Committee Draft ISO/IEC 19763 part 1 – Reference model 2nd edition
ISO/IECJTC1/SC32 WG2 N1790
2013-05-28
ISO/IECWD19763-1:ED2
ISO/IECJTC1/SC32/WG2
Secretariat:
Information Technology –Metamodel framework for interoperability
(MFI)—Part 1: Reference model, Second Edition
Editor’s 3rdDraft
Copyright notice
This ISO document is a Draft International Standard and is copyright-protected by ISO. Except as permitted under the applicable laws of the user's country, neither this ISO draft nor any extract from it may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written permission being secured.
Requests for permission to reproduce should be addressed to either ISO at the address below or ISO's member body in the country of the requester.
ISO copyright office
Case postale 56CH-1211 Geneva 20
Tel.+ 41 22 749 01 11
Fax+ 41 22 749 09 47
Web
Reproduction may be subject to royalty payments or a licensing agreement.
Violators may be prosecuted.
Foreword
Introduction
1Scope
2Normative References
3Terms, definitions and abbreviated terms
3.1Terms and definitions
3.1.1.concept
3.1.2.framework
3.1.3.information model
3.1.4.interoperability
3.1.5.metadata
3.1.6.metamodel
3.1.7.model
3.1.8.model element
3.1.9.model construct
3.1.10.model element
3.1.11.modelling facility
3.1.12.modelling language
3.1.13.ontology
3.1.14.Open data
3.1.15.registration
3.1.16.registry
3.1.17.repository
3.2Abbreviations
3.2.1EDI: Electronic Data Interchange
3.2.2ebXML: Electronic business XML
3.2.3LOD: Linked Open Data
3.2.4MDR: Meta Data Registry(ISO/IEC 11179)
3.2.5MFI: Metamodel Framework for Interoperability
3.2.6RGPS : Role, Goal, Process and Service
3.2.7ROR: Registry of Registries
3.2.8RS: Registry Summery
3.2.9SDO: Standard Development Organization
3.2.10UML: Unified Modelling Language
3.2.9 XML: eXtensible Markup Language
4Concept and Architecture of MFI
4.1Purpose of the MFI standards
4.2Strengthen interoperability and integration capability
4.2.1 System interoperability
4.2.2 Semantic interoperability
4.2.3Registry interoperability
4.2.1On demand model selection
5. Concept of model registration
6.MFI and MDR Architecture
6.1 Overall structure of MDR/MFI
6.2Modeling facility for MFI
6.3 Internal structure of MFI
6.4 common structure for MFI sub-parts
7Conformance
8Bibliography
ANNEX A:
A1. What is Metamodel
A1.1 Model
A1.2 Metamodel
A2. Typical MFI metamodel for registration
Foreword
ISO (the International Organization for Standardization) and IEC (the International Electrotechnical Commission) form the specialized system for worldwide standardization. National bodies that are members of ISO or IEC participate in the development of International Standards through technical committees established by the respective organization to deal with particular fields of technical activity.
ISO and IEC technical committees collaborate in fields of mutual interest. Other international organizations, governmental and non-governmental, in liaison with ISO and IEC, also take part in the work.
International Standards are drafted in accordance with the rules given in the ISO/IEC Directives, Part 3.
In the field of information technology, ISO and IEC have established a joint technical committee, ISO/IEC JTC 1. Draft International Standards adopted by the joint technical committee are circulated to national bodies for voting. Publication as an International Standard requires approval by at least 75 % of the national bodies casting a vote.
Attention is drawn to the possibility that some of the elements of this part of ISO/IEC 19763 may be the subject of patent rights. ISO and IEC shall not be held responsible for identifying any or all such patent rights.
International Standard ISO/IEC19763 was prepared by Joint Technical Committee ISO/IEC JTC 1, Information technology, Subcommittee SC 32, Data management services.
ISO/IEC 19763 consists of the following parts, under the general title Information technology --Metamodel Framework for interoperability:
_Part 1: Reference model, 2nd edition [this document]
_Part 3: Metamodel for ontology registration, 2nd edition
_Part 5: Metamodel for process model registration
_Part 6: Registry summery
_Part 7: Metamodel for service registration
_part 8: Metamodel role and goal registration
_part 9: On demand model selection (Technical Report)
_Part 10: Core model and basic mapping
_Part 11: Structured registering (Technical Report)
_Part-12: Metamodel for Information model Registration -
Introduction
Due to the proliferation of mobile devices, Social Network Systems and Cloud Computing over the Internet, the more effective sharing of information and exchange of business transactions across countries and cultures has become easier
In the private sectors,the exchanging business transaction through EDI (Electronic Data Interchange)was alreadyrecognized as a common way. At the same time, they have huge data in their database orthe Cloud. It could be their urgent concerns to make useof those data for inducingthe business intelligence.
In the governmental sectors,many countries, territories or regionsare working on the establishing of new scheme that enablethe interoperation and the collaboration among different departments or agencies, materializingsemantically interoperation of dataacrossborder or language difference.
To cope with those current trends, it is required for governmentsto improve their services for citizen andto make interoperation among different agencies more efficient through the internet.Especially, sharing of critical safety related information, such as earthquake, flood or some other disasters must be considered as the first.
It is assumed that the disclosing public sector information through the internet, so called “Open Data” could be an infrastructure to activate new innovation in the private sectors. One of issues for users is to access different governmental open data and mush up them to create a new information or knowledge.
Those trends had roused further needs for new standards that enable effective information sharingin the both private and government sectors.
One of key facilities for the easy sharing and the interoperation of information among different communitiescould be the registry that enables the discovering and sharing of meta-information such as metadata and models.
Background of the 2nd edition of MFI part 1
The first edition of the MFI part-1 standard was published 2007. At that time, the MFI family of standards was consisted of only four sub parts (part 1, part 2, part 3 and part 4).
However, after publishing the first edition of part 1, many new projects were proposed. They are mostly intending to enhance the capability of MFI to cope with new trends of market, such as discovering process models and service models.
Almost same time, a revising project of ISO/IEC11179 part-3 (The registry metamodel and basic attribute: MDR) that is the core part of metadata registry standard was initiated.
The MFI standards can be considered as extensions of the MDR core part by the sharing same registration mechanism and procedure. Then, a special study project for the harmonization of MDR and MFI was formulated. As a result of the study, the common facilities were defined to be used in both MDR and MFI standards. It was expected that MDR and MFI could be more closely related and integrated for the benefits of the users who need more effective sharing of information and models or more sophisticated system interoperation.
A design guideline to keep consistency on representing metamodel using UML was defined as well,to be used in the developing MFI standards
Then, this new edition of this part was revised to provide a clear view to MFI and illustrate overall architecture of the MFI family of standards reflecting major changes mentioned above.
Information technology — Metamodel framework for
Interoperability(MFI) — Part 1: Framework, edition 2
1Scope
This standard is a part of ISO/IEC19763 (Metamodel framework for interoperability: MFI) series of standards. As the first part of MFI (part 1), this document provides an overview and the scope of MFI series of standards.Especially,the background, underline concept, overall architecture and requirements to the development of other parts of MFI standards.
The ISO/IEC19763 (Metamodel framework for interoperability: MFI) family of standards were prepared to provide standard facilities to register any kind of models through the metamodel for registration. However, MFI would not specify any repository structure where actual model instances were stored. Then, MFI metamodel provides the standard view when to be used the registering models that were stored in repositories.
2Normative References
The following referenced documents are indispensable for the application of this document. For dated references, only the edition cited applies. For undated references, the latest edition of the referenced document (including any amendments) applies.
ISO/IEC 11179-1, Information technology – Metadata registries (MDR) Part 1: Framework
ISO/IEC 11179-3, Information technology – Metadata registries (MDR) Part3:Ed3 Metamodel
ISO/IEC 19501:2005,Information technology - Open Distributed Processing- Unified Modelling Language (UML) Version 1.4.2
ISO/IEC 19502:200X,Information technology - Open Distributed Processing- Unified Modelling Language (UML) Version 2.1.2
[NOTE;] Do we need MOF/XMI as normative?
ISO/IEC 19502:2005, Information technology – Meta Object Facility (MOF)
ISO/IEC 19503:2005, Information technology – MXL Metadata Interchange (XMI)
3Terms, definitions and abbreviated terms
3.1Terms and definitions
For the purposes of this document, the terms and definitions given in ISO/IEC 19505-2, ISO/IEC 11179-3:2012, and the following apply.
3.1.1.concept
an unit of knowledge created by an unique combination of characteristics
[NOTE: ] concepts are not necessarily bound to particular languages. They are, however, influenced by the social or cultural background which often leads to different categorizations.
See: ISO/IEC11179 part -3
3.1.2.framework
a basic structure underlying a system, concept, or text: the theoretical framework of political sociology[1]
[Note:] the meaning of this term might vary according the context of the domain to be discussed.
In the MFI, the framework is used for represent architectural view to a set of metamodels.
3.1.3.information model
graphical and textual representation of entities (4.2.12) and the relationships (4.2.28) between them
[NOTE:]May also be known as a data model, a conceptual data model, a logical data model, an entity relationship model, an object class diagram or a database definition
3.1.4.interoperability
the capability of communicate, execute programs, or transfer data among various functional units in a manner that requires the user to have little or knowledge of the unique characteristics of those units. [see ISO/IEC 2382]
3.1.5.metadata
data which describes other data.
See. ISO/IEC 11179-1 and ISO/IEC 19502
3.1.6.metamodel
a model which describes other models.
See: ANNEX A and ISO/IEC 19503
3.1.7.model
A representation of concept in a domain of interest using a normative modelling facility and modelling constructs.
3.1.8.model element
element or componentin a model
[NOTE:]examples of model elements are an entity type in an information model, an event in a process model, a service operation in a service model, or an actor in a role and goal model.
3.1.9.model construct
a unit of notation for to represent a model.
[Note:] More generic term for modelling element. Sometimes the term is used to include metadata, code and object patterns rather than the notations of a particular modelling facility such as UML.
3.1.10.model element
element or component in a model
see: ISO/IEC 19763 part 10
3.1.11.modelling facility
a set of rules and notations for use when modelling.
Note: UML is a typical example.
3.1.12.modellinglanguage
llanguage or notation that is used to model some aspect of a domain of interest.
Note: UML is a typical modeliing language
3.1.13.ontology
description of concept.
see more detailed definition of ISO/IEC19763-3 and ISO/IEC11179-3: 2012
3.1.14.Open data
TBD
3.1.15.registration
an official list or record of names or items:
see: chapter5.
3.1.16.registry
a place where registers or records are kept[ ]:[2]
in MFI and MDR, it mean a database to keep metadata or metamodel.
see: chapter5.
3.1.17.repository
a place where or receptacle in which things are or may be stored:[3]
in MFI and MDR, a repository is recognized as a database that stores actual instances to conform to a particular metadata or metamodel.
[see: chapter 5 ]
3.2Abbreviations
3.2.1EDI: Electronic Data Interchange
3.2.2ebXML: Electronic business XML
3.2.3LOD: Linked Open Data
3.2.4MDR: Meta Data Registry(ISO/IEC 11179)
3.2.5MFI: Metamodel Framework for Interoperability
Note: This family of standards (ISO/IEC 19763)
3.2.6RGPS : Role, Goal, Process and Service
3.2.7ROR: Registry of Registries
3.2.8RS: Registry Summery
3.2.9SDO: Standard Development Organization
3.2.10UML: Unified Modelling Language
3.2.9 XML: eXtensible Markup Language
4Concept and Architecture of MFI
In this section, the background and basic concept that are underlining to all parts of ISO/IEC 19763 (MFI: Metamodel Framework for Interoperability) and the overall structure of the MFI family of standards, should be explained.
ISO/IEC 19763 (MFI) is a set of metamodel standards. Those metamodels are prepared for the registering models to model registries, such as, ontologies, information models, process models, service models and roles & goal models, in order to materialize the interoperability among systems or persons.
4.1 Purpose of the MFI standards
To enable the discovering and the sharing of information on the heterogeneous network societies, some sort of specific information that describes data or models, must be needed. Sometime, those specific information are called metadata or metamodel to be disclosed to the society.
The term “metadata” is defined as a data that describes other data. Also, the term “metamodel” is defined as a model that describes other models. These definitions were accepted widely as common basic notions. However, more precise definitions should be provided in theANNEX A.
The term “Framework”generally means a skeleton or a structure to be applied to creation of an article or a product. Usually, a framework has own dedicated objectives or purposes. Then, the frameworks would guide and regulate designingor productions to obtain the purpose keeping the consistency among components.
MFI is also a framework consisted by several normativemetamodels. The common purpose of those metamodels is the keeping consistency of the registration of information objects, such as information models, ontologies, service definitions or roles & goals, to a MFI registry.
Each dedicated normative metamodel defined as an independent sub part of the MFI family of standards. The detail structure of the MFI will be shown at the clause 6 of this document.
Through the applying dedicated MFI metamodels to each registration effort of those objects into registries, it becomeseasier to find or discover an appropriate target registry that keeps contents to be used. The each MFI registry does not store any actual contents of the target registry or repository. Only keeps the location and small administrative information of the target registry or repository.
The final goal of the MFI is focusedon the facilitating the data integrationthat is discovering objects(data, models, ontologies, service definitions, etc.) scattered over networks at different sites or places and integrate them through exanimating the adequacy form the view point of the use, and selectingappropriate mapping functions.
4.2Strengthen interoperability and integration capability
The data or services integrations must be rely upon the strengthen of the capabilities of the discovering and various types of interoperability. Such as;
System interoperability
Semantic interoperability
Registry interoperability
Figure Purpose of MFI standards
4.2.1 System interoperability
To materialize the system interoperability, not only standardization of communication protocols or more lower level physical connection,but, the standardization of message formats and representation of data as metadata to be exchanged have to be needed.
Even in the bilateral (pier to pier) communication or interchanging of information between company A and B, there must be a common agreement on the description or representation of information to be shared. In the early stage of EDI (Electronic Data Interchange), those descriptions or representations were stored in a particular database called the metadata registry and shared by A and B. However, the manner or the style for description and representation were depending upon the agreement between A and B.
Today, SDO such as ISO, IEC, UN or some other standard consortia developed and enforced so many metadata standards or registry standards, following their own industry or domain requirements. For instance, E-business, Healthcare, Electronic parts, Electronic documents, Library etc., those domainindustries have own metadata standards.
Then, it is still not easy to share information across deferent industries or domains without any specific mapping or translation tools between metadata among different registries.It must be one of obstacles for materializing a global and dynamic supply chain that penetrate different industries across countries.
For instance, in the electronics manufactures, they has own product database while retailer also has their own item database. Each database iswas constructed following particular metadata standards that were specified by industry consortium or SDO. However, it is not easy to keep the interoperation among those on the same products data. There must be some sort of mapping function to connect different data on a same product. [see. figure-1]
At the moment, instances of those metadata mapping have to be specified by human efforts discussing the difference between manufacturing product and sales item. They need to compare metadata. At that time, they have to refer to information model to understand the nature of data.
Then, the sharing of information model could be indispensable in the defining data as metadata, also, understanding metadata.
Fig-1 Current status of the cross industries interoperation
Not only for understanding of data, various types of information models were used widely today.
In the software development area, the information models using UML or IDEF1X, etc., were used as the software specifications. To capture the essential context of a target domain, normative representation techniquesc were used to promote software design and development involving different peoples. In those environments, the model sharing must be necessary. Also, to involve engineers who are working in the different countries, so called “Offshoring”, they need the model sharing supported by specific platform or infrastructure.
MFI provides basis for the model sharing infrastructure, in term of the model registry.
The model sharing could be accelerated by the registering models to a registry (Model registry) and make it easier to discover an appropriate model.
The MFI is a set of normative metamodel to be used for the model registration, just like the MDR provides normative metamodel for registering the metadata