Role network model-based support for RESTful business processes

Abstract

The WWW is increasingly used for process-intensive business scenarios that connect services and applications together. Imperative programming and centralised traditional workflow engines lack the flexibility to support such distributed systems. RESTful business process (RESTfulBP) is an architectural style that introduces a set of constraints and uses process fragments to enable process coordination and choices at the endpoints to improve system adaptability, especially for human-intensive Web-based business processes. However, the original solution had two limitations: 1) the endpoint process fragments cannot distinguish between obligation and permission semantics to communicate richer choices of next-steps, and 2) it was time-consuming to create process fragment variants in an imperative style (either using complex workflow models or manually). In this paper, we propose a rule-based approach using the Role Network Model (RNM) to address these limitations. We introduce deontic logic into a process fragment and enable declarative generation of process fragments from rules. The proposed solution is evaluated in a real-world property valuation application using the B2B standard process from the Australian lending industry. The evaluation indicates that the new approach has improved both the design and runtime adaptability of the resulting system. Through surveys of other users employing our approach, it further demonstrates improved expressiveness, usability and general usefulness.