A Three-Layer Architecture for E-Contract Enforcement in an E-Service Environment

In an e-service environment, contracts are important for attaining business process interoperability and enforcing their proper enactment. An e-contract is the computerized facilitation or automation of a contract in a crossorganizational business process. We find that e-contract enforcement can be divided into multiple layers and perspectives, which has not been adequately addressed in the literature. This problem is challenging as it involves monitoring the enactment of business processes in counter parties outside an organization’s boundary. This paper presents an architecture for e-contract enforcement with three layers, viz., document layer, business layer, and implementation layer. In the document layer, contracts are composed of different types of clauses. In the business layer, e-contract enforcement activities are defined through the realization of contract clauses as business rules in event-condition-action (ECA) form. In the implementation layer, cross-organizational e-co...

• Type: Conference
• Year: 2003
• Where: HICSS
• Authors: Dickson K. W. Chiu, Shing-Chi Cheung, Sven Till
• Keywords: Biometrics, Business Layer, E-contract Enforcement, HICSS 2003, Implementation Layer, System Sciences