Electronically Querying for the Provenance of Entities Simon Miles Provenance-Aware Service-Oriented Architectures (PASOA) project University of Southampton, UK

Structure Terminology Purpose of provenance queries Example scenario Content of provenance queries Example queries

Documentation and Provenance We distinguish –process documentation (the documentation recorded into a provenance store about processes) –provenance (the process that led to/derivation of an application entity) Process documentation is recorded as processes are executed The entities that a process will ultimately produce may not be known at that time Provenance of an entity is obtained as the result of a query over process documentation Stores Process documentationProvenance

Provenance Scope An entity is caused to be as it is by previous events, which were themselves caused by other events This can be seen as a directed acyclic graph leading back to the beginning of time If all this information was provided as a result of a query, it would be unmanageable and mostly irrelevant to the querier Therefore, the querier needs to scope the query to that which is relevant scope

Provenance Queries A provenance query is a query for the provenance of an entity We define how to specify a provenance query, so that it can be executed by a provenance query engine

Organ Transplant Scenario Hospital Electronic Healthcare Management Service Testing Lab

Hospital Actors User Interface Donor Data Collector Brain Death Manager

Provenance of Donor Diagnosis Donation Decision Donor Data Collector User Interface

Provenance of Donor Diagnosis Donation Decision Donor Data Collector User Interface Decision Request User Interface Donor Data Collector Patient (in Brain Death Notification) Brain Death Manager User Interface Is Response To Is Decision On Justification Report Donor Data Collector User Interface Is Justified By

Provenance of Donor Diagnosis Donation Decision Donor Data Collector User Interface Decision Request User Interface Donor Data Collector Donor Data Collector Testing Lab EHCR Donor Data Collector EHCRS Patient (in Brain Death Notification) Brain Death Manager User Interface Is Response To Is Based On Patient Test Results Test Results Is Decision On Justification Report Donor Data Collector User Interface Is Justified By Electronic Data

Provenance of Donor Diagnosis Donation Decision Donor Data Collector User Interface Decision Request User Interface Donor Data Collector Donor Data Collector Testing Lab EHCR Donor Data Collector EHCRS Patient (in Brain Death Notification) Brain Death Manager User Interface Is Response To Is Based On Patient Test Results Test Results EHCR Request EHCRS Donor Data Collector Is Response To Testing Lab Donor Data Collector Request Blood Tests Is Response To Is Decision On Justification Report Donor Data Collector User Interface Is Justified By Electronic Data

Provenance of Donor Diagnosis Donation Decision Donor Data Collector User Interface Decision Request User Interface Donor Data Collector Donor Data Collector Testing Lab EHCR Donor Data Collector EHCRS Patient (in Brain Death Notification) Brain Death Manager User Interface Is Response To Is Based On Patient Test Results Test Results Data Collection Request Donor Data Collector User Interface EHCR Request EHCRS Donor Data Collector Is Response To Was Caused By Testing Lab Donor Data Collector Request Blood Tests Is Response To Was Caused By Is Decision On Justification Report Donor Data Collector User Interface Is Justified By Request Blood Tests Donor Data Collector User Interface Electronic Data

Provenance Queries A provenance query is made up of two parts: –Query Data Handle Identifies the entity of which you want to find the provenance, e.g. the donor organ decision –Relationship Target Filter Scopes the query results, so that only a manageable amount of relevant information is returned

Query Data Handle Identifies a particular entity at the time of a particular event For example, a patient at the end of a transplant operation The provenance of an entity is the process by which it came to be in the state it is in at that event

Query Data Handle Documentation of an entity is different from the entity itself A query data handle is a search within process documentation for a given documented entity In the example, the entity, the donation decision, is documented at the event of the decision being recorded via the UI Donation Decision Donor Data Collector User Interface

Relationship Target On what basis do you stop trawling the graph, and so scope the provenance? The full set of information about each object of each relationship is called a relationship target and includes: –Relationship type –Data item content –Role of data in relationship –Actors involved in event –Their roles in the event –Asserter identity –Documentation location A relationship target filter uses the above data to scope the results of a provenance query Donor Data Collector Testing Lab Test Results Decision Request User Interface Donor Data Collector Test Results Is Based On

Exclude “Is Justified By” Relation Donation Decision Donor Data Collector User Interface Decision Request User Interface Donor Data Collector Donor Data Collector Testing Lab EHCR Donor Data Collector EHCRS Patient (in Brain Death Notification) Brain Death Manager User Interface Is Response To Is Based On Patient Test Results Test Results Data Collection Request Donor Data Collector User Interface EHCR Request EHCRS Donor Data Collector Is Response To Was Caused By Testing Lab Donor Data Collector Request Blood Tests Is Response To Was Caused By Is Decision On Justification Report Donor Data Collector User Interface Is Justified By Request Blood Tests Donor Data Collector User Interface Electronic Data

Exclude “Electronic Data” Role Donation Decision Donor Data Collector User Interface Decision Request User Interface Donor Data Collector Donor Data Collector Testing Lab EHCR Donor Data Collector EHCRS Patient (in Brain Death Notification) Brain Death Manager User Interface Is Response To Is Based On Patient Test Results Test Results Data Collection Request Donor Data Collector User Interface EHCR Request EHCRS Donor Data Collector Is Response To Was Caused By Testing Lab Donor Data Collector Request Blood Tests Is Response To Was Caused By Is Decision On Justification Report Donor Data Collector User Interface Is Justified By Request Blood Tests Donor Data Collector User Interface Electronic Data

Donation Decision Donor Data Collector User Interface Decision Request User Interface Donor Data Collector Donor Data Collector Testing Lab EHCR Donor Data Collector EHCRS Patient (in Brain Death Notification) Brain Death Manager User Interface Is Response To Is Based On Patient Test Results Test Results Electronic Data Data Collection Request Donor Data Collector User Interface EHCR Request EHCRS Donor Data Collector Is Response To Was Caused By Testing Lab Donor Data Collector Request Blood Tests Is Response To Was Caused By Is Decision On Justification Report Donor Data Collector User Interface Is Justified By Request Blood Tests Donor Data Collector User Interface Was Caused By Abstraction of Exclude Internal Process of DDC

Summary Provenance queries allow the provenance of application entities to be found Querying for provenance involves following relationships back from the documentation of the entity, to find its causes Results are scoped to that relevant to the querier

Questions? Simon Miles

Provenance of Donor Diagnosis Donation Decision Donor Data Collector User Interface Decision Request User Interface Donor Data Collector Donor Data Collector Testing Lab EHCR Donor Data Collector EHCRS Patient (in Brain Death Notification) Brain Death Manager User Interface Is Response To Is Based On Patient Test Results Test Results Data Collection Request Donor Data Collector User Interface EHCR Request EHCRS Donor Data Collector Is Response To Was Caused By Testing Lab Donor Data Collector Request Blood Tests Is Response To Was Caused By Is Decision On Justification Report Donor Data Collector User Interface Is Justified By Request Blood Tests Donor Data Collector User Interface Was Caused By Abstraction of Electronic Data