Engineering Simulations with Web-based Services 11th ICCCBE Conference June 16, 2006 Jinxing Cheng, Chin Pang Cheng, Mai Anh Le Thi and Kincho H. Law

Table of Contents Introduction Web Services / SOA Scenario 1 – integrating online information Orchestration vs. Choreography FICAS / SimAL Scenario 2 – service orchestration BPEL Scenario 3 – application of business Web services Conclusion

Two main trends in Construction Industry: Motivation Two main trends in Construction Industry: Integrated Framework Leverage existing resources Minimize cost of developing new applications

Web Services Integration / Composition Motivation Distributed Work and Globalization Owner Subcontractors General Contractor Architect/ Design Consultants Suppliers Web Services Integration / Composition How can it be solved? Courtesy: Hans Bjornsson

What is Web Services? Web Services as Software Architecture “Web services are a new breed of Web application. They are self-contained, self-describing, modular applications that can be published, located, and invoked across the Web. Web services perform functions, which can be anything from simple requests to complicated business processes… Once a Web service is deployed, other applications (and other Web services) can discover and invoke the deployed service.” IBM Web Services Tutorial

Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) 3 Types of Web applications: Connected Applications (SOA) Dynamic Web Site (Java/J2EE) Static Web Site (HTTP/HTML) SOA: Interconnected web of Web services (business, engineering, etc.) Courtesy: Oracle

Scenario 1: Integrating Online Catalog with CAD and Inventory Management Web Services Web Service Gateway Deployed Suppliers Web Services ROQs Automated Procurement Further Simulation Order & Invoice Architectural Design Inventory Management

Interaction with Online Catalog Autodesk’s i-drop : web page  modified HTML file enabled object  XML package file

Inventory Management and Procurement Web Service Gateway Deployed Suppliers Web Services Inventory Mgt & Cost Estimation Automated Workflow/ Supply Chain Procurement Availability Checking & Decision-making

Pros and Cons of Web Services Composition Benefits: Automation Flexibility Modularity Increased functionality 7-day, 24-hour Dynamic Drawbacks: Loosely coupled, distributed models More difficult to build More difficult to maintain Autonomous Web services  Interoperability issue

Orchestration and Choreography of Web Services An executable process describing a flow from the perspective and under control of a single endpoint [Oracle] Commonly known as “Workflow” Schedule Change Change of Design Change of Design Ack. Receive Changed Design

Choreography of Web Services Public exchange of messages between two or more process end-points Change of Design Design Ack. Changed Schedule Change Receive Orchestration AND Choreography

Flow-based Infrastructure for Composing Autonomous Services (FICAS) Centralized Control-flow Distributed Data-flow (1CnD) Large file size allowed Alleviating the bottleneck ID or URI for each service Benefits Scalability Better performance Increased functionality Service 1 Service 2 Service 3 Mega- Service Service 1 Service 2 Service 3 Mega- Service Data flow Control flow

Simulation Access Language (SimAL) A Simple Easy-to-Use High-Level Language Coordinating services Simulating and comparing scenarios Major Components Invocation Statements (SETUP, INVOKE) Operation Statements (QUERY, UPDATE) Control Statements (IF-THEN-ELSE, WHILE) Decision-support Statements (SCENARIO CREATION, SCENARIO COMPARISION, etc.)

Scenario 2: Integrating Online Weather Service to Engineering Simulation <?xml version="1.0"?> <WeatherReport> <weather date="2003-9-23"> <location> <zipcode value="33410" /> </location> <conditions value=" Isolated thunderstorms early, mainly cloudy overnight with a few showers" /> <temperature> <templow c="23.3" f="74.0" /> <temphigh c="32.2" f="90.0" /> </temperature> …… </weather> Translate into XML

Workflow to Utilize Dynamically Parsed Weather Information Microsoft Excel Autodesk ADT

Project Rescheduling and Re-simulating Original Schedule in Primavera P3 Updated Schedule in Primavera P3 Original Backlog Chart Simulated using Vite and Displayed in Excel Updated Backlog Chart Simulated using Vite and Displayed in Excel

BPEL4WS in Engineering Application Business Process Execution Language for Web Services (BPEL4WS) Converges the ideas of XLANG (Microsoft) and WSFL (IBM) Standard orchestration language for business Web services Two kinds of activity coordinations: Primitive activities (<invoke>,<receive>,…) Structured activities (<sequence>,<switch>, <while>,…) Allows: Asynchronous and Synchronous Concurrent process (<flow>) Fault handler (<faultHandlers><catch>) Semi-automatic operations … BPEL4WS UDDI WSDL SOAP HTTP

Scenario 3 – Utilizing BPEL for Engineering Application <inputVariable> <part name="payload" > <ContractorProcessRequest> <orderID>KH083D7</orderID> <manufacturer>Kohler</manufacturer> <modelNumber>K-988</modelNumber> <quantity>20</quantity> <status>Unavailable</status> </ContractorProcessRequest> </part> </inputVariable>

Concurrently Services Invoking <orderReply1> <part name="payload" > <Supplier1ProcessResponse> <status>Available</status> <price>350</price> </Supplier1ProcessResponse> </part> </orderReply1> <orderReply2> <part name="payload" > <Supplier2ProcessResponse> <status>Available</status> <price>360</price> </Supplier2ProcessResponse> </part> </orderReply2>

Decision-making to Select the Service Change Schedule Automated Ordering <outputVariable> <part name="payload" > <ContractorProcessResponse> <supplier>Supplier1</supplier> <orderID>UH70987</orderID> <manufacturer>Kohler</manufacturer> <modelNumber>K980</modelNumber> <price>350</price> <quantity>20</quantity> <comment/> </ContractorProcessResponse> </part> </outputVariable>

Summary and Remarks Significance: Virtual supply chain Automation of tedious and redundant process Extensible workflow Future Work: Extension to more engineering workflows and applications Interoperability problem Security and Reliability issue

THANK YOU Questions and Answers