Towards self-configuration and management of e-service provisioning in dynamic value constellations

ABSTRACT

Networked value constellations are collections of enterprises that jointly satify complex consumer needs. Increasingly, such needs are satisfied by e-services, i.e. commercial services that can be ordered and provisioned via the Internet. Current research in dynamic web-service composition has yielded run-time platforms to dynamically compose complex web services, but there is still a considerable gap between web services and commercial e-services. To compose e-services, an estimation of commercial profitability must be made, which is absent from web service composition. In this paper, we extend our earlier approach to e-service composition with a dynamic part, that ensures that a commercial e-service can be dynamically composed from other commercial e-services, and can be mapped on a web service composition process composition of lower-level web services. We propose a skeleton-oriented approach, that first composes a network of enterprises, jointly satisfying need, based on commercial considerations. Second, given a set of such candidate value constellations, the business processes providing the services can be dynamically configured. We illustrate this skeleton-driven composition of networked value constellations by using a case study of clearing and repartitioning of Intellectual Property Rights (IPR).

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INDEX TERMS

Primary Classification:
  H. Information Systems
  H.3 INFORMATION STORAGE AND RETRIEVAL
      H.3.5 On-line Information Services
          Subjects: Commercial services

Additional Classification:
  H. Information Systems
  H.3 INFORMATION STORAGE AND RETRIEVAL
      H.3.5 On-line Information Services
          Subjects: Web-based services

  K. Computing Milieux
  K.4 COMPUTERS AND SOCIETY
      K.4.3 Organizational Impacts
          Subjects: Computer-supported collaborative work
      K.4.4 Electronic Commerce
  K.6 MANAGEMENT OF COMPUTING AND INFORMATION SYSTEMS
      K.6.4 System Management

General Terms:
Design, Management, Theory

Keywords:
business networking, conceptual modeling, coordination process, dynamic composition, e-service, inter-organizational collaboration, value constellation, value web, web service