WP2 ECOLEAD

1
Hamideh Afsarmanesh University of Amsterdam
Brussels May 23-24, 2006
2
DYNAMIC CREATION OF VOs
VO
Many Challenges!
Opportunity
Open universe of organizations
3
MANY CHALLENGES
. . .
Agree on rights sharing benefits/losses
Define roles and responsibilities of partners
Agree on common principles of sharing/working
Build trust as the base for organization
collaboration
Establish common interoperability/integration
platform
Compare and select organizations to configure the
VO
Resolve semantic heterogeneity in organizations
information
Acquire basic profile/competency information of
organizations
Deal with incompatibility and heterogeneity of
information sources
Dynamically Configure a new VO from
autonomous/heterogeneous organizations
Know about Existence/Abilities of potential
partners in open universe
OPPORTUNITY
4
VOs AND VBEs
Fluid creation of VOs
VO
VBE
VO Configuration
Opportunity
Controlled Border Universe
Open Universe
5
VBE VIRTUAL ORGANIZATION BREEDING ENVIRONMENT

An association or alliance of organizations and
their related supporting institutions, that
adhere to a base long term cooperation agreement,
and adoption of common operating principles and
infrastructures, with the main goal of
increasing both their chances and their
preparedness towards collaboration in potential
future Virtual Organizations (VOs)
Very long term strategic alliances to
facilitate brokerage of dynamic
VOs - matching opportunities against
the collection of existing
competencies

• Industry Districts
• Industry Clusters
• SME Networks

6
FULL FLEDGE EU-wide VBEs IN ACTION

• ECOLEAD WP2s Aim
• - Excel and reach innovation necessary for Fluid
  Creation of VOs
• - Define related concepts, reference models and
  methodologies
• - Develop mechanisms, prototypes, and proof of
  concepts

To be achieved afterwards

• - National / International laws
• - Heavy public sponsorship
• - Productization of ECOLEAD RD results
• Global trust acceptance

7
WHAT WE HAVE ACHIEVED SO FAR

6
12
18
24
30
36
42
48
0
6
12
18
24
30
36
42
48
0
VO
creation
framework
VO
creation
framework
VBE
management
system
VBE
management
system
VBE
models

mechanisms
VBE
models

mechanisms
M3
M3
M1
M2
M4
M1
M2
M4
CP1
CP2
CP3
CP4
CP1
CP2
CP3
CP4
D23.1 VO planning and launching (M15)
Focused accomplished work
D21.2a Specification of profile and competency
mgmt. (M18)
D21.2b Experimental e-Catalog for
profile/competency mgmt (M18)
D21.3 VBE common ontol0gy (M21)
D21.4a Characterization of VBE value system and
metrics (M21)
D21.4b Creating and supporting trust culture in
VBEs (M21)
D22.1 VBE management system (M24)
D23.2 Specification of VO creation support tools
(M24)
8
TARGET AREA- EXISTING LONG-TERM ALLIANCES

• So far investigated in WP2  
• - Literature/case study
• (reported in D21.1) 26
• - In-depth study - SME workshops
• (Helsinki) 6
• - Input from experts in the field IAB
• meeting (Brussels) gt8
• - Direct contact with networks
• (reported in D21.2a) 5
• In-depth regional study
• (French networks) 19 
•     Total gt60
• (Plus many more individual
• Studies by partners)
• Confirmed summary report
• Alliances do alright,
• but can do much better!

9
MAIN BARRIERS TO WIDER DEPLOYMENT OF VBEs

• 1. Current VBE operational level Challenges
• Market problems not yet fully economically
  successful
• Proactive brokerage (seek COs), assist brokerage
  (search suggestion)
• Motivating members to become more active (by
  incentives)
• Governance principle lacking or very informal
• Transparent rules to assign partners to
  opportunities
• Bidding and contracting regulations
• Definition of working/sharing principles
• Updating competencies and other VBE member
  information how to cope
• Ontology engineering
• Semi-automatic (crawlers) data extraction from
  online corpora
• Member organizations trust Performance
  measurement how to do
• Collect/analyze performance data and do
  performance-based trust appraisal
• Information exchange between VO and the VBE
• Accreditation

10
MAIN BARRIERS TO WIDER DEPLOYMENT OF VBEs

• 1. Current VBE operational level Challenges
• Market problems not yet fully economically
  successful
• Proactive brokerage (seek COs), assist brokerage
  (search suggestion)
• Motivating members to become more active (by
  incentives)
• Governance principle lacking or very informal
• Transparent rules to assign partners to
  opportunities
• Bidding and contracting regulations
• Definition of working/sharing principles
• Updating competencies and other VBE member
  information how to cope
• Ontology engineering
• Semi-automatic (crawlers) data extraction from
  online corpora
• Member organizations trust Performance
  measurement how to do
• Collect/analyze performance data and do
  performance-based trust appraisal
• Information exchange between VO and the VBE
• Accreditation

11
MAIN BARRIERS TO WIDER DEPLOYMENT OF VBEs

• 1. Current VBE operation level problems
• Market problems not yet fully economically
  successful
• Proactive brokerage,
• Motivate members to become more active
• Copying with updating of competencies and other
  information about members
• Data extraction through crawlers, from online
  corpora
• Copying with information about progress of work
• Data extraction through crawlers, from online
  corpora
• Governance principle
• Transparent rules for assignment of partners to
  opportunities
• Bidding and contracting
• Working/sharing principles
• No clear division of responsibilities, role and
  their interactions / missing guidelines,
  procedures, written rules
• Clear role definition and right/responsibilities

• 2. Attracting new members and keeping them happy
• Return on time / cost investment fear of not
  having ROI
• - Proactive opportunity brokerage
• Loosing decision making power a collaboration
  side effect
• - Creating flexibility in decision
  making
• - Transparent rules/regulations
• - Different levels of membership
• Trust and IPR problems
• - Mechanisms to establish trust / foresee
  trustworthiness
• - Enhance trust in VBE establishment itself
  - transparent rules/regulations
• - Definition of incentives sanctions
• - Enforcement of the defined rules to be
  a good citizen in VBE
• Fear of partner selection by a virtual system
• - Neutral transparent
  definition of VO partner suggestion process
• Required high commitment level
• - Different levels of membership

12
MAIN BARRIERS TO WIDER DEPLOYMENT OF VBEs

• 1. Current VBE operation level problems
• Market problems not yet fully economically
  successful
• Proactive brokerage,
• Motivate members to become more active
• Copying with updating of competencies and other
  information about members
• Data extraction through crawlers, from online
  corpora
• Copying with information about progress of work
• Data extraction through crawlers, from online
  corpora
• Governance principle
• Transparent rules for assignment of partners to
  opportunities
• Bidding and contracting
• Working/sharing principles
• No clear division of responsibilities, role and
  their interactions / missing guidelines,
  procedures, written rules
• Clear role definition and right/responsibilities

• 2. Attracting new members and keeping them happy
• Return on time / cost investment fear of not
  having ROI
• - Proactive opportunity brokerage
• Loosing decision making power a collaboration
  side effect
• - Creating flexibility in decision
  making
• - Transparent rules/regulations
• - Different levels of membership
• Trust and IPR problems
• - Mechanisms to establish trust / foresee
  trustworthiness
• - Enhance trust in VBE establishment itself
  - transparent rules/regulations
• - Definition of incentives sanctions
• - Enforcement of the defined rules to be
  a good citizen in VBE
• Fear of partner selection by a virtual system
• - Neutral transparent
  definition of VO partner suggestion process
• Required high commitment level
• - Different levels of membership

13
MAIN BARRIERS TO WIDER DEPLOYMENT OF VBEs

• 1. Current VBE operation level problems
• Market problems not yet fully economically
  successful
• Proactive brokerage,
• Motivate members to become more active
• Copying with updating of competencies and other
  information about members
• Data extraction through crawlers, from online
  corpora
• Copying with information about progress of work
• Data extraction through crawlers, from online
  corpora
• Governance principle
• Transparent rules for assignment of partners to
  opportunities
• Bidding and contracting
• Working/sharing principles
• No clear division of responsibilities, role and
  their interactions / missing guidelines,
  procedures, written rules
• Clear role definition and right/responsibilities

• 2. Attracting new members and keeping them happy
• Return on time / cost investment fear of not
  having ROI
• - Proactive opportunity brokerage
• Loosing decision making power a collaboration
  side effect
• - Creating flexibility in decision
  making
• - Transparent rules/regulations
• - Different levels of membership
• Trust and IPR problems
• - Mechanisms to establish trust and
  forecast other partners trustworthiness
• - Enhance trust in VBE establishment
  itself - transparent rules/regulations
• - Definition of incentives sanctions
• - Enforcement of the defined rules to be
  a good citizen in VBE

• 3. Current VBE Creation stage problems
• VBE creation methodology and tools lacking
• - Replicable tools mechanisms
• - Definition of VBE creation methodologies
• Benefits founders expect when initiating a VBE
  unclear
• - Power, role,
• Huge efforts/costs needed to be invested
  heavy and unclear
• - Business model
• - public sponsorship and/or private
  investment
• legal issues
• - National/international laws for VBEs and
  their operation

14
MAIN BARRIERS TO WIDER DEPLOYMENT OF VBEs

• 1. Current VBE operation level problems
• Market problems not yet fully economically
  successful
• Proactive brokerage,
• Motivate members to become more active
• Copying with updating of competencies and other
  information about members
• Data extraction through crawlers, from online
  corpora
• Copying with information about progress of work
• Data extraction through crawlers, from online
  corpora
• Governance principle
• Transparent rules for assignment of partners to
  opportunities
• Bidding and contracting
• Working/sharing principles
• No clear division of responsibilities, role and
  their interactions / missing guidelines,
  procedures, written rules
• Clear role definition and right/responsibilities

• 2. Attracting new members and keeping them happy
• Return on time / cost investment fear of not
  having ROI
• - Proactive opportunity brokerage
• Loosing decision making power a collaboration
  side effect
• - Creating flexibility in decision
  making
• - Transparent rules/regulations
• - Different levels of membership
• Trust and IPR problems
• - Mechanisms to establish trust and
  forecast other partners trustworthiness
• - Enhance trust in VBE establishment
  itself - transparent rules/regulations
• - Definition of incentives sanctions
• - Enforcement of the defined rules to be
  a good citizen in VBE

• 3. Current VBE Creation stage problems
• VBE creation methodology and tools lacking
• - Replicable tools mechanisms
• - Definition of VBE creation methodologies
• Benefits founders expect when initiating a VBE
  unclear
• - Power, role,
• Huge efforts/costs needed to be invested
  heavy and unclear
• - Business model
• - public sponsorship and/or private
  investment
• legal issues
• - National/international laws for VBEs and
  their operation

15
ELEMENTS OF VBE REFERENCE FRAMEWORK

• How to build
• the Whole greater than the sum of its Parts!

• How to
• reform the role of breeding environments?
• - In a VBE, What to do and when, to support the
  fluid creation of VOs?

Empower, Boost, and Replicate

• Identification/specification of needed
  methodologies mechanisms for VBEs
• - Next step Selection of Primary (hot) issues to
  develop in ECOLEAD

16
3-DIMENSIONS VBE FUNCTIONAL FRAMEWORK
Extend support for new discovered potentials -
Proactive discovery of opportunities - Creation
of new opportunities - Discovery of emerging
new competencies - bag of assets - Support
institution facilitation - Accreditation
(sector quality, activity costs,
business processes) - System of incentives
Identify infrastructure and mechanisms for
replication - Methodologies for opportunity
discovery and creation - Defining accreditation
strategy - Competence ontology extraction and
evolution - Value systems (regulation
guidelines generation) - Dynamic trust
management (based and identified criteria) -
Business model development
2.Boost
3.Replicate
1.Empower
Address already identified needs - ICT base
infrastructure - Competence management -
Trust management - Performance management
- History inheritance
17
VBE concepts

• Top-level
• Generic CNO-related info,
• Core-level
• VBE (self),
• VBE Participant/Actor,
• VO,
• Profile competency,
• History,
• Evidence,
• Bag of Assets,
• VBE Management System,
• Values System,
• Trust,
• Domain level
• Classification of domains/industries
• Domain-dependent subclasses of core-level classes
  (e.g. Competency subclasses such as
  manufacturing, tourism)
• Application levels
• VBE application-dependent subclasses of
  domain-level classes (e.g. Manufacturing
  Competency subclasses such as metal plumping)

• Objectives of ontologies in VBEs
• common understanding of VBE-related concepts,
• common understanding of the VBE model (e.g. the
  main components of the VBE),
• classification of knowledge (e.g. competencies)
  and support for interoperability of knowledge
  among the VBE participants and among different
  VBEs,
• development of the VBE databases,
• implementation and support of the functionality
  of the VBE Management System.

18
Top core levels (VBE common ontology)
19

VBE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM - VMS FUNCTIONALITIES
Operation/Evolution
Creation
Dissolution / Metamorphosis
20
VMS SOME TOOLS / SYSTEMS
Profiling Trust Management (PTMS)

• Members profile / competency mgmt (PCMS)
• Trust Appraisal management (TRMS)
• Ontology adaptation evolution

AD NM
AD IN
Supporting Information Management (INMS)
Managemnet Decision support (MDSS)

• Bag of assets
• Support institution information
• Value sys. Guidelines / incentives information
• Members roles/rights/responsibilities
• Profiles, competency and validation information
• Trust criteria and members trust information
• VO inheritance information
• Historical performance information

ALL

• VBE competency gap identification
• Members low trustworthiness warning
• Lack of performance identification

AD
21
VMS ARCHITECTURE TOOLS ACTORS

• Bag of assets
• Support institution

• Profile/Competency data
• Trust elements data

• Members roles

• Data about competency,
• trust, and performance

- New data / updates

• Members roles / rights / responsibilities
• Bag of assets

• Competency management
• Discovery of new competencies
• Trust management

• Membership
• members information

• Register VO
• VO partners
• VO Structure
• VO contracts

• Competency / profile information
• Trust appraisal information

22
VO CREATION SOME TOOLS
Partners search suggestion
CO identification

• Search and filter Calls for Tenders
• Normalize representation
• Notify VBE / broker

• List of potential VOs
• Risk analysis
• Expected performance
• Human-based final decision

VO Planner VBE members
(Customer) Broker
CO characterization VO rough planning
Negotiation wizard

• Required competencies
• Required collaboration modalities
• Collab. business process
• Collab. project
• Collab. problem solving
• Ad-hoc collaboration
• Model plan of activities

• Contract templates
• Virtual negotiation room
• Negotiation objects
• CSCW approach

Broker VO Planner
VO Planner VBE members
23
VO CREATION TOOLS ACTORS

• CO Specification

pre-selected set of organizations
Partners performance indicators

• Needed Competencies
• Nº of partners

Negotiation result
Instantiation of Negotiation objects

• VO Rough Plan
• VO Structure
• Client information

• VBE Competences

• VO Detailed Plan / VO agreements
• Selection Negotiation history
• VO Registration

24
PROGRESS ON VBE VO CREATION
Ontology Evolution support
Common VBE ontology
VBE Reference Framework
Characteristics of existing VBEs scenarios
VBE Reference model
VBE Typologies Users categorization
VBE Mgmt. Infrastructure base services
Competency Concept Mgmt req.s
VBE Mgmt. Functionality specs
VBE Management services
Basic life cycle Functionality
VBE Business strategies
VBE Mgmt. Requirements and architecture
Basic elements of value systems
VBE instantiation mechanisms methodologies
Trust elements / modeling requirements
Value system metrics for VBE
Dynamic VO creation assistance tool
Sharing and operating principles
VBE Governance principles
VO creation Functionality services
VO creation Functionality specs
VO creation process
0
Contract Negotiation wizard
100
Contract negotiation process
Contract Negotiation services
Completion level
Validation by Pilot demonstrators
Validation By trials
Validation by external experts and SME networks
Time
25
IMPLEMENTATION AND DEMONSTRATION PLAN
1st C-service prototype
2nd C-service prototype
1st A-service prototype
2nd A-service prototype
Prototypes development
M24
M36
M48
M30
M42
M39
M33
Trials of A-service Prototype Subsystem
development
Trials of C-service prototypes
Trials at development environments
Take-up of subsystems at SME network site
26
PRIMARY (HOT) FUNCTIONAL ISSUES
Identify infrastructure and mechanisms for
replication - Methodologies for opportunity
discovery and creation - Defining accreditation
strategy - Competence ontology extraction and
evolution - Value systems (regulation
guidelines generation) - Dynamic trust
management (based and identified criteria) -
Business model development
Extend support for new discovered potentials -
Proactive discovery of opportunities - Creation
of new opportunities - Discovery of emerging
new competencies - bag of assets - Support
institutions facilitation - Accreditation -
System of incentives
3.Replicate
2.Boost
1.Empower
Address already identified needs - ICT base
infrastructure - Competence management -
Trust management - Performance management
- History inheritance