On modelled flexibility and service selection optimisation
Roland Ukor, Andy Carpenter · Research Explorer (The University of Manchester) · 2008
Service selection optimisation is concerned with the optimal selection of services for the activities in a business process in such a way that maximises the overall quality of the process. Flexibility built into process models during the design phase enables a single process model to accommodate multiple execution paths any of which may be taken by a process instance during the execution phase. However, a challenge exists as to how services can be selected in a way that is simultaneously optimal for all execution paths. This paper surveys relevant literature in service selection optimisation and reviews a number of approaches to managing the effects of modelled flexibility on service selection optimisation. It concludes that it is difficult to simultaneously guarantee an exact optimal solution for all paths and presents a characterisation of the solution space in which the existing approaches may provide the closest approximation.