A software architecture for distributed workflow enactment with agents and web services

This dissertation details the development of a software architecture for an open, distributed, agent-based workflow enactment mechanism. This architecture is instantiated through the development of a demonstration system, which in turn is used as a source of validation. An important contribution of this work is that it reveals the existence of a synergistic relationship between service-oriented and agent-based computing. This relationship is that passive Web services can be liberated by the proactive and social nature of agents, which use the Web services as externally defined behaviors. In effect agent-based technologies provide the mechanism for services to seek work, enter into cooperative agreements and thus otherwise address the requirements of dynamic, heterogeneous environments. Furthermore, this dissertation advances the idea that conventional process description languages, for example the Business Process Execution Language for Web Services (BPEL4WS), can be used as a specification language for multiagent systems. The impact of this work is broad as it serves as a bridge from existing static views of workflow enactment to future agent-based workflow engines that can adapt the workflow based upon environmental dynamics.