Reference Models Supporting Enterprise Networks and
Virtual Enterprises
Martin Tølle1 and Peter Bernus2
1Department
of Manufacturing Engineering and Management, Technical University of DENMARK
Email: [email protected]
2Griffith University, Nathan (Brisbane) Queensland 4111 AUSTRALIA
Email: [email protected]
This article presents a generic Business Model for Virtual Enterprises (VEs) and analyses
different types of Reference Models applicable to support the set up and (re)configuration of
VEs. Reference models are models capturing concepts common to VEs aiming to convert the task
of setting up of VE into a configuration task, and hence reduce the time needed for VE creation.
The reference models are analysed through a mapping onto the Virtual Enterprise Reference
Architecture (VERA) based upon GERAM and created in the IMS GLOBEMEN project.
Note: this article is an extended version of the paper “Reference Models for Virtual Enterprises”
presented at the PRO-VE’02 conference, Sesimbra, 1-3 May 2002 [Tølle et al, 2002]
1 INTRODUCTION
Enterprises co-operate more and more extensively with other enterprises in all product
phases of a product’s life cycle. This is due to various reasons such as cost reduction,
flexibility, and a focus on core competencies. The result is anything from rather stable
alliances between partners in fixed supply chains to a more transient co-operation as in a
virtual enterprise (VE).
The potential competitive advantage of a VE is to be able to configure the best available
competencies of several companies into a project enterprise. However, this is often
jeopardised by the time it takes to set up a VE; especially if the VE is composed of
partners without thorough knowledge of one another before the formation of the VE
[Tølle et al, 2002].
The concept of Virtual Enterprise (VE) has been in currency for some years [Davidow
& Malone, 1992]. Authors have given definitions of VEs placing emphasis on the speed
and agility with which such entities must be formed [Goldman et al, 1995; Katzy, 1997;
Goranson 1998; Goranson 1999]. However, the implementation of VEs has been
hindered by the lack of well-documented and analysed models in the open literature.
The concept is to design entire supply chains in which a multitude of companies cooperate and co-ordinate their actions – as if they were part of a single enterprise.
Furthermore, the idea of VEs involves the requirement that VEs should be able to be
frequently modified to suit changing business requirements. Unfortunately, the knowhow of how to do this is at present not widely disseminated, and even those large
companies, which have such coordinated and flexible supply chains use only part of the
VE concept.
In order to be able to form VEs in a short span of time so-called Reference Models are
needed. Reference Models are models of business processes, information models
describing the structure of data exchanged through interfaces, models describing human
resources and the structure of hardware and software systems, as well as their necessary
capabilities, and organisational models that describe how human and automated
resources are best allocated to tasks in the business processes (including management,
production and service processes). In other words, a Reference Model is a blueprint that
companies can follow to design their own particular model of VE creation and
operation.
This article presents results from the recently finished IMS 1 GLOBEMEN project
[GLOBEMEN]. The objective of this article is twofold. First: introduce and analyse
different types of Reference Models applicable to support the set up and
(re)configuration of VEs. Second: show how the Virtual Enterprise Reference
Architecture (VERA) – created in GLOBEMEN as a specialisation of GERAM
[GERAM, 2000] – can be used as a structuring architecture by mapping the Reference
Models onto it.
Section 2 introduces in more detail the concept of virtual enterprises and further
explains the need for Reference Models in VEs. In Section 3, VERA is presented.
Section 4 describes Reference Models applicable to VEs and maps them onto VERA
thereby showing how VERA can be used to identify and categorise necessary Reference
Models. A discussion concludes this article.
2 VIRTUAL ENTERPRISE & REFERENCE MODELS
A Business Model is an arrangement between companies where the relationships among
the participants are strategically designed, so as to be able to perform sustained business
activity for a cost-optimised and high-quality delivery of production and services. The
Business Model defines the roles of participants – such as core partners, suppliers (less
strongly bound to the given business), etc. – all being co-ordinated through a set of
management processes inherent to the model. Through this Business Model VEs can be
formed on demand for the production of goods or the delivery of services, as well as can
be reconfigured in a short span of time as business requirements change. While in
general the term ‘business model’ might be interpreted in various ways, it is used here
in a narrower sense, to signify the result of the strategic management process that
1
Intelligent Manufacturing Systems, http://www.ims.org
identifies how and under what conditions business is to be conducted in the future –
thus it is a description, or ‘model’ of the business.
2.1 Virtual Enterprise Business Model
This article applies the VE concept developed in the GLOBEMEN project. This
concept regards a Network of Enterprises (the ‘Network’) as the breeding environment
for the preparation and formation of VEs (see Figure 1).
In the GLOBEMEN project a VE has been defined as a customer solution delivery
system created by a temporary and re-configurable Information and Communication
Technology (ICT) enabled aggregation of core competencies [Vesterager et al, 1999].
VEs can be formed to perform a one-of-a-kind production or service task, such as
building a plant, or building a ship. Alternatively VEs can also be formed to perform
the manufacturing of a product line, or the delivery of after sales services for a product
line [Hartel & Burger, 2001]. In this latter case several VEs can be set up depending on
e.g. the service needs. Therefore, a VE may sustain for a long time – although during its
lifetime its constituents may change, such as some suppliers leaving the VE and some
others joining it.
Figure 1: Enterprise Networks and Virtual Enterprises
It has been understood in the GLOBEMEN Consortium, that VE creations to different
extents require a high degree of preparedness on behalf of business partners. Partners
need to have a demonstrated capability and management competencies for VE creation;
this includes a level of enterprise engineering knowledge as well as the possession of
Reference Models that can be used for fast creation or re-creation of VEs. Also, partners
need to have tested ICT building blocks available that can be used to realise operational
systems based on these models. The collection of the above may be called preparedness
for VE creation [Christiansen, 1996; Christiansen & Vesterager, 1999].
It is important that this VE creation task must be done through configuration rather than
for example ad hoc decision of procedures and rules or through new software design
and implementation, because the objective is to be able to create and re-create efficient
VEs in a very short time.
To achieve the mentioned preparedness it is necessary to identify (and if not available
then develop) a set of reference models for network and VE creation and operation.
Thus, as a part of forming the Network, network partners will establish a degree of
preparedness for forming particular (individual) VEs. VEs are formed based on the
production and service competencies available in the network in order to meet customer
demands as well as necessary management competencies in order to manage the
realisation. Additional competencies from sub-suppliers or local contractors may be
included in VEs as well [Vesterager et al, 1999; Tølle et al, 2000].
Depending on the roles that partners and suppliers take in a Network and its VEs there
can be a variety of Business Models. E.g. the Network may either be a loose
association of partners where the network only offers brokerage services bringing
together partners with suitable suppliers, or it may be a more controlled Network, where
a few partners and pre-qualified suppliers form carefully pre-designed types of VEs.
This article focuses on Reference Models for this second type of Network. Still, within
the limits of these Reference Models there can be differences, depending on the set of
functions that partners wish to perform through the Network and its VEs, and those
functions that remain within the operations of the individual partners. It is the strategic
intent of the partners that determines which functions to share and which ones to keep
within the walls of the company. Clearly, companies do not wish to share functions that
are part of their core competencies.
Importantly, the Network not only creates VEs and sets them into operation, but also
ensures that the knowledge and experience gained during the operation of VEs is
captured. Thus, when the customer’s demand has been satisfied, the experiences gained
in the VE are transferred back to the network, the VE is decommissioned, and the
network awaits or seeks other possibilities in the market [Vesterager et al, 1999; Tølle et
al, 2000].
2.2 Reference Models
The mentioned preparedness of partners can be achieved by adopting existing reference
models and/or by creating reference models for the Network, VEs, the participating
enterprise(s) and/or the products and services of VEs. Some of these reference models
will describe the production and service processes (and associated information,
resources and organisation) [Bremer, 2000; Bernus et al, 2002b], and some will describe
the necessary management processes [Kalpic & Bernus, 2002].
A Reference Model is a model that captures characteristics and concepts common to
several entities (e.g. networks or VEs) [Mertins & Bernus, 1998]. The purpose of
reference models is to “capitalise on previous knowledge by allowing model libraries to
be developed and reused in a 'plug-and-play' manner rather than developing the models
from scratch” [GERAM, 2000]. Hence, reference models “make the modelling process
more efficient" [ibid.].
Reference models for Virtual Enterprises are used to convert the VE formation task into
a re-use and configuration task obtaining a quick, low-cost, and secure VE creation
process [Tølle et al, 2002]. They can have many forms, covering different aspects and
be applied in many ways. It is important to note that despite reference models often
representing generally accepted characteristics of a group or type of entities or a way of
doing things; they should not be applied uniformly within all enterprises/projects
[PMBOK, 2000] – they often have to be adapted before use. This process is called
tailoring [Bernus et al, 2002b].
The availability of Reference Models has been a critical success factor in the
widespread use of enterprise architecture frameworks. E.g., the usefulness of the ARIS
[Scheer, 1992] framework (ARchitecture for Information Systems) – which is the
framework utilized by many users of the SAP ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning)
system – is greatly enhanced by the availability of an extensive set of reference models
for typical business functions in many industries [Scheer, 1994; Curran & Keller, 1998].
Unfortunately, detailed enough reference models for VEs have not been published in the
open literature, and this has been an entry barrier to companies who wished to exploit
the VE concept, as had been evident from the result of workshops held as part of the
ICEIMT process (International Conference on Enterprise Integration and Modelling
Technology) [Kosanke & Nell, 1997]. This problem has been recognised and made part
of several research and development programmes, such as the GLOBEMEN project,
however, more needs to be done as evidenced in the ongoing VO-MAP project: “no
generally accepted reference model or interoperability base are available”
[Camarinha-Matos, 2002].
3 VIRTUAL ENTERPRISE REFERENCE ARCHITECTURE
To organise already existing knowledge as, including reference models, as well as to
structure and guide the future preparation of reference models the GLOBEMEN project
has developed VERA (Virtual Enterprise Reference Architecture) based upon the
GERA modelling framework of GERAM [Vesterager et al, 2002].
GERAM was developed as a generalisation of several enterprise reference architectures
(also sometimes called architecture frameworks), such as GRAI [Doumeingts, 1998],
CIMOSA [CIMOSA, 1996], PERA [Williams 1994; Rathwell & Williams, 1996;
Williams & Li, 1998]. GERAM is part of the international standard ISO 15704, and
work is underway2 to demonstrate the possibility of mapping onto GERAM other
architecture frameworks that were not originally used in the creation of this
generalisation, such as the Zachman Framework [Zachman, 1987; Sowa & Zachman
1992] and C4ISR/DoDAF [C4ISR, 1997; Levis & Wagenhals, 2000].
While GERAM (and compliant reference architectures) could be used to systematise the
set of necessary reference models for VEs, these architectures, being of generic nature,
require that the user should identify the enterprise entities involved in creating and
operating VEs. Therefore, to create a consensus about what types of entities are
involved in VE creation and operation, the GLOBEMEN Consortium decided to
develop a specialisation of GERA. Thus, GLOBEMEN developed VERA. While GERA
defines the need for the identification of enterprise entity types and proposes a generic
relation between these, VERA has a built-in set of VE-related enterprise entity types
and their relations are elaborated so as the user of VERA may be able to readily identify
these relations as representations of the company’s business relations in the VE context.
VERA is a central layer of the VERAM (Virtual Enterprise Reference Architecture and
Methodology) framework [Zwegers et al, 2001, 2002] likewise developed in
GLOBEMEN. As shown in Figure 2 VERA captures the VE concept described in
Section 2.2. VERA consists of three entity types, viz. Network, VE and Product. The
figure shows that the network in its operational phase creates VEs and a VE carries out
some product life cycle phase activities (indicated by the double arrows).
Each of the three entities is represented by use of the three dimensions of the GERA
modelling framework: the life cycle dimension, the genericity dimension, and the view
dimension [GERAM, 2000]. More elaborate descriptions of VERA can be found in
[Vesterager et al, 1999, 2001a, 2001b, 2002].
2
Noran, O. (2003) A mapping of Individual Architecture Frameworks (GRAI, PERA, C4ISR, CIMOSA,
Zachman, ARIS) onto GERAM. In Handbook of Enterprise Architecture, P. Bernus, L. Nemes and G.
Schmidt (Eds). Berlin: Springer (to appear).
Figure 2: Virtual Enterprise Reference Architecture (VERA)
The generic and partial boxes in Figure 2 have been shaded indicating the location of
reference models in VERA. The remaining non-shaded boxes represent the particular
entities containing instantiated reference model components or self developed
components. Enterprises engaged in VE-focused networks should determine which of
the non-shaded boxes they would need to prepare up-front and most importantly by
what means (using available standards, reference models from other sources, and/or
through the development of their own reference models) [Tølle et al, 2002]. It is
important to note that this is not an “either-or” choice, but more a matter of assessing
available reference models and filling in the blanks by self-developed reference models.
Of course, enterprises should only develop their own reference models only if needed
and not publicly available elsewhere.
As indicated in Figure 2 reference models are, or can be, developed for all three entities.
Models addressing the product itself (e.g. product models, engineering bill of materials),
although important for a fast product realisation, are product and industry specific and
will not be addressed in this article. The focus of this article is reference models
describing the network and VE entities including how to execute product related
activities in VEs (distributed concurrent engineering, procurement, quotation, etc.).
4 VE REFERENCE MODELS
4.1 Mapping Reference Models to VERA
As mentioned, in the process of preparing and setting up VEs different types of
reference models should be considered. In the following some of available reference
models or reference models under development will be described by mapping them onto
a subset of VERA depicted in Figure 3. The mappings are intended to support
enterprises, preparing for or operating in a VE focused network, to identify reference
models of possible relevance.
This VERA subset consists of the network and VE entities and applies the life cycle
dimension as well as the modelling and purpose views of GERAM. Thereby, VERA
provides a structure, which allows a mapping of reference models related to the set up
and (re)configuration of Networks and set up and (re)configuration of VEs by a
network.
Modelling Views
n
n
n tio
n tio
o
o
e
i
a
t
n
c
n ati isa rce
o
io ma nis ur
i
t
u
t
m n
nc for rga eso
nc for rga eso
u
u
F In O R
F In O R
Identification
Purpose views:
Customer Service &
Product view
Concept
Requirements
Prelim. design
Detailed design
Management &
Control view
Implementation
Operation
Decommission
Network
VE
Figure 3: A subset of VERA showing the modelling and purpose views
Applying the modelling views of VERA/GERA (cf. Figure 2 and Figure 3) can help
distinguish between different aspects that should be addressed by reference models. The
Functional view represents the activities and the (temporal) behaviour of the business
processes of the entity [GERAM, 2000]; the Information view represents data models
for e.g. strategic information systems requirements capture, management database
design (e.g. management information system database, data warehouse), and operational
database design (e.g. product data representation); the Resource view consists of
resource models for software and hardware systems and human resources, both for the
production system and for the management and control information system; the
Organisational view represents models for designing the organisation [Bernus, 1999]
and among other things describes the allocation of resources to activities / processes.
Note that in the first two life cycle phases of an entity (i.e. identification and concept
phase) no distinction is be made between the modelling views.
The purpose views distinguish between the customer product and service activities, and
the management and control activities representing the mission fulfilment and the
mission control aspects respectively [GERAM, 2000]. As regards to the dimension of
genericity this subset of VERA covers the right-hand sides of the shaded areas of the
network and VE entities in Figure 2, i.e. partial models (reference models)3.
Thus, Table 1 below introduces partial reference models for Networks and VEs. Note
that the first four reference models mapped are of a more general nature than the last
four that addresses more specific VE characteristics. The list of reference models in
Table 1 is not exhaustive, but outlines some of the reference models of relevance to
enterprises taking part in a VE focused network.
The methodology followed in this section has been to identify models that at the
moment cannot be regarded as generally followed best practice but which builders of a
VE business need (e.g. ISO 15288 ‘Life Cycle Management - System Life Cycle
Processes’ [ISO 15288, 2000]), or models which may be presently in use in companies,
but where the relevance of these to the VE building effort is not generally known (and
thus may be the source of parallel development in the company, e.g. ISO 9001:2000).
Reference Models that are specific to the product or service that VEs deliver have not
been included in this mapping – although it goes without saying that in the design of the
mission fulfilment by VEs (i.e. by the involved processes as performed by contributing
partners), a number of other, industry-specific, reference models must be taken into
account (e.g. STEP product data exchange standards [ISO10303]). Furthermore, to
make this task manageable the focus was on models that can be commonly used by all
partners in the Consortium, as opposed to models that would have been relevant only to
some partners. This eliminated the need to compile a comprehensive list of reference
models and to map them onto VERA, although the authors recognise that the listed set
of eight Reference Models may have to be extended in the future. The control of this
I.e., this article does not cover the generic level of GERA/VERA (the level of ontologies) – that
investigation would be the area of modelling language designers.
3
methodology was to confirm the relevance of the mapped reference models with
GLOBEMEN Consortium partners.
The mapping illustrates how VERA as a reference architecture can be used to show the
coverage of the different reference models and thereby how VERA enables a
comparison between different reference models. For each of the reference models the
mapping gives a view of the extent and possible application of these models. For each
reference model a very short description is provided. The mapping uses shading to
indicate which parts of VERA are supported by the given reference model. Darker
shading indicates a stronger focus/relevance, and more detail. For example, the mapping
of the GLOBEMEN IDEF0 model [Baltrusch, 2000] shows a dark shading of the
functional view, and a lighter shading of the remaining views. This indicates that, as an
IDEF0 model, the main view addressed is the functional view, but by means of
identifying the information flow between the activities and the indication of
mechanisms and resources in the IDEF0 model the remaining views are addressed as
well although to a lesser extent.
Table 1- Reference Models applicable for Virtual Enterprises,
modified from [Tølle et al, 2002]
F
I
O
R
F
I
O
R
ISO 9001-2000
Describes policy level models for how to perform
Quality Management in an enterprise. As such the
standard does not address specific network or VE
issues, but addresses what needs to be carried out
in an enterprise regardless of how it is configured
or in what environment it operates (e.g. in a
dynamic or stable environment). [ISO9001, 2000]
Identification
Concept
Requirements
Prelim. design
Detailed design
Implementation
Operation
Decommission
Network
F
I
O
VE
R
F
I
Identification
Concept
Requirements
Prelim. design
Detailed design
Implementation
Operation
Decommission
Network
VE
O
R
ISO 15288
Describes requirement for four groups of system
life cycle processes (enterprise processes,
agreement processes, project management
processes, and technical processes). Purpose,
outcomes, and activities are described for each of
the processes in each of the groups [ISO15288,
2000]. The activity descriptions can be used as
inspiration when specifying requirements for a
network or VEs.
F
I
O
R
F
I
O
R
O
R
Identification
Concept
Requirements
Prelim. design
Detailed design
Implementation
Operation
Decommission
Network
F
I
O
VE
R
F
I
RosettaNet
Aims to be ‘Lingua Franca’ for eBusiness. The
Partner Interface Processes (PIPs) model defines
interfaces and sequences of steps required to
execute a processes between supply-chain
partners. RosettaNet categorises PIPs by highlevel business functions (clusters) and subfunctions (segments) [RosettaNet].
Identification
Concept
Requirements
Prelim. design
Detailed design
Implementation
Operation
Decommission
Network
F
I
O
VE
R
F
I
O
R
O
R
Identification
Concept
Requirements
Prelim. design
Detailed design
Implementation
Operation
Decommission
Network
F
I
O
VE
R
F
I
Identification
Concept
Requirements
Prelim. design
Detailed design
Implementation
Operation
Decommission
Network
VE
PMBOK
Project Management Body Of Knowledge
describes generic project management activities.
Addresses the following project management
processes: Integration, Scope, Time, Cost,
Quality, Human Resources, Communications,
Risk and Procurement. Inputs, tools & techniques,
and outputs are described for each process.
[PMBOK, 2000].
GLOBEMEN Grai Grid
A Grai Grid model of management activities for
partner enterprises, the network entity and the VEs
respectively. Compared to PMBOK this model is
at a more VE specific level. In this model the
management functions described as decision
centres. Furthermore, the model addresses the
information view through indicating internal and
external information sources and content as well
as information flow between decisions centres
[Olegario, 2001].
GLOBEMEN IDEF0 Reference Model
IDEF0 model of activities to go through when
setting up a network, VEs and creating products.
As an IDEF0 model, the reference model
primarily addresses the functional view, but
through the description of ICOMs (informationflow and resources) the model also addresses the
three additional views [Baltrusch, 2000].
F
I
O
R
F
I
O
R
PRODNET (ESPRIT 22647)
ICT infrastructure requirements based on a
workflow approach for coordination. The
infrastructure consists of a 3 level coordination
systems (core cooperation layer, enterprise
management functionalities, VE management
functionalities) supported by services and a
communication infrastructure. [PRODNET] &
[Camarinha-Matos, 2001]
O
R
DYNOCA (IST 11065)
Reference Model for Dynamic Networked
Organisations in the Consultancy/Agency Sector.
The reference model deals with how to set up and
operate VEs and consist of four levels: 1)
Business phases (Consulting, Conception,
Production, Control, Realisation, Service &
Maintenance), 2) Business processes, 3) Business
sub-processes and 4) Activity description
[DYNOCA, 2001].
Identification
Concept
Requirements
Prelim. design
Detailed design
Implementation
Operation
Decommission
Network
F
I
O
VE
R
F
I
Identification
Concept
Requirements
Prelim. design
Detailed design
Implementation
Operation
Decommission
Network
VE
It can be seen from the mappings that several reference models address the same parts
of VERA. This does not necessarily mean that the models are redundant. It could e.g. be
models cowering different integration levels [Zwegers et al, 2001], e.g. physical,
syntactical, semantic, business process, or inter-enterprise integration as addressed by
e.g. ALIVE (Architecture for Layered Integration in Virtual Enterprises) cf. [Berg et al,
2000]. Another difference could be the level of genericity. E.g. the mapping of PMBOK
[PMBOK, 2000] and GLOBEMEN Grai Grids [Olegario, 2001] are almost identical.
The difference, however, is that whereas PMBOK is at a generic project management
level, the GLOBEMEN model addresses specific network and VE details.
4.2 Use of Reference Models
As mentioned, the reference models should be assessed carefully before use. Some of
the reference models (e.g. activity model for how to set up a network) can be used
directly, to support an actual activity (e.g. set up of a particular network). Other
reference models (e.g. management processes of PMBOK) need to be modified/adapted
before use. A modified version of a reference model can then be used as a ‘network
reference model’ in a particular network (e.g. when setting up management processes
for particular VEs). A step-by-step approach to build virtual enterprise capability –
applying among others the GLOBEMEN Grai Grids [Olegario, 2001] and IDEF0
models [Baltrusch, 2000] – can be found in [Bernus et al, 2002a].
Given the number of models to be managed in the implementation of a VE Business
Model the partner(s) who initiate the creation of the Network need to develop a
Business Plan. The Business Plan, among other things, must include the description of
the process to
 set up the Network;
 identify qualified suppliers who have the proven capability to become members of
future VEs; as well as
 specify the processes that will be needed to create, supervise and decommission
particular future VEs.
This process can itself be modelled, e.g. using an activity modelling language (e.g.
IDEF0), or a process modelling language (such as IDEF3 or FirstStep) [Bernus et al,
2002b]. Such a Business Plan may be implemented as a single project, or may be
subdivided into an initial ‘Network Set up’ project and projects for the development of
particular models for VEs. The Business Plan also needs to include processes that must
be implemented by partners in their operations in order to carry out ongoing supplier
qualification and Network operations, and VE creation and supervision tasks.
During the set up of a VE the partners have to decide which models to use when the VE
is in operation. Depending on e.g. the expected frequency of the VE activities this might
be done before the initiation of the VE (as part of the formation of the network), or as
part of the VE set up. Consequentially, when to decide which reference model to use in
a given situation is a question of work preparation [Vesterager et al, 1999, 2001b]. For
a given activity (e.g. distributed engineering) a network can decide to define a (set of)
process(es) that all VEs should follow. Alternatively, if the network does not prepare
the activity then either the VE partners have to make this decision at the time of setting
up a particular VE. As a last (not very desirable) possibility the involved partners would
determine the modus operandi ad hoc if confronted with the situation during operation.
5 CONCLUSION AND FURTHER WORK
Enterprises today face a major challenge in being able to work more dynamically in
project-oriented virtual enterprises (VEs). This article presented a business model for
Virtual Enterprise and described the need for Reference Models in a VE environment as
a means to facilitate the realisation of VEs through establishing preparedness. It has
been illustrated how the virtual enterprise reference architecture (VERA) based upon
GERAM (ISO15704: 2000) can help structure and identify possible areas where
reference models need to be adopted or developed by a VE focused network. A selected
set of reference models has been mapped onto VERA. This mapping can help
enterprises that intend to participate in a VE focused network to identify possible
reference models of relevance, as well as to identify areas not covered and for which
additional reference models need to be developed.
Further work needs to be done to develop guidelines for how to select between relevant
reference models as well as how to modify them to a particular situation. Likewise the
usage of VERA as a structuring architecture still needs to be refined to enrich mappings
in order to, e.g., facilitate the identification of the focus of different reference models.
5.1 Acknowledgments
This work has been sponsored by the European Commission through IST-1999-60002
GLOBEMEN – Global Manufacturing and Engineering in Enterprise Networks. The
authors wish to acknowledge the Commission for their support. Furthermore, we would
like to express our gratitude and appreciation to all the GLOBEMEN (IMS99004)
partners for their contribution during the development of results presented in this article.
The authors also wish to express their gratitude to Johan Vesterager for his valuable
advice.
6 REFERENCES
Baltrusch, R. (2000) “Infrastructure Requirements for Virtual Manufacturing Enterprises”, Hons. Thesis, School of Computing and
Information Technology, Griffith University
Berg R. van den, Hannus M., Pedersen J.D., Tølle M., & Zwegers A. (2000) “Evaluation of state of the art technologies”,
GLOBEMEN EU deliverable D411
Bernus, P. (1999) “What, Why And How To Model In The Enterprise?” (keynote) Preprints of IEMC99, Verdal, Trondheim:
SINTEF, pp 1-12
Bernus, P., Baltrusch, R., Vesterager, J., Tølle, M. (2002a) “Fast tracking ICT infrastructure requirements and design, based on
Enterprise Reference Architecture and matching Reference Models”, In “Collaborative business ecosystems and Virtual
Enterprises” ed. Luis M. Camarinha-Matos, Kluwer, pp. 293-302
Bernus, P., Noran, O, Riedlinger, J. (2002b) “Using the Globemen Reference Model for Virtual Enterprise Design in After Sales
Service”, GMNBook, GLOBEMEN Conference, Helsinki 2002, (to appear)
Bremer, C.F. (2000) “From an Opportunity Identification to its Manufacturing: a Reference Model for Virtual Enterprises”, Annals
of the CIRP, Vol. 49/1/2000, pp. 325- 329
C4ISR Architectures Working Group. (1997). C4ISR V2.0. US DoD. (available on: http://www.c3i.osd.mil)
Camarinha-Matos, L.M. (2001) "Execution system for distributed business processes in a virtual enterprise" Future Generation
Computer Systems 17, p. 1009-1021
Camarinha-Matos, L.M. (2002) “VOmap, Roadmap design for collaborative virtual organizations in dynamic business ecosystems”,
Presented at the cluster session “Roadmaps for Smart Organisations – Current & Future challenges”, eBusiness & eWork
conference, 17 October 2002, Prague, Czech Republic (available on: http://www.cordis.lu/ist/ka2)
Christiansen, K.G. (1996) “Concurrent Engineering – a knowledge production concept for a shipyard”, Industrial Ph.D project
ATV 492, Odense Steel Shipyard & Department of Industrial Management and Engineering, Technical University of Denmark
Christiansen, K. & Vesterager, J. (1999) “Engineering Bereitschaft as an enabler for concurrent engineering”, Robotics and
Computer Integrated Manufacturing 15 (1999) pp. 453-461
CIMOSA Association. (1996). CIMOSA - Open System Architecture for CIM. Technical Baseline, ver 3.2. Böblingen : CIMOSA
eV.
Curran, T. and Keller, G. (1998). SAP R/3 Business Blueprint. Prentice Hall: Upper Saddle River.
Davidow, W.H., & Malone, M. (1992) “The Virtual Corporation”, New York, Harper Business
Doumeingts, G. (1998). GIM, Grai Integrated Methodology. In A. Molina & A. Kusiaka & J. Sanchez (Eds.), Handbook of Life
Cycle Engineering. Dordrecht: Kluwer pp227-288.
DYNOCA, IST-project 11065 “Deliverable: D4 Reference Model for Dynamic Networked Organisations in the
Consultancy/Agency Sector” http://www.dynoca.net
GERAM (2000) IFAC/IFIP Task Force on Architectures for Enterprise Integration. GERAM: Generalised Enterprise Reference
Architecture and Methodology, (available on: http://www.cit.gu.edu.au/~bernus) Annex A to ISO 15704 Requirements for
enterprise-reference architectures and methodologies
Goldman, S.L., Nagel, R.N., & Preiss, K. (1995) “Agile competitors and virtual organizations: Strategies for Enriching the
Customer”, New York, Van Nostrand Reinhold
Goranson, H. T. (1998). “Agile Manufacturing”, In A. Molina & A. Kusiak & J. Sanchez (Eds.), Handbook of Life Cycle
Engineering. Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers. pp 31- 58
Goranson, H.T. (1999) The agile virtual enterprise. Greenwood Publishing Group.
GLOBEMEN - Global Engineering and Manufacturing in Enterprise Networks, IMS 99004/ IST-1999-60002,
http://globemen.vtt.fi/
Hartel, I., & Burger, G. (2001) “Virtual Service Enterprise: A model for virtual collaboration in after-sales service in the one-of-akind industry”, In “International IMS Project Forum 2001, A common platform for cross-fertilization among IMS projects and
promotion of the IMS program“ ed. Bernardo Ferroni, Claudio R. Boer, Charles M. Anderson, ISBN 88-900298-3-8
ISO 9001-2000 (2000) Quality management system – Requirements
ISO 10303 - Standard for the Exchange of Product Model Data (STEP)
ISO15288 (2000) Life Cycle Management – System Life Cycle Processes (CD-2), January 2000
Kalpic, B. & Bernus, P. (2002) “Business process modelling in industry – the powerful tool in enterprise management”, Computers
in Industry 47, pp. 299-318
Katzy, B. R. and Schuh, G. (1997) The virtual enterprise, In A. Molina & A. Kusiak & J. Sanchez (Eds.), Handbook of Life Cycle
Engineering. Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers. pp 59-91
Kosanke, K., Nell. J (1997) Enterprise Engineering and Integration: Building International Consensus. Proc ICEIMT’97. Berlin :
Springer.
Levis, A. H., & Wagenhals, L. W. (2000). C4ISR Architectures I: Developing a Process for C4ISR Architecture Design. Journal of
INCOSE, 3(4).
Mertins, K. & Bernus, P. (1998) “Reference Models”, Handbook an Architectures of Information Systems, Springer, Berlin, pp.
615-618.
Olegario, C.C. (2001) “A Partial Enterprise Model for the Management and Control in An Extended Enterprise Scenario” M.Sc.
Thesis, School of Computing and Information Technology, Griffith University
PMBOK (2000) “A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge”, Project Management Institute, Newtown Square, PA,
USA, Edition 2000.
PRODNET, ESPRIT Project 22647, http://www.uninova.pt/~prodnet/
Rathwell, G. A., & Williams, T. J. (1996). Use of the Purdue Enterprise Reference Architecture and Methodology in industry (the
Fluor Daniel example). In P. Bernus & L. Nemes (Eds.), Modelling and Methodologies for Enterprise Integration. London:
Chapman & Hall. pp. 12-44
RosettaNet, http://www.rosettanet.org
Scheer, A.W. (1992). Architecture for Integrated Information Systems. Berlin: Springer-Verlag.
Scheer, A.W. (1994) Business Process Engineering - Reference Models for Industrial Companies. 2nd edition. Berlin: Springer
Verlag
Sowa, J. F., & Zachman, J. A. (1992). Extending and formalizing the framework for information systems architecture. IBM Systems
Journal, 31(3).
Tølle, M., Bernus, P., Vesterager, J. (2002) “Reference Models for Virtual Enterprises”, In “Collaborative business ecosystems and
Virtual Enterprises” ed. Luis M. Camarinha-Matos, Kluwer, pp. 3-10
Tølle, M., Vesterager J. & Pedersen J.D. (2000) “A Methodology for Virtual Enterprise Management – Results from IMS
95001/Esprit 26509 Globeman21 project”, Proceedings of the 6th International Conference on Concurrent Enterprising,
Toulouse, 28-30 June 2000, pp. 119-127.
Vesterager J., Larsen, L.B. & Gobbi C (1999) “Architecture and methodology for creating virtual enterprises - results from
Globeman21”, IMS Globeman21 Open Day, March 9th 1999. TIME24, Tokyo, Japan
Vesterager, J., Bernus P., Larsen L.B., Pedersen J.D. & Tølle M. (2001a) "Use of GERAM as Basis for a Virtual Enterprise
Framework Model", in "Global Engineering, Manufacturing and Enterprise Networks", ed. J.P.T. Mo and L. Nemes, Kluwer,
pp.75-82.
Vesterager, J., Bernus, P., Pedersen, J.D., & Tølle, M. (2001b) “The what and why of a Virtual Enterprise Reference Architecture”,
In “E-work and E-commerce, Novel solutions and practices for a global networked economy” ed. B. Stanford-Smith, E.
Chiozza, IOS Press, pp.846-852
Vesterager, J., Tølle, M., Bernus, P. (2002) “VERA: Virtual Enterprise Reference Architecture”, GMNBook, GLOBEMEN
Conference, Helsinki 2002, (to appear)
Williams, T. J. (1994). The Purdue Enterprise Reference Architecture. Computers in Industry, 24(2-3), 141-158.
Williams, T. J., & Li, H. (1998). PERA and GERAM: Enterprise Reference Architectures in Enterprise Integration. Paper presented
at the International Conference on Design of Information Infrastructure Systems for Manufacturing 1998 (DIISM98) pp 3-30
Zachman, J. A. (1987). A Framework for Information Systems Architecture. IBM Systems Journal, 26(3).
Zwegers, A., Hannus, M., Tølle, M. (2001) “Integration issues in virtual enterprises supported by an architectural framework”, In
“International IMS Project Forum 2001, A common platform for cross-fertilization among IMS projects and promotion of
the IMS program“ ed. Bernardo Ferroni, Claudio R. Boer, Charles M. Anderson, ISBN 88-900298-3-8
Zwegers, A., Tølle, M., Vesterager, J. (2002) “VERAM: Virtual Enterprise Reference Architecture and Methodology”, GMNBook,
GLOBEMEN Conference, Helsinki 2002, (to appear)