Enterprise Application Integration deals with the problem of connecting heterogeneous applications, and is the centerpiece of current on-premise, cloud and device integration scenarios. For ...integration scenarios, structurally correct composition of patterns into processes and improvements of integration processes are crucial. In order to achieve this, we formalize compositions of integration patterns based on their characteristics, and describe optimization strategies that help to reduce the model complexity, and improve the process execution efficiency using design time techniques. Using the formalism of timed DB-nets – a refinement of Petri nets – we model integration logic features such as control- and data flow, transactional data storage, compensation and exception handling, and time aspects that are present in reoccurring solutions as separate integration patterns. We then propose a realization of optimization strategies using graph rewriting, and prove that the optimizations we consider preserve both structural and functional correctness. We evaluate the improvements on a real-world catalog of pattern compositions, containing over 900 integration processes, and illustrate the correctness properties in case studies based on two of these processes.
•Description of the responsible composition and optimization (ReCO) process.•Specification of a structural correctness enforcing representation of processes.•Definition of execution semantics of processes as open timed db-nets.•Interpretation procedure of integration pattern graphs as open timed db-nets.•Optimization realizations, proves of their correctness, and provided prototypes.
•An architectural design for constructing Industry 4.0 SCM platforms.•Semantic technologies used for application integration via the EDSOA model.•Open and extensible architecture supporting supply ...chain collaboration lifecycle.•Survey and comparative analysis assessing Industry 4.0 platform capabilities.
This paper presents the architectural design and implementation of DIGICOR — a collaborative Industry 4.0 (I4.0) platform aimed at enabling SMEs to dynamically form supply-chain collaborations so as to pool production capacities and capabilities and jointly address complex supply chain requests. The DIGICOR architecture builds on the event-driven service-oriented architecture (EDSOA) model to support the collaboration between SMEs, dynamic modelling of their systems and services, and their integration in the supply chains of large OEMs, enforcing digital platform governance rules for knowledge protection and security. In contrast to the extant platforms assessed through our systematic review, the proposed architecture supports the entire lifecycle of I4.0 collaborations, from creation of viable teams to deployment and operation. The architecture provides an open and extensible solution for (i) creating a marketplace for the collaboration partners, (ii) providing services for planning and controlling the collaborative production, logistics, and risk management, while supporting APIs for third parties to provide complementary services such as advanced analytics, simulation, and optimization; and (iii) seamless connectivity to automation solutions, smart objects and real-time data sources. We report on the design of the architecture and its innovative artefacts such as the component model description and the semantic model constructs created for meaningful event exchanges between architectural end-points. We also describe a running use case demonstrating implementation scenarios.
Enterprise Application Integration (EAI) constitutes the cornerstone in enterprise IT landscapes that are characterized by heterogeneity and distribution. Starting from established Enterprise ...Integration Patterns (EIPs) such as Content-based Router and Aggregator, EIP compositions are built to describe, implement, and execute integration scenarios. The EIPs and their compositions must be correct at design and runtime in order to avoid functional errors or incomplete functionalities. However, current EAI system vendors use many of the EIPs as part of their proprietary integration scenario modeling languages that are not grounded on any formalism. This renders correctness guarantees for EIPs and their composition impossible. Thus this work advocates responsible EAI based on the formalization, implementation, and correctness of EIPs. For this, requirements on an EIP formalization are collected and based on these requirements an extension of db-net, i.e., timed db-net , is proposed, fully equipped with execution semantics. It is shown how EIPs can be realized based on timed db-nets and how the correctness of these realizations can be shown. Moreover, the simulation of EIP realizations based on timed db-nets is enabled which is essential for later implementation. The concepts are evaluated in many ways, including a proof-of-concept implementation and case studies. The EIP formalization based on timed db-nets constitutes the first step towards responsible EAI.
•Responsible EAI development based on formalized Enterprise Integration Patterns (EIP).•EIP formalization as timed db nets, fully equipped with execution semantics.•Correctness criterion and checks for EIP executions.•Prototype support for testing correctness for EIP realizations based on simulations.•Case studies (e.g., predictive maintenance) from SAP Cloud Integration.
This paper extends the IS continuance model to improve our understanding of the determinants of E2.0 post-adoption. Our proposed research model incorporates four constructs into the IS continuance ...model: firm size, firm scope, subjective norms and competitive pressure from the perspective of organizational and environmental context based on the TOE framework. Results from a survey of customers of Mingdao, a leading Enterprise 2.0 platform in China, support our model. The research findings show that organizational and environmental context factors, including subjective norms and competitive pressure, significantly influence enterprises' intentions to renew their E2.0 service in addition to technology perceptions. Perceived usefulness and satisfaction are no longer the strongest predicators of continuance usage in the context of enterprise systems. The theoretical and managerial implications of these results are discussed.
•An empirical study of E2.0 post-adoption based on real firm users.•Integrating firm-level factors based on the TOE framework.•Extending the IS Continuance Model to the firm adoption context.
Rapid advances in industrial information integration methods have spurred tremendous growth in the use of enterprise systems. Consequently, a variety of techniques have been used for probing ...enterprise systems. These techniques include business process management, workflow management, Enterprise Application Integration (EAI), Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA), grid computing, and others. Many applications require a combination of these techniques, which is giving rise to the emergence of enterprise systems. Development of the techniques has originated from different disciplines and has the potential to significantly improve the performance of enterprise systems. However, the lack of powerful tools still poses a major hindrance to exploiting the full potential of enterprise systems. In particular, formal methods and systems methods are crucial for modeling complex enterprise systems, which poses unique challenges. In this paper, we briefly survey the state of the art in the area of enterprise systems as they relate to industrial informatics.
•Organizations often use different applications to support the Scrum process•Useful data for decision-making is spread in different applications•Data integration to support the Scrum process needs to ...address semantic issues•A Scrum Reference Ontology (SRO) is proposed•SRO is used in application integration to provide data to decision-making
Organizations often use different applications to support the Scrum process, including project management tools, source repository and quality assessment tools. These applications store useful data for decision-making. However, data items often remain spread in different applications, each of which adopt different data and behavioral models, posing a barrier for integrated data usage. As a consequence, data-driven decisions in agile development are uncommon, missing valuable opportunities for informed decision making.
Considering the need to address semantic issues to properly integrate applications that support the agile development process, we aim to provide a common and comprehensive conceptualization about Scrum in the software development context and apply this conceptualization to support application integration.
We have developed the Scrum Reference Ontology (SRO) and used it to semantically integrate Azure DevOps and Clockify.
SRO served as a reference model to build software artifacts in a semantic integration architecture that enables applications to automatically share, exchange and combine data and services. The integrated solution was used in the software development unit of a Brazilian government agency. Results demonstrate that the integrated solution contributed to improving estimates, provided data that helped allocate teams, manage team productivity and project performance, and enabled to identify and fix problems in the Scrum process execution.
SRO can serve as an interlingua for application integration in the context of Scrum-process support. By capturing the conceptualization underlying Scrum, the reference ontology can address semantic conflicts and thereby support the development of integrated data-driven solutions for decision making.
This paper presents a model for Enterprise Application Integration (EAI) in the modern era of data explosion and globalisation. Application here refers to software, which is in essence data system, ...and data refers to both information and knowledge (data serves as a vehicle for information as well as knowledge). The salient features of the model are: (1) separation of business functions from applications and enterprises, (2) three-layer architecture of the model (conceptual or semantic level, external or application level, internal or realisation level), and (3) integration of structured, semi-structured and non-structured data. To our best knowledge, the existing model or solution to EAI does not hold all the three features. A case study is presented to illustrate how the model works. The model can be used by an individual enterprise or a group of enterprises that form a network, e.g., a holistic supply chain network.
Many industrial enterprises acquire disparate systems and applications over the years. The need to integrate these different systems and applications is often prominent for satisfying business ...requirements and needs. In an effort to help researchers in industrial informatics understand the state-of-the-art of the enterprise application integration, we examined the architectures and technologies for integrating distributed enterprise applications, illustrated their strengths and weaknesses, and identified research trends and opportunities in this increasingly important area.
Process digitization and integration is an increasing need for enterprises. At the same time, process platform-as-a-service (PPaaS) vendors (e.g., business process- or integration-as-a-service) and ...their customers strive to minimize the cost of operation of platforms and processes. While current PPaaS technology mainly runs in single-clouds, multicloud settings are gaining importance. However, their promised freedom of selecting the best option for a specific problem is currently not realized. Moreover, important cloud-aspects like security constraints are handled in a cost-intensive manner for PPaaS vendors (e.g., by isolating tenants at container level). This leads to security vs. costs goal conflicts, while costs remain intransparent to process modelers.
In this work, we propose a design-time placement method for processes in multiclouds that is cost-optimal for PPaaS problem sizes, and respects configurable security constraints of their customers. To make the solution tractable for larger, productive PPaaS processes deployments, it is relaxed by using a local search heuristic, and complemented by correctness-preserving model decomposition. This allows for a novel perspective on cost-aware process modeling from a process modeler’s perspective.
The multicloud process placement is evaluated on real-world integration processes with respect to cost- and runtime-efficiency, resulting in interesting trade-offs. The process modeler’s perspective is investigated based on a new cost-aware modeling process, featuring the interaction between the user and the PPaaS vendor through ad-hoc multicloud cost calculation and correctness-preserving, process cost reduction proposals.
•Cost-aware process modeling in multiclouds (platform perspective).•Interaction between cloud process platform and their users (user perspective).•Process modeling in multiclouds formalized as cost-efficient placement problem.•Optimal solution of CEPP and practically applicable local search heuristic.•Correctness checks for security-aware decomposition and improvements of processes.•Prototype for case studies evaluating platform and user perspectives.
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