Managing Virtual Organizations with Contracts

Electronic business networks are formed by business application services provided by autonomous enterprises. For controlling the business network behaviour and partnerships, electronics contracts are commonly used. This paper focuses on dynamic virtual organizations where participants can join and leave, or be removed, for various reasons, and the organization structure can change for various reasons. A prototype B2B middleware solution is introduced for managing virtual organization contracts that govern aspects ranging from business aspects to technology issues; local middleware services at the enterprise ICT systems are expected to reflect between the contract and the actual runtime system. The contract carries information about the expected participant roles, services, and properties, as well as the expected collaborative business process between participants for monitoring the conformant behaviour at each phase. In addition, the contract covers commitments for recovery from unacceptable situations and access to methods for introducing changes to the organization structure