Ontology-based process model for business architecture of a virtual enterprise

As new collaborative business models emerge, considerable research is being carried out on Virtual Enterprise (VE) as an alternative to secure competition. To operate a VE, a common framework that must be shared between participants is needed to implement a seamless business process. This paper focuses on an ontology-based process model that provides a common semantic and communication protocol. The suggested process model has a single integrated meta-model that describes the internal and intra business process of a VE. The internal process is the formal process of each business partner and is described using the Collaborative Component Architecture (CCA) of Enterprise Distributed Object Computing (EDOC). On the other hand, the intra process is a collaborative process that can be modified by the business scenario and is described using a Role Activity Diagram (RAD). The suggested process model is applied for the collaborative design chain process of the automotive-part industry as a case study.