Date: Wed, 8 Apr 92 01:20:22 CDT From: ARAN@RCHVMP.VNET.IBM.COM (Randy Aranguren) ************************* TASK GROUP 3 REPORT *************************** MCC WORKSHOP I FEBURARY 21, 1992 ENTERPRISE INTEGRATION PROCESS o DEFINITIONS - B-Modeling stands for Business Modling. Examples of existing methods; BSP/SA - IBM GRAY METHOD - The terms Class and Type are considered to be equivelent for this discussion o ASSERTIONS 1 That the structing or formalization of a B-modeling process is a necessity, ie. you need a methodology. 2 The methodology should be a discovery process and it should not predefine the classes of information/objects that will be in the data model. The methodology should be a process of "discovering" what the classes of data pertenent to this problem and environment are. 3 Requirements on the output of B-Model Process o Ontology - Business Processes - & All The Rest - Conceptual Concepts have; Properties Parts Structures Relationships - general spec's - user defined - Ontology Engineers generates catagories or classes that will be used in the instaniation process performed by B-Modeling Engineers. Catagory example: Generic Business Corporation Plant or Site Worker - B-Modeling Engineers - instantiates / modifies ONTOLOGIES for a particular application. Requirements on the output of B-Model Process 4 A PORTION OF THE ENTERPRISE: - Scope of Integration; a domain, a process - A strategic opportunity; a question, a problem - Related to Enterprise Metrics; Goals, objectives, policies, etc... - Many models become "shelf-ware" without contribution - The closer the tie of model to execution - the better maintained it will be 5 It is not possible to create a sound data model without the context of a B-model that is functionally complete for the problem space being delt with.(the determining factor of content of the model is a function of the requirements of the problem.) 6 Businesses will expect software that is targeted at sets of more formally defined business models 7 Validation of Completeness in Modeling There are techniques that can be used that will allow the implementation of AI-based automated "Classifiers" that are able to determine things like; o Missing relationships o Entities and relationships that are added in the wrong place o That the model should be restructured because a new entity & relationship have effectively changed the thread of inheritance o etc..... This should be a consideration in the ontology engineering and modeling engineering environments so that the features needed in modeling languages to support this type of AI implementation are not exclude FUNCTIONALLY COMPLETE | | | V +---------------------------+ | B-MODELING PROCESS | | |--------> PROCESS MODEL | | | METHODOLOGY? |--------> DATA MODEL AN ENTERPRISE-->| | | |--------> OTHER MODEL TYPES +---------------------------+ A | | | ENTERPRISE ENGINEER K > > N > Generic Building Blocks Domain Expert Knowledge > O > | | > M W > | CIM-OSA | Methodology > O L > | | | | > D E > | | PDES/STEP | | Metrics > E D > | | | etc... | | | > L G > | | | | | | | > E > V V V V V V V > E > +----------------+ +----------------+ > X R > | Ontology | | Model | > E E > | Engineering |>>>>>>>>>>>>| Engineering |>>>>> MODELS > C > C P > | | | | V > U R > +->| | >>>>>>>| | V > T E > | +----------------+ A *======*----------v--+ V > I S > | | A A |MODELS| | *======* V > O E > +--Building | <<<|Reuse |<<<<<<<<<<<<<<|MODELS|<< > N N > Blocks | *======* | *======* > T > | | > A > Proposals for changes, additions,<-+ > T > extentions, .... recommendations > I > > O > > N > > o RESOLUTIONS PASSED BY WRKGROUP - A Project should be funded that would create a clearing house for Ontologies. Clearing house will be a repository for ontologies, submitted in a range of formats (to be specified), for purposes of shareing and enrichment. The clearing house should provide a set of services like translation between languages, etc. As they are mature the ontologies may become defacto standards that could then be moved forward into the normalization process. Suggested scope is for manufacturing industries in US and Europe. - A Study should be initiated to; 1) Develope a taxonomy of model integration problem types 2) Develope a taxonomy of model integration methods 3) Develope a set of indicators on when a method should be used, ei. applies to the problem. QUESTIONS - Is the methodology context dependent? Domain - areo, auto, semi-conductor, ..... Function - marketing, mfg, engineering, .... - Does the method have to be expanded? Multiplant International Inter-planet - What are the outputs of the B-modeling process? Ontology B-Modeling Process (evolution) Glossary - How does the methodology insure integration of prior models? Ontology Glossary Instantiations