An Internet accounting system, where transactions are entered on the spot and business data created by transactions are distributed to appropriate staff of the company, becomes more important for companies operating worldwide. The Internet accounting system described in this paper consists of a three-tier structure: Web, application and database servers. The accounting system provides complete accounting functions including general ledger, accounts payable, accounts receivable, purchase order, sales order, inventory management, fixed assets, temporary payment, multi-users, multi-currencies, multi-companies, and multi-languages allowing customer relation management, partner relation management, supply chain management and performance analysis. A prototype system has been completed and a full-scale system is now under development.
We consider the problem of deploying and managing federated services that run on federated systems spanning multiple collaborative organizations. In particular, we present a peer-to-peer framework targeted to the construction of self-managing services that automatically adjust the number of service components and their placements in response to changes in the system or client loads. Our framework is completely decentralized, depending only on a modest amount of loosely synchronized global state. More specifically, our framework is comprised of a set of per-node monitoring agents and per-service-component management agents that periodically exchange information about the state of the system and of the service with each other using a gossiping protocol. Each management agent then periodically searches for configurations that are better than the current one according to an application model and explicit performance and availability targets. On finding a better configuration, an agent will enact the new configuration after a random delay to avoid possible collisions. We evaluate our framework by studying a prototype UDDI service. We show that while agents act autonomously, the service rapidly reaches a stable and appropriate configuration in response to system dynamics.
The headway towards the outstanding future can be realized with the productive cooperation among peoples and organizations. Inspired from the spirit of cooperation in the rapidly social changing communities, we propose an autonomous decentralized community (ADC) concept. It is a group of autonomous members, whereas each member has his own objectives, complies with the community obligations and cooperates with the others for achieving his own objectives. ADC system has to meet the heterogeneous and continuously changing requirements of the community service utilization and provision. It requires support for real-time communication among community members. Therefore, we propose an autonomous decentralized community communication technique. It satisfies the fairness by granted an equal opportunity among the community members. Moreover, it approves the scalability of the system regardless with the number of the community members.
Michael Gillmann, Jeanine Weißenfels, German Shegalov, Wolfgang Wonner · 5 authors
The Mentor-lite prototype has been developed within the research project “Architecture, Configuration, and Administration of Large Workflow Management Systems” funded by the German Science Foundation (DFG). It has evolved from its predecessor Mentor [1], but aims at a simpler architecture. The main goal of Mentor-lite has been to build a light-weight, extensible, and tailorable workflow management system (WFMS) with small footprint and easy-to-use administration capabilities. Our approach is to provide only kernel functionality inside the workflow engine, and consider system components like history management and worklist management as extensions on top of the kernel. The key point to retain the light-weight nature is that these extensions are implemented as workflows themselves. The workflow specifications are interpreted at runtime, which is a crucial prerequisite for flexible exception handling and dynamic modifications during runtime. The interpreter performs a stepwise execution of the workflow specification according to its formal semantics. For each step, the activities to be performed by the step are determined and started. Mentor-lite supports a protocol for distributed execution of workflows spread across multiple workflow engines. This support is crucial for workflows that span large, decentralized enterprises with largely autonomous organizational units or even cross multiple enterprises to form so-called “virtual enterprises”. A communication manager is responsible for sending and receiving synchronization messages between the engines. In order to guarantee a consistent global state even in the presence of site or network failures, we have built reliable message queues using the CORBA Object Transaction Services. For administration, Mentor-lite provides a Java-based workbench for workflow design, workflow partitioning across multiple workflow servers, and a Java-based runtime monitoring tool.
The first question addressed in the paper is "Why and how agent technology supports the design and implementation of Autonomous Decentralised Systems?" Subsequently, based on the main characteristics of the intelligent and mobile agents we assess the specific support agent technology collectively can offer. Finally a glimpse into the future of this technology is given. A critical evaluation of the agent technology vs. the traditional distributed object technology and RPC is undertaken throughout the paper in order to foresee possible introduction and evolution scenarios. The paper merely focuses on the aspects relevant to the providers of infoware technology, frameworks and products.
This paper describes a new approach to design modern information systems that offer an integrated access to the data and knowledge that is available in local applications. By integrating the local data management activities into one transparent information distribution process, modern organizations can offer better support for its workers in the execution and coordination of their work activities. Observing practical applications of decentralized, autonomous and heterogeneous information systems we see deficiencies in currently available approaches to model such information systems. They do not acknowledge the pivotal role that (informal) communicating workers play in the context of an entire organization. The interaction between the members of social and informal groups of employees makes it possible that (in many of today’s information-intensive enterprises) the local structured procedures can be effectively and flexibly integrated into global work processes supporting the business goals. Traditional design techniques concentrate on either the structured local procedures (and its local database applications), the structured global process (and its global business goals), or the informal (less structured) communication between individuals. We suggest to combine an activity-based model (suited to describe the structured parts of the processes) with a goal- or conversation-based model to tie the different elements together. Using an agent architecture we show that it is possible to implement this integrated approach. The different types of cooperating agents support the individual workers by assessing the goal of the activity, the applicability of the standard procedure, and the availability of alternative knowledge and information in order to supply the necessary information.
Organization Activity Support and Information System (OASIS) is a computer-based information system that supports; the construction and deployment of business applications. It is aimed at supporting the following 4 major organizational needs: (a) using data processing, reasoning, and communication in an integrative manner; (b) allowing control over one's own applications; (c) tying together independently developed applications for organizational use; and (d) simplifying certain types of changes or evolution. OASIS accomplishes these needs by viewing organizations as consisting of autonomous units with the capability of interacting with each other and by the integrative use of blackboards and forms. This article describes the OASIS system, presents a small example of its abilities, and describes planned future research.
The autonomous decentralized systems (ADS) concept has been expanded to handle subsystem configuration on distributed computing environments effectively. The concept introduces the "group" as a logical set of subsystems based on application software or an organization. Subsystems on a "group" have an equal influence on the entire "group" and are hidden from the other subsystems. The "group" provides a simplified view of the system resource by hiding unrelated information from the users. Application management, monitoring and controlling services are provided on the basis of the "group". The expansion concept and a prototype tool ACP/EM are presented.>
Gordon Db, Sam Marafioti, Michael Carter, Hans Kunov · 5 authors
Sunnybrook Health Science Center (Sunnybrook) is a multifacility academic teaching center. In May 1994, Sunnybrook struck an electronic patient record taskforce to develop a strategic plan for the implementation of a comprehensive, facility wide electronic patient record (EPR). The taskforce sought to create a conceptual framework which provides context and integrates decision-making related to the comprehensive electronic patient record. The EPR is very much broader in scope than the traditional paper-based record. It is not restricted to simply reporting individual patient data. By the Institute of Medicine's definition, the electronic patient record resides in a system specifically designed to support users through availability of complete and accurate data, practitioner reminders and alerts, clinical decision support systems, links to bodies of medical knowledge, and other aids [1]. It is a comprehensive resource for patient care. The taskforce proposed a three domain model for determining how the EPR affects Sunnybrook. The EPR enables Sunnybrook to have a high performance team structure (domain 1), to function as an integrated organization (domain 2), and to reach out and develop new relationships with external organizations to become an extended enterprise (domain 3) [2]. Domain 1: Sunnybrook's high performance teams or patient service units' (PSUs) are decentralized, autonomous operating units that provide care to patients grouped by 'like' diagnosis and resource needs. The EPR must provide functions and applications which promote patient focused care, such as cross functional charting and care maps, group scheduling, clinical email, and a range of enabling technologies for multiskilled workers. Domain 2: In the integrated organization domain, the EPR should facilitate closer linkages between the arrangement of PSUs into clinical teams and with other facilities within the center in order to provide a longitudinal record that covers a continuum of care. Domain 3: In the inter-enterprise domain, the EPR must allow for patient information to be exchanged with external providers including referring doctors, laboratories, and other hospitals via community health information networks (CHINs). Sunnybrook will prioritize the development of first domain functionality within the corporate constraints imposed by the integrated organization domain. Inter-enterprise computing will be less of a priority until Sunnybrook has developed a critical mass of the electronic patient record internally. The three domain description is a useful model for describing the relationship between the electronic patient record enabling technologies and the Sunnybrook organizational structures. The taskforce has used this model to determine EPR development guidelines and implementation priorities.