Where commerce transactions require a common policy, mechanisms are needed to support the disclosure of service and facility availability and subsequent convergence to the selection of an agreed facility configuration. Collaborative negotiation is implicit in both the bilateral and multilateral exercise. Competitive negotiation is exposed through the composition of a set of negotiation exercises in an application specific manner such as an auctioning application. Explicit support is provided for the launching of subsidiary negotiation processes. Engagement While negotiation provides mechanisms through which independent participants can reach agreement to a subject, additional services are provided to support engagement.
Engagement is the process of contractual binding to something that has previously been agreed.
Engagement services are customisable through control over engagement and enactment policies, enabling the qualification of the engagement process for different business cases. Certification Authorities are a required component of the network infrastructure, providing certificate issuance, certificate verification and certificate revocation services to business users. Complimenting the Certificate Authority are Notary services, providing a trusted third party services. Execution Execution of a contractual engagement is equivalent to a high level workflow. Based on the osm.net promissory management mechanisms, users can compose contractual commitments that are themselves composed of subsidiary promises.