Dynamic Business Process Formation for Instant Virtual Enterprises (Advanced Information and Knowledge Processing)

Dynamic Business Process Formation fuses practical needs with theoretical input to present important research innovations in supporting Instant Virtual Enterprises (IVEs). This new organization type brings a combination of business dynamism and explicit business process structure to domains where on-the-fly formation of well-organized business networks is required to deal with the complexity of new products or services under high time pressure. This book contains the main results of the IST CrossWork project, and, importantly, looks beyond the boundaries of this project and sources input from related projects and general trends in collaborative enterprises and the automotive industry. Both the business and technical aspects of Virtual Enterprise coordination are covered within the modular structure of the book, which enables readers from different backgrounds to benefit from the book according to their interests. Front Matter....Pages i-x Front Matter....Pages 1-1 Introduction....Pages 3-12 Towards New Frontiers: CrossWork....Pages 13-23 Front Matter....Pages 25-25 Business Aspect....Pages 27-38 Organization Aspect....Pages 39-47 Architecture Aspect....Pages 49-68 Front Matter....Pages 69-69 Goal Decomposition and Team Formation....Pages 71-91 Business Process Composition....Pages 93-111 Business Process Enactment....Pages 113-132 The User Perspective....Pages 133-150 Domain Knowledge Integration....Pages 151-167 Front Matter....Pages 169-169 Automotive Industry Case Studies....Pages 171-198 Comparable Approaches to IVE....Pages 199-241 Front Matter....Pages 243-243 Conclusion....Pages 245-251 Outlook....Pages 253-264 Back Matter....Pages 265-267 Shortening times to market of complex products on the one hand and the need for faster and more efficient creation and evolution of highly specialized enterprises on the other hand motivate the need for Instant Virtual Enterprises. These rely on contemporary software technology for their formation, coordination, evolution, and ultimately, disbandment. This book fuses practical needs with theoretical input to present important research innovations in supporting Instant Virtual Enterprises (IVEs). We show how a business opportunity in the manufacturing domain can be analyzed to form an IVE in a Comprised of the main results from the IST CrossWork project, this book presents key innovations in the use of advanced information technology to support dynamic organizations in modern day industrial supply chains and business service networks.