The FITMAN ” Data Interoperability Platform Services” Specific Enabler (FITMAN-DIPS) is a web-based platform for the management of Data Interoperability services in the sope of the exploitation of the interoperability service. Targeted at the Virtual Factory domain, and based on open standards like WSMO and WSMX, it is delivered as a web platform in order to maximize its collaborative nature.
The interoperability is a key factor for the success in collaboration. Typically, interoperability problems are related to the exchange of information among different companies in a supply chain or in other forms of aggregaration like Business Ecosystems. Applicability can be find as well in information exchange between different parts of the same company or, even, in communication between individuals. At the time companies solves interoperability probles they create a value item that is subsiquently used into collaborative business processes in order to execute data interoperability. A typical example of that is the creation of a transformation for a specific business document (eg: an invoice) from one standard (eg: UBL) to/from a private fromat. The generated transformation has a value baceuse it soves a problem. The item is usually exploited only in the network that created the transformation and can be not known to other companies having the same problem. Sometimes it happens as well in the same big companies. The goal of the Specific Enabler “Data Interoperability Platform Services” is to provide a semantic-based platform where to register and manage Enterprise Interoperability Transformations.
The FITMAN ” Data Interoperability Platform Services” Specific Enabler (FITMAN-DIPS) is a web-based platform for the management of Data Interoperability services. It based on a CORE providing basic services for the management of the interoperability services and a set of integrated Graphic User Interfaces (GUI) for a human access to all functionalities provided by the platform. The platform functionalities focus on both services providers and services consumers. The first category of users will interact with the platform in order to allow the semantic registration of data interoperability services making them discoverable from the second category. The services consumer are supported by the platform in the creation of the semantic goal, the browsing of results and the understanding of the service including: try-me, examples and other functionalities.
This will help Virtual Factories in improving interoperability among network partners reusing knowledge artifacts created in or outside the network minimising the technical effort.
Main features of FITMAN-DIPS are the following:
- Service registration
- Data interoperability service semantic registration
- Service de-registration
- Wizard based service description specification
- Wizard based creation of a service test
- CRUD of Enterprise Interoperability Ontology (EIO)
- Service search
- Template-based semantic goal creation
- Ranking of results
- Service test execution
- Access to service detailed information
- Subscription to goal for customised email notification about new services registered
- Service invocation
- Service invocation by virtual endpoint
- Monitoring of execution response-time
The FITMAN-DIPS Specific Enabler is an extension of the COIN Integrated Platform created in the context of the COIN project. In details the CORE part of DIPS is an extension of the COIN GSP while the GUI is an extension and adapatation of the CIN Front-end (both COIN GSP and COIN Front-end are part of the COIN Integrated Platform). Both GUI and CORE can be accesed by users of a distributed organization, such as Virtual Enterprises in the typical Virtual Factory scenario; CORE by SOAP services calls while GUI by human users by browser.
Architecture
The architecture of the solution is visible here below:
- Services semantic description are stored into the registry
- Additional desctiption are stored in the semantic mediawiki.
- The internal dabase is used in order to store user information useful to the functioning of the platform like user credentials.
- The CORE as descibed before provides all the functionalities of the platfrom that are exposed as SOAP services from the APIs layer.
- SOAP services can be invoked by a technical system for example to invoke a discovered service or by the human user accessing the GUI level.
- The GUI level helps the user to graphically use all the fucntionalities offered by the platform hiding the technical SOAP services level.
