Orchestrating Web Services for Networked Enterprise Collaboration

Internet technologies are widely recognized for their promise asenablers of collaborative computing both within and among organizations.The presence of heterogeneous systems based on different technologicalplatforms in organizations makes the implementation of networkcollaboration very complex. The approach taken for the most part to dealwith this issue has been based on Enterprise Application Integration.The major drawback of this approach is the dependence on proprietarysolutions that are not based on open standards. When the need forinter-organizational collaboration arises, such solutions hinder thesmooth exchange among the participating organizations due to theircomplexity and lack of interoperability. 'Web Services' is a new classof internet based, open standards technology that offers the promise ofresolving these problems. Web services technologies are offered as thenew generation of electronic commerce enablers. What is currentlymissing is a compelling implementation framework for the deployment ofthis technology in organizations. A lack of clear understanding abouthow to deploy Web Services to enable inter-organizational collaborationwill impede the uptake of this promising new technology. In thisproject, our aim is to construct and test a valid implementationframework for Web Services. Such a framework will enable effectiveinter-organizational network based computing which will have a positiveeffect on organizational productivity. The emphasis of our work will beto support decision oriented, collaborative business processes. Wepropose a conceptual framework for building systems that utilize WebServices technologies to enable networked organizations to automatecollaborative processes. We take the view that it is useful toconceptualize organizational service chains in terms of workflows andbuild a framework for orchestrating such services. We articulate aconceptual framework along these lines and present specific ways bywhich the implementation of the framework using Web Servicestechnologies could benefit inter organizational collaboration. Ourprimary objective of building prototypes that demonstrate the validityof such a framework was successful. Two prototypical systems thatdemonstrate the validity of such a framework were built. They now offera platform for ongoing testing and refinement. We believe that suchprototypes will serve as useful tools for organizations that areinvestigating the use of this emerging technology to facilitatenetworked collaboration to improve productivity.