Mobile Agents for Integrating Cloud-Based Business Processes with On-

Premises Systems and Devices

Janis GrundspenkisAntons Mislēvičs

Department of Systems Theory and Design,Riga Technical University, Riga, Latvia

Agenda– Why this is important?– What to do with mobile agents in

cloud BPM integration scenarios?– How ideas proposed in this research

may be applied?

Definitions– Business Process – an activity or set of activities that

accomplish a specific organizational goal;– Business Process Management – concepts,

methods, and techniques to support the design, administration, configuration, enactment, and analysis of business processes;

– Business Process Management System – information system, that supports implementing business process management in organization;

– Mobile Agent – program, that moves from host to host during execution.

Why this is important?– Business Process Management Systems (BPMS)

are becoming more popular;– Implementing BPMS requires to ensure

integrations with existing enterprise systems;– More companies choose cloud BPMS option, as

it allows to reduce costs and implementation time;

– As existing enterprise system are deployed on-premises, cloud to on-prem integration aspects are becoming very important;

– Existing integration solutions to not meet various specific BPMS integration requirements.

The problem…

Clou

d BP

MS

(Saa

S)

SaaS Integration Problem

– Publish web services: – Directly from applications;– Custom developed;

– VPN;– Relayed messaging (TARGET, Windows Azure

Service Bus);– Using communication agent;

1. Security risks2. IT involvement3. Hard to configure in complex

network topologiesNot applicable in SaaS scenario

Requires special configuration for on-prem web servicesLimited scalabilityIntegration through WS and DBNeeds direct access to data sources

Cloud BPMS integration requirements1. Complex computations close to data sources

- dealing with large amounts of data 2. Complex transformations and computations

with data stored in on-premises application - security and privacy reasons

3. Implementing rapid changes in integrations – to adapt business process to changes in the environment

4. Accessing legacy systems and specific devices that are deployed on-premises and have no web services or database interface

Analyzing existing methodsPublishing web services

Publishing custom web services

Relayed messaging

Using communication agent

1. Computations close to data sources

No Partially. On machine, where service is deployed.

No Partially. On machine where agent is deployed.

2. Transformations in local network

No Yes No Yes

3. Implementing rapid changes

No. Need to modify or republish services.

No. Need to modify or republish services.

No. Need to change configuration of services.

Partially. Depends on implementation. Typically some integration data stored locally.

4. Accessing legacy systems

No Yes No Typically no. Depends on implementation.

Proposed solution…

Usin

g m

obile

age

nts

(MAs

)

Mobile agents solutionMobile agents

1. Computations close to data sources

Yes. Mobile agents may move between hosts during execution. Deploying new hosts is a simple process.

2. Transformations in local network

Yes. Mobile agents are executed in local network.

3. Implementing rapid changes Yes. Integration logics is stored in agent definition (on BPMS side).

4. Accessing legacy systems Yes. Mobile agents may connect to systems using low level APIs (via implementing custom agent actions).

Problems in existing MA implementations

– No common standard for packaging mobile agents;

– Programming skills are required to develop mobile agents.

Proposed approach– Mobile agents are developed and

executed as workflows:– allows to develop agents in GUI;– easier to understand for business

people.

MA development process

Agen

t Des

igne

r

Packaging agents– Agent packages are based on Open

Packaging Conventions:– open standard;– package may contain any data;– package may evolve over time;– native support for digital signatures;– native support for compression

(especially important for mobile agents).

Agen

t Pac

kage

System architecture

Proof implementation – AgentWF– Technologies:

– .NET 4.0– WF 4.0– WCF 4.0– WPF 4.0– AddIn Framework

– Standards:– OPC– XML– XML encryption– XAML– JSON– X509 certificates (signing and encryption)

MA Security– Sign agent definition parts

– Ensures that designed agent was not modified– Routing agents to agent host instance based on signature

– Encrypt configuration sections– Sensitive information can be decrypted only on hosts

where certificate was installed– Isolate Agent Host Instances

– Agent Host Instance runs with permissions of specified user– Agent is executed in separate isolated add-in process– Agent Host routes agent to defined Agent Host Instance

based on agent signature and properties– Timeouts

– Multiple timeouts on Agency and Agent Host level (agent idle, agent execution, etc.)

AgentWF architecture

AgentWF agent stores

AgentWF workflow actions

Extensibility– Allow agents to perform new actions

(integrate with new systems on-premises):– Develop custom Agent Activity Packs (WF 4.0)

– Enable integration with new cloud BPM systems:– Develop custom Protocol Handlers– Develop BPM Extensions (WF actions, agent

stores)

Proof of Concept Solutions1. Integration with cloud BPM: workflows in

Office 365 (SharePoint Online) (cloud system is available in Latvia: www.office365.lv)

2. Developing Agent Activity Pack for Integration with on-premises accounting system Tildes Jumis (popular in Latvia: www.tilde.lv/jumis)

3. Use official Latvian eID card for signing mobile agents;

Key Takeaways

Key Takeaways– Popularity of cloud BPMS leads to specific “SaaS to

on-premises” integration requirements, which can not be effectively addressed using existing solutions;

– Proposed solution addresses these issues and is based on mobile agents;

– Proof of concept implementation of proposed solution is provided - AgentWF

– Solution was validated in multiple scenarios, that are specific for Latvia;