A Development Process for Content Standards

1. A Development Process for Content Standards KC Morris, Boonserm (Serm) Kulvatunyou, Josh Lubell, and Puja Goyal US/DoC/NIST/MEL/MSID Manufacturing Systems Integration Division

2. Outline of the Talk • Who we are • Process for developing content standards: the Model Development Life Cycle (MDLC) • Overview of our XML-related tools • Examples of tools for XML Schema validation Manufacturing Systems Integration Division

3. Who We AreUS/DoC/NIST/MEL/MSID • United States Government • Department of Commerce • National Institute of Standards and Technology • Manufacturing Engineering Laboratory • Manufacturing Systems Integration Division (MSID) = A government resource that provides technical solutions to advance system integration capabilities. Manufacturing Systems Integration Division

4. NIST Interoperability Testbed Legacy Migration Through Semantic Mapping Automotive Inventory Visibility CAD/CAM Integration Simulation System Integration Manufacturing MetrologyInteroperability (Inspection) Process Plant Construction Information Integration ManufacturingB2B Integration Integrated CircuitManufacturing Component Validation “Generic” Testing Infrastructure and Tool Development(e.g., XML, ebXML, schema quality, test case generation) Semantic Web R&D Manufacturing Systems Integration Division

5. Background • NIST B2B Interoperability Testbed • XML-based interoperability project with the automotive and aerospace industries • NIST AEX Testbed • XML-based interoperability project with the building construction industry • Product Data Exchange and Validation Testing activities • Data exchange-based integration project, not XML-based • Common characteristics • Specifications are segmented • Data exchange specifications evolve as integration projects proceed • Also true for standards development efforts Manufacturing Systems Integration Division

6. Content Standards are Bridges Manufacturing Systems Integration Division

7. We Need a Process for Building Interoperability Bridges Manufacturing Systems Integration Division

8. Model Development Life Cycle A guideline for building industrial strength data exchange bridges, that provides • Detailed analysis of the development process for content standards • Architecture for implementing that process • Outline of requirements for tools • Roadmap to the standards landscape Manufacturing Systems Integration Division

9. Some Specific Problems in Model Development • Unbounded specification growth • Semantically duplicate terms, components, and documents are created • Poor documentation reduces reuse • Classic interoperability problems are revisited • Large-scale harmonization (using a common/canonical model) is hard to achieve Manufacturing Systems Integration Division

10. Model Development Life Cycle

11. Existing Schemas & Classification Scheme Link Annotations Registry & Repository Implementation External Classification Documentation Ontologiess Scheme Requirement Gaps Registry Entry Model Data Model Discovery Schema Existing Exchange Registration Semantics Data Requirements Design A1 A4 Rules New Specification Specifications Classification Semantic Aware Assistant Lookup Assistant Existing Schemas Change Requests Model Validation Business Forms Table A2 Of Test Suites Terms Rule Spread Specification Tools Based Specification sheet Engines Reference Data Implementation Business Qualified Context Rules Schemas Guidelines Discovered Schema External Model Piloting Ontologies Implementation A3 Data Model Integration XSLT Annotation Schematron Engine Tools Change A5 Requests Semantic Semantic Annotation Similarity Alignment Tools Measure Algorithm Decomposition of the Model Development Life Cycle

12. Model Discovery

13. Model Validation

14. Model Piloting

15. Model Registration

16. Model Integration

17. Overview of NIST Prototype Tools Manufacturing Systems Integration Division

18. XML Schema Validation Tool • Objective: Ensure that schemas are compatible with a selected set of parsers • Core Functionality: Validate one or more schemas or schema extensions with multiple selected parsers and schema files stored in a repository • Status: Prototype Manufacturing Systems Integration Division

19. Quality of Design Tool • Objective: Ensure that XML schemas conform to a selected set of design practices, e.g., use of common and valid terms, NDR conformance, use of the XML Schema structures that enhance reusability, maintainability, clarity, and interoperability • Core Functionality: A flexible environment for specifying and executing best practice rules against the schemas • Status: Beta – Available upon request. Contact Serm, serm@nist.gov Manufacturing Systems Integration Division

20. XML Schema Naming Assister • Objective: Ensure that type, element, and attribute names used in schemas are consistent within the schema and conform to ISO 11179 Naming Convention • Core Functionality: Decompose names into Object Class, Property, and Representation Term tokens, validate them using a table of terms, and suggest alternate names • Status: Prototype. Available at http://www.nist.gov/msid/Naming_Assister.html Manufacturing Systems Integration Division

21. XML Instance Validation Tool • Objective: Ensure that schemas are compatible with a selected set of parsers, a set of sample data, a previous set of sample data (when the schemas have gone through changes) • Core Functionality: Automatically validate one or more instance files against associated schemas with multiple selected parsers (in batch mode) • Status: Prototype is available at http://www.nist.gov/msid/b2btestbed/semantic_checking.html Manufacturing Systems Integration Division

22. Schematron Editor Tool • Objective: Assist a user in creating Schematron Rules • Core Functionality: Create Schematron with little or no knowledge of XPATH/XSLT syntax through expression wizards that allow drag-n-drop elements from an imported XML schema business document • Status: Prototype – available on Sourceforge site http://www.sf.net/projects/cs-wizard Manufacturing Systems Integration Division

23. Semantic Aware Lookup Assistant • Objective: Assist the user when searching for a reusable business document or components that support data exchange requirements • Core Functionality: Match data exchange requirements from the user with existing schemas and provide quantitatively measured results • Status: Research has started Manufacturing Systems Integration Division

24. Classification Assistant • Objective: Provide a quantitative measure suggesting a suitable classification to register a component within a classification scheme • Core Functionality: Given a data exchange specification (and documentation), proposed a ranked set of appropriate classification nodes • Status: Research has not started Manufacturing Systems Integration Division

25. Semantic Alignment Tool • Objective: Provide quantitative analysis and suggestions for model harmonization • Core Functionality: Analyze a newly registered data exchange specification against existing ones for semantically duplicative and overlapping structures and suggest alternatives • Status: Research has not started Manufacturing Systems Integration Division

26. Examples • Support model validation • XML Schema Validation tool • Schema Quality of Design tool Manufacturing Systems Integration Division

27. Model Validation

28. What is Schema Qualification? Tests that a schema • Works with relevant tools • Consistently represents similar concepts • Uses constructs that enhance reusability, maintainability, clarity, and interoperability • Uses preexisting schemas correctly • Use terms/names correctly and consistently Manufacturing Systems Integration Division

29. Example 1 Prototype Validation Service • Uploads an XML schema to test against the W3C standard for XML Schemas • Validates using multiple XML tools • Provides access to a repository of schemas which may be extended (e.g., Universal Business Language schemas) DEMO Manufacturing Systems Integration Division

30. Schema Quality of Design Testing Tool • Contains computer interpretable rules based on naming and design guidelines from a number of sources • Upload rules written in Schematron and JESS into rule-base • Execute rules against schema and report results Example 2 Manufacturing Systems Integration Division

31. Manufacturing Systems Integration Division

32. Application to Developing XML Schemas QOD applied to grants.gov schemas resulted in several warnings including • Gobal elements declared in non-desirable places • Anonymous/local types defined in non-desirable places • The “Global” schema doesn’t declare a default namespace • Document/Transaction level schemas define multiple global elements • Non-determinism found • Redeclaration of elements and types (e.g. programType) in different namespaces Manufacturing Systems Integration Division

33. Summary • MDLC is a recipe for building robust data exchange specifications • It drives development of tools and capabilities • Examples include Validation Service and Quality of Design tools • Maximizes reuse of tools to serve a diverse collection of customers Manufacturing Systems Integration Division

34. Contacts • KC Morris – kcm@nist.gov • Serm Kulvatunyou – serm@nist.gov • Josh Lubell – lubell@nist.gov • Puja Goyal – pgoyal@cme.nist.gov References • Morris, KC , Kulvatunyou, Boonserm, Frechette, Simon , Lubell, Joshua , Goyal, P. , XML Schema Validation Process for CORE.GOV, NISTIR 7187, (2004) Manufacturing Systems Integration Division

35. Summary of NIST Toolset

36. Schema Quality of Design Testing Tool Manufacturing Systems Integration Division