Example of Collaborative Process Model

This section presents the example of collaborative process cartography and collaborative process model. The example of the collaborative process cartography is represented in Figure III-20 and Figure III-21. Figure III- 20 represents the collaborative process cartography, which is translated from the main function model of A0 Network in Figure III-13.

In Figure III-13, there are three main functions: Choose Partner, Sell Product and Sell Component. First, the main function: Choose Partner is transferred from the strategy objective in Figure III-12. The main function: Choose

Partner is a strategy task. So the main function: Choose Partner is represented in the strategy pool in Figure III-20.

Second, the main function: Sell Product is transferred from the general objective in Figure III-12. The main function: Sell Product is a general task, which includes strategy, operation or support tasks. So the main function:

Sell Product is represented in the general pool in Figure III-20. Third, the main function: Sell Component is

transferred from operation objective in Figure III-12. The main function: Sell Component is an operation task. So the main function: Sell Component is represented in the operation pool in Figure III-20. Finally, because there is no main function, which is transferred from the support objective, there does not exist the support pool in Figure III-20.

About the exchanged messages, in Figure III-13, user defined the control/input/output message. The main function: Choose Partner sends control message: Wait for order trigger to the main function: Sell Product. But in the collaborative process cartography, as defined in chapter II section III.4, the strategy pool can only send objective message to the other pools. In Figure III-20, the control message: Wait for order trigger has been

transferred to an objective message: Wait for order trigger. The objective message is represented as output message of Choose Partner and input message for the message event, which trigger Sell Product. In Figure III-13, the main function: Sell Product sends control message: Order taken trigger to the main function: Sell Component. As defined in chapter II section III.4, the operation pool can only receive the objective message or the mean message. In Figure III-20, the control message: Order taken trigger has been transferred to an objective message or a mean message: Order taken trigger. The message is represented as output message of Sell Product and input message for the message event, which trigger Sell Product. In Figure III-13, the main function: Sell Component sends control message: Component sold feedback to the main function: Sell Product. As defined in chapter II section III.4, the operation pool can only send feedback message to the other pools. In Figure III-20, the control message: Component sold feedback has been transferred to a feedback message. The message is represented as output message of Sell Component and input message for the message event, which trigger Sell Product.

FIGURE III-20PROCESS CARTOGRAPHY OF A0NETWORK

Figure III-21 represents the decomposed collaborative process cartography of the main function: Sell Product in Figure III-20. Because the main function: Sell Product in Figure III-20 is a general task, which means that the function can be decomposed into strategy, operation or support task, which means that the function can be decomposed to another collaborative process cartography. The collaborative process cartography of Sell Product is translated from the main function model of A2 Sell Product in Figure III-14.

In Figure III-14, there are three main functions: Place Order, Send Payment and Deliver Product. First, the main function: Place Order is transferred from the strategy objective in Figure III-12. The main function: Place Order is a strategy task. So the main function: Place Order is represented in the strategy pool in Figure III-21. Second, the main function: Send Payment is transferred from the operation objective in Figure III-12. The main function:

Send Payment is an operation task. So the main function: Send Payment is represented in the operation pool in

Figure III-21. Third, the main function: Sell Component is transferred from operation objective in Figure III-12. The main function: Deliver Product is a support task. So the main function: Deliver Product is represented in the support pool in Figure III-21. Finally, because there is no main function, which is transferred from the general objective, there does not exist the general pool in Figure III-21, which means that the decomposition of the collaborative process cartography has been completed.

About the exchanged messages, in Figure III-14, user defined the control/input/output message. The main function: Place Order receives control message: Wait for order trigger out. But in the collaborative process

cartography, as defined in chapter II section III.4, the strategy pool can only receive feedback or mean message from the other pools. In Figure III-21, the control message: Wait for order trigger has been transferred to a feedback message: Wait for order trigger. The message is represented as input data object of the message event, which triggers the task: Place Order. In Figure III-14, the main function: Place Order sends control message: Order

taken trigger out. As defined in chapter II section III.4, the strategy pool can only send objective message to the

other pools. In Figure III-21, the control message: Order taken trigger has been transferred to an objective message: Order taken trigger. The message is represented as output message of a message event, which executes after the task: Place Order. In Figure III-14, the main function: Send Payment receives control message: Product

delivered feedback from the main function: Deliver Product. As defined in chapter II section III.4, the operation

pool can only receive mean message from the support pool. In Figure III-21, the control message: Product

delivered feedback has been transferred to a mean message. The message is represented as output message of Deliver Product and input message for the message event, which triggers Send Payment. In Figure III-14, the main

function: Deliver Product receives the control message: Component sold feedback. As defined in chapter II section III.4, the support pool can only receive the feedback message from the operation pool. In Figure III-21, the control message has been transferred to a feedback message. The message is represented as input message of the message event, which triggers Deliver Product.

FIGURE III-21PROCESS CARTOGRAPHY OF A2SELL PRODUCT

The collaborative process models, which are the decomposition of the main function in the collaborative process cartography, are represented in Figure III-22, Figure III-23 and Figure III-24. To show the collaborative process models clearly, three main functions (one strategy function, one operation function and one support function) in Figure III-20 and Figure III-21 have been chosen to be decomposed into the collaborative process models. The collaborative process model of Choose Partner is shown in Figure III-22. Figure III-7 defines the collaborative network of Choose Partner. The network contains: Assembler, Supplier 2 and

Supplier 3. So the partner pool: Assembler, Supplier 2 and Supplier 3 are represented in Figure III-22. In the partner

pools, there are only tasks or functions, which are provided by partners and represented in Figure III-15 and Figure III-16. There is no sequence follows among these partners’ tasks. These partners’ tasks only receive messages. Additionally, there is a strategy mediator pool. Because the main function: Choose Partner is a strategy function, in the collaborative process model of Choose Partner, there is a strategy mediator. The strategy mediator pool has mediator functions, which invokes partners’ tasks by the collaborative process, which is the

sequence flows in the mediator pool. Because the main function: Choose Partner sends out the objective message:

Wait for order trigger. In Figure III-22, at the end of the collaborative process, the Wait for order trigger is

represented as the output data objective of the end message event.

FIGURE III-22COLLABORATIVE PROCESS OF CHOOSE PARTNER

The collaborative process model of Pay Product is shown in Figure III-23. Figure III-8 defines the collaborative network of Pay Product. The network contains: Assembler and Client. So the partner pool: Assembler and Client are represented in Figure III-23. In the partner pools, there are only tasks or functions, which are provided by partners and represented in Figure III-15 and Figure III-16. There is no sequence follows among these partners’ tasks. These partners’ tasks only receive messages. Additionally, there is an operation mediator pool. The operation mediator pool has mediator functions, which invokes partners’ tasks by the collaborative process, which is the sequence flows in the mediator pool. Because the main function: Send Payment receives the mean message: Product delivered feedback. In Figure III-23, at the beginning of the collaborative process, the Product

FIGURE III-23COLLABORATIVE PROCESS OF SEND PAYMENT

The collaborative process model of Deliver Product is shown in Figure III-24. Figure III-8 defines the collaborative network of Deliver Product. The network contains: Assembler and Client. So the partner pool:

Assembler and Client are represented in Figure III-24. Same as Figure III-22 and Figure III-23, there is no

sequence follows among these partners’ tasks. These partners’ tasks only receive messages. Additionally, there is a support mediator pool. Because the main function: Deliver Product is a support task. The support mediator pool has mediator functions, which invokes partners’ tasks by the collaborative process, which is the sequence flows in the mediator pool. Because the main function: Deliver Product receives the feedback message: Component

sold feedback. In Figure III-24, at the beginning of the collaborative process, the Component sold feedback is

represented as the input data object of the start message event. The main function: Deliver Product sends the

Product delivered feedback. In Figure III-24, at the end of the collaborative process, the Product delivered feedback is

FIGURE III-24COLLABORATIVE PROCESS OF DELIVER PRODUCT

To summarize, the collaborative process includes the collaborative process cartography and the collaborative process model. It normally starts with a collaborative process cartography, which contains strategy, operation, support and general pools. The tasks in general pool can be decomposed to another collaborative process cartography until that there is no general pool in the collaborative process cartography. The tasks in strategy, operation and support pools can be decomposed into collaborative process models, which contain one mediator pool and several partner pools. This is the target collaborative process, which is deduced by the research work of this thesis.

V. Conclusion

This chapter has presented how the collaborative knowledge is collected in MISE 2.0. And how it is possible to deduce from it. The collaborative network model and IDEF0 based function model are defined to collect collaborative knowledge. The collaborative network model focus on the collection of information, which concerns partners, collaborative network and collaborative objectives. The collaborative network model is a pyramid model. It defines the collaborative objectives of the whole network, and decomposed the network into sub networks by the collaborative objective. The IDEF0 based function model mainly collects the information about the shared functions of partners. The IDEF0 is reused in two ways: the main function model and function model. The main function model is transferred from the collaborative network model. The main functions of the main function model come from the collaborative objectives of the collaborative network and sub network. The control message among the main functions can be added manually or completed after the business service selection in chapter IV. But for now, the message is added manually. The function model is just a list of functions of partners. So the input models (the collaborative network model and the function model) of the research work in the thesis are simple to define and easy to use. It decreases the user’s workload. About the output model (the collaborative process model), the collaborative process cartography has been introduced. The process cartography separates collaborative process to strategy, operation and support process.

For the tasks of strategy, operation and support, can be decomposed into sub collaborative processes with one mediator pool and several partner pools. In the collaborative process, there exits correspondence mediator to orchestrate the collaborative process.

In chapter II section III.2, the relations of collaborative situation elements in the collaborative situation framework have been introduced (Figure II-12). The collaborative network model, function model and collaborative process model, which are presented in this chapter, can be located in the relations of collaborative situation elements. The positions of MISE 2.0 models are represented in Figure III-25. The collaborative network model presents the organizational elements. The IDEF0 based function model includes the functional elements. The knowledge of function model contains enough informational element (the input/output/control message). As the function model in business level, the detailed message information (e.g., attributes, entity- relationship, data types and so on) is not needed. The extra informational model is not defined here. The BPMN based collaborative process model is located in the process element. The goal of the thesis is to transfer the collaborative network model and the function model to into the collaborative process model. There are two questions: how to gather this knowledge? And how to present the target knowledge? They have been solved in this chapter. The next question would be how to transfer the gathered knowledge to the process model? And what are the ontology and the transformation rules? These two questions are answered in the next chapter.

Chapter IV: