Translating a typical business process modelling language to a web services ontology through lightweight mapping

Bridging the gap between enterprise modelling methods and Semantic Web services is an important yet challenging task. For organisations with business goals, the automation of business processes as Web services is increasingly important, especially with many business transactions taking place within the Web today. Taking one approach to address this problem, a lightweight mapping between Fundamental Business Process Modelling Language (FBPML) and the Web Services Ontology (OWL-S) is outlined. The framework entails a data model translation and a process model translation via the use of ontologies and mapping principles. Several working examples of the process model translations are presented together with the implementation of an automated translator. FBPML constructs and process models that could not be translated to OWL-S equivalents highlight the differences between the languages of the two domains. It also implies that evolving Semantic Web technologies, in particular OWL-S, are not adequate for all service modelling needs and could thus benefit from the more traditional and mature BPM methods. On a more interesting note, this is effectively the first step towards enabling a semantic-based business workflow system