METEOR

(Managing End-To-End OpeRations)

The follow-on (current) project:
      METEOR-S: Semantic Web Services and Processes

The METEOR project at the LSDIS lab addresses the issues related to workflow process management for large-scale, complex workflow process applications in real-world multi-enterprise heterogeneous computing environments. Like the InfoHarness and InfoQuilt projects, activities and contributions of METEOR has spanned from conceptual research, prototyping, use in graduate education, real-world applications, industry trials, technology transfer resulting in commercialization. Currently this project has studied the use of emerging Web Services and Semantic Web technologies and research, to develop Semantic Web Service and Process specification, semantics-based Web Services discovery, and Process Composition.

Integral to METEOR's research approach has been our continued exposure to real-world challenges through close collaboration with industry partners. METEOR₁ project started in 1991 at Bellcore (now Telcordia technologies)- motivated with requirements from telecommunications, and continued as METEOR₂ from 1994-2000- driven by collaboration with healthcare and e-commerce, and now continues as METEOR₃- motivated with challenges from e-services and bioinformatics.

Key technical capabilities of the METEOR₂ Workflow Management System include:

• METEOR model: intuitive, comprehensive model with its unique approach to specify human and automated (transactional and non-transactional) tasks and intertask dependencies (including networked/compound tasks); a comprehensive graphical designer
• CORBA+Java based enactment service, ORBWork (subsequently, ORB-less Java-based only service)
  • Fully distributed architecture and scheduling.
  • Rapid development of complex applications for dynamic businesses enabled by automatic code generation.
  • Scalable: support for dynamic task allocation.
  • Security: Role-Based Access Control (RBAC) Model - robust with exception handling and recovery
  • Support for appropriate relevant standards from WfMC, OMG and SWAP
• Web-based distributed enactment service, WebWork
• Rapid development of complex applications for dynamic businesses, enabled by
  • Automatic code generation from the specification provided graphically.
  • Ability to dynamically change specifications
• Research and prototyping of
  • Multi-level Security (MLS)
  • Adaptation
  • Seamless integration of coordination (as supported in METEOR) and collaboration (e.g., see CaTCH project) capabilities
  • Support for cross-organization business processes

METEOR-S is a follow on research project which focuses on Semantic Web Processes

It intendeds to use semantics and exploit Semantic Web, Web Services and related technologies to take METEOR's work on enterprise-wide and muti-organization workflow management to Web-wide processes. Current work includes:

• Quality of Service specification for Web Services, Qos for Web Processes: QoS-based contracts, QoS monitoring, and QoS-based adaptation
• Semantic Annotation and Discovery of of Web Sevices, e-Workflow Composition, Computer Assisted Process Composition
• Adopting Workflow management to support Semantic Web Processes composed from (Semantic) Web Services

Impact and dissemination related on the METEOR project is summarized below.

• Research: Approx. 45 publications:Selected Publications, All Publications: LSDIS Search
  Also keynotes, interviews.
• Education: METEOR software used in several graduate courses world-wide during 1997-2000; NSF Workshop Organized; 2 PhDs and several MS theses; Several tutorials (SIGMOD 1995, Federated Conferences 2002, Data Engineering 1998, CAiSE 1998, etc.)
• Applications and Tech Transfer:
  • Collaboration in prototyping/trailing industry applications : Telecommunications (T1 provisioning) with Bellcore; Healthcare (Immunization Tracking, Neonetal Clinical Pathways, etc.) with CHREF, ATI, Medical Univ of South Carolina, Medical College of Georgia ; Defense: Naval Research Laboratory; Genomic/Bioinformatics: Fungal Genome Center; Administrative: Boeing, UGA (CAPA application operationally deployed since 1999)
  • METEOR technology transferred, resulting in commercial product METEOR EAppS from Infocosm, Inc.
  • External deployments of UGA's METEOR WfMS or Infocosm METEOR EAppS product at Bellcore (Telcordia Technologies), Boeing, MCC. MCG, NIST, NRL, and more...

Funding and Team:

This research was partially supported by grants from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) (under the HIIT ATP Contract, number 70ANB5H1011), and the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) (US Department of Navy, number N00173-98-2-L005). Additional partial support and donations have been provided by MCC, Informix, Iona, Hewlett-Packard Labs, and Boeing.

METEOR team consists of Prof. Amit Sheth (PI), Prof. Krys Kochut (co-PI), Prof. John Miller (co-PI), and Prof. I. Budak Arpinar.

LSDIS contributors to METEOR₂ include Kemafor Anyanwu, Madhan Arumugam, Ketan Bhukanwala, Jorge Cardoso, Mei Fan, Yanbo Han, Zhongqiao Li, Zongwei Luo, Souvik Das, David Lin, Arun Murugan, Devanand Palaniswami, Harvinder Singh, Richard Wang, Devashish Worah, Shengli Wu, Jack Zheng and others.

External collaborators include W.M.P. van der Aalst, Christoph Bussler, Jack Corley, John Lynch, Myong Kang, Warren Karp, and others.