An ad-hoc workflow system architecture based on mobile agents and rule-based processing

As e-commerce permeates the globe, hundreds of thousand of web-based services are being created and provided to end users and organizations. Even though these services al-e developed independently. they are nevertheless loosely coupled by virtue of relevance. Unfortunately, there is not an easy way to tie these related services together to fulfill an e-business opportunity (an e-business process). In this position paper, we argue that the ad-hoc workflow and mobile agent technologies can enable e-business processes over loosely coupled web-based services. We present our ideas in the context of an order processing application in supply chains. We also present the architecture and implementation of a simple mobile-agent-based an-hoc workflow system.