Title: Enterprise Interoperability Basic Concepts and Definitions
1Enterprise Interoperability Basic Concepts and
Definitions
- David Chen
- IMS-LAPS
- University Bordeaux 1
- FRANCE
2Various views on interoperability
- The ambiguous definition of interoperability
Society view of interoperability
eBusiness
Dream
Networked enterprise
eGouv
ERP/CRM/SCM
Integration
Collaborative work
Service Oriented Architecture
Seamless interactions
Agent technology
Methodology
Middleware
Standards
XML/ebXML
Users expectations
IT providers concepts
3Interoperability 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.
4Interoperability - 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)
5Interoperability 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.
6Interoperability vs. portability
The concept of interoperability is closely
related to the concept of portability. TOGAF
defined the portability as
- 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
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.
7Interoperability vs. interchangeability
- Interoperable ? interchangeable
- Interchangeable
- gt replace a system or component to provide a
same service with an equivalent behaviors (ex.
response time) - Interoperable
- gt simply ability to exchange service without
necessity to have the same behaviors.
8Interoperability 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
9Interoperability vs. integration
- Interoperability has the meaning of co-existence
and co-operation, while integration relates to
the notion of collaboration and uniformalisation. - In (Vernadat, 1996), interoperability is defined
as the ability to communicate with another system
and use the functionality of the other system - gt Interoperability communication
interaction - However, integration is more large and broad
- gt Integration communication co-operation
co-ordination
10Interoperability vs. integration
11Interoperability vs. collaboration
- Interoperability ? collaboration
- Interoperability
- gt has no direct business mission / goal
- gt 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
12Enterprise 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
IDEAS Project