Abstract
This paper presents the socio-technical design of a knowledge community which is part of a system to support an industrial association based collaborative network in the sector of construction industry. There are many explanations around the virtual community concept. Here is presented a fundamental phase of the Know-Construct project which involved the design of the Construction Industry Knowledge (CIK) Community using three analytical approaches. The generic architecture of the supporting system (Knowledge Community Support - KCS) is described, highlighting information and knowledge management, community building facilities and semantic resources management.

Abstract

Abstract
The ability to describe business processes as executable models has always been one of the fundamental premises of workflow management. Yet, the tacit nature of human knowledge is often an obstacle to eliciting accurate process models. On the other hand, the result of process modeling is a static plan of action, which is difficult to adapt to changing procedures or to different business goals. In this article, we attempt to address these problems by approaching workflow management with a combination of learning and planning techniques. Assuming that processes cannot be fully described at buildtime, we make use of learning techniques, namely Inductive Logic Programming (ILP), in order to discover workflow activities and to describe them as planning operators. These operators will be subsequently fed to a partial-order planner in order to find the process model as a planning solution. The continuous interplay between learning, planning and execution aims at arriving at a feasible plan by successive refinement of the operators. The approach is illustrated in two simple scenarios. Following a discussion of related work, the paper concludes by presenting the main challenges that remain to be solved.

Abstract
The virtual enterprise model is an emerging approach in answer to the new requirements of the business environment, relying on dynamically-reconfigurable partnerships, with extremely high performances, strongly time-oriented while being highly focused on cost and quality, in permanent alignment with the market, and strongly supported by information and communication technology, dictating a paradigm face shift to the traditional organizational models. Networking and reconfiguration dynamics are the main characteristics of this model, requiring enabling and supporting environments, at bearable costs. Some existing technologies and Internet-based environments can partially support this organizational model, but the reconfiguration dynamics can only be assured by environments able to manage, control, and enable networking and dynamics in virtual enterprise creation/reconfiguration. Several environments are introduced in the chapter, and particular focus is given to the market of resources, an environment coping with the requirements of the virtual enterprise model. © 2007, Idea Group Inc.

Abstract
The phenomenon of the enterprise organizational reconfiguration and its dynamics as a business alignment enabler is discussed. Business alignment means the enterprise's actions undertaken to gain synergy between the business; that is, the market opportunity and the provision of the required, or innovative, product, with the required, or designed, specifications at the required, or proper, time, with the lowest cost and best possible return (financial or other). The enterprise's organization "fast reconfiguration," either as a proactive or as a reactive action, or "fast adaptation" or "flexibility" (as a "reactive" action), is seen as the main enabler of business alignment and the main requirement for achieving competitiveness. The need to keep a close alignment with the dynamic market environment in permanent change implies the high dynamics of the organizations' organization, or organizational structure, reconfiguration. The first part of the text presents enterprise's requirements for competitiveness and business alignment, while the second part discusses the phenomenon of the enterprise reconfigurability as the business alignment enabler. In the third part, an analysis of some organizational and management approaches, from the reconfigurability point of view, is presented. The text ends with a conclusion and references. © 2007, Idea Group Inc.

Abstract
This paper describes an order planning system for dynamic supply chains, addressing the requirements of a make-to-order business environment. A distributed and decentralized information system based on an architecture of agents and extensively using the internet was designed and implemented, so as to enable new and more powerful decision support. The system aims at responding to the basic requirements of cooperativeness, integration and configurability. It was developed under the scope of the IST European Project Co-OPERATE and implements the functionality defined in the context of the 'request feasibility studies for the network' (ReFS) business solution.