1. Universal Data Element Framework (UDEF)
Semantic DNS and a Disaster Response Pilot Use Case
Ron Schuldt, Chair
The Open Group UDEF Forum
November 10, 2005

2. Agenda The Problem The UDEF UDEF as the Semantic DNS
The Open Group UDEF participants
UDEF current status
The problem and associated UDEF business value
What the UDEF is and what it is not
A brief description of the UDEF
The six basic steps to map enterprise data to the UDEF
A metadata managed architecture that UDEF supports
UDEF as the Semantic DNS
The UDEF Disaster Response Pilot Use Case
A brief description of a UDEF pilot to support disaster response teams
Video clip of the UDEF disaster response pilot demo at The Open Group Semantic Interoperability Conference in Houston on October 20, 2005
Semantic DNS registry demo

3. The Problem

4. Problem – Global Perspective
Each organization is attempting to set its own semantics standard
Each must interface with organizations they do not control
Elec
Banks
Chem
Aero
DoD
Trans
Organization
NASA
DHS
Other
Ship
Retail
The problem is the lack of common semantics and schema between organizations

5. Problem – Supply Chain Perspective
Today’s reality… point-to-point solutions introduce excessive cost, complexity and time
Examples of gaps and/or inefficiencies:
Increasing number of unique portals adding cost to suppliers
Multiple, redundant, incompatible “portal systems”
Incompatibilities in information exchange contribute to delay, rework, and error
Excessive cost, complexity and time impeding supply chain agility
Supply Chain Perspective
Cost of a single interface ranges from $10K to $1M depending on scope and complexity
~ N (N-1) mapping problem & expense
Industry
Members
Business
Partners
Contractor
Government
Customer
excessive cost,
complexity
and time
Public
Exchange
Commercial
Customer
OEM
n-Tier
Supplier
Tier-1
Supplier
Logistics
Provider

6. Problem – Internal Perspective
Conflicting semantic overlaps between back-office systems
App A
App B
App C
Other Apps
Legacy Data
Though semantically equal, the following are 4 different XML tag names
<PARTNUMBER> </PARTNUMBER>
<partNumber> </partNumber>
<PartNumber> </PartNumber>
<partnumber> </partnumber>

7. The Legacy Applications Issue
Across the globe there are millions of legacy applications that need to be Web enabled – in preparation for Web Services and SOA
XML and associated W3C standards address the syntax requirements but an adopted semantics standard does not exist yet
Users of the legacy applications consistently resist changing the names of the fields
The semantics solution needs to be non-intrusive to the application user

8. The UDEF

9. The Open Group UDEF Participants
The Open Group Staff
Lockheed Martin
Unicorn
Safyre Solutions
IBM
Raytheon
Boeing
Capgemini
SICoP
BEA Systems
Adobe
Contivo
Cemantica
OMG
OAGi
NDIA-AFEI
GEIA
CompTIA
W3C Semantic Web
RosettaNet
POSC
SWIFT
Dublin Core Metadata
Global Exchange Services
Chevron Texaco
Proctor & Gamble
Northrop Grumman
SAIC
ManTech
MITRE
Envision
Metamatrix
Ericsson
DLA
Canadian Government
Penn State University
And others

10. UDEF Current Status
As of May 2005, UDEF Officially Adopted by The Open Group
Goal - establish the UDEF as the universally-used categorization system for data
Develop and maintain the UDEF as an open standard
Advocate and promote it
Put in place a technical infrastructure to support it
Implement a Registry for it, and
Set up education programs to train information professionals in its use.
Actual UDEF Trees are Viewable Online
UDEF Pilot Submitted to Federal Semantic Interoperability Community of Practice (SICoP)
To enable manufacturing industry to support disaster response teams
Gain visibility to the highest levels of government and possibly (??) obtain funding

11. The Goal
Reduce Requirements and Design-Time Phase Semantics Analysis Time and Cost
Current Point-to-Point Approach --- n(n-1)
Global Semantics Standard Approach --- 2n
Global
Semantics
Standard 50
100
150
200
250
300
350
400 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 $$
Savings

12. UDEF Value Proposition
API 1
API 2
UDEF Value
Typical Interface Build Tasks
Analyze and document the business requirements.
Analyze and document the data interfaces (design time)
Compare data dictionaries
Identify gaps
Identify disparate forms of representation
Perform data transformations as required at run time
Transform those data that require it
Sys 1
Sys 2
Reduces dependency on system expert
Sys 1 Data Names
UDEF ID
Sys 2 Data Names
PO Num
d.t.2_
Order ID
Date Ship
9_1.32.6
Ship Dt
Allows automated compare
Accept Loc
i.0_
Accept Point
Business Id
3_6.35.8
Company Code
Ship From Bus ID
3_6.35.8
Ship From Code
Reduce design time labor
Ship To ID
a.a.v.3_6.35.8
Ship To Code
PO Line Num
d.t.2_1.17.8
Order Line
Part Num
9_9.35.8
Prod Number
Part Descr 9_
Prod Descr
Step toward automated transform
Part Ser 9_
Prod Ser
Ship Qty
9_10.11
Qty Ship
Part UOM
9_1.18.4
Prod Unit
Part Price
9_1.2.1
Prod Unit Price
UID
9_54.8
Part UID

13. UDEF – Is and Is Not UDEF Is ……
A “loose coupling” method for integrating semantics across disparate systems
Allows automation to help align disparate systems – thereby reducing the design-time phase that is typically manual
A standards compliant rules-based naming convention
Conforms to ISO/IEC and to ebXML Core Components
Evolving to become a global open standard – a Semantic DNS
UDEF Is Not ……
A software application
However, software applications need to adopt UDEF within their APIs
Another data standard
It acts as the glue to tie data standards together
Another ontology
It could help build the bridge between ontologies

14. UDEF Built on Standards
An Instantiation of ISO Naming Convention and Supports ebXML
UDEF Object
Class List
Entity
Document
Enterprise
Place
Program
Product
Process
Person
Asset
Law-Rule
Environment
Condition
Liability
Animal
Plant
Mineral
Event
ebXML
Property List
Amount
Code
Date
Date Time
Graphic
Identifier
Indicator
Measure
Name
Percent
Picture
Quantity
Rate
Text
Time
Value
Sound
Video
ISO Naming Convention
Data Element Name
Object Class Term
0...n qualifiers +
1 or more required
Object Class
Property Term
0..n qualifiers +
1 required Property +
Example UDEF-Based Data Element Names
Document Abstract Text
Enterprise Name
Product Price Amount
Product Scheduled Delivery Date
Engineering Design Process Cost Amount
UDEF names follow the rules of English – qualifiers precede the word they modify

15. ISO/IEC 11179 – Data Element Concept
Value
Domain
Object
Class
Property
Representation
Core
Application
UDEF Maps Data Element Concepts

16. Creating UDEF IDs UDEF Trees 17 Object Class Trees 18 Property Trees …1 2 1 4
Entity
Asset
Document …
Amount …
Code … t 1 33 66
Order
Region …
Type …
Defined a b c d
Work
Change
Technical
Purchase …
Purchase Order Document_Type Code has UDEF ID = d.t.2_33.4
See

17. Example Mappings Organizations cannot avoid multiple data standards
** Need global semantics standard **
PDM Sys A
Part No
OAGIS 7.1
ItemX
X12 (EDI)
Product/Service ID
STEP AP 203
Product ID
PDM Sys B
Part Num
RosettaNet
ProprietaryProductIdentifier
EDIFACT
Item Number
xCBL
PartID
9_9.35.8
UDEF Universal Identifier
Product(9)_Manufacturer(9).Assigned (35).Identifier(8)
N (N-1) mapping effort instead becomes a 2N mapping effort

18. Mapping Concepts to UDEF
Identify the applicable UDEF property word that characterizes the dominant attribute (property) of the data element concept. For example, Name, Identifier, Date, etc.
Identify the dominant UDEF object word that the dominant property (selected in step 1) is describing. For example, Person_Name, Product_Identifier, Document_Date, etc.
By reviewing the UDEF tree for the selected property identified in step 1, identify applicable qualifiers that are necessary to unambiguously describe the property word term. For example, Last Name
By reviewing the UDEF tree for the selected object identified in step 2, identify applicable qualifiers that are necessary to unambiguously describe the object word term. For example, Customer Person
Concatenate the object term and the property term to create a UDEF naming convention compliant name where it is recognized that the name may seem artificially long. For example, Customer Person_Last Name
Derive a structured ID based on the UDEF taxonomy that carries the UDEF inherited indexing scheme. For example <CustomerPersonLastName UDEFID=“as.5_5.10”>

19. A Metadata Managed Architecture
Interfaces to
Back-Office Systems
Vendors with
Canonical Models
Run Time
EAI
Transformation Engines
UDEF-Indexed
Metadata Registries
Global UDEF
Registry
Internet
Std Schema
Use
Matrices
Data Dictionary
Mapping Matrices
Std XML Schema
Design Time
Interface
Developers
Extend
Matrices
Software
Vendors
with UDEF ID
APIs
Build/Extend
Schema
UDEF-Indexed
Metadata Registry/Repository
UDEF
Change Board
Web
Public
Data Modelers
And Apps Developers
Centralized metadata registry/repository
Enables reuse to reduce costs
Encourages standardization

20. UDEF – The Semantic DNS

21. A Few Example Domain Ontologies
The Semantic DNS
UDEF
Domain
Concept
Service
Emergency Management
Inventory
Geographic Location
Transportation
Electrical Goods
A Few Example Domain Ontologies

22. Realizing The UDEF Registry
UDEF Registry in Unicorn
Unicorn Semantic Mapping
Semantic Class Mapping
UDEF Object
UDEF Term
Semantic Property Mapping
UDEF Property

23. Realizing The UDEF Registry (Contd.)
UDEF Code Components and Mapping

24. UDEF Disaster Response Pilot Use Case

25. UDEF Pilot Participants
The Open Group Staff
Lockheed Martin
Unicorn
Safyre Solutions

26. Pilot Summary
Natural disaster response team shows up lacking batteries to operate GPS system and walkie-talkie for 200 search and rescue workers – need eight hundred 9-volt batteries to even begin the search and rescue effort
Assumes that UDEF has been adopted globally and that UDEF IDs are exposed at company portals
Goal – determine if resources might be available nearby within a manufacturer’s or supplier’s inventory
Uses two UDEF tags (IDs) to locate available resources in a battery manufacturer’s inventory near the response team command center – an ad hoc query since formal interface not previously defined
Use UDEF ID tags to support semantic integration of disparate procurement applications that use different purchase order semantics
Leverage OASIS Emergency Management TC defined message wrappers
Open Group UDEF Forum defines message content
Two vendors currently involved – Unicorn and Safyre Solutions

27. Disaster Response Use Case? ? ?

28. UDEF Disaster Response Architecture
Open Group Global UDEF Registry/Repository
HTTP/XML
Battery Manufacturers’ Industry UDEF Registry
Two UDEF IDs in outbound message
NineVolt.Lithium.Battery.PRODUCT_Inventory.QUANTITY a.a.aj.9_36.11
NineVolt.Lithium.Battery.PRODUCT_Postal.Zone.CODE a.a.aj.9_1.10.4

29. UDEF Disaster Response Video

30. Obtaining the Batteries

31. For Additional Information
ISO/IEC – Specification and standardization of data elements
The OPEN GROUP UDEF Forum Web Site
OASIS Emergency Management TC Web Site
UDEF.ORG Web Site
For Possible Follow-up Implementations - Contact
Dr. Chris Harding –
Ron Schuldt –
Loren Osborn –
Al Slater –