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Figure 9: System architecture based on the federated process framework
agent sends the modifi ed XML document to the relevant user views that visually provide
end users current global process status.
The numbered arrows in Figure 9 show the change notifi cation procedure ((1) to (5))
in detail. In the proposed system architecture, the change notifi cation procedure is encoded
in the application programs such as the agents and user view, but participants' process
models and sharing policies are managed in the process model repository. Thus, the system
procedures in the application programs are independent of contents of the process model
repository. When a participant's process model or sharing policy is changed, the associated
external and integrated process models are automatically generated through the second and
third steps of the federated process framework. Then, the proposed system architecture can
adapt itself to the change just by revising the contents of the process model repository. This
adaptability of the system architecture provides the answer to the fi rst question of the agility
problem; in addition, the system components comprising the system architecture provide the
answer to the second question of the agility problem. Consequently, the system architecture
based on the federated process framework addresses the agility problem.
Using the system architecture, a prototype system was also developed based on a
commercial OODB called OBJECTSTORE with the JAVA programming language. In the
prototype system, we employed a real inter-organizational process model that is composed
of three collaborating internal process models, including the online store's order handling
process, the transportation company's delivery process, and the credit card company's card
verifi cation process. The internal process models are managed separately in different process
model repositories that were built up in the OBJECTSTORE as the form of the object dia-
gram in Figure 3(b). The agents and a user view, which were implemented using the JAVA
programming language, access the process model repositories and interact with each other
through the TCP/IP network. The lower part of Figure 10(a) shows a test bed that imitates
the executions of the three business processes to evaluate the prototype system. The adopted
test bed contains three workfl ow simulators corresponding to the three participating internal
process models. According to the internal process models and their interactions, these work-
