Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
developed in connection to the DealDriver project can be found in [5]. For an
overview of the practical experience in BPS systems development up to the time of
building the first version of ProBis see [8]. The high-level theory underlying the state-
oriented view on business processes is presented in [15][16]. Both DealDriver and
ProBis belong to the category of case-handling systems later identified in [17].
Other research works that directly or indirectly belong to the topic of this paper are as
follows. The concept of shared spaces is not a new one. It has been widely used in
research literature for some time, see, for example, [1]. The simultaneous integration of
face to face communication and the exchange of graphical information has been
introduced by [2]. The integration of video and audio is proposed by [18]. Embodiments
are used to enhance virtual shared spaces in [19]. In [20] media spaces are differentiated
from collaborative virtual environments and spatial video conferences.
Using shared spaces for business collaboration was discussed in many research
works. A task-oriented collaboration comparable to our collaborative planning can be
found in [21]. The new media model introduced in [22] shows tight relationships to
shared spaces. Media are spaces where agents can collect and represent information.
Roles, describing rights and obligations determine the behavior of agents. In
PRODNET [23], a federated database architecture has been used to support shared
spaces. Gaia - a middleware infrastructure to enable spaces for cooperatively solving
tasks - is presented in [24]. An introduction on how to manage multiple and
collaborative tasks is give in [25]. An early system that incorporates some features of
ProBis and iPB is OASIS [26]. It supports its users to cooperate for achieving a
common goal.
8 Discussion and Future Plans
As was stated in the introduction, the goal of this paper was twofold. The first sub-goal
was to present our experience in building domain-specific applications for supporting
communication/collaboration in the frame of business process instances. This sub-goal
was fulfilled by presenting examples of three systems. Each example contains the
description of a system and the review of experience of its usage. In the latter, we
outline types of business contexts for which each of the systems is best suited.
As any experience, ours is unique, though some features found in our systems can
be found in others, as well. The main characteristic of our approach to building BPS
system that differentiate us from others is that all our systems are systematically being
built based on the principles of shared spaces architecture outlined in Section 2, and
the state-oriented view on business processes from [7]. We are not aware of any other
attempts of creating a line of on the surface dissimilar systems that implement these
architectural and theoretical principles. In addition, our second example represents not
a system, but a tool that can be (and already is) used by others for building BPS
systems with the shared spaces architecture. The approach accepted for building BPS
system implemented in iPB, as far as we know, is unique.
The second sub-goal was to introduce a taxonomy of communication styles for
collaborative systems with shared spaces architecture. This was done based on the
analysis of our experience and resulted in the introduction of three parameters with
binary values: issuing technique, scope, and instructiveness.
