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Abstract. Enterprises are evolving towards advanced forms of cooperation and networking. This kind of tight cooperation requires the creation of global Business Processes (i.e., cross-enterprise composite services) composed starting from a set of existing local processes (exposed, in turn, as services) found in different enterprises. To this end, in this chapter we present an ontology-based approach for querying business process repositories for the retrieval of process fragments to be reused in the composition of new business processes. The proposed solution is based on a synergic use of a business process modelling framework (BPAL) to represent the workflow logic of business processes, and business ontologies, aimed at capturing the semantics of a business scenario. Both components are grounded in logic programming and therefore it is possible to apply effective reasoning methods to query the knowledge base stemming from the fusion of the two.

Knowledge management is a crucial aspect for enterprises that want to effectively cope with business innovation. However, the full control of the knowledge asset is often missing due to the lack of precise organizational models, policies, and proper technologies, especially in Virtual Enterprises (VEs), which are characterized by heterogeneous partners with different policies, skills and know-how. For such reasons, the need for technologies that enable knowledge sharing, efficient access to knowledge resources, and interoperability is felt as primary. This work proposes a semantics-based infrastructure aimed at supporting effective knowledge management for business innovation in VEs. Knowledge resources are formally represented and stored in a semantic layer, which is exploited by a set of semantic services for enabling efficient retrieval and reasoning capabilities to derive additional knowledge.

Abstract. In this paper we present a logic-based approach for querying business process repositories. The proposed solution is based on a synergic use of an ontological framework (OPAL) aimed at capturing the semantics of a business scenario, and a business process modelling framework (BPAL) to represent the workflow logic. Both frameworks are grounded in logic programming and therefore it is possible to apply effective reasoning methods to query the knowledge base stemming from the fusion of the two. A software platform has been developed and the first tests are encouraging.