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The paper aims to propose a web‐based “intermediation hybrid architecture” for a workflow management system that integrates services by exploiting and combining the advantages of strict centralized topologies that use workflow engines, with totally distributed systems which use agent technologies.

The proposed operational and technical architectures define the combination of a workflow engine and a software agent platform for the appropriate management of inter‐organizational workflow processes. The proposed system is called “hybrid intermediation portal.”

The hybrid system was used in e‐government cases for the management of cross‐border workflows that span across multiple European chambers of commerce and industry. That demonstrated the usefulness of the specific approach in the inter‐organizational workflow management domain.

The approach presented in this paper was implemented and validated in real e‐government cases that proved the advantages of the potential commercial use of the system. Several limitations were located due to the lack of a wide use of web services within governmental organizations.

Concerning security issues, it would be necessary to integrate appropriate security mechanisms without constraining the technical and functional characteristics of the software agents involved.

The contribution of the paper concerns the evolvement of the agent‐enhanced workflow management systems in order to tackle the intelligence issues and the credibility problems concerning the overall control of dispersed inter‐organizational processes.

The need for modern enterprises to seamlessly interoperate poses significant challenges on their capabilities for engaging in multiple business networks. This paper considers a particular type of business network, namely, “service ecosystems”, and proposes architecture for enabling business firms to: control dissemination and usage of the resources they contribute to the ecosystem; and develop corresponding service offerings.

A literature review informed our research work and contextualized the development of relevant research questions. The research questions were based on unstructured, creative techniques (e.g. brainstorming), combined with rigorous requirements specification for software tools developed as part of this research. Overall development was based on service science and enterprise interoperability research, distilled in four principles that provided the context and direction for this work.

Three key components of the proposed architecture were developed: service map, which identifies the building blocks needed to construct a service ecosystem; interoperability model, as a decision-making mechanism for dynamic (re-) arrangement of a service map’s building blocks; and shared service infrastructure for the provision of support services to all ecosystem participants.

This research has advanced current thinking in developing and managing service ecosystems. By adopting a service science viewpoint (service value co-creation, value-in-use), a holistic approach for building collaboration capabilities is described: at the enterprise level, it pertains to decision-making mechanisms for service provision; at the ecosystem level, it pertains to a software platform for managing common collaboration tasks.

Modern enterprises face a strong economical pressure to increase competitiveness, to operate on a global market, and to engage in alliances of several kinds. In order to meet the requirements and challenges of participating in such alliances, companies must be able to cooperate effectively and efficiently. The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of some major directions in inter‐organizational cooperation.

In order to cope with the challenges of inter‐organizational cooperation, to share innovative research issues and to facilitate profound discussions about them, the authors organized a series of workshops on Modeling Inter‐Organizational Systems (MIOS‐CIAO!) starting at the annual OTM Federated Conference and Continuing at the Annual CAiSE Conference. This paper summarizes the results of the workshops.

This paper provides an overview of what has been established and what is going on regarding the cooperation of enterprises in networks. The focus has been on the modeling of cooperation, from the business level down to the implementation level.

This overview is a useful source of knowledge for those who want to have a quick insight in the relevant aspects of cooperation, and in many well‐known modeling approaches and techniques. It is also an inspiring source for those who want to investigate yet unsolved or unsatisfactorily solved problems. Although developments, both in theory and in practice, will go on, no landslides are expected. Particularly for practice, the value of this report will therefore last for a considerable time.

Several core notions in the area of inter‐organizational cooperation are clarified, such as collaboration, cooperation, enterprise network, choreography, and orchestration. The whole process of developing or investigating an enterprise network is covered.