Concepts for Automating Systems Integration
· emerging technologies for the capture and recognition of semantic descriptions of systems and data
· mechanisms for automated reasoning of several kinds
· mechanisms for integrating semantic information from multiple sources and recognizing commonalities
We undertook this study to determine whether the time is ripe for the application of advanced information
technologies to solving the real integration problems. We believe that there are opportunities in this area, but further
experiments involving the use of these technologies to solve some actual industrial integration problems are
necessary to complete that determination, identify the hard problems, and evaluate the proposed solutions.
technologies to solving the real integration problems. We believe that there are opportunities in this area, but further
experiments involving the use of these technologies to solve some actual industrial integration problems are
necessary to complete that determination, identify the hard problems, and evaluate the proposed solutions.
To root the integration problems in real-world concerns and issues, industry-relevant reference scenarios are needed
to validate approaches and candidate solutions. In this context, integration scenarios are descriptions of the pertinent
business processes and objectives, required information flows, and the application software systems and information
resources available for integration into the target system.
to validate approaches and candidate solutions. In this context, integration scenarios are descriptions of the pertinent
business processes and objectives, required information flows, and the application software systems and information
resources available for integration into the target system.
An experiment would then involve:
· Developing tools that use proposed methods and technologies to perform some part of the integration process,
· Developing tools that use proposed methods and technologies to perform some part of the integration process,
using specifications for the requirements and specifications for the available resources; for example, the tool
might create the links and wrappers needed to connect two or more available resources
might create the links and wrappers needed to connect two or more available resources
· Formalizing the actual requirements for the integrated system per some industry scenario
· Obtaining and completing the data models and interface models for the available resources, and possibly
converting those models to a form useable by the tools
· Capturing the relationships between the interface elements and the business processes being automated
· Running the integration tools and evaluating the results, including both the effectiveness of the tool in
supporting the integration process and the amount of human effort invested in converting the problem-specific
information to the forms needed by the integration tools.
information to the forms needed by the integration tools.
We expect further research to include such experiments.
Acknowledgements
The AMIS project team wishes to thank Sidney Bailin, Michael Gruninger and Vincent Barrilliot for the insight and
expertise they contributed to the content of this report.
expertise they contributed to the content of this report.
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