% File: workflow.tex
% Author: Soeren Stamer
% Date: June 1995
% Purpose: Request to IDE
%
\documentstyle [a4,epsf] {article}
\pagenumbering{arabic}


\title{Position Paper:\\
Workflow Enactment with Tycoon and StP Core}
\author{S\"oren Stamer, Hamburg University\\Department of Computer
Science\\"Databases and Information Systems, DBIS"\\Vogt-K\"olln Stra{\ss}e
30\\D-22527 Hamburg, Germany}
\begin{document}

\maketitle

\begin{abstract} \noindent
We present an overview of our current work with the StP
Tool at DBIS and a brief introduction to our research goals.
We argue that an extended use of the StP Tool would enable us to
implement our newly developed methods for activity-oriented information
systems and that these R\&D activities are of considerable interest for
the StP user community. 
Based on the description of our workflow environment we point
out the need for expanded access to the StP object mappings. Finally, we
present related DBIS projects.

\end{abstract}


\section{DBIS Research Interests}

The research emphasis of DBIS is concentrated on integrated modeling and
programming tools for data-intensive applications. To a great extent the
group is project-oriented and cooperates, in particular within the
framework of the ESPRIT program, with a number of research institutes
and industrial partners nationally and internationally. 

Emphasis is placed on the development of systems and languages for
data-intensive applications, in which type systems for
calculations cooperate closely with models for long lived data storage.
Tycoon (Typed Communicating Objects in Open Environments) is a
polymorphic persistent programming environment for the development of
data-intensive applications in open environments. The Tycoon system
emphasizes system scalability and interoperability with other systems.
Flexible and safe interoperation between these servers is supported by
an elaborate higher-order type system. 

\section{Workflows and Activity-Oriented System Designs}

\begin{figure}[hbt]
\leavevmode
\def\epsfsize#1#2{0.6\textwidth}
\centerline{\epsfbox{tyc.epsf}}
\caption{\label{Tycoon}  Architecture}
\end{figure}

After developing Tycoon as a modern database programming environment
which offers a robust linguistic and architectural framework for a flexible
definition and integration of generic services in open environments, we
now focus on the impact of Tycoon on modern information systems.
In particular process-oriented systems in the context of BPR and Workflow
Management require a new kind of support in terms of flexibility and
powerful modeling and execution. The strong orthogonal language
concepts in Tycoon allow migrating persistent threads as first-class
entities that provide a powerful abstraction to support complex
activity-oriented information systems.

Furthermore, Tycoon offers an open environment to integrate existing
services of specialized systems like databases (Ingres, Oracle, O2,
Object Store), communication subsystems (Sun RPC, HTTP,...), window
systems (Starview, News), business
applications (SAP R/3) etc. This is the key technology to achieve an
added value by the integration of specialized services instead of
building up a new system from scratch. Tycoon also enables the
integration of generic services, like configurable tools or databases
that are particular valuable for reaching the above mentioned goal.

By means of cooperation with the department of business administration
at Hamburg university we are acquiring domain-specific knowledge of
activity-oriented and cooperative tasks. The focus of our current work
is the development of new concepts and abstractions for modern
information systems for large organizations by the use of existing profound
knowledge of system designs and modern language technology. 

\section{Workflow Modeling with the StP Tool}

The StP/OMT Tool is a very powerful implementation of the OMT method introduced
by Rumbough et al., but the main reason for acquiring the StP Tool was
not the predefined and implemented methods but the tool's adaptability,
configurability and availability on several platforms. These additional
features justified our comparatively high investment in the StP Tool by
enabling us to implement our own methods within the context of our
research.
Up to now, there is heavy use of StP/OMT in teaching and projects.
Furthermore, we are investigating the architecture of the StP Core and
the different kinds of possible interaction with other tools within our
current research.

Indeed, our work with the tool and the examination of the documentation shows
that the tool provides generic functionality for building up new
kinds of data and process models (OMT, Booch, SA,...). This
functionality includes the rule-based specification of the 
editor's behavior, the Object Management System on top of the
StP Repository and the report facilities. Furthermore, it offers an open
interface to the underlying repository for an integration of this
generic functionality in the construction of a comprising system.
Therefore, the StP Core offers an ideal infrastructure for the
desired workflow modeling tool supporting our research.

\begin{figure}[htb]
\leavevmode
\def\epsfsize#1#2{0.8\textwidth}
\centerline{\epsfbox{stp.epsf}}
\caption{\label{StP} StP Core Integration}
\end{figure}

After building up some models using the OMT notation provided by the StP/
OMT Tool we first edited the rules defining the behavior of the
generic diagram editor. Unfortunately, the OMT method does not fully meet our
requirements in the area of workflow modeling. We are
dealing with entities like workflow, trace, binding, step, actor, site
and resource that are different from those used within the definition of
the three OMT models like class, object, method, attribute, state,
action, event and transition. Therefore, we designed a prototype of the
desired notation by setting up specific editor rules, which demonstrated
the flexibility of the tool.
However, we are not able to use the main functionality of the repository
and the Object Management System because of its built-in password protection.
The corresponding statement of your documentation covers our whole
problem in a perfect way: 

\begin{quote}
'To tie semantics to a notation, you must be able to connect symbols to objects in the repository. ... SE object mappings are password-protected and cannot be customized by end users' (CH!ARCH.DOC 1-6)
\end{quote}
Without access to these object mappings our use of the tool is serverly
limited: 
\begin{itemize}
\item We are not able to implement specific semantics, that meet our special requirements for the modeling of workflows.

\item Furthermore, no integration can be done between multiple instances
of one or more models. This feature is needed to build up non trivial
models; for example, the OMT method is a set of three models, the Object
Model, the Dynamic Model and the Functional Model, that are connected
through the repository. 
 
\item The generic report facilities of the StP Core are also limited
through the use of the repository. 

\item Without the symbol object mappings the whole functionality of the
integrated Object Management System is unreachable. 

\item Finally, the openness of the StP Repository cannot be used to
implement a StP-Tycoon gateway, that provides functionality to use the
specification constructed in the StP environment within the Tycoon system. 
\end{itemize}
Therefore, without these features there is little room for using the StP
Tool in our development work. Hence, Hamburg's comparatively high investment
cannot be fully justified by the severely limited use of the tool.

\section{Related Projects at DBIS}

\subsection{SAP R/3}

SAP R/3 is the dominant business application for large and medium-sized
enterprises offering integrated solutions for manufacturing, financials,
human resources etc. The underlying systems of the desired workflow
system are functional information systems like SAP R/3, other business
applications and multiple kinds of specialized solutions, that provide
domain-specific functionality in a "conventional" way (i.e. not covering
the full power of activity-oriented solutions). Nevertheless, such
systems are spread throughout large organizations and they implement 
substantial portions of the 
domain-specific functionality. At DBIS, we have installed the full set of
standard modules of the SAP R/3 system, two dedicated servers and
further tools within the context of SAP R/3 (ARIS Toolset,
R/3 Reference Models). 

In the long run, we aim to set up further projects with SAP R/3 and
Tycoon. Hence,  a bi-directional gateway between Tycoon and the SAP R/3
system is a major work item within this project.

\subsection{EU/CAN ESPRIT Cooperation: Activity Modeling and Object Technology
for Cooperative Systems (1995-1998)}

The goal of this research cooperation between six key research groups in
Europe and Canada is to improve the future information infrastructure by
understanding the full potential of activity modeling and object
technology, and assisting the commercial exploitation of cooperative
information systems.
The European side consists of the following partners: Universita di
Milano, Italy, Professor Giorgio De Michelis Universita du Namur,
Belgium, Professor Eric Dubois Technische Universit\"at Aachen, Germany,
Professor Matthias Jarke Universit\"at Hamburg, Germany, Professor
Joachim W. Schmidt (Technical Coordinator).

The Canadian side is represented by University of Toronto, Professor
John Mylopoulos University of British Columbia, Professor Carson Woo.

Cooperative Information Systems will be object- and activity-oriented
and have to work in heterogeneous and distributed environments (in that
their components were developed independently of each other, at
different time and by different people). Moreover there is a growing
demand to integrate such systems tightly with organizational work so
that these information systems can be of direct and immediate use to the
business activity at hand. The goal of the proposed cooperation is to
integrate on-going research by the participating research groups,
thereby contributing towards a technology that deals effectively with
the development and maintenance of such information systems.

The overall goal of this cooperation is to improve the future
Information Infrastructure by
\begin{itemize}
\item understanding the full potential of Activity Modeling and Object
Technology, and
\item assisting the commercial exploitation of Cooperative Information Systems.
\end{itemize}

\subsection{Workflow Enactment in Cross-Enterprise Cooporations}

We currently establish a research cooperation with European
insurance industry. 
The current situation of the European insurance industry is
characterized by a phase of radical re-orientation of its IT strategy
towards business process-oriented solutions which is triggered by
following pressing market situation:

\begin{itemize}
\item The deregulation and opening of the traditionally closed national
insurance markets has led to a significant diversification of insurance
products (product unbundling) and a need to dramatically reduce the
time-to-market for newly developed products in a multi-lingual
environment.
\item A free trade of insurance services across Europe can no longer be
accomplished efficiently by traditional, manual and document-centered
processing. Distributed, data-intensive, multi-national and
cross-enterprise business processes require the adoption of an open
workflow-oriented information infrastructure by insurance enterprises
which also has to scale well to cross-enterprise workflows.
\end{itemize}

At the same time, European academia has attained international
leadership in enabling technology for distributed, cross-enterprise
workflows (high-level script languages, systems supporting persistence,
distribution and iteration abstraction, platform-independent data and
code representations, ...) as a result of ESPRIT basic research projects
such as FIDE and COMIC.

The main objective of the EWIDE (Electronic Workflow Interchange and Data
Exchange) project is to bring together key
academic technology providers and industrial partners to focus on the
necessary research an development to adapt these existing technology
components to the concrete information infrastructure and business
process practices of insurance enterprises.
\end{document}