Strong and flexible domain typing for dynamic E-business

Abstract

This paper introduces the concept of the typed domain, as an aid to the establishment and enactment of successful service consumer-provider relationships. The typed domain consists of the relationship life cycle, projections and their documents, and domain building blocks of different granularity from which the relationship can be described, established and built. It is based on the idea of a relationship type, containing the necessary information from which the relationship life cycle can be supported and from which negotiation, configuration, enactment and termination directives can be generated. We show how the information from the business projections can help determine the type of relationship that is desired. The typed domain can also serve as the framework and context in which an agreement reached in one projection can be translated into agreements in other projections - where necessary, involving further negotiation cycles and input from the two related parties. The paper provides two examples of how relationship types can be used: selection from exhaustive monolithic types versus dynamic assembly from finer granularity type building-blocks. © 2004 IEEE.