Inter-organizational business process management using web services - A case study and research issues

In this paper, we review a pioneering inter-organizational business process management system built using web services (WS). This case study is used to evaluate the applications of current WS technology and identify the critical research issues. Our analysis is based on the belief that WS are fundamentally different than the traditional system integration technologies and their impact needs to be analyzed from a holistic point of view. This analysis concludes that the current WS technology is capable of delivering reusable and flexible systems. However, significant research issues in enterprise architecture and business process management need to be addressed in order to realize the full potential of WS. The paper concludes with a discussion regarding the enabling technologies and organizational changes.