A decision support framework for collaborative networks

Collaborative networks (CNs) enhance the preparedness of their participants to promptly form virtual organisations (VOs) that are able to successfully tender for large scale and distributed projects. However, the CN efficiency essentially depends on the ability of its managers to match and customise available reference models and often, also to create new project activities. Thus, given a particular VO creation project, the CN managers must promptly infer 'what needs to be done' (discover the project processes) and how to best communicate their 'justified beliefs' to the CN members involved. This paper proposes a framework for a decision support system that can help managers and enterprise architects discover/update the main activities and aspects that need to be modelled for various enterprise task types, with special emphasis on the creation of VOs. The framework content is also briefly explained 'by example', in the context of a real-world scenario.