An integrated system for supporting problem solution in e-contract execution

Abstract

The standardizations of XML language for e-business like ebXML and BPEL4WS are being carried out and message specifications for connecting workflows of several companies are also being examined. However, not all of the rules in contract can be incorporated into workflows. When an exception which cannot be resolved by workflows occurs, it is important to support settlement of the execution by following contracts. The process of settlement should include human negotiations on interpretations of the contracts, analysis of situations, and proposal of solutions. In this paper, we report a prototype system which supports the entire process of settling exceptions, based on the workflow-contract-solution model. We report the system architecture and modeling examples, and utilization of the system by a realistic trade scenario. The system demonstrated capabilities of clearly modeling contracts and situations, and usefulness of searching histories.