1. 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

2. 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

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

4. 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

5. 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

6. 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

7. 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

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

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

10. 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

11. 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

12. 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

13. 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

14. 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.)

15. Scenario 2: Integrating Online Weather Service to Engineering Simulation
<?xml version="1.0"?>
<WeatherReport>
<weather date=" ">
<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

16. Workflow to Utilize Dynamically Parsed Weather Information
Microsoft Excel
Autodesk ADT

17. 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

18. 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

19. 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>

20. 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>

21. 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>

22. 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

23. THANK YOU
Questions and Answers