SBIR Phase I: Workflows to Enable Agile Virtual Enterprises (WEAVE)

这个小企业创新研究第一阶段项目将研究建立WEAVE（工作流程，使敏捷虚拟企业）的可行性，这是一种在线服务，允许任何企业创建和管理虚拟企业只使用一个支持XML的Web浏览器。WEAVE提供自动化支持，以定位参与实体，协商其服务，使用图形工具将其插入企业工作流，并分析工作流中可能的缺陷。WEAVE通过动态选择适当的任务调度和支持使用XML文档格式的数据交换来管理这些虚拟企业工作流。 因此，WEAVE使企业能够轻松地建立虚拟企业，只需很少的基础设施和最低的启动和维护成本。 第一阶段项目将确定WEAVE的操作规范，并通过对其关键组件进行原型设计来确定其可行性。 第二阶段将根据第一阶段的结果生产一个功能齐全的WEAVE系统。最后，第三阶段将使WEAVE在商业上可供大小企业使用，从而大大降低参与虚拟企业的障碍。

This Small Business Innovation Research Phase I project will study the feasibility of building WEAVE (Workflows to Enable Agile Virtual Enterprises), an on-line service that allows any business to create and manage virtual enterprises using only an XML-enabled Web browser. WEAVE provides automated support to locate participating entities, negotiate for their services, plug them into an enterprise workflow using a graphical tool, and analyze the workflow for possible flaws. WEAVE manages these virtual enterprise workflows by dynamically choosing appropriate task schedules and supporting data interchange using XML document formats. Thus, WEAVE enables businesses to easily set up virtual enterprises with little infrastructure and minimal start-up and maintenance costs. This Phase 1 project will determine the operational specifications of WEAVE and ascertain its feasibility by prototyping its critical components. Phase 2 will then produce a fully functional WEAVE system based on results from Phase 1. Finally, Phase 3 will make WEAVE commercially available to enterprises --- large and small --- thereby significantly lowering the barrier for participation in virtual enterprises.