1 Aberdeen/Edinburgh AKT TIE Distributed Knowledge-based Workflow and Constraint Solving Jessica Chen-Burger AIAI, University of Edinburgh Kit Ying Kui CSD, University of Aberdeen

2 Recap - Problem Context l Problem Context: –Modern organisations are virtual entities; –People involved are located in different places, each with different capabilities and responsibilities; –People needs to work collaboratively to accomplish tasks and together achieve organisational goals; –Such tasks often require sophisticated technology that is based on local expertises and domain knowledge. l Two Enabling Technologies: –Workflow and Business Process Modelling techniques: Edinburgh; –Constraint-based Problem Solving techniques: Aberdeen; –Collaboration and integration of the two.

3 Virtual Organisation with Workflow Systems Workflow System - 1 Process Model - 1 Workflow System - 2 Process Model - 2 Constraint Solver - 1 Intelligent Agent - 1 Intelligent Agent - n Intelligent Agent - 2 Intelligent Agent - m Intelligent Agent – 2a Constraint Solver - 2 Intelligent Agent – 1a Internal Broker X Internal Broker Y (Sub-)Organisation A (Sub-)Organisation B

4 Recap - PC Configuration Domain Collaboration between WFS I-X Process Panel BPM - 1 BPM - 2 Edinburgh: Costing Site Aberdeen: Tech. Site User Req INCA-FBPM Ontology PC Config. Ontology Constrain Ontology PC Config. Ontology Mapped Ontology Com P-1Com P-2 Com I-1Com I-2 Comp Spec

5 Internal View of WFE External Event And Interactions Business Process Model Data Schema Process Schema Process Agenda data Process, Event And Status System State Persistent Information Storage World State Awareness Of Workflow Engine FBPML IDEF Methods WSFL RAD WSDL Process Execution Workflow Engine The User Standardised Methods

6 Example start_junction( “Confirm Entering Clearing Process”). process(“Confirm Entering Clearing Process”, Instance, ccs(X), or(past_due_date(Student), not_successful(Student)), update_status(Student, “clearing”) ). link(“Confirm Entering Clearing Process”, “Execute Clearing Process”).

7 Example Process process(Instance, 'Receive Customer Request'/1, created, Priority, _Begin_time/_End_time, 1, (Requester/Requester_type, edinburgh/pc_specification), [event_occ(Instance, customer_request_for_pc_specification, received/_, Priority, _Begin/_End, (Requester/Requester_type, _Provider/_Provider_type), _Event_content) ], [true], [cond_action([not_exist(instance_of(Requester, customer))], [create(instance_of(Requester, customer))] ), create(instance_att(Requester, event, Instance)), create(instance_of(Instance, event)) ], [exist(instance_of(Requester, customer)), exist(instance_att(Requester, event, Instance)), exist(instance_of(Instance, event)) ] ).

8 End of Slides Thank you for listening !

9 IDEF3 vs. FBPML IDEF3 vs. FBPML

10 IDEF3 vs. FBPML

11 Virtual Organisations with Workflow Systems Workflow System - 1 Process Model - 1 Workflow System - 2 Process Model - 2 Broker Constraint Solver - 1 Intelligent Agent - 1 Intelligent Agent - n Intelligent Agent - 2 Intelligent Agent - m Intelligent Agent – 2a Constraint Solver - 2 Intelligent Agent – 1a Internal Broker X Internal Broker Y (Sub-)Organisation A (Sub-)Organisation B