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Course Syllabus - Interoperability

editor: Davor Orlič, Knowledge 4 All Foundation Ltd.
editor: Mitja Jermol, Centre for knowledge transfer in IT, Jožef Stefan Institute
published: Feb. 13, 2009,  

Links pointing to INTEROP-VLab web courses and tutorials

ENTERPRISE MODELLING

Introduction to Enterprise Modelling

  • Introduction
  • Modelling of enterprises
  • Development of Information Systems
  • ARIS – Phases and Views

In this tutorial, we give an introduction to Enterprise Modelling. Enterprise modeling expresses the symbolic illustration of information, which is supported by editing and documenting real-world structures of an enterprise and their meaning, so that they are comprehensible to the user. After describing the overall goals and essential terms for the modeling of enterprises, principles, methods and benefits of enterprise modeling are explained. In the next section the Development of (Business) Information Systems, one of the main goals of enterprise modeling, is explained and related to enterprise modeling. The last part introduces an example of an enterprise modeling methodology: The Architecture of Integrated Information Systems (ARIS), its phases and its views are described.


Unified Enterprise Modelling Language (UEML)

  • Preliminary information
  • What is UEML?
  • Why develop UEML?
  • UEML History
  • The UEML Project
  • The UEML Language o State of the art. The need to relate Enterprise Modelling Languages o Requirements of the Language o Definition of the language o How Enterprise Modelling with UEML can provide added value o Example on Models interoperability
  • Conclusions. The future of UEML
  • Other information sources
  • References

This tutorial is an introduction of the Unified Enterprise Modelling Language, also called, UEML. First, we will define the language and will explain why UEML is crucial. Then, we will show how this new language was conceived and the basic principles of the UEML Project. Thirdly, we will explain the process of defining the language and will give some examples of its application. Finally, the conclusions will explain the future of this new language.


Business Process Modelling Introduction

  • Why is business process (BP) modelling needed?
  • What is a BP?
  • BP classification
  • Techniques and tools to model a BP
  • When to use what?
  • Main BP techniques
  • Examples of BP models

A Business Process is the combination of a set of activities within an enterprise with a structure describing their logical order and dependence whose objective is to produce a desired result. Business Process modelling enables a common understanding and analysis of a business process. A process model can provide a comprehensive understanding of a process. An enterprise can be analysed and integrated through its business processes. Hence, the importance of correctly modelling its business processes. Using the right model involves taking into account the purpose of the analysis and, knowledge of the available process modelling techniques and tools. The number of references on business modelling is huge, thus making it very time consuming to get an overview and understand many of the concepts and vocabulary involved. The primary concern of this tutorial is to make that job easier, i.e. review business process modelling literature and describe the main process modelling techniques. In addition, a framework for classifying business process-modelling techniques according to their purpose is presented.


CIMOSA Computer Integrated Manufacturing Open System Architecture

  • CIMOSA Association
  • Enterprise Modelling - Reasons and Benefits
  • CIMOSA Modelling Framework, Modelling Language
  • CIMOSA Enterprise Modelling - Business Process Modelling
  • Standardisation in Enterprise Modelling
  • Conclusion

The tutorial presents a structured report about Computer Integrated Manufacturing Open System Architecture. First, it is explained what enterprise modelling is, the goals, reasons and the benefits achieved with enterprise modelling. The tutorial tries to answer the reasons of enterprise engineering and integration. CIMOSA Modelling Framework, Modelling Language is exposed, by means these sections: GERAM Framework, CIMOSA Modelling Framework and CIMOSA Modelling Language. The enterprise modelling based on CIMOSA, focuses on function view, information view, resource view and organisation view. The tutorial explains two Case studies: Business Re-Engineering at FIAT and Paper manufacturer KOEHLER. It makes a relevant standards overview, including ISO/CEN (15704, 19439, 19440, …); ISO/IEC (15414, 62264) and OMG (MDA, BPML, UML, …).


The GRAI Method - Global Modelling

  • Introduction
  • The GRAI Model o Introduction o Decision in the GRAI Model o Functional Decomposition o Systemic Decomposition o Hierarchy o The three Modelling Domains
  • The GRAI Grid o Concepts of the GRAI Grid o Grid Functions o Links between Functional and Control Grids o Multi-Grids Modelling (Co-ordination Grid) o Possible Extensions of the Grid

This tutorial generally presents the GRAI method. From an operational point of view, are presented here the GRAI model as a consistent set of concepts in order to model production systems and the GRAI grid that uses the concepts of the GRAI model to propose a global model of the decisional system.


The GRAI Method - Detailed Modelling and Methodological Issues

  • Introduction
  • The GRAI nets
  • The structured approach
  • The rules of inconsistencies
  • The GRAI methodology

This tutorial follows the previous one. This tutorial presents the GRAI nets that aims at a detail model of the decisional system and the structured approach that organises (steps, actors, etc.) the study.


General Standards Life Cycle

  • Introduction
  • Interoperability and Standardisation
  • Enterprise Integration and Engineering Standards
  • Enterprise Interoperability Standards
  • B2B Standards
  • INTEROP – Interoperability Standards
  • Conclusions
  • Credits

The tutorial presents interoperability in terms of it driving the need for standardization. It covers aspects such as the concepts of interoperability and standardization, enterprise integration and engineering standards, enterprise interoperability standards, B2B standards, and interoperability standards in INTEROP. It provides a useful insight into the complexity and importance of the standardization area in interoperability, important areas where harmonization is needed, as well as how standards affect organizations and their way of working.


Business Process Modelling Language (BPML)

  • BPML History
  • BPML Components o Activities o Process o Contexts o Properties o Signals
  • Activities
  • Communication Patterns o Synchronous Communication - Examples o Asynchronous Communication
  • The Web Service Choreography Interface (WSCI)
  • Comparison
  • Business Process Management Notation o What is BPMN? o Why develop BPMN? o BPMN Elements
  • Flow Objects
  • Connecting Objects
  • Swimlanes
  • Artifacts
  • Example - BPMN
  • Conclusions
  • References
  • Credit

This tutorial is a summary about Business Process Modelling Language, called BPML. There is a detailed explanation of what is BPML, its origins and its main components, focussing on activities. A comparison between others modelling languages is shown. Finally, it is depicted Business Process Modelling Notation as a graphical language that can be mapped onto languages such as BPML.


Use of the Event-driven Process Chain (EPC) to Model Business Processes

  • Introduction o Introducing business processes o Business process modeling
  • The event-driven process chain as a modeling method o Development and intention of the EPC o Advantages of the EPC o Basic elements of the EPC o Modeling principles of the EPC o Enhanced event-driven process chain (eEPC) o General modeling rules for EPCs
  • Practical examples
  • Guidelines for modeling EPCs
  • Conslusions and outlook

This tutorial describes the event-driven process chain (EPC) as a method to model business processes, which has found a high degree of acceptance and dissemination in practice because of its practical focus and intuitive comprehensibility. After introducing business processes, the tutorial continues with sections about business process modelling in general and various methods for business process modelling. The second section focuses on the method of the EPC, giving a short description of its development and intention, naming advantages of the EPC, introducing and explaining its basic elements, modelling principles, the enhancement of the EPC by elements of other views of the ARIS concept as well as general modelling rules for EPCs. As next, some examples are given to practically illustrate the method of the EPC and eEPC, followed by general guidelines for modelling EPCs.



ONTOLOGIES

Introduction to Ontologies

  • What is the Semantic Web
  • Semantic Web and Ontologies
  • Knowledge and Ontologies dimensions
  • Ontology modelling
  • Conclusions

This tutorial explains that the Semantic Web is an extension of the current web in which information is given well-defined meaning, better enabling computers and people to work in cooperation. This concept is related to ontologies and ontology building is also characterized by some dimensions. For a deeper focus on ontology modelling, the tutorial explains onto (meta) model, onto modelling formalism, ontology content and onto system. Finally, conclusions summarize the main ideas.


Methodologies to build Ontologies

  • Ontology Building: Basic Concepts
  • Ontological Building Methodologies
  • Ontological Building Methodologies: UPON
  • Ontological Building: Tools
  • Conclusions
  • References

This tutorial starts with some basic elements of the Ontology Building (concepts, relationships and facets). In Ontological Building Methodologies, the tutorial shows the most known approaches to build an ontology. Then, UPON is described as a methodology for ontology building based on the Unified Software Development Process and supported by UML. Finally, there is a classification of different tools according to some criteria.


Ontology Languages

  • What is an Ontology?
  • What can we do with an ontology?
  • Ontology language

The tutorial presents an introduction to ontology representation formalisms, treating general concepts and then analyzing the main features of many existing ontology languages. After a general introduction to ontologies, that includes an analysis of what an ontology is, what are its intended uses and a how the degree of formality used in representation affects the way an ontology can be used, the tutorial gives a wide-range survey of the languages. The analysis is not limited to the most widely known languages proposed for semantic web applications, but covers various knowledge representation languages, programming languages, essentially graphical formalisms like Semantic Networks and UML, and languages initially designed as knowledge interchange formats. Languages are classified in families according to various dimensions, including their degree of formality, and their main features are reviewed. The tutorial is intended for an advanced audience, that already has familiarity with the concept of ontology and basic notions of logics, and it is suitable for use in PhD courses.


Uses of Ontologies

  • What is the Semantic Web
  • Semantic Web and Ontologies
  • Knowledge and Ontologies dimensions
  • Focus on Semantic Annotation
  • Focus on Semantic Mismatches

The Semantic Web requires that web information is “machine understandable”, so this tutorial explains the semantic annotation to achieve this goal. Semantic annotation expresses in a formal way the meaning associated to a web resource or to a part of it. Then there is an identification of semantic mismatches and an analysis of the different kinds of mismatches.


What is the Semantic Web?

The general vision

  • What is the Semantic Web?
  • What the Semantic Web is not
  • What can be achieved by the Semantic Web?
  • Interoperability and the Semantic Web
  • Why do we need the Semantic Web?

This tutorial explains the Semantic Web, a Web where computers will “understand” the meaning of semantic data on a web page by following hyperlinks to definitions of key terms and rules for reasoning about them logically. Currently, the Web uses the computer as a device for rendering information for the human reader but neither for information processing nor computing. The tutorial shows how the Semantic Web is aiming on bringing back the computer as an information processing device


Semantic Web Technologies

  • What is the Semantic Web?
  • What is the Semantic Web good for?
  • What lies beneath the Semantic Web?
  • Unicode
  • URI: Uniform Resource Identifier
  • XML: eXtensible Markup Language
  • XML Schemas
  • Is XML enough for the Semantic Web
  • RDF: Resource Description Framework
  • RDF Schema
  • Ontologies
  • Logic and proofs
  • Logical languages for the Semantic Web
  • Trust and credibility
  • Conclusions

This tutorial is a brief introduction to the technologies beneath the Semantic Web: Unicode,URI (Uniform Resource Identifiers), XML (eXtensible Markup Language), XML Schemas, RDF (Resource Description Framework), RDF Schema, Ontologies and Logic. All these technologies will work together to achieve the Semantic Web goals.

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Ontology Tools

  • What is an ontology?
  • What is an ontology in Computer Science?
  • Key use of ontologies
  • Ontology based reasoning
  • Building ontologies
  • About ontology development
  • Ontology engineering vs. Object-Oriented modelling
  • Types of ontologies tools
  • An ontology tools survey on the Web
  • Tools for ontology engineering
  • Tools analysed here
  • Protégé
  • OilEd
  • Conclusions

This tutorial is an overview of the current ontology tools. After given a general explanation about what an ontology is and about its applications, the tutorial describes different kinds of ontology tools (editors & browswers, translators, merge and integration tools, etc.). Finally, it focuses on two tools: Protégé and OilEd, giving many examples of how to use these tools.



ARCHITECTURES & PLATFORMS

Enterprise Architectures and Enterprise Modelling

Introduction

  • Basic terms
  • Examples of enterprise architectures
  • Introduction to ARIS
  • ARIS views on enterprises
  • Function view
  • Organization view
  • Data view
  • Output view
  • Control view
  • ARIS Phase Model
  • ARIS House of Business Engineering

The tutorial presents different enterprise architectures and describes methods and concepts to model enterprise. Examples of various ways to structure and model enterprises are given. It is shown how an enterprise can be divided into various layers to reduce model complexity. Additionally, a framework to transform the abstract models to IT-models is introduced. The Architecture of Integrated Information Systems (ARIS) including the ARIS views as a concept to model different aspects of an enterprise, the ARIS phase model as a concept to create the relation between industrial situation and IT as well as the ARIS house of business engineering (HOBE) as a framework for managing business processes will be explained in detail in this tutorial.


Introduction to Data Quality in Cooperative Information Systems

  • Introduction
  • Dimensions
  • References

This tutorial introduces to the problem of data quality in multi-organizational environments. The overlapping of data sources in such environments can be an opportunity to improve data quality, but it is also an issue if conflicting copies of the same data are stored.


Data Quality Models in Cooperative Information Systems

  • Models o Use of models o Extension of DB models o Models for management information systems - Process models - Data models o Cost models
  • References

The tutorial describes exitisting data-oriented models for data quality, like extensions of conceptual and logical models for data representation to include also quality. It also describes process-oriented models, useful for data quality improvement.


Methodologies for data quality in CISs and an Example of a Framework

  • Methodologies o Types of Strategies o Types of Methodologies o General Overview of 4 Methodologies o Relevant Steps in Methodologies o Comparison of Methodologies
  • Frameworks and Services for CISs o Data Quality Broker o Rating Service o Quality Notification Service o Data Quality Factory
  • References

The tutorial it describes several existing methodologies for assessing and improving quality of data. The methodologies are described in terms of the steps composing them and a comparison framework is also illustrated.


The COMET Methodology - Business and Requirements Modelling

  • Part 1a: Methodology Overview o Motivation - Why system development methodology? o Software system development methodologies o COMET - A medium-sized methodology for developing Web services in a Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) o References
  • Part 1b: Business Modelling
  • Part 1c: Requirements Modelling

This tutorial presents the COMET Web services modelling which provides guidelines for the design and implementation of Web services based on the COMET business, requirements and architecture models. The tutorial covers the following Web services technologies: XML (eXtensible Markup Language), XSD (XML Schema Definition), WSDL (Web Services Description Language), SOAP (Simple Object Access Protocol), UDDI (Universal Description, Discovery and Invocation) and BPEL (Business Process Execution Language).



INTEROPERABILITY

Enterprise Modelling for Interoperability

  • Introduction: Concepts
  • Enterprise modelling supports interoperability o Enterprise Architectures Aligning Processes with IT o Business Process Models Integration - Unified Approach - Interoperability Aspects - UEML

In this tutorial, we are going to define a series of concepts, which will be followed by the explanation of the enterprise architectures aligning processes with IT and the business process models integration.


Ontology for Interoperability

  • Introduction to interoperability
  • Ontology-based solution o Semantic mismatch analysis o Semantic annotation o Reconciliation
  • Three levels of interoperability o Information interoperability o Process Interoperability o Service Interoperability
  • Ontology based architectures for interoperability

In this tutorial, we will give an overview of the way ontologies can be used to support the interoperability of enterprise software applications. We will therefore expose what the interoperability problem is.


Introduction to Architecture and Platforms for Enterprise system Interoperability

  • Introduction to Software Architecture
  • Architectural styles for interoperability
  • Existing platforms Special Issues:
  • Process Brokers & Integration
  • Design of Processes for Integration
  • Service Oriented Architecture

In this tutorial, we will introduce you to some of the underlying technical architecture in interoperable systems. First, we will define software architecture. Then, we will see different styles of interoperability architecture. These styles will be Process brokers and Service Oriented Architecture. You will also see some examples of existing platforms.


Ontology Interoperability

  • Ontology Interoperability Pitfalls
  • Solutions for Interoperability among ontologies o Ontology merging o Ontology alignment o Ontology mapping o Ontology transformation
  • Some solutions in the State of the Art o Methods for ontology mapping/merging o A brief overview of some existing systems - Mapping Frameworks/tools - Similarity reasoning approaches/ solutions o Summary table of the collected material
  • Conclusions

The objective of this tutorial is to give an overview of the problem of Ontology Interoperability. We will therefore see what the common problems encountered are when comparing two or more ontologies describing the same domain, ontology pitfalls, then what the basic operations used to solve the differences among such ontologies are and will give some details about a number of State of the Art solutions, methods and tools.


Model Driven Architecture: General Overview

  • Problem
  • MDA Framework
  • MDA Development Life Cycle
  • MDA Benefits
  • Inside the MDA Framework
  • Model Transformation

This tutorial gives an overview on the Model Driven Architecture (MDA) proposed by the Object Management Group (OMG). It presents the general framework of MDA in terms of development life cycle and abstraction levels.After presenting the benefits of this approach a focus is performed on model transformations.

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