Cross enterprise business modeling with AC diagrams and workflow patterns

We proposed a framework for cross enterprise business modeling and workflow automation targeting e-commerce applications. A business process is modeled by using a new visual tool named activity-control diagram (AC diagram). Frequently occurring business procedures are captured by the adoptions of reusable workflow patterns. With formally defined semantics using distributed system theory of happens-before ordering, process behavior can be mechanically analyzed at design time. A completely specified model is automatically converted to a workflow by an iterative traversal algorithm that maps an AC diagram to an XML workflow specification. The spec can then be executed by an XML workflow engine to facilitate cross enterprise ecommerce applications.