Enterprise COllaboration & INteroperability
Towards Enterprise
Interoperability
Service Utilities
Brian Elvesæter1, Francesco Taglino2, Enrico Del
Grosso3, Gorka Benguria4 and Alberto Capellini5
1 SINTEF
ICT, Oslo, Norway, brian.elvesater@sintef.no
2 CNR-IASI, Roma, Italy, francesco.taglino@iasi.cnr.it
3 TXT e-Solutions, Milano, Italy, enrico.delgrosso@txt.it
4 ESI-Tecnalia, Zamudio, Spain, gorka.benguria@esi.es
5 ATOS, Madrid, Spain, alberto.capellini@atosresearch.eu
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Outline of presentation
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COIN in one slide
Enterprise interoperability challenges and ISU
Software-as-a-Service Utility (SaaS-U)
Enterprise interoperability baseline (Related work)
COIN EI services framework
Summary of state-of-the-art analysis
Proposed COIN baseline EI services
Conclusion and future work
Position statement
Questions (and answers)
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COIN in one slide
COIN MOTTO: “Enterprise Interoperability and Enterprise
Collaboration are the two sides of the same COIN”
• The SIDE A of the COIN: Enterprise Collaboration
• The SIDE B of the COIN: Enterprise Interoperability
• The Substrate of the COIN: Service Platform
• The Value of the COIN: Software as a Service Utility SaaS-U
• The Market of the COIN: Manufacturing Enterprises (mainly SMEs)
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Enterprise interoperability challenges
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Enterprise Interoperability [1] is a relatively recent term that describes
a field of activity with the aim to improve the manner in which
enterprises, by means of information and communications technology
(ICT), interoperate with other enterprises, organisations, or with other
business units of the same enterprise, in order to conduct their
business.
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Interoperability Service Utility (ISU) which envisions interoperability
support as utility-like capabilities that needs to be supported by an
enabling system of services for delivering basic interoperability to
enterprises, independent of particular IT deployment. The term ISU is
used to denote this overall system. The ISU is envisaged to provide
interoperability as a technical, commoditised functionality, delivered as
services.
Web technologies for Enterprise Interoperability
Knowledge-oriented collaboration
Science base for Enterprise Interoperability
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Software-as-a-Service Utility (SaaS-U)
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The ISU challenge is addressed by COIN by providing a service
infrastructure for Enterprise Interoperability in the business context of
Enterprise Collaboration.
New business concept – the Software-as-a-Service Utility (SaaS-U)
model.
The SaaS-U paradigm fits well fit the ISU concepts and can be seen
as a software application delivery model where a software vendor
develops Web-native software services and hosts and operates them
for use by its customers over the Internet.
Customers do not pay for owning the software itself any longer but
rather for using it on-demand.
They use it through an API accessible over the Web and often written
using Web services.
The baseline EI services will be offered as Semantic Web Services
on top of the WSMX environment [17].
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Enterprise interoperability
(EI) baseline
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The COIN project aims to provide open source implementations of all its services so the
focus of the analysis has been on open source software solutions.
A first preliminary study of the enterprise interoperability (EI) baseline led us to identify 3
categories of results with candidates to be part of the EI services baseline.
SP5 COIN Enterprise Interoperability Baseline Services
Item/result
Models, Standards:
MDI, UPMS, POP*, EIMM, EIDM,
IIAM, BIF, AIF, EI Roadmap, ISU
Grand Challenge, IdaBC EIF, SOKU
Knowledge Interop.:
ATHOS, ASTAR, ARGOS, ARES,
MOMO, Domain Ontologies, UBLbased EIB, Semantic Reconciliation
Rules
Business Interop.:
BPMN, BPEL, iBPM, BPEL4PEOPLE,
CoCoS, PIM4SOA, Process-Workflow
Mining
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Type of result
Source
Access
Framework+models
(SINTEF, IC Focus,
ESI)
ATHENA,
INTEROP, SECSE,
Modelware
DGINFSO, OMG
Free and Open-to-all Access
OSS (Eclipse Public License)
Framework+software
(CNR, TXT, ESI,
SINTEF)
ATHENA.
INTEROP,
Abilities, OASIS
OSS GPL License (sourceforge)
Source Code Access (COIN
partners)
Free and Open-to-all Access
Framework+software
(TXT+UIBK+TUV)
OMG,
ECOLEAD
InContext
Ecospace
SFIDAPMI
Source Code Access (COIN
partners)
Free and Open-to-all Access
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Interoperability & EA frameworks
Interoperability
barriers
Interoperability
approaches
Integrated
Unified
Organisational interoperability
Federated
Enterprise
levels
Business
Semantic interoperability
Process
Service
Technical interoperability
Data
Organisational
Conceptual
Technological
EIF 1.0
INTEROP
Required
(Business)
Processes
Services
Information/Data
Model-Driven Interoperability
Enterprise
Collaborative Enterprise
Modelling
Cross-Organisational
Business Processes
Flexible Execution and
Composition of Services
Information/Data
Interoperability
Semantic Mediation Interoperability
Provided
EIF 2.0 (draft)
Enterprise
(Business)
Processes
Services
Information/Data
ATHENA
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ARIS
ZACHMAN
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Refining the EI baseline
according to the AIF
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The three EI baseline categories (1) models/standards, (2) knowledge and
(3) business interoperability were refined into 6 EI service categories (1)
model-driven, (2) enterprise modelling, (3) business process, (4)
service*, (5) information/data and (6) semantic mediation according to the
ATHENA Interoperability Framework (AIF) which was chosen as the baseline
for the COIN EI Services Framework.
Required
(Business)
Processes
*Service
interoperability
is addressed by
the COIN Service
Platform (SP3)
Services
Information/Data
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Model-Driven Interoperability
Enterprise
Collaborative Enterprise
Modelling
Cross-Organisational
Business Processes
Flexible Execution and
Composition of Services
Information/Data
Interoperability
Semantic Mediation Interoperability
Provided
ICT
Enterprise
(Business)
Processes
Services
Information/Data
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Five service categories for EI
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Model-driven interoperability services support enterprises to
formalise, exchange and align models that are relevant to set up
collaborations.
Enterprise modelling interoperability services support enterprises
to factually co-operate with other, external organisations in spite of
e.g., different working practices, legislations, cultures and commercial
approaches.
Business process interoperability services support enterprises to
make proper external views of enterprise internal processes
synchronised by a collaborative inter-enterprise business process.
Semantic mediation interoperability services support enterprises
to apply ontology-based techniques for semantic mediation such as
semantic reconciliation of business documents in order to support
interoperability among heterogeneous software applications.
Data interoperability services support enterprises to exchange
and share business documents among organizations, by filling
interoperability gaps related to the payload (format and content) and
to the messages and/or structures to be exchanged.
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State-of-the-art analysis of existing EI
tools/services (from FP6 projects)
EI framework
category
Sub-service category
Tools/services analysed
Model-driven
interoperability
services
Metamodelling
Eclipse Modeling Framework (EMF)
Language engineering
Eclipse Graphical Editing Framework (GEF), Eclipse Graphical Modeling Framework (GMF), UML profiles
Model mapping and transformation
MODELWARE Model Transformation Tool Suite (MTTS), ATL model-to-model transformation tool suite,
MOFScript model-to-text transformation tool suite
Method engineering
Eclipse Process Framework (EPF)
Enterprise modelling
UEML, EMPOSME, POP*, POP* profile, Reference Model for Collaborative Networks, SOA Tools Project (STP)
Enterprise models interchange
UEML, POP*, METIS  POP*, ARIS  POP*, GRAI Tools  POP*, Mo2Go  POP*
Enterprise model deployment
POP*, PIM4SOA, POP* ► PIM4SOA, PIM4SOA ► WSA, POP* ► Maestro, POP* ► JPDL
Enterprise interoperability maturity assessment
Enterprise Interoperability Maturity Model (EIMM)
Cross-organizational business process modelling
Maestro modelling tool
Semantic business process modelling
SUPER semantic business process modelling tool
Business processes management
SUPER Management Tool
Business process monitoring
SUPER Monitoring Tool
Business process analysis
SUPER analysis
Ontology editing
ATHOS, KAON, OILEd, OntoEdit, Protégé
Ontology engineering and maintenance
ODE/WebODE, On-To-Knowledge, UPON
Semantic annotation
ASTAR, MWSAF, WSMO Studio, Cohse, MnM, OntoMat-Annotizer
Semantic transformation rules building
ARGOS, OWLmt, WSMT, Semantic Bridging module
Semantic reconciliation engine
ARES, MAFRA Execution Engine, OWLmt Engine, WSMW Run-time Data Mediator
Data mapping
GIMMI Mapping Wizard, PROBO Legacy Integration Module, Semaphore
Data infrastructure framework
Apache Tuscany, Service Data Object (SDO), Data Access Service (DAS)
Business document modelling
ABILITIES UBL business document modelling
Business document interchange
ABILITIES Service Bus
Business document process integration
ABILITIES Interconnection of Business Processes
Enterprise
modelling
interoperability
services
Business
process
interoperability
services
Semantic
mediation
interoperability
services
Data
interoperability
services
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Lessons learnt
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The research projects on interoperability in the European
Commission Sixth Framework Programme have developed a vast set
of standalone software products and tools, as well as some Webbased services to address interoperability issues. However, some of
these solutions are difficult to integrate and use for SMEs.
Experiences from piloting activities in the ATHENA project suggested
that Enterprise Interoperability is very challenging and that the
expected gains from interoperability research will consist in finding
technologies and methods that will fasten interconnection of
applications through standardised Web infrastructure for software
application communication and for collaboration [21].
In the COIN context, Enterprise Interoperability services provide
functionality for applying IT solutions that overcome
interoperability gaps between two or more enterprises and thus
enabling them to set-up and run collaborations.
The main goal of the EI services is to improve interoperability,
mainly for SMEs, which means to reduce the costs of data
reconciliation, systems integration and business processes
synchronization and harmonization.
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Proposed COIN baseline EI services
EI services framework
category
Sub-service category
Services to be implemented for M12
Model-driven
interoperability services
Metamodelling
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Language engineering
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Model mapping and transformation
COIN Model Transformation Service Engine
Method engineering
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Enterprise modelling
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Enterprise models interchange
COIN POP* Transformation Service
Enterprise modelling
interoperability services
Enterprise model deployment
Business process
interoperability services
Semantic mediation
interoperability services
Data interoperability
services
Enterprise interoperability maturity assessment
COIN Enterprise Interoperability Maturity Assessment Service
Cross-organizational business process modelling
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Semantic business process modelling
COIN Semantic Business Process Modelling Service
Business processes management
COIN Semantic Business Process Management Service
Business process monitoring
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Business process analysis
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Ontology editing
Athos Ontology Service
Ontology engineering and maintenance
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Semantic annotation
Astar Semantic Annotation Service
Semantic transformation rules building
Argos Semantic Transformation Rules Service
Semantic reconciliation engine
Ares Semantic Reconciliation Service
Data mapping
COIN Massive Data Interoperability Service
Data infrastructure framework
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Business document modelling
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Business document interchange
COIN Transactional Data Interoperability Service
Business document process integration
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Specification of baseline EI services
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COIN Deliverable D5.1.1 ”State-of-the-Art and Baseline EI Services
Specifications” (July 2008, to be released at http://www.coin-ip.eu)
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Benefits of COIN baseline EI services
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COIN baseline EI service
Provider
Benefits for users
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COIN Model Transformation Service
Engine
SINTEF
The model transformation service engine will be a service entry point for storing model transformations that are aimed at
aligning the huge diversity of models used in the design, integration and implementation tasks of enterprise applications
and systems.
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COIN POP* Transformation Service
ESI
POP* Transformation service will be exposed a semantic Web service in the COIN platform. This service will provide the
functionality of modelling in the context of POP* to JPDL transformation. The results of the transformation should be
published into the open source JBPMN platform.
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COIN Enterprise Interoperability
Maturity Assessment Service
ESI
The EIMA will help to assess an organization's maturity level concerning the use of enterprise models as well as the
capability of these models to enable the company to be part of collaboration. Based on this assessment, companies will
be guided to choose the right concepts for improving their capabilities, by taking into account actual market and
enterprise challenges. Following a lightweight scope, the performance of this assessment will be done through an
informal evaluation based on a questionnaire and involving few resources of the organization.
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COIN Semantic Business Process
Modelling Service
ATOS
The Semantic BP service will help to reduce the complexity of tasks related to transformation between different BP
models as well as transformation in executable process models with semantic annotations.
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COIN Semantic Business Process
Management Service
ATOS
The BP Management service will to manage the life cycle of deployed BP models independently on the underlying
engines actually executing the model.
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Athos Ontology Service
CNR
The AthosOntologyService will provide functionalities for ontology management. Ontology is a pre-requisite for
semantics-based mediation and reconciliation of business documents.
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Astar Semantic Annotation Service
CNR
The AstarSemanticAnnotationService will provide functionalities for management of semantic annotations. Semantic
annotation allows digital resources to be described in terms of a common reference represented by a domain ontology.
Such an activity represents a first identification of semantic and structural mismatches among different information
structures (e.g., business document schemas), which is needed for fulfilling interoperability issues among
heterogeneous information systems.
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Argos Semantic Transformation Rules
Service
CNR
The ArgosSemanticTransformationRulesService will provide functionalities for management of transformation rules
service. Transformation rules represent the semantic mapping able to drive the mediation and reconciliation.
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Ares Semantic Reconciliation Service
CNR
The AresSemanticReconciliationService will represents the final step towards the actual mediation and reconciliation of
business documents among heterogeneous information systems.
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COIN Massive Data Interoperability
Service
TXT
The massive data interoperability is a service to allow communication among a set of multiple data providers and a set
of multiple data consumers. In a multi-point communication, the interoperability problem grows exponentially according
to the number of entities involved in the communication. The service will allow the data providers to “map” their data
structure to the requested schema and “fill” the schema itself with the data coming from their data sources.
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COIN Transactional Data
Interoperability Service
TXT
The transactional data interoperability is a service that allows the communication between two actors: a customer and a
supplier. The scenario of the communication is the exchange of business documents in the order to invoice procurement
process.
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Conclusions and future work
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Position the COIN service platform as a technology enabler for
developing and offering Enterprise Interoperability services according
to the Software-as-a-Service Utility (SaaS-U) paradigm.
Candidates for the development of baseline EI services based on
state-of-the-art analysis of previous FP6 research projects. The
development of these services will follow two phases.
• The first phase involves wrapping and potentially re-implementing parts of
the solutions as Web services. (Ongoing)
• The second phase involves enriching the service descriptions with
semantics in order to make them Semantic Web Services. (End of 2008)
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Future work focused on developing new and innovative EI services for
• (1) information interoperability – new service communication and
coordination in business collaborations.
• (2) knowledge interoperability – develop semantic profiles and the
environment to expose, compare and semantically mediate such profiles.
• (3) business interoperability – provide new formalisms and languages for
interactive and collaborative BPM.
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Position statement: Application architectures vs. “userinvolving” modelling and execution architectures
#n
applications
a
b
r
EAI
s
Integrated workplace
y1
y2
Layered and hardwired application
architecture with prescribed solutions
coded by different programmers.
• The enterprise application integrator
“fixes” the interoperability issues.
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Interactive modelling and execution
platform with “user-involving” modelling
and execution services.
• The user “designs” the interoperation.
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References
• [1] M.-S. Li, R. Cabral, G. Doumeingts, and K. Popplewell,
"Enterprise Interoperability Research Roadmap, Final
Version, Version 4.0", July 2006.
• [17] WSMX, "WSMX (Web Service Modelling eXecution
environment)". http://www.wsmx.org:8080/wsmxsite/
• [21] ATHENA A4, "D.A4.2: Specification of Interoperability
Framework and Profiles, Guidelines and Best Practices",
ATHENA IP, Deliverable D.A4.2, 2007. http://interopvlab.eu/ei_public_deliverables/athena-deliverables/
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Thanks for your attention!
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Questions?
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