Enterprise Interoperability Basic Concepts, Definitions and Approaches

1. Enterprise InteroperabilityBasic Concepts, Definitions and Approaches David Chen IMS-LAPS University Bordeaux 1 FRANCE

2. Various 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 IT provider’s concepts User’s expectations

3. 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.

4. 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)

5. 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.

6. 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.

7. 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.

8. 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

9. Interoperability vs. integration

10. Interoperability vs. collaboration 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

11. 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.

12. 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 businessprocess with the semantics defined in a business context IDEAS Project

13. 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

14. 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

15. Enterprise # 1 Enterprise # 2 Data interoperability Service interoperability Process interoperability Business interoperability Interoperability concerns

16. Business Business Business Processes Processes Processes Services Services Services Data Data Data Interoperability concerns Enterprise A Enterprise B internalcommunication externalcommunication Athena‘s View

17. 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.

18. Interoperability of services • 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.

19. 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.

20. 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.

21. Interoperability barriers Three 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.

22. Conceptual barriers Types of Heterogeneities • Naming heterogeneity: same entity, different names • mapping using ontologies • Different schemas, models (structure) • Schemas mapping • Different formats • Unifying formats

23. Conceptual barriers - Data syntax used by the two parties is different - Data structure used by the two parties is different Same meaning, different structure (Missikoff, 2004)

24. Manufacturer Mfr No. Shape Size (in) Price ($US) … Catalog No. Shape Size (in) Price ($US) … E-Machina 550296 Round 1.5 .35 Part No. Geom. Diam (mm) Price ($US) … iMetal Corp. XAB023 Round 1.5 .75 XAB023 Round 1.5 .75 550296 R 37 .35 E-Machina 550298 Square 1.25 .45 XAB035 Square 1.25 .25 iMetal Corp. XAB035 Square 1.25 .25 550298 S 31 .45 Supplier B Supplier A An example of semantic barrier Ontology Washer Catalog No. Shape Size Price Buyer

25. More integration More interoperability Interoperability Approaches • 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 There are three basic ways to relate entities together : Adopted from ISO 14258

26. Interoperability Approaches Example: Unified approach for establishing enterprise model interoperability (ATHENA A1)

27. BUSINESS BUSINESS INTEGRATED UNIFIED PROCESS PROCESS FEDERATED METHODOLOGY ENABLING TOOLS INFRASTRUCTURE CONCEPTUAL TECHNOLOGICAL ORGANISATIONAL SERVICE SERVICE DATA DATA Summary Basic concepts and issues ENTERPRISE A ENTERPRISE B APPROACHES SOLUTIONS BARRIERS