Lakehead University Knowledge Commons,http://knowledgecommons.lakeheadu.ca Electronic Theses and Dissertations Retrospective theses 2005 Agent-based workflow model for enterprise collaboration Wang, Shuying http://knowledgecommons.lakeheadu.ca/handle/2453/3308 Downloaded from Lakehead University, KnowledgeCommons NOTE TO USERS Page(s) not included in the original manuscript are unavailable from the author or university. The manuscript was microfilmed as received. Pre-page iv and all even numbered pages This reproduction is the best copy available. UMI' Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Reproduced with with permission permission of ofthe the copyright copyright owner. owner. Further Further reproduction reproduction prohibited prohibited without without permission. permission. AGENT-BASED WORKFLOW MODEL FOR ENTERPRISE COLLABORATION By Shuying Wang SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULLFILLMENT OF THE REQUIRMENTS FOR THE DEGREEE OF MASTER OF SCIENCE AT LAKEHEAD UNIVERSITY THUNDER BAY, ONTARIO, P7B 5E1 CANADA APRIL 2005 I Copyright by Shuying Wang, 2005 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 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Acknowledgements I would like to acknowledge the direction that I received from my supervisor, Professor Weiming Shen. He contributed particularly to the conceptualization of and motivation for the problem. He also added a great deal of insight into various aspects of this work pertaining to software agent architectures, service oriented architecture, enterprise modeling, processes formalization and workflow management concerns. His advices and technical supports added substantially to the completeness of this work. I would also like to extend my special thanks to Dr. Qi Hao whose valuable supports and suggestions have greatly improved the quality of this thesis. My research was made possible by the generous support of the National Research Council’s Integrated Manufacturing Technologies Institute (NRC-IMTI). Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Table of Contents Acknowledgements...............................................................................................ü Table of Contents ................................................................................................iii Abstract.................................................................................................................. v Abbreviations ....................................................................................................... vi List of Figures....................................................................................................viii 1. Introduction .......................................................................................................1 1.1 Motivation................................................................................................................................... 1 1.2 Problem s...................................................................................................................................... 2 1.3 Scope............................................................................................................................................3 1.4 Solutions...................................................................................................................................... 4 1.5 Organization of the Thesis......................................................................................................5 2. Research Literature........................................................................................ 7 2.1 Technical B ackground .............................................................................................................7 2.1.1 Enterprise Collaboration.............................................................................................. 7 2.1.2 Virtual Enterprise.......................................................................................................... 8 2.1.3 Service Oriented Architecture and Web Services ............................................... 10 2.1.4 Ontology and Semantic W eb.................................................................................... 14 2.1.5 BPEL4WS and OWL-S ..............................................................................................16 2.1.6 Software Agents...........................................................................................................18 2.1.7 Coordination in Multi-Agent System..................................................................... 19 2.1.8 Workflow and Workflow Model............................................................................. 21 2.1.9 Workflow Reference M odel..................................................................................... 24 2.2 Research Literature................................................................................................................ 26 2.2.1 Workflow Process Modeling....................................................................................26 2.2.2 Agent Modeling........................................................................................................... 27 2.2.2.1 Agent Encapsulation..................................................................................... 27 2.2.2.2 Agent Organization....................................................................................... 28 2.2.2.3 Agent Coordination and Negotiation........................................................ 29 2.2.2.4 Agent Model for Workflow........................................................................ 30 2.2.3 Service based Process Modeling ............................................................................. 32 3. Agent based Workflow Model for Enterprise Collaboration ..............34 3.1 Agent based W orkflow ......................................................................................................... 34 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Abstract Workflow management system supports the automation of business processes where a collection of tasks is organized between participants according to a defined set of rules to accomplish some business goals. The service-orientated computing paradigm is transforming traditional workflow management from a close, centralized control system into a dynamic information exchange and business process. Moreover, agent based workflow, from another point of view, provides a flexible mechanism for dynamic workflow coordination at run time. In this context, the combination of Web services and software agents provides great flexibility to discover and establish relationships among business partners. This thesis proposes an agent-based workflow model in support of inter-enterprise workflow management. In the proposed model, agent-based technology enables the workflow coordination at both inter- and intra- enterprise levels while semantic Web and Web services based technologies provide infrastructures for messaging, service description, service discovery, workflow ontology, and workflow enactment. Coordination agents and resource agents are used with a Contract Net protocol based bidding mechanism for constructing a dynamic workflow process among business partners. The agent system architecture, workflow models and related components