{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,1]],"date-time":"2025-10-01T16:13:55Z","timestamp":1759335235436,"version":"3.41.0"},"reference-count":103,"publisher":"Association for Computing Machinery (ACM)","issue":"3","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2013,6,1]],"date-time":"2013-06-01T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1370044800000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/www.acm.org\/publications\/policies\/copyright_policy#Background"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["dl.acm.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["ACM Comput. Surv."],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2013,6]]},"abstract":"<jats:p>As computer systems continue to grow in complexity, the possibility of failure increases. At the same time, the increase in computer system pervasiveness in day-to-day activities bring along increased expectations on their reliability. This has led to the need for effective and automatic error-recovery techniques to resolve failures. Transactions enable the handling of failure propagation over concurrent systems due to dependencies, restoring the system to the point before the failure occurred. However, in various settings, especially when interacting with the real world, reversal is not possible. The notion of compensations has been long advocated as a way of addressing this issue, through the specification of activities which can be executed to undo partial transactions. Still, there is no accepted standard theory; the literature offers a plethora of distinct formalisms and approaches.<\/jats:p><jats:p>In this survey, we review the compensations from a theoretical point of view by (i) giving a historic account of the evolution of compensating transactions; (ii) delineating and describing a number of design options involved; (iii) presenting a number of formalisms found in the literature, exposing similarities and differences; (iv) comparing formal notions of compensation correctness; (v) giving insights regarding the application of compensations in practice; and (vi) discussing current and future research trends in the area.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1145\/2480741.2480745","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2013,7,1]],"date-time":"2013-07-01T12:27:28Z","timestamp":1372681648000},"page":"1-35","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1145\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":16,"title":["Recovery within long-running transactions"],"prefix":"10.1145","volume":"45","author":[{"given":"Christian","family":"Colombo","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"University of Malta, Malta"}]},{"given":"Gordon J.","family":"Pace","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"University of Malta, Malta"}]}],"member":"320","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2013,7,3]]},"reference":[{"doi-asserted-by":"publisher","key":"e_1_2_1_1_1","DOI":"10.1016\/j.entcs.2008.04.092"},{"doi-asserted-by":"publisher","key":"e_1_2_1_2_1","DOI":"10.1007\/11767589_5"},{"doi-asserted-by":"publisher","key":"e_1_2_1_3_1","DOI":"10.1016\/0304-3975(94)90010-8"},{"doi-asserted-by":"publisher","key":"e_1_2_1_4_1","DOI":"10.5555\/646229.681725"},{"unstructured":"Andrews T. Curbera F. Dholakia H. Goland Y. Klein J. Leymann F. Liu K. Roller D. Smith D. Thatte S. Trickovic I. and Weerawarana S. 2003. Business process execution language for web services v1.1. http:\/\/download.boulder.ibm.com\/ibmdl\/pub\/software\/dw\/specs\/ws-bpel\/ws-bpel.pdf (Last accessed 2\/10). Andrews T. Curbera F. Dholakia H. Goland Y. Klein J. Leymann F. Liu K. Roller D. Smith D. Thatte S. Trickovic I. and Weerawarana S. 2003. Business process execution language for web services v1.1. http:\/\/download.boulder.ibm.com\/ibmdl\/pub\/software\/dw\/specs\/ws-bpel\/ws-bpel.pdf (Last accessed 2\/10).","key":"e_1_2_1_5_1"},{"doi-asserted-by":"publisher","key":"e_1_2_1_6_1","DOI":"10.1007\/978-3-540-30077-9_8"},{"unstructured":"Arkin A. Askary S. Bloch B. Curbera F. Goland Y. Kartha N. Liu C. K. Thatte S. Yendluri P. and Yiu A. 2007. Web services business process execution language version 2.0. OASIS Standard. http:\/\/docs.oasis-open.org\/wsbpel\/2.0\/wsbpel-v2.0.pdf (Last accessed: 2\/10). Arkin A. Askary S. Bloch B. Curbera F. Goland Y. Kartha N. Liu C. K. Thatte S. Yendluri P. and Yiu A. 2007. Web services business process execution language version 2.0. OASIS Standard. http:\/\/docs.oasis-open.org\/wsbpel\/2.0\/wsbpel-v2.0.pdf (Last accessed: 2\/10).","key":"e_1_2_1_7_1"},{"doi-asserted-by":"publisher","key":"e_1_2_1_8_1","DOI":"10.1007\/11549970_19"},{"volume-title":"Preceedings of the Game Developers Conference.","year":"2001","author":"Bernier Y.","key":"e_1_2_1_9_1"},{"doi-asserted-by":"publisher","key":"e_1_2_1_10_1","DOI":"10.1007\/978-3-540-39958-2_9"},{"unstructured":"Bolie J. Cardella M. Blanvalet S. Juric M. Chandran S. C. P. Coene Y. and Geminiuc K. 2006. BPEL Cookbook: Best Practices for SOA-based integration and composite applications development: Ten practical real-world case studies combining business process management and web services orchestration. Packt Publishing Birmingham U.K. Bolie J. Cardella M. Blanvalet S. Juric M. Chandran S. C. P. Coene Y. and Geminiuc K. 2006. BPEL Cookbook: Best Practices for SOA-based integration and composite applications development: Ten practical real-world case studies combining business process management and web services orchestration. Packt Publishing Birmingham U.K.","key":"e_1_2_1_11_1"},{"doi-asserted-by":"publisher","key":"e_1_2_1_12_1","DOI":"10.1007\/11539452_30"},{"doi-asserted-by":"publisher","key":"e_1_2_1_13_1","DOI":"10.1145\/1040305.1040323"},{"volume-title":"Proceedings of the IFIP International Conference on Theoretical Computer Science. Kluwer, 563--576","author":"Bruni R.","key":"e_1_2_1_14_1"},{"doi-asserted-by":"publisher","key":"e_1_2_1_15_1","DOI":"10.5555\/647982.743549"},{"doi-asserted-by":"publisher","key":"e_1_2_1_16_1","DOI":"10.1007\/978-3-540-24634-3_9"},{"key":"e_1_2_1_17_1","first-page":"712","article-title":"Precise modelling of compensating business transactions and its application to BPEL","volume":"11","author":"Butler M. J.","year":"2005","journal-title":"J. Univ. Comput. Sci."},{"doi-asserted-by":"publisher","key":"e_1_2_1_18_1","DOI":"10.1007\/11423348_8"},{"doi-asserted-by":"publisher","key":"e_1_2_1_19_1","DOI":"10.1007\/11549970_18"},{"doi-asserted-by":"publisher","key":"e_1_2_1_20_1","DOI":"10.1007\/978-3-642-00945-7_6"},{"doi-asserted-by":"publisher","key":"e_1_2_1_21_1","DOI":"10.1147\/sj.414.0743"},{"unstructured":"Coleman J. W. 2004. Features of BPEL modelled via structural operational semantics. M.S. thesis University of Newcastle. MPhil Thesis. Coleman J. W. 2004. Features of BPEL modelled via structural operational semantics. M.S. thesis University of Newcastle. MPhil Thesis.","key":"e_1_2_1_22_1"},{"volume-title":"CS2011-01","author":"Colombo C.","key":"e_1_2_1_23_1"},{"doi-asserted-by":"publisher","key":"e_1_2_1_24_1","DOI":"10.5555\/1939399.1939419"},{"doi-asserted-by":"publisher","key":"e_1_2_1_25_1","DOI":"10.1007\/11539452_31"},{"doi-asserted-by":"publisher","key":"e_1_2_1_26_1","DOI":"10.1145\/800192.805694"},{"doi-asserted-by":"publisher","key":"e_1_2_1_27_1","DOI":"10.5555\/1887654.1887693"},{"doi-asserted-by":"publisher","key":"e_1_2_1_28_1","DOI":"10.5555\/1947873.1947910"},{"doi-asserted-by":"publisher","key":"e_1_2_1_29_1","DOI":"10.1007\/978-3-642-01364-5_7"},{"doi-asserted-by":"publisher","key":"e_1_2_1_30_1","DOI":"10.1145\/360363.360369"},{"unstructured":"Fahland D. 2005. Complete abstract operational semantics for the web service business process execution language. Informatik-Berichte 190 Humboldt-Universit\u00e4t zu Berlin. Fahland D. 2005. Complete abstract operational semantics for the web service business process execution language. Informatik-Berichte 190 Humboldt-Universit\u00e4t zu Berlin.","key":"e_1_2_1_31_1"},{"volume-title":"Proceedings of the 12th International Workshop on Abstract State Machines (ASM). 131--152","author":"Fahland D.","key":"e_1_2_1_32_1"},{"unstructured":"Farahbod R. 2004. Extending and refining an abstract operational semantics of the web services architecture for the business process execution language. M.S. thesis School of Computing Science Simon Fraser University British Colombia Canada. Farahbod R. 2004. Extending and refining an abstract operational semantics of the web services architecture for the business process execution language. M.S. thesis School of Computing Science Simon Fraser University British Colombia Canada.","key":"e_1_2_1_33_1"},{"volume-title":"Proceedings of the Web Services and Model-Driven Enterprise Information Services (WSMDEIS). INSTICC Press, 122--133","author":"Farahbod R.","key":"e_1_2_1_34_1"},{"doi-asserted-by":"publisher","key":"e_1_2_1_35_1","DOI":"10.1145\/1035167.1035202"},{"doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Ferrara A. 2004b. Web services: A process algebra approach. Tech. rep. Universit\u00e0 di Roma \u201cLa Sapienza\u201d. Ferrara A. 2004b. Web services: A process algebra approach. Tech. rep. Universit\u00e0 di Roma \u201cLa Sapienza\u201d.","key":"e_1_2_1_36_1","DOI":"10.1145\/1035167.1035202"},{"doi-asserted-by":"publisher","key":"e_1_2_1_37_1","DOI":"10.1145\/1047659.1040322"},{"doi-asserted-by":"publisher","key":"e_1_2_1_38_1","DOI":"10.1145\/1321631.1321642"},{"doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Foster H. 2006. A rigorous approach to engineering web service compositions. Ph.D. dissutation University Of London. Foster H. 2006. A rigorous approach to engineering web service compositions. Ph.D. dissutation University Of London.","key":"e_1_2_1_39_1","DOI":"10.1109\/SCC.2005.105"},{"doi-asserted-by":"publisher","key":"e_1_2_1_40_1","DOI":"10.1145\/1134285.1134408"},{"doi-asserted-by":"publisher","key":"e_1_2_1_41_1","DOI":"10.1145\/237721.237805"},{"doi-asserted-by":"publisher","key":"e_1_2_1_42_1","DOI":"10.1145\/988672.988756"},{"doi-asserted-by":"publisher","key":"e_1_2_1_43_1","DOI":"10.1145\/38713.38742"},{"volume-title":"Proceedings of the 7th International Conference on Very Large Data Bases (VLDB). IEEE, 144--154","year":"1981","author":"Gray J.","key":"e_1_2_1_44_1"},{"volume-title":"Proceedings of the Enterprise Distributed Object Computing Conference (EDOC). IEEE, 232--239","author":"Greenfield P.","key":"e_1_2_1_45_1"},{"volume-title":"Proceedings of the International Conference on Application of Concurrency to System Design (ACSD). IEEE, 190--198","author":"Guidi C.","key":"e_1_2_1_46_1"},{"doi-asserted-by":"publisher","key":"e_1_2_1_47_1","DOI":"10.1007\/11948148_27"},{"volume-title":"Proceedings of the International Conference on Enterprise Information Systems (ICEIS). 287--295","author":"Haddad S.","key":"e_1_2_1_48_1"},{"doi-asserted-by":"publisher","key":"e_1_2_1_49_1","DOI":"10.1007\/978-3-540-77581-2_27"},{"volume-title":"Proceedings of the Australasian Database Conference (ADC). Australian Computer Society, Inc., 191--200","author":"Hamadi R.","key":"e_1_2_1_50_1"},{"doi-asserted-by":"publisher","key":"e_1_2_1_51_1","DOI":"10.1109\/CSSE.2008.873"},{"doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Hennessy M. 2007. A Distributed Pi-Calculus. Cambridge University Press Cambridge U.K. Hennessy M. 2007. A Distributed Pi-Calculus. Cambridge University Press Cambridge U.K.","key":"e_1_2_1_52_1","DOI":"10.1017\/CBO9780511611063"},{"unstructured":"Hoare T. 1985. Communicating Sequential Processes. Prentice-Hall Upper Saddle River NJ. Hoare T. 1985. Communicating Sequential Processes. Prentice-Hall Upper Saddle River NJ.","key":"e_1_2_1_53_1"},{"doi-asserted-by":"publisher","key":"e_1_2_1_54_1","DOI":"10.1145\/27651.27653"},{"doi-asserted-by":"publisher","key":"e_1_2_1_55_1","DOI":"10.5555\/1793874.1793889"},{"doi-asserted-by":"publisher","key":"e_1_2_1_56_1","DOI":"10.1007\/11549970_23"},{"doi-asserted-by":"publisher","key":"e_1_2_1_57_1","DOI":"10.1007\/978-3-642-05148-7_27"},{"volume-title":"Proceedings of the International Conference on Very Large Data Bases (VLDB). Morgan Kaufmann, 95--106","author":"Korth H. F.","key":"e_1_2_1_58_1"},{"doi-asserted-by":"publisher","key":"e_1_2_1_59_1","DOI":"10.1145\/1022494.1022526"},{"doi-asserted-by":"publisher","key":"e_1_2_1_60_1","DOI":"10.1007\/978-3-642-11957-6_20"},{"doi-asserted-by":"publisher","key":"e_1_2_1_61_1","DOI":"10.1109\/SEFM.2009.23"},{"doi-asserted-by":"publisher","key":"e_1_2_1_62_1","DOI":"10.1007\/978-3-540-31982-5_18"},{"doi-asserted-by":"publisher","key":"e_1_2_1_63_1","DOI":"10.1007\/11768869_10"},{"doi-asserted-by":"publisher","key":"e_1_2_1_64_1","DOI":"10.1016\/j.scico.2008.07.001"},{"doi-asserted-by":"publisher","key":"e_1_2_1_65_1","DOI":"10.5555\/1777259.1777278"},{"doi-asserted-by":"publisher","key":"e_1_2_1_66_1","DOI":"10.5555\/1762174.1762180"},{"unstructured":"Lapadula A. Pugliese R. and Tiezzi F. 2008a. A calculus for orchestration of web services. Tech. rep. Dipartimento di Sistemi e Informatica Universit\u00e0 di Firenze. http:\/\/rap.dsi.unifi.it\/cows. Lapadula A. Pugliese R. and Tiezzi F. 2008a. A calculus for orchestration of web services. Tech. rep. Dipartimento di Sistemi e Informatica Universit\u00e0 di Firenze. http:\/\/rap.dsi.unifi.it\/cows.","key":"e_1_2_1_67_1"},{"doi-asserted-by":"publisher","key":"e_1_2_1_68_1","DOI":"10.5555\/1788954.1788967"},{"unstructured":"Leymann F. 2001. WSFL\u2014web services flow language. IBM Software Group. Leymann F. 2001. WSFL\u2014web services flow language. IBM Software Group.","key":"e_1_2_1_69_1"},{"doi-asserted-by":"publisher","key":"e_1_2_1_70_1","DOI":"10.5555\/1777259.1777280"},{"doi-asserted-by":"publisher","key":"e_1_2_1_71_1","DOI":"10.1007\/978-3-540-68855-6_10"},{"doi-asserted-by":"publisher","key":"e_1_2_1_72_1","DOI":"10.1109\/SEW.2007.62"},{"volume-title":"Proceedings of the Web Services and Formal Methods (WS-FM)","author":"Lohmann N.","series-title":"Lecture Notes in Computer Science","key":"e_1_2_1_73_1"},{"doi-asserted-by":"publisher","key":"e_1_2_1_74_1","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jlap.2006.05.007"},{"doi-asserted-by":"publisher","key":"e_1_2_1_75_1","DOI":"10.1007\/978-3-540-68644-6_13"},{"doi-asserted-by":"publisher","key":"e_1_2_1_76_1","DOI":"10.1109\/TMM.2003.819751"},{"doi-asserted-by":"publisher","key":"e_1_2_1_77_1","DOI":"10.1007\/11417019_1"},{"doi-asserted-by":"publisher","key":"e_1_2_1_78_1","DOI":"10.1007\/11841197_17"},{"doi-asserted-by":"publisher","key":"e_1_2_1_79_1","DOI":"10.1145\/390019.808315"},{"unstructured":"Milner R. 1999. Communicating and Mobile Systems: The &pi; Calculus. Cambridge University Press Cambridge U.K. Milner R. 1999. Communicating and Mobile Systems: The &pi; Calculus. Cambridge University Press Cambridge U.K.","key":"e_1_2_1_80_1"},{"doi-asserted-by":"publisher","key":"e_1_2_1_81_1","DOI":"10.1016\/j.entcs.2005.07.038"},{"doi-asserted-by":"publisher","key":"e_1_2_1_82_1","DOI":"10.1016\/j.scico.2007.03.002"},{"doi-asserted-by":"publisher","key":"e_1_2_1_83_1","DOI":"10.1016\/j.entcs.2004.05.005"},{"doi-asserted-by":"publisher","key":"e_1_2_1_84_1","DOI":"10.1109\/ICWS.2005.27"},{"doi-asserted-by":"publisher","key":"e_1_2_1_85_1","DOI":"10.1016\/j.entcs.2005.07.035"},{"doi-asserted-by":"publisher","key":"e_1_2_1_86_1","DOI":"10.1007\/11768869_19"},{"doi-asserted-by":"publisher","key":"e_1_2_1_87_1","DOI":"10.1109\/TSE.1975.6312842"},{"doi-asserted-by":"publisher","key":"e_1_2_1_88_1","DOI":"10.1145\/356725.356729"},{"unstructured":"Sarang P. Juric M. and Mathew B. 2006. Business Process Execution Language for Web Services BPEL and BPEL4WS 2nd Ed. Packt Publishing Birmingham U.K. Sarang P. Juric M. and Mathew B. 2006. Business Process Execution Language for Web Services BPEL and BPEL4WS 2nd Ed. Packt Publishing Birmingham U.K.","key":"e_1_2_1_89_1"},{"volume-title":"Proceedings of the Kommunikation in Verteilten Systemen (KiVS). Informatik Aktuell. Springer, 115--125","author":"Sauter P.","key":"e_1_2_1_90_1"},{"unstructured":"Thatte S. 2001. XLANG\u2014web services for business process design. Microsoft Corporation. Thatte S. 2001. XLANG\u2014web services for business process design. Microsoft Corporation.","key":"e_1_2_1_91_1"},{"unstructured":"van den Heuvel W.-J. 2008. Survey on business process management. Tech. rep. S-Cube Consortium. van den Heuvel W.-J. 2008. Survey on business process management. Tech. rep. S-Cube Consortium.","key":"e_1_2_1_92_1"},{"doi-asserted-by":"publisher","key":"e_1_2_1_93_1","DOI":"10.1142\/S0218126698000043"},{"doi-asserted-by":"publisher","key":"e_1_2_1_94_1","DOI":"10.5555\/1761141.1761143"},{"doi-asserted-by":"publisher","key":"e_1_2_1_95_1","DOI":"10.1007\/978-3-642-00945-7_13"},{"volume-title":"Proceedings of the 2nd International Workshop on Applications of Petri Nets to Coordination, Workflow and Business Process Management. 59--78","author":"Verbeek H. M. W.","key":"e_1_2_1_96_1"},{"doi-asserted-by":"publisher","key":"e_1_2_1_97_1","DOI":"10.1145\/356725.356730"},{"doi-asserted-by":"publisher","key":"e_1_2_1_98_1","DOI":"10.1016\/j.entcs.2004.05.008"},{"doi-asserted-by":"publisher","key":"e_1_2_1_99_1","DOI":"10.1007\/s10619-008-7028-1"},{"doi-asserted-by":"publisher","key":"e_1_2_1_100_1","DOI":"10.1109\/APSCC.2007.35"},{"doi-asserted-by":"publisher","key":"e_1_2_1_101_1","DOI":"10.5555\/1009386.1010171"},{"doi-asserted-by":"publisher","key":"e_1_2_1_102_1","DOI":"10.1007\/11610113_25"},{"key":"e_1_2_1_103_1","first-page":"93","article-title":"A process algebra approach of BPEL4WS. Info","volume":"4","author":"Long H.","year":"2009","journal-title":"Comput. Sci."}],"container-title":["ACM Computing Surveys"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/dl.acm.org\/doi\/10.1145\/2480741.2480745","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"text-mining"},{"URL":"https:\/\/dl.acm.org\/doi\/pdf\/10.1145\/2480741.2480745","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2025,6,18]],"date-time":"2025-06-18T08:39:14Z","timestamp":1750235954000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/dl.acm.org\/doi\/10.1145\/2480741.2480745"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2013,6]]},"references-count":103,"journal-issue":{"issue":"3","published-print":{"date-parts":[[2013,6]]}},"alternative-id":["10.1145\/2480741.2480745"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1145\/2480741.2480745","relation":{},"ISSN":["0360-0300","1557-7341"],"issn-type":[{"type":"print","value":"0360-0300"},{"type":"electronic","value":"1557-7341"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2013,6]]},"assertion":[{"value":"2011-03-01","order":0,"name":"received","label":"Received","group":{"name":"publication_history","label":"Publication History"}},{"value":"2011-12-01","order":1,"name":"accepted","label":"Accepted","group":{"name":"publication_history","label":"Publication History"}},{"value":"2013-07-03","order":2,"name":"published","label":"Published","group":{"name":"publication_history","label":"Publication History"}}]}}