A framework for automated service composition in collaborative networks

Abstract

This paper proposes a novel framework for automated software service composition that can significantly support and enhance collaboration among enterprises in service provision industry, such as in tourism insurance and e-commerce collaborative networks (CNs). Our proposed framework is founded on service oriented architecture (SOA) paradigm, in which software services implementing on-line business services that are provided by different enterprises, will be formally defined, using an extended BPMN notation to capture their semantics and behavior, as well as the WSDL notation to capture their syntax. Furthermore, with registering the syntax, semantics and behavior of these software services in a service repository at the CN, the task of service discovery in this framework can go far beyond the current practice, which comprise of service search by name, to the possibility of discovering by service behavior. The paper addresses enhancement of automated software service integration in CNs, through the application of the Reo coordination language, which is used to formalize interaction among the composed services. The main reason for using Reo in this context is that it supports separating the computations needed by software components in an integrated system from their interactions. The suggested framework provides more flexibility, adaptability, as well as cost-effectiveness in service composition, when supported in collaborative networks. © 2012 International Federation for Information Processing.