Semantic Web Services: Applications and Examples in Real-world Scenarios

1. Semantic Web Services SS 2018 Applications Anna Fensel 11.06.2018

2. Where are we?

3. Motivation (Note: also covered individually for each use case in the technical solution part) Technical solution DIP DIP Introduction and overview DIP Technical solution DIP demonstrators SUPER SUPER Introduction and overview SUPER Technical solution SUPER methodology and demonstrators SUPER Demo/video Further specific use cases in projects Transport: eFreight Manufacturing: MSEE Health: OntoHealth Current business trends Microservices Blockchains Summary References Outline 3

4. MOTIVATION

5. Semantic Web Services (SWS) were shown to be useful in theory… …now we also want to see more projects, scenarios and examples of systems where this technology can be used. This lecture will enable you to: Identify and describe relevant scenarios for the SWS usage – from different sectors, learn how the solutions are typically modelled, See how specific SWS technologies can be used for specific use cases, Explore the potential of the SWSs in the context of new developments, such as microservices and blockchains, Identify the practical challenges and limitations of the SWS technology. Motivation and Learning Goals 5

6. DIP EU project on Data, Information, Process Interoperation with Semantic Web Services

7. DIP INTRODUCTION AND OVERVIEW

8. DIP – Introductory Demo/Video (http://www.sti-innsbruck.at/results/movies/dip-promotion-video ) ~ 9 min

9. Client Services DIP overview

10. DIP overview Client • Let’s consider a client that wants to go on holiday. • The client describes the holiday on her/his own terms • Blue sky, white sand beach, clear water • Available services: weather, hotel, travel services Services • DIP platform acts as a broker • To fulfil user request, DIP discovers, selects, composes and invoke services • DIP provides personalized applications on the fly, from available services Broker

11. DIP objectives • Combine Semantic Web technology with Web Services for Semantic Web Services • Apply Semantic Web Services as an infrastructure in real world scenarios within an organization and between organizations and its customers/partners. • Make Semantic Web Services technology a reality.

12. DIP TECHNICAL SOLUTION

13. DIP – Overall Framework WSMO – Web Service Modelling Ontology WSML – Web Service Modelling Language WSMX – Web Service Execution Environment

14. Web Service Modeling Ontology (WSMO) Objectives that a client wants to achieve by using Web Services Provide the formally specified terminology of the information used by all other components Semantic description of Web Services: • Capability (functional) • Interfaces (usage) Connectors between components with mediation facilities for handling heterogeneities 14

15. Web Service Modeling Language (WSML) • WSML Variants - allow users to make the trade-off between the provided expressivity and the implied complexity on a per-application basis ∩ ∩

16. Web Service Execution Environment (WSMX) • … is comprehensive software framework for runtime binding of service requesters and service providers, • … interprets service requester’s goal to • discover matching services, • select (if desired) the service that best fits, • provide data/process mediation (if required), and • make the service invocation, • … is reference implementation for WSMO, • … has a formal execution semantics, and • … is service oriented, event-based and has pluggable architecture • Open source implementation available through Source Forge, • based on microkernel design using technologies such as JMX.

17. DIP Architecture

18. DIP Architecture – Components (1) • Core component • Managing exchange of messages between components • Communication manager • Handles all external communications • Parser • Parse WSML content of incoming messages into WSMO4j • Discovery • Find Web services matching supplied Goals • QoS Discovery • Find and order service on the basis of QoS parameters • Process Mediator • Handle mismatches client and service choreographies

19. DIP Architecture – Components (2) • Data Mediator • Handle mismatches between ontologies • Choreography Engine • Execute behaviour described by a choreography • Orchestration Engine • Execute the composition defined by an orchestration • Resource Manager • Persist WSMO and operational data • WSML Reasoner • At the heart of the architecture

20. DIP Architecture - behavioural view

21. DIP DEMONSTRATORS

22. Emergency Weather Planning • Winter 2003 - weather chaos in southern England due to 1cm of snow. • People spent more than 20 hours blocked on motorways

23. Emergency Weather Planning • In an emergency situation, relevant information is needed to assist planning and decision making. • Such information elements range from demographic data, weather forecasts and sensor data, available transportation means to the presence of helpful agents (people), etc. • Different agencies own different relevant data and emergency related knowledge, which needs to be shared with the other partners during an emergency.

24. eMerges • eMerges is a decision support system that assists the Emergency Office in the tasks of retrieving, processing, displaying, and interacting with relevant information, more quickly and accurately • Using eMerges governmental agencies are able to extend their knowledge about the emergency situation they are dealing with by making use of different functionalities based on data held by other agencies which otherwise might not be accessible to them or slow to obtain.

25. eMerges Ontologies

26. eMerges Ontologies • Archetypes ontology provides very high level abstractions (e.g. container, house, agent, etc.) to which entities from the real world have to be mapped • HCI ontology maps an object to its particular representation. For example some interfaces need “pretty names” selecting a feature to privileged display (e.g. on hovering on the object);

27. Presentation Web Application Web Application Web Application Semantic Web Services (WSMX/IRS-III) SWS SWS SWS SWS SWS SWS SWS SWS SWS WS WS WS WS Services Abstraction IT systems DB IT systems DB Organisation 1 Organisation 2 LegacySystems Generic Application Structure

28. Generic Application Structure (1) • Legacy System layer: consists of existing data sources and IT systems provided by each of the involved governmental parties • Service Abstraction layer: exposes the functionalities of the legacy systems as Web services, abstracting from the hardware and software platforms of the legacy systems. Whenever a new service is available at this layer, it will be semantically described and properly linked to existing semantic descriptions.

29. Generic Application Structure (2) • Semantic Web Service layer: given a goal request this layer, will • discover a candidate set of Web services, • select the most appropriate, • mediate any mismatches at the data, ontological or business process level, and • invoke the selected Web services whilst adhering to any data, control flow and Web service invocation requirements • Presentation layer: is a Web application accessible through a standard Web browser.

30. eMerges User Interface

31. eMerges Prototype Architecture Environment Services ViewEssex Services MET-Office-Goals MET-Office-Domain Affordances = Goals Archetypes Emergency-GIS-Goals SGIS-Spatial Emergency-GIS-Domain Accommodation Goal Environment Goal Smart Filter Services Presence Goal Google Maps API AJAX Google Web Toolkit BuddySpace Services BuddySpace Server BuddySpace Goals

32. DIP – eMerges Demo/Video (http://www.sti-innsbruck.at/results/movies/dip-eMerges/) ~ 10 min

33. SUPER EU project on Business Process Management that applied WSMO

34. SUPER INTRODUCTION AND OVERVIEW

35. SUPER – Introductory Demo/Video (http://www.sti-innsbruck.at/results/movies/super-overview-movie/) ~ 3 min

36. SUPER • SUPER = Semantics Utilized for Process management within and between Enterprises (SUPER) • The major objective of SUPER was to raise Business Process Management (BPM) to the business level, where it belongs, from the IT level where it mostly resides now. • This objective requires that BPM is accessible at the level of semantics of business experts

37. Business Process and Business Process Management • “A business process or business method is a collection of related, structure activities or tasks that produce a specific service or product for a particular customer or customers.” • “Business process management (BPM) is a management approach focused on aligning all aspects of an organization with the wants and needs of clients. It is a holistic approach that promotes business effectiveness and efficiency while striving for innovation, flexibility, and integration with technology” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Business_process http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Business_process_management

38. Business process in a company How do I communicate my business process in a common fashion? How do I get the big picture of my activities? • Business Processes • ... drive all company‘s activities • ... represent the core assets of a company • ... give decision makers control over the company’s activities • ... deliver services faster and more efficiently to the customer • ... allow a company to react to changing market conditions How do I keep track of all evolutions in my business? How do I make sure my businesses get more efficient and more profitables?

39. The critical Business / IT Divide Bridging Business-IT gap • reduce implementation costs • implementing the real requirements • faster implementation • less support requests • align implementation Querying the Process Space • reduce costs • increase product quality • improve throughput times • less training • less support required • increase forecast accuracy

40. SUPER approach to address the critical Business / IT Divide

41. SUPER – How Semantics Help • Semantic technology improves the utility of BPM by creating a semantic „glue“ between different layers, artefacts and models • Links between business artefacts help to keep the „big picture“ and to improve the overall understanding of complex relationships and interdependencies • By unifying the vocabulary and explicating differences in a structured way, semantics support the understanding of business people and technicians

42. SUPER – Scientific objectives • Construction and assessment of technological framework for Semantic Business Process Management (SBPM) • Acquiring new generic languages suited for representation of processes, different  process models and goal description having in mind all aspects of system behaviour (e.g. costs, dependencies, constraints, other data flows, time limitations) • Creation of automated annotation techniques of already existing BPs, their fragments,  IT components, etc • Development of process query tools • Adjustment existing reasoners to the specific needs of SUPER • Elaboration of industrial-strength mediation procedures for automated coupling between business and IT perspectives • Augmentation of SWS foundations on the basis of new experiences obtained from their deployment to large-scale test environments

43. SUPER – Technical objectives • Building horizontal ontologies in aim to annotate both complete BPs and their fragments • Assembling vertical ontologies for the chosen implementation domain • Complete inventory of tools supporting every stage of SBPM

44. SUPER TECHNICAL SOLUTION

45. SUPER Ontology Stack

46. SUPER Ontology Stack

47. WSMO (http://www.wsmo.org) Web Service Modeling Ontology Objectives that a client may have when consulting a Web Service Provide the formally specified terminology of the information used by all other components Semantic description of Web Services: • Capability (functional) • Non-functional properties • Interfaces (usage) Connectors between components with mediation facilities for handling heterogeneities

48. SUPER Ontology Stack

49. Business Domain Ontologies • Business Functions Ontology – describes functions carried out within the company (e.g. marketing, finance, HR • Business Process Resources Ontology – describes tangible and abstract resources required • Business Roles Ontology – roles in the organization (e.g. Designer, Process Modeler, IT Expert, CEO) • Business Modeling Guidelines Ontology – generic business policies and rules for domains like law, finance, etc.

50. SUPER Ontology Stack