Information Coordination and Sharing in Virtual Enterprises

Project Dates: From October 2000 to September 2003

Project Leader: Prof. Santosh Shrivastava

Staff: Dr. Nick Cook, Dr. Carlos Molina

Sponsors: EPSRC

 

Recent advances in networking and persuasive use of the Internet has opened up interesting computing science research problems. The class of problems that we address here fall within the remit of the EPSRC DIM programme, and are concerned with the automation of so called business processes of organisations that are increasingly using the internet for their day to day functioning. These business processes include interactions between customer-to-business organisations (e.g., product support, customer complaint handling) as well as between business organisation-to-business organisation. This naturally leads to business processes that cross organisational boundaries. An inter-organisational business relationship is commonly referred to as a virtual enterprise (VE).

The objective of this project is to develop tools and techniques that will enable organisations to set-up and manage business links with each other in a rapid, dynamic and flexible manner. The project will achieve this objective by developing an architecture for VE that will enable organisations to share information and coordinate business processes within a VE.