6
Negotiation model
The negotiation model for CAPTAIN consists of four main elements: negotiation process, negotiation object,
negotiation protocol and decision model. During service negotiation, the negotiation elements are used by the system
components of CAPTAIN in order to create the integrated care plan to achieve the end-user’s needs.
The negotiation process is a dynamic end-to-end process. It starts from the end-user’s request and ends up
with a resolution. There are three core sequence stages of negotiation process. Firstly, the pre-negotiation
stage is concerned with producing the initial information for the service negotiation stage. Secondary, the
service negotiation state involves the negotiation between the P-Broker and the DASs in order to produce
the integrated care for the end-user. Finally, the post-negotiation stage deals with the negotiation results
from the service negotiation stage. The end-user is involved in this stage for the decision making since the
end-user accepts or declines the negotiation results.
The negotiation object contains the information needed for negotiation between the P-Broker and the DASs.
The P-Broker and the DASs exchange the negotiation object via I-Broker during the service negotiation
stage. There are three main kinds of negotiation object: query, offer and acknowledgement. The P-Broker
creates the query and proposes it to the DASs. The DASs respond to the P-Broker’s query with the offers.
Then, the P-broker issues the acknowledgement of its decision-making according to the offers to the DASs.
The negotiation protocol defines the rules and the states of negotiation interaction followed by all system
components of CAPTAIN during service negotiation process. So the P-Broker and the DASs can negotiate
to reach an agreement between them. The negotiation protocol is shown in figure 3.
Figure 3 Negotiation protocol of CAPTAIN
The decision model defines the rules employed by the P-Broker and the DASs for their decision making.
Each negotiation participant has its own decision model of strategy which is used to define the plan of
decisions or actions needed to achieve its negotiation objective.
