Model-Driven B2B Integration using UML

Business-to-business (B2B) electronic commerce builds upon inter-organizational business processes that cross the borders of enterprises. Their design and implementation presupposes a different approach than intra-organizational processes do. Experience shows that bottom-up approaches starting from the IT layer of a single enterprise - expecting that all other business partners adjust to it - do not work out. Instead, a prolific B2B design approach must consider three layers in a top-down manner: Firstly, the economic perspective identifies the players and their value exchanges within a business network resulting in a business model. Secondly, business collaboration models specify the choreography of inter-organizational business processes in accordance with the business model. Finally, the business collaboration models are transformed to deployment artifacts to be interpreted by IT systems. In this PhD thesis, we propose a design approach for B2B integration based on the Unified Modeling Language (UML) considering all three layers. Business-to-business (B2B) electronic commerce buildsupon inter-organizational business processes thatcross the borders of enterprises. Their design andimplementation presupposes a different approach thanintra-organizational processes do. Experience showsthat bottom-up approaches starting from the IT layerof a single enterprise - expecting that all otherbusiness partners adjust to it - do not work out.Instead, a prolific B2B design approach must considerthree layers in a top-down manner: Firstly, theeconomic perspective identifies the players and theirvalue exchanges within a business network resultingin a business model. Secondly, business collaborationmodels specify the choreography ofinter-organizational business processes in accordancewith the business model. Finally, the businesscollaboration models are transformed to deploymentartifacts to be interpreted by IT systems. In thisPhD thesis, we propose a design approach for B2Bintegration based on the Unified Modeling Language(UML) considering all three layers.