Decentralized Metadata Development for Open B2B Electronic Business

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DecentralizedMetadata Developmentfor Open
B2BElectronic Business
DC 2005 Madrid
Fred van Blommestein
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Background

• Standardisation of EDIFACT messages
• ebXML Core Components Specification (ISO 15000-5)
• Harmonisation of Core Components (UN/CEFACT
  TBG17)
• OpenXchange IST project Open Electronic
  Business using the ebXML framework
• CEN EBES project on defining the process and
  data model for Product Catalogues, Ordering and
  Delivery

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The E-Business problem

• How to specify
• business processes,
• so business people
• can negotiate those processes,
• using their business applications

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Data and Metadata
Defined by industry working groups
Defines
Produced by business people
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But.

• A contract defines the business process
• A contract defines the product attribute types
  that must be present in a call-off
• A contract is metadata
• Contracts are negotiated between business people
  and business applications
• So business people must be able to manipulate
  metadata

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And

• Semantic standards are to date being determined
  in centralised industry workgroups
• Process innovation happens local
• Process flow and information requirements are
  business issues, and should be adaptable by
  business people

and design by committee is arbitrary and sloooow
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Presented solution

• Combine results from ontology engineering, and
  e-business modelling
• Define metadata as normal data that can be
  manipulated in normal business processes
• Let business processes define business processes

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Ontology engineering

• The world consists of (sets of) objects

• Objects have properties

• Properties are named relations with other objects

Object2
Property1
Object1
Property2
'xsdsadadghdafasf'
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E-business systems
Local system
Local system
Reporting events and decisions
Reporting events and decisions
Synchronisation
Business Partner 1
Business Partner 2
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Assumptions

• An information system is a model of the real
  world
• A model contains representations of real objects
• A metamodel contains representations of classes
  (sets) of real objects
• Metamodel classes create placeholders for
  representation of instances in information
  systems
• An instance can be represented as a set with one
  element

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Mechanism

• Subsets and instances are defined by posing
  restrictions on property values of members of a
  set
• So by adding restrictions the model can be
  refined
• By adding restrictions subsets and instances can
  be created (Qualification)
• Events (both physical events and decisions)
  produce information
• Information is restricting property vales

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Specializing the universe
The collection of all things
Everything
Thing
Upper-ontology concept
The collection of all products
Product
The collection of all apples
Apples
Class
The apple sold to Fred in Madrid
This apple
Instance
This apple just after I tasted it
The same apple at 1630
State
Subsetting, constraining properties
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Axioms or data definitions

• An apple is a Product that grows on a Tree of
  type Apple tree

Tree
Product
Context Product invGrows on.TypeApple tree
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Conclusion

• Defining metadata Adding constraints
• Business messages constraint property spaces
  (domains)
• A Class represents a set of Objects
• An Instance represents- a set of objects with
  one member- a set of states
• Data metadataboth can be manipulated by
  business messages

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Next steps

• Describe the mechanisms formally
• Design a metadata negotiation business process
• Care that e-business standards support metadata
  negotiation
• Demonstrate metadata negotiation in working
  software