An EREC framework for e-contract modeling, enactment and monitoring

摘要

A contract is an agreement between two or more parties to create mutual business relations or legal obligations. It defines a set of activities to be performed by different parties satisfying a set of terms and conditions (clauses). An e-contract is a contract modeled, specified, executed and enacted (controlled and monitored) by a software system (such as a workflow system). As contracts are complex, their enactment is predominantly established and fulfilled with significant human involvement. This necessitates a comprehensive framework for generic fulfillment of e-contracts. In this paper, we present an EREC framework for designing e-contract processes, a mechanism that allows modeling, enactment and monitoring. This framework centers on the EREC model that bridges between the XML contract document and Web Services based implementation model of an e-contract.