Artificial Intelligence, Springer-Verlag, 1996.

R. Orfali, D. Harkey, and J. Edwards. The Essential Distributed Objects Survival Guide. John Wiley & Sons, 1996.

A. Watson. The omg after corba~2. Object Magazine, SIGS Publication, pages 58-60, March 1996.