FW: DAML-S ProcessModel

Hi,

Just catching up with some maile thread about the process model as defined in DAML-S is interesting and
unfortunately there is not enough information on the DAML-S site that
describes how the composition process will be handled. I would like to
expand a bit on the middle part of the reply by Massimo to get a clearer
picture.
In particular, I am referring to this part:
>Also, during composition of web services clients need to know details on
how the web service >performs its tasks so they can integrate different
services.  For example, before spending >some money a client may want to
make sure that there is money in an account.  This requires >careful
composition of the process model of the selling Web service (which withdraw
the money >from the account) with the process model of the Web service of
the Bank that holds the account >(which tells if there is enough money).

I am assuming that a matchmaker will return to the user a list of selling
and banking services in reply to the user's query. If we are to assume an
autonomous composition of web services it is of utmost importance that
either the user or especially his agent have access to the process model of
each service so that the workflow of composed services will be defined. In
the case of the user agent, some form of reasoning in the agent will have to
identify that composition of web services is required and a process starts
with the aid of a composition engine to handle such integration. This I
would imagine will be based on two major issues, the IOPEs of each service
and also the control constructs defined in the process model.

What is still an enigma and also a bit far fetched in MHO, presuming that
the above argument is valid, is the reasoning ability of the agent required
to collaborate with the composition engine (again I am assuming that such an
engine will be available for example as a web service itself) to perform the
tasks as described above, in the correct order of execution. I would imagine
that the reasoning part should be very powerful to perform such types of
inferencing. Even if the user performs this workflow definition manually, I
would imagine that he would have to be knowledgeable about the area of web
services and all that comes with it. My assumptions also include that such a
scenario will require a solid communication framework between agent and
engine, such that the services are composed in their exact order and
execution state. The result of such a composition could be a new process
model that is generated as a result of this composition and possibly cached
for future use.

Does the argument above make sense? Am I missing something?
I would appreciate any feedback

Regards,

Charlie

-------------------------------------------------
Charlie Abela
Research Student,
Dept. of Computer Science and AI
University of Malta,
MSD06. Malta
Web: http://alphatech.mainpage.net


-----Original Message-----



All email is scanned by Keyworld against known Viruses. This service is offered to all Keyworld subscribers and hosted domains and does not carry any warranty. You are advised to protect your PC with updated antivirus software at all times.