Re: Proposed changes to Process Execution and related concepts

(ref. W3C Web Services Architecture Note <http://www.w3.org/TR/ws-arch>)

Notwithstanding the slightly divergent usage in the provenance research 
community, I think there is value in using terms already adopted in the web 
services community where they align - I think that would help to make our 
outputs be more readily accepted, hence more relevant.  Thus, I think "Person or 
Organization" is reasonable term, replacing (as I understand) what provenance 
efforts have described as "Agent".

But my understanding is that "Process execution" is *not* the same as 
ws-arch:"Agent", being intended to reflect a specific invocation of the 
programme or service.  I think the term ws-arch:"Agent" would more closely 
replace "Recipe".

I'm not sure "Role" (ws-arch:"Service Role") has a direct correspondence in the 
terms we've discussed to date, though there is a notion of something like role 
in OPM.  Similarly for "Realizes" and "Acts on Behalf of".

#g
--

Ryan Golden wrote:
>    I'd like to bring a proposal up for discussion regarding Process 
> Execution and its related concepts.  Although at the F2F1 there wasn't 
> much discussion over "Process Execution," "Generates," "Uses," and 
> "Agent," I believe more clarification and discussion is needed in these 
> areas.
> 
> High Level Proposal
> ----------------------------
> a) Rename the concept of "Process Execution" to "Agent," 
> adjusting/adding a few properties
> b) Rename the concept of "Process/Recipe" to "Role," adjusting/adding a 
> few properties
> c) Add the concept of "Person or Organization"
> d) Add the concept of "Realizes"
> e) Add the concept of "Acts on Behalf of"
> 
> More Detailed Proposal
> ---------------------------------
> a) Concept: Agent
>     - is a computational entity (narrowed from "piece of work")
>     - may use zero or more Entity States (Bobs)
>     - may generate zero or more Entity States  (Bobs)
>     - may realize zero or more Roles
>     - may have a duration
>     - may acts on behalf of a "Person or Organization"
>     Discussion:
>         Agent is a relatively well-defined industry term for an program 
> acting on a user's behalf.   I propose it as a replacement for "Process 
> Execution," which has the overloaded (and thus undesireable) term 
> "process" in it, and does not necessarily imply that it is acting on 
> behalf of any one person or organization.  In scenarios involving trust, 
> audit, or change tracking, the ability to identify the "who" is crucial, 
> and so the relation between Agent and Person or Organization is 
> introduced.  "Person or Organization" is discussed further below. 
>         Some other common variations are "software agent," or "user 
> agent."  One notable difference between this concept and other agent 
> concepts is that our Agent may have a duration.  I'm still undecided on 
> the utility of the duration.
>         There will be some discussion here about non-computational 
> agents.  I would question the utility of being able to assert relations 
> involving Entity States (Bobs) and non-computational agents, and would 
> ask you to first consider whether the same semantics could be better 
> represented by a Role instead [see next].
> 
> b) Concept: Role
>     - is an abstract set of tasks which pertain to a job function
>     - may have semantics beyond the scope of the WG model (e.g., as 
> described in the RBAC reference model)
>     - may be realized by zero or more Agents    
>     Discussion:
>         Replaces the somewhat confused notions of "Agent" (as it was 
> discussed at F2F1), "Process," and "Recipe".  Note that multiple Roles 
> can be realized by a single Agent.
> 
> c) Concept: Person or Organization
>     - is a real-world person or organization that an Agent acts on behalf of
> 
> d) Concept: Realizes
>     [see Agent and Role]
> 
> e) Concept: Acts on Behalf of
>     [see Agent and Person or Organization]
>  
> References:
> I have adapted some of this proposal from concepts in the W3C Web 
> Services Architecture Note <http://www.w3.org/TR/ws-arch>, a document 
> that I don't entirely agree with, but which has some useful models in it. 
> I also referred to the NIST RBAC reference model.

Received on Tuesday, 12 July 2011 15:15:29 UTC