Enterprise Interoperability

Basic Concepts, Definitions and Approaches

David Chen

IMS-LAPSUniversity Bordeaux 1FRANCE

Various views on interoperability

The ambiguous definition of interoperability

User’s expectations

IT provider’sconcepts

Society view of interoperability

DreameBusiness

eGouvERP/CRM/SCM

Collaborative work

Seamlessinteractions

Methodology

Networkedenterprise

Service OrientedArchitecture

Agent technology

XML/ebXML

Middleware

Integration

Standards

Interoperability – general view

Oxford: ‘able to operate in conjunction’.

Webster: “ability of a system to use the parts of another system”

Generally, “Inter-operate” implies that one system performs an operation on behalf of (or for) another system.

Interoperability - IEEE Definition

Ability for two (or more) systems or components to exchange information and to use the information that has been exchanged

IEEE standard computer glossaries (1990)

Interoperability – software view

Two co-operating software can easily work together without a particular interfacing effort.

It also means establishing communication and sharing information and services between software applications regardless of hardware platforms.

In other words, it describes whether or not two software that were developed with different tools and from different vendors can work together.

Interoperability vs. portability

the ease with which a system, component, data, or user can be transferred from one hardware or software environment to another.

a quality metric that can be used to measure the effort to transport or convert the software for use in another environment

The concept of interoperability is closely related to the concept of portability. TOGAF defined the portability as:

Portability is the ability of data or system to be moved, and interoperability is the ability of software or systems to understand and use information coming from other software or systems.

Interoperability vs. interchangeability

Interoperable ≠ interchangeable

Interchangeable

=> replace a system or component to provide a same service with an equivalent behaviors (ex. response time)

Interoperable

=> simply ability to exchange service without necessity to have the same behaviors.

Interoperability – system view

Reversibility: Even if the implementation of the interoperability between partners leads to an adaptation or a modification of the systems, these systems have to be able to come back to their initial state at the end of the interoperation

E1 E2 E1 E2 E1 E2

Initial state Interoperability Initial state

Interoperability vs. integration

INTEGRATION INTEROPERABILITY

Consistency between local and global objectives

Do not seek for consistency

Tightly coupled

Two parts are inter-dependent

loosely coupled

Two parts are independent

Decrease differences (languages, methods, tools,...)

Identity and diversity preserved

Intra-enterprise

(Merge, restructuration, etc.)

Inter-enterprise

(Networked enterprise,…)

Interoperability ≠ collaboration

Interoperability=> has no direct business mission / goal=> does not directly solve any business problem

Two interoperable enterprises may not have any collaboration project

Two enterprises in collaboration may have serious interoperability problems

Interoperability vs. collaboration

Enterprise

a unit of economic organization or activity; especially : a business organization (Merriam-Webster dictionary)

The entire organization, including all of its subsidiaries. It implies a large corporation but may also refer to a company of any size with many systems and users to manage.

The terms "enterprise“, "company“, "corporation" and “firm" are used synonymously.

Enterprise interoperability

Ability of interaction between enterprises (or part of it). The enterprise interoperability is achieved if the interaction can, at least, take place at the three levels: data, application and business process with the semantics defined in a business context

Business

Knowledge

ICT Systems

Sem

antic

sBusiness

Knowledge

ICT Systems

Sem

antics

Enterprise A Enterprise B

Business

Knowledge

ICT Systems

Sem

antic

sBusiness

Knowledge

ICT Systems

Sem

antics

Enterprise A Enterprise B

IDEAS Project

Enterprise interoperability

Hypothesis of the research: - Enterprise systems are not interoperable because of barriers to interoperability

- Barriers are incompatibilities of various kinds at the various enterprise levels

- There exist common barriers to interoperability and generic solutions to remove barriers

Enterprise interoperability

Three main issues:

Interoperability concerns=> the part of an enterprise involved in

interoperation

Interoperability barriers=> the types of obstacles which prevent

interoperability to happen

Interoperability approaches=> the fundamental ways through which barriers

are removed

Interoperability concerns

Data interoperability

Service interoperability

Business interoperability

Process interoperability

Enterprise # 1 Enterprise # 2

Interoperability concerns

Enterprise A Enterprise B

Data

Services

Processes

Business

Data

Services

Processes

Business

Data

Services

Processes

Business

internalcommunication

externalcommunication

Athena‘s View

Interoperability of data

Make work together different data models (hierarchical, relational, etc.) and of the different query languages.

Moreover, their contents are organized according to conceptual schemas (i.e. vocabularies and sets of structures of data) which are related to particular applications.

The interoperability of data is to find and share information coming from heterogeneous bases relating to these various aspects, and which can moreover reside on different machines with different operating systems and data bases management systems.

It is concerned with identifying, composing and making function together various applications (designed and implemented independently)

by solving the syntactic and semantic differences as well as finding the connections to the various heterogeneous data bases.

The term `service' is not limited to the ‘web services’ or any computer based applications; but also functions of the company or of the networked enterprises.

Interoperability of services

Interoperability of processes

It aims to make various processes work together:

a process defines the sequence of the services (functions) according to a specific need of the company.

Generally in a company, several processes run in interactions (in series or parallel).

In the case of the networked enterprise, it is also necessary to study how to connect internal processes of two companies to create a common process.

Interoperability includes mechanisms for linking process description languages (workflow standards) distributed, decentralized process formation and verification.

Interoperability of business

It is concerned with the capability of connecting business relationships internally or externally between enterprises, in spite of for example,

different visions, strategies, collaboration space, values

different business models, cooperation models

different modes of decision-making,

methods of work, legislations, industry dynamics

culture of the company and commercial practices etc.

so that business can be developed and shared between companies more easily.

Interoperability barriersThree types of barriers

Conceptual barriers

=> Main barriers because of different ways to represent and communicate concepts

Technological barriers

=> Additional barriers due to the use of computer technologies to communicate and exchange information and data

Organizational barriers

=> Additional barriers because of different methods of work, ways to assign responsibility, security, etc.

Conceptual barriers

Types of Heterogeneities

• Naming heterogeneity: same entity, different names• mapping using ontologies

• Different schemas, models (structure)• Schemas mapping

• Different formats• Unifying formats

Conceptual barriers

Same meaning, different structure (Missikoff, 2004)

- Data syntax used by the two parties is different- Data structure used by the two parties is different

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Size (in)

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Diam (mm)

Geom.Part No.

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Catalog No.Shape Size Price

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E-Machina

Manufacturer

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Size (in)

ShapeMfr No.

Supplier A Supplier B

Buyer

Ontology

An example of semantic barrier

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on

Integrated=> common format for all models to develop systems

Unified=> common predefined format only exist at meta-level for mapping

Federated=> No predefined common format, need dynamically adjustment and accommodation

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tero

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abili

tyThere are three basic ways to relate entities together :

Adopted from ISO 14258

Interoperability Approaches

Interoperability Approaches

Example: Unified approach for establishing enterprise model interoperability

Enterprise 1 Enterprise 2

GraiTools

GRAI

MO2GO

IEM

Metis

EEML

ARIS Process Platform

ARISLanguage

POP*

XML Interchange

Format

Enterprise 1 Enterprise 2

GraiTools

GRAI

GraiTools

GRAI

MO2GO

IEM

MO2GO

IEM

Metis

EEML

Metis

EEML

ARIS Process Platform

ARISLanguage

ARIS Process Platform

ARISLanguage

POP*

XML Interchange

Format

(ATHENA A1)

Summary

INFRASTRUCTURE

ENABLING T

OOLS

METHODOLOGY

BUSINESS

PROCESS

SERVICE

DATA

BUSINESS

PROCESS

SERVICE

DATA

ENTERPRISE A ENTERPRISE B

INTEGRATED

UNIFIED

FEDERATED

BARRIERSC

ON

CE

PT

UA

L

TE

CH

NO

LO

GIC

AL

OR

GA

NIS

AT

ION

AL

SOLUTIONS

APPROACHES

Basic concepts and issues