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Ensuring reliability in B2B services: Fault tolerant inter-organizational workflows

Author

Listed:
  • Haluk Demirkan

    (Arizona State University)

  • Sagnika Sen

    (Pennsylvania State University)

  • Michael Goul

    (Arizona State University)

  • Jason Nichols

    (Oklahoma State University)

Abstract

In the age of Business-to-Business (B2B) collaboration, ensuring reliability of workflows underlying inter-organizational business processes is of significant importance. There are, however, quite a few challenges towards achieving seamless operation. Such challenges arise from heterogeneity in infrastructure and coordination mechanism at participant organizations, as well as time and cost associated with recovery from failure. Our research presents foundations for a reliable scheme for recovery from failure of workflow processes spanning through multiple business entities. First, a system model is adapted from the mobile computing literature that serves to establish the requirements to be enforced by each participating organization. In our model, we adopt the Maximal Sequence Path (MSP) approach from Yoo et al. (Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence 2132:222–236, 2001), as a means of decomposing workflows into mobile agent-driven processes that communicate via web services at each organization. This decomposition ensures defining logical points within the dynamics of a workflow instance for locating accurate and consistent states of the system for recovery in case of a failure. Then, a set of algorithms for various business scenarios are developed and presented as practical solutions. These algorithms are shown to create checkpoints such that the system is always in a globally consistent state. As such, these algorithms constitute a set of standards that can be incorporated in business process management suites that support reliable inter-organizational collaboration.

Suggested Citation

  • Haluk Demirkan & Sagnika Sen & Michael Goul & Jason Nichols, 2012. "Ensuring reliability in B2B services: Fault tolerant inter-organizational workflows," Information Systems Frontiers, Springer, vol. 14(3), pages 765-788, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:infosf:v:14:y:2012:i:3:d:10.1007_s10796-011-9301-5
    DOI: 10.1007/s10796-011-9301-5
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Amit Basu & Robert W. Blanning, 2000. "A Formal Approach to Workflow Analysis," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 11(1), pages 17-36, March.
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    5. Dini, Paolo & Lombardo, Gabriella & Mansell, Robin & Razavi, Amir Reza & Moschoyiannis, Sotiris & Krause, Paul & Nicolai, Andrea & Rivera León, Lorena, 2008. "Beyond interoperability to digital ecosystems: regional innovation and socio-economic development led by SMEs," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 20680, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
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