Modelling task delegation for human-centric eGovernment workflows

ABSTRACT

The execution of cross-domain eGovernment applications is a challenging topic. eGovernment organisations are facilitated and conducted using workflow management systems. Workflows automates the management and coordination of organisational or business processes. In the context of eGovernment, what is in many cases described as collaboration appears, however, to be coordination and synchronisation of processes ignoring human-centric interactions. In addition, we observed a tendency, moving away from strict enforcement approaches towards mechanisms supporting exceptions that are difficult to foresee when modelling a workflow. One specific set of mechanisms ensuring human centric interactions and supporting collaboration cross-organisations is task delegation.

In this paper we aim to model task delegation for human-centric eGovernment workflows. We do believe that delegation is a solution to support organisational flexibility in human-centric workflow systems, and ensure delegation of authority in access control systems. First, we present a real case study to motivate delegation. Based on this, we define a task delegation model, and analyse its main criteria and requirements within a workflow. In particular, we will focus on the concept of delegation in eGovernment workflows and link it to our case study. Finally, we present delegation protocols to ensure delegation of authority in access control systems based on workflow authorisation constraints.

REFERENCES

• 1: Eurojust / Europol collaboration, 2006. SIXTH FRAMEWORK PROGRAMME, Information Society Technologies, R4eGov.
• 2: E. Barka , R. Sandhu, Framework for role-based delegation models, Proceedings of the 16th Annual Computer Security Applications Conference, p.168, December 11-15, 2000
• 3: D. W. Chadwick, S. Otenko, and T.-A. Nguyen. Adding support to xacml for dynamic delegation of authority in multiple domains. In Communications and Multimedia Security, 10th IFIP TC-6 TC-11 International Conference, CMS 2006, Heraklion, Crete, Greece, October 19--21, 2006, Proceedings, pages 67--86, 2006.
• 4: M. Contenti, M. Mecella, A. Termini, and R. Baldoni. A Distributed Architecture for Supporting e-Government Cooperative Processes. In TCGOV, pages 181--192, 2005.
• 5: J. Crampton and H. Khambhammettu. Delegation in role-based access control. In Proceedings of the Computer Security - ESORICS 2006, 11th European Symposium on Research in Computer Security, Hamburg, Germany, September 18--20, 2006, Lecture Notes in Computer Science, pages 174--191. Springer, 2006.
• 6: Jason Crampton , Hemanth Khambhammettu, Delegation and satisfiability in workflow systems, Proceedings of the 13th ACM symposium on Access control models and technologies, June 11-13, 2008, Estes Park, CO, USA [doi>10.1145/1377836.1377842]
• 7: K. Gaaloul, F. Charoy, A. Schaad, and H. Lee. Collaboration for human-centric egovernment workflows. In Web Information Systems Engineering, Proceedings of the WISE 2007 International Workshops, Nancy, France, Lecture Notes in Computer Science, pages 201--212. Springer, 2007.
• 8: Khaled Gaaloul , Andreas Schaad , Ulrich Flegel , François Charoy, A Secure Task Delegation Model for Workflows, Proceedings of the 2008 Second International Conference on Emerging Security Information, Systems and Technologies, p.10-15, August 25-31, 2008 [doi>10.1109/SECURWARE.2008.21]
• 9: Åsa Hagström , Sushil Jajodia , Francesco Parisi-Presicce , Duminda Wijesekera, Revocations-A Classification, Proceedings of the 14th IEEE workshop on Computer Security Foundations, p.44, June 11-13, 2001
• 10: IBM. IBM Websphere MQ Workflow Getting Started with Buildtime. Version 3.4. IBM Corp., 2003.
• 11: Intalio Tempo. Intalio Tempo Architecture. http://www.tempo.intalio.org/.
• 12: C. Jensen and W. Scacchi. Collaboration, Leadership, Control, and Conflict Negotiation in the NetBeans.org Community. In 26th International Software Engineering Conference, 2004.
• 13: E. T. Moses. eXtensible Access Control Markup Language (XACML) Version 2.0, OASIS. Last viewed on Mar. 28, 2007.
• 14: R4eGov Technical Annex 1. Towards e-Administration in the large. SIXTH FRAMEWORK PROGRAMME, Information Society Technologies, March 2006, note = http://www.r4egov.info,.
• 15: E. Rissanen and B. S. Firozabadi. Administrative Delegation in XACML. Swedish Institute of Computer Science, Kista-Sweden.
• 16: N. Russell, W. M. P. van der Aalst, A. H. M. ter Hofstede, and D. Edmond. Workflow resource patterns: Identification, representation and tool support. In Proceedings of the Advanced Information Systems Engineering, 17th International Conference, CAiSE 2005, Porto, Portugal, pages 216--232, 2005.
• 17: A. Schaad. A framework for evidence lifecycle management. In Web Information Systems Engineering, Proceedings of the WISE 2007 International Workshops, Nancy, France, Lecture Notes in Computer Science, pages 191--200. Springer, 2007.
• 18: A. Schaad. A Framework for Organisational Control Principles. PhD thesis, The University of York, York, England, 2003.
• 19: Karsten A. Schulz , Maria E. Orlowska, Facilitating cross-organisational workflows with a workflow view approach, Data & Knowledge Engineering, v.51 n.1, p.109-147, October 2004 [doi>10.1016/j.datak.2004.03.008]
• 20: Staffware. Staffware Process Suite Defining Staffware Procedures Issue 2. Staffware plc, Maidenhead, 2002.
• 21: The Workflow Management Coalition. Process Definition Interface XML Process Definition Language (2005). http://www.wfmc.org.
• 22: The Workflow Management Coalition. Workflow Management Coalition Terminology and Glossary. Document Number WFMC-TC-1011, February 1999.
• 23: R. Traunmüller and M. Wimmer, editors. e-Government at a Decisive Moment: Sketching a Roadmap to Excellence, volume 3183 of Lecture Notes in Computer Science. Springer, 2004.
• 24: C. Wolter, H. Plate, and C. Herbert. Collaborative Workflow Management for eGovernment, September 2007. Accepted in the 1st international workshop on Enterprise Information Systems Engineering (WEISE).
• 25: Longhua Zhang , Gail-Joon Ahn , Bei-Tseng Chu, A rule-based framework for role-based delegation and revocation, ACM Transactions on Information and System Security (TISSEC), v.6 n.3, p.404-441, August 2003 [doi>10.1145/937527.937530]

INDEX TERMS

Primary Classification:
  H. Information Systems
  H.4 INFORMATION SYSTEMS APPLICATIONS

General Terms:
Management, Security

Keywords:
access control, delegation, eGovernment, task, workflow