Reference Model For Open Distributed Processing Research Articles

The Representational Challenge for Designing and Managing 5P Medicine Ecosystems.

Health and social care systems around the globe currently undergo a transformation towards personalized, preventive, predictive, participative precision medicine (5PM), considering the individual health status, conditions, genetic and genomic dispositions, etc., in personal, social, occupational, environmental and behavioral context. This transformation is strongly supported by technologies such as micro- and nanotechnologies, advanced computing, artificial intelligence, edge computing, etc. For enabling communication and cooperation between actors from different domains using different methodologies, languages and ontologies based on different education, experiences, etc., we have to understand the transformed health ecosystems and all its components in structure, function and relationships in the necessary detail ranging from elementary particles up to the universe. That way, we advance design and management of the complex and highly dynamic ecosystem from data to knowledge level. The challenge is the consistent, correct and formalized representation of the transformed health ecosystem from the perspectives of all domains involved, representing and managing them based on related ontologies. The resulting business view of the real-world ecosystem must be interrelated using the ISO/IEC 21838 Top Level Ontologies standard. Thereafter, the outcome can be transformed into implementable solutions using the ISO/IEC 10746 Open Distributed Processing Reference Model. Model and framework for this system-oriented, architecture-centric, ontology-based, policy-driven approach have been developed by the first author and meanwhile standardized as ISO 23903 Interoperability and Integration Reference Architecture.

A review of the ICA model of stakeholders in a spatial data infrastructure (SDI)

Abstract. The Commission on SDI & Standards (and its predecessors) of the International Cartographic Association (ICA) has developed formal models of a spatial data infrastructure (SDI), using the viewpoints of the Reference Model for Open Distributed Processing (RM-ODP) and the Unified Modeling Language (UML). The Commission described an SDI from the Enterprise Viewpoint (purpose, scope and policies for an SDI), Information Viewpoint (semantics of information and information processing in an SDI) and Computational Viewpoint (functional decomposition of the SDI into a set of services that interact through interfaces). The Enterprise Viewpoint model included six types of stakeholders in an SDI: Policy Maker, Producer, Provider, Broker, Value-added Reseller and End User. Subsequently, the Commission identified 39 sub-types of these stakeholders, though a better description of them might be as specializations, special cases, attributes, activities or roles.We have identified and reviewed all the literature that has referenced the Commission’s papers on the SDI models. Most use the Commission’s papers for the definitions of an SDI and of the parts, processes and stakeholders in an SDI. In this paper, we discuss all those that have applied the ICA SDI stakeholder model, proposed improvements to the model and/or highlighted parts of the model that are not well understood. We also discuss some issues we identified when reviewing the models. Subsequently, we plan on proposing some revisions and expansions on this ICA model of the stakeholders in a spatial data infrastructure.

Characterisation of stakeholders' roles in a thematic SDI: a study on the environmental SDI of NGI - ICMBio Antonina -GUARAQUEÇABA - PR

In 2008 the International Cartographic Association (ICA) proposed a reference model to describe Spatial Data Infrastructures (SDI) based on the Reference Model of Open Distributed Processing (RM-ODP), which has been adapted and validated by several research projects. This paper details the experience of applying the extended ICA Model to an Academic SDI of environmental character and collaborative functions, such as the description of stakeholders' roles, functions, and responsibilities, called IDE-AMB (acronym in Portuguese). The intent is to transform the IDE-AMB into a database composed of information from several institutions and academic research. The stakeholders were described based on previously established literature and their needs for access, use, production, and sharing of geospatial data from different sources for the Integrated Management Center (NGI, acronym in Portuguese) ICMBio Antonina-Guaraqueçaba, located on the northern coast of the state of Paraná. We concluded that the ICA Model presents robustness; however, it still lacks conceptual reviews and needs to be adapted to the new realities and complexities of emerging SDI.

Expanding the ICA model of stakeholders in a spatial data infrastructure (SDI)

Expanding the ICA model of stakeholders in a spatial data infrastructure (SDI)

Design of a Corporate SDI in Power Sector Using a Formal Model

Geospatial data are essential for the decision-making process. However, obtaining and keeping such data up to date usually require much time and many financial resources. In order to minimize the production costs and incentivize sharing these data, countries are promoting the implementation of Spatial Data Infrastructures (SDI) at the different public administration levels. The International Cartographic Association (ICA) proposes a formal model that describes the main concepts of an SDI based on three of the five viewpoints of the Reference Model for Open Distributed Processing (RM-ODP). Afterwards, researchers extended ICA’s model to describe, more properly, the actors, hierarchical relationship and interactions related to the policies that drive an SDI. However, the proposed extensions are semantically inconsistent with the original proposal. Moreover, the use of ICA’s formal model and its extensions has not been assessed yet to specify a corporate-level SDI. This study describes the merger of actors and policies proposed by the ICA and its extensions in order to eliminate differences in the semantics or terminology among them. This unified model was applied to specify a corporate SDI for a large Brazilian corporation, the Minas Gerais Power Company (Companhia Energética de Minas Gerais (Cemig)), which is comprised of about 200 companies in the power sector. The case study presents part of the specification of the five RM-ODP viewpoints, i.e., the three viewpoints featured in ICA’s formal model (Enterprise, Information, and Computation) and the other two viewpoints that make up the RM-ODP (Engineering and Technology). The adapted ICA’s model proved adequate to describe SDI-Cemig. In addition, the case study may serve as an example of the specification and implementation of new SDIs, not only corporate ones, but also of public agencies at any hierarchical level.

An Enterprise Operating System for the Sensing, Smart, and Sustainable Enterprise

To be competitive in the digital era, enterprises need to become sensing to be aware of their context, smart in taking decisions, and sustainable regarding social, environmental, and economic issues. Reference models can guide the enterprise engineering process in such direction. However, the implementation of the enterprise models, generated with reference models, depends on the integration of enterprise resources, which is not always possible due to the diversity of tools and applications needed within each business process. This paper proposes an Enterprise Operating System (EOS) to effectively handle the execution of enterprise models by integrating a diversity of functionalities. The goal of an EOS is to manage the resources (i.e. humans, applications, and machines) of an enterprise to fulfil its operations. The Sensing, Smart, and Sustainable Enterprise Reference Model (S3E-RM) is proposed to guide the implementation of the EOS. This reference model uses the viewpoints defined in the Reference Model of Open Distributed Processing (RM-ODP), i.e. enterprise, information, computation, engineering, and technology viewpoints. The EOS presented has been successfully applied in more than 27 industry sectors, including government.

Challenges and current developments for Sensing, Smart and Sustainable Enterprise Systems

As technology advances and thus Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) evolve, a new enterprise model must be devised to face future digital enterprise needs. This paper discusses issues and emerging trends that must be addressed if a true sensing and smart enterprise is to be achieved to meet sustainability requirements. Methods are required to capture enterprise reality and to provide a seamless interoperable digital enterprise model. The paper summarises several challenges to be addressed by future research in enterprise modelling. Challenges are discussed from the Enterprise, Information, Computational, Engineering and Technological points of view, according to the ODP-RM (Open Distributed Processing—Reference Model). To some extent, progress on some challenges has already been made and solutions are expected to materialise in the near future. Other challenges have only recently been identified and potential solutions cannot yet be predicted. The paper offers a discussion of these challenges for the future enterprise along with the required enterprise model; it also introduces the concept of the Sensing, Smart and Sustainable (S^3) Enterprise System. The position paper expresses opinions derived from the existing general research priorities and directions identified by the International Federation for Automatic Control–Technical Committee on Enterprise Integration and Networking (IFAC–TC 5.3).

Clinical modeling—A critical analysis

BackgroundModeling clinical processes (and their informational representation) is a prerequisite for optimally enabling and supporting high quality and safe care through information and communication technology and meaningful use of gathered information. ObjectivesThe paper investigates existing approaches to clinical modeling, thereby systematically analyzing the underlying principles, the consistency with and the integration opportunity to other existing or emerging projects, as well as the correctness of representing the reality of health and health services. MethodsThe analysis is performed using an architectural framework for modeling real-world systems. In addition, fundamental work on the representation of facts, relations, and processes in the clinical domain by ontologies is applied, thereby including the integration of advanced methodologies such as translational and system medicine. ResultsThe paper demonstrates fundamental weaknesses and different maturity as well as evolutionary potential in the approaches considered. It offers a development process starting with the business domain and its ontologies, continuing with the Reference Model-Open Distributed Processing (RM-ODP) related conceptual models in the ICT ontology space, the information and the computational view, and concluding with the implementation details represented as engineering and technology view, respectively. ConclusionThe existing approaches reflect at different levels the clinical domain, put the main focus on different phases of the development process instead of first establishing the real business process representation and therefore enable quite differently and partially limitedly the domain experts’ involvement.

A spatial data infrastructure model from the computational viewpoint

The Commission on Geoinformation Infrastructures and Standards of the International Cartographic Association (ICA) is working on defining models of spatial data infrastructures (SDIs). SDI models from the enterprise and information viewpoints of the Reference Model for Open Distributed Processing (RM-ODP) have already been presented. Our model from the computational viewpoint identifies the main computational objects of an SDI and their interfaces, which are modelled using Unified Modelling Language (UML) component diagrams. Presented here is the first comprehensive SDI model from the computational viewpoint, which enhances the understanding of the computational objects and their interactions in an SDI. This viewpoint complements the previous two and together, the three viewpoints contribute towards a more holistic interpretation of an SDI, which is independent of specific SDI legislation, technology and implementations. For the computational viewpoint, we identified six computational objects, SDI Registry, SDI Data, SDI Processing, SDI Application, SDI Portrayal and SDI Management, and their provided and required interfaces. We describe the interactions of the computational objects in stakeholder activities and the roles they play in the different processes of SDI development and use, which we identified as Initiation, Creation, Management, Manipulation, Access, Processing, Evaluation and Liaison. Two tables summarise the SDI services that are provided by computational objects for stakeholder activities and SDI processes.

Models Supporting Development of Complex Information Systems in Healthcare. Case study: an Obstetrics-Gynecology Department

Objectives: The paper presents a framework and tools for developing models useful for implementing complex Information Systems. It presents a case study for an Obstetrics- Gynecology Department and connected departments. The advantages of using models for creating complex OGD Information Systems together with a standardized communication will lead to an advanced interoperability and also will have benefits in patient care and in time will reduce the medical errors. Methods: This paper presents the modeling process using the Generic Component Model (GCM) in four steps. The real OGD system is described based on the five RMODP (Reference Model of Open Distributed Processing) views. The paper presents the Obstetrics-Gynecology Department model based on the real workflow using Business Process Modeling and Notation and a specialized software - Bizagy. Communication between OGD and other medical units is based on HL7 Clinical Document Architecture CDA. The Obstetrics-Gynecology Department Information System (OGD IS) is developed based on the model, in Visual Studio.NET 2010, using ASP.NET pages and C] language, and Microsoft SQL Server 2008. Results: The paper presents a model represented with Business Process Modeling and Notation and its possibilities to offer support for software developers to create flexible and portable information systems. Based on the workflow in the OGD, including the communication between OGD and other medical units, was developed a model and consequently the OGD IS. Conclusions: For the future, the OGD IS will be extended with new functionalities: possibilities to introduce medication related to a Database in the cloud to receive suggested treatments. The advantages of using the OGD IS are reflected in a better patient care, and the treatments will be more documented which will determine less medical errors.

A Tool for the Model-Based Specification of Open Distributed Systems

As the complexity of open distributed systems grows, the need to rely on concepts and notations for expressing and structuring their specifications becomes essential. However, having concepts and notations is not enough. The large size and complexity of the set of models that constitute the system specifications also forces the need to have tools for properly creating, handling, validating and maintaining these large models. This paper presents xODP, a tool for the model-based specification of open distributed systems according to the Reference Model of Open Distributed Processing (RM-ODP) standards. Using the UML4ODP notation, it provides edition and validation facilities for ODP viewpoint models and for the correspondences between them, as well as early prototyping and execution of the ODP computational models.

Hierarchy-oriented modeling of enterprise architecture using reference-model of open distributed processing

Modeling Enterprise Architecture (EA) requires the representation of multiple views for an enterprise. This could be done by a team of stakeholders that essentially have different backgrounds. One way to do this is to structure the model into hierarchical levels each of which can be of interest to just some, not all, stakeholders. Due to the multidisciplinary nature of EA, stakeholders simply cannot choose a single modeling approach, even a widely-recognized one, to build their enterprise model and make it viewable and understandable to the whole team. Developing a modeling framework that can be applied uniformly throughout the entire enterprise model and that can be used by all stakeholders is thus challenging. We based our work on the RM-ODP (Reference Model of Open Distributed Processing) – a standardization effort that defines essential concepts for modeling distributed systems, as well as ODP-related international standards/recommendations, to develop such a modeling framework that we call SeamCAD. This framework consists of a computer-aided tool and a language behind the tool for modeling EA in a hierarchical manner. SeamCAD makes RM-ODP applicable in the context of multi-level EA and consolidates the SEAM – a family of methods for seamless integration between disciplines.

ODP RM reflections on open service ecosystems

This paper reflects on the use of the ODP reference model in the development of Pilarcos open service ecosystem architecture. The Pilarcos open service ecosystem architecture provides an environment where inter-enterprise collaborations can be collectively managed, utilizing correctness and acceptability criteria set in ecosystem-wide dynamic processes. The correctness requirements are defined in terms of business network models, policies and service definitions that are dynamically utilized as complex conformance reference points. Failures to conform to these reference points trigger pre-committed recovery behavior. The ODP reference model provides sufficient and efficient facilities for the design of this kind of complex, adaptive system.

Achieving interoperability in synchronous digital hierarchy network management through RM-ODP

Ever since the introduction of computerized digital switching systems and related management systems, network operators have been struggling with the question of how to circumvent the issues of customized and proprietary network management solutions. This topic became of paramount importance to network equipment manufacturers and telecommunications service providers with the advent of the SDH and TMN standards in the late 1980s and early 1990s. It is in the context of this problem that the authors and their colleagues, as telecom standards experts, discovered the Reference Model for Open Distributed Processing (RM-ODP). This paper describes the approach taken by the authors and their colleagues to use RM-ODP to these issues in the ITU-T study groups, how those efforts were applied and the relevance of RM-ODP to current computing systems based on the concepts of Cloud Computing. This paper thus describes “real-world” business needs that have been addressed by and illustrate the benefits of RM-ODP.

TORC: test plan optimization by requirements clustering

Acceptance testing is a time-consuming task for complex software systems that have to fulfill a large number of requirements. To reduce this effort, we have developed a widely automated method for deriving test plans from requirements that are expressed in natural language. It consists of three stages: annotation, clustering, and test plan specification. The general idea is to exploit redundancies and implicit relationships in requirements specifications. Multi-viewpoint techniques based on RM-ODP (Reference Model for Open Distributed Processing) are employed for specifying the requirements. We then use linguistic analysis techniques, requirements clustering algorithms, and pattern-based requirements collection to reduce the total effort of testing against the requirements specification. In particular, we use linguistic analysis for extracting and annotating the actor, process and object of a requirements statement. During clustering, a similarity function is computed as a measure for the overlap of requirements. In the test plan specification stage, our approach provides capabilities for semi-automatically deriving test plans and acceptance criteria from the clustered informal textual requirements. Two patterns are applied to compute a suitable order of test activities. The generated test plans consist of a sequence of test steps and asserts that are executed or checked in the given order. We also present the supporting prototype tool TORC, which is available open source. For the evaluation of the approach, we have conducted a case study in the field of acceptance testing of a national electronic identification system. In summary, we report on lessons learned how linguistic analysis and clustering techniques can help testers in understanding the relations between requirements and for improving test planning.

5.3.2 A Generic Method for Defining Viewpoints in SysML

AbstractIt is important for system engineers to present the information on the systems that they are developing in a precise way so that the information can be understood by as many people as possible. The OMG Systems Modeling Language (SysML) (OMG 2008) was developed to meet that kind of needs of system engineers. It is a common practice to present descriptions of large systems using multiple views, each of which addresses one or more of the concerns of the system stakeholders. SysML has the concepts of view and viewpoint and it requires that a view conform to a viewpoint, which specifies conventions and rules for constructing and using the view, but it does not specify any method for specifying viewpoints.One of the examples of specifying viewpoints in a particular problem domain is an ISO/IEC standard called the Reference Model of Open Distributed Processing (RM‐ODP). This standard specifies five viewpoints to describe distributed processing systems, but it does not provide generic rules on how to construct viewpoints.This paper proposes a generic method for defining viewpoints in SysML by generalizing the concepts used in defining viewpoints in RM‐ODP. By using this method, viewpoints to be used in different problem domains can be defined in a systematic way, and reuse and/or sharing of viewpoints across different problem domains can also be facilitated.

Writing and executing ODP computational viewpoint specifications using Maude

The Reference Model of Open Distributed Processing (RM-ODP) is a joint standardization effort by ITU-T and ISO/IEC for the specification of large open distributed systems. RM-ODP is becoming increasingly relevant now because the size and complexity of large distributed systems is challenging current software engineering methods and tools, and because international standards have become key to achieve the required interoperability between the different parties and organizations involved in the design and development of complex systems. RM-ODP defines five viewpoints for decomposing the design activity into separate areas of concern. One of the RM-ODP viewpoints, the computational viewpoint, focuses on the basic functionality of the system and its environment, independently of its distribution. Although several notations have been proposed to model the ODP computational viewpoint, either they are not expressive enough to faithfully represent all its concepts, or they tend to suffer from a lack of formal support. In this paper we introduce the use of Maude as a formal notation for writing and executing ODP computational viewpoint specifications. Maude is an executable rewriting logic language specially well suited for the specification of object-oriented open and distributed systems. We show how Maude offers a simple, natural, and accurate way of modeling the ODP computational viewpoint concepts, allows the execution of the specifications produced, and offers good tool support for reasoning about them.

Design of a future laboratory information system (LIS) in a clinical laboratory

Summary: This study presents an overview of the architectural infrastructure in which existing laboratory information systems can be made to interoperate with additional modules, offering a range of advanced clinical laboratory functionalities in the Department of Clinical Laboratory (DCL), Hospital »Aleksandrovska«. The infrastructure is based on an open distributed computing platform, and its specification is described using the open distributed processing reference model. The design and specification of a framework for the interoperability of existing systems and new advanced services are described, and consequently, the paper concentrates on the issue of integration. Laboratory Automation is essential to releasing laboratory technicians from simple routine work, allowing them to use their time for more skilled tasks. Further improvement, however, should be possible through a more consistent user interface, better integration into the laboratory workflow, and interfaces that allow the LIS to query instruments regarding their internal operating status.

Figures de transformation pour des architectures logicielles

Reasoning about software architecture helps to improve design of applications. According to most of the software architects, architecture design has to be separated in different viewpoints. Nonetheless the transition between two viewpoints is not easy. In the DASIBAO methodology based on RM-ODP (Reference Model for Open Distributed Processing), there is a gap in the process to turn a functional architecture into a technical one. This paper presents a new concept, called architectural figure, which describes how to add technical concerns in a functional architecture and the mechanism to perform this transformation.

An application of the Reference Model for Open Distributed Processing to electronic brokerage

This paper presents the design of an Architecture for Electronic Brokerage Systems (AEBS). This architecture is based on the Reference Model for Open Distributed Processing (RM-ODP) model. It specifies a brokerage system from five RM-ODP viewpoints. AEBS include a generic model of electronic brokerage. It defines protocols and interfaces between actors. It enables communication between actors via an advanced object-oriented interface (defined in terms of the Common Object Request Broker Architecture (CORBA) technology) as well as using traditional trading protocols. These interfaces allow a broker to operate in both the rapidly developing object-oriented CORBA environment and the electronic markets based on customary protocols. CORBA was also used for the design of the internal object model and internal interfaces of a brokerage system. This paper focuses primarily on the specification of the AEBS architecture from the enterprise and computational viewpoints of the RM-ODP model.