1. COmmon REference Environment - CORE:
Architecture and Information Model
Monica Scannapieco
Italian National Institute of Statistics - Istat
SISAI Meeting - Luxembourg June 1

2. Outline Introduction and history CORE objectives CORE: where we are
Architecture implementation
Information model
SISAI Meeting - Luxembourg June

3. COmmon Reference Architecture (CORA)
Need for a common reference architecture
NSIs share similar goals and surveys
Different choices wrt business and technical architectures
Benefits of a common reference architecture
Sharing of solutions among NSIs
Quality improvement
SISAI Meeting - Luxembourg June

4. CORA ESSnet Financed by Eurostat under 2009 Statistical Workprogramme
Countries involved: it (coordinator), ch, dk, lv, nl, no, se
Duration: October October 2010
SISAI Meeting - Luxembourg June

5. CORA Workplan Technical architecture
Requirements and state of the art analysis
Organizational architecture
SISAI Meeting - Luxembourg June

6. WP3: Technical Architecture
CORA Model: two dimensions
Functional dimension
Construction dimension
Adoption of GSBPM 1.2
9 subprocesses of level 2 1
Specify
Needs 2
Design 3
Build 4
Collect 5
Process 6
Analyse 7
Disseminate 8
Archive 9
Evaluate
SISAI Meeting - Luxembourg June

7. Construction Dimension: Layers
Figures
Time Series
Statistic
Population
Unit
Variable
Value
The end result of the process
Integration over time
One measurement aggregate
Statistical population observed
The units that make up the population
The variables that make up the unit
The data values
SISAI Meeting - Luxembourg June

8. CORA Model Grid
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9. Statistical Design vs. Technological Specification (1)
Statistical processes compliant to the CORA model are intended to be designed by statisticians
Services composing processes are indeed statistical services and are technological independent
SISAI Meeting - Luxembourg June

10. Statistical Design vs. Technological Specification (2)
Given the specification of a CORA compliant process, technological services must be designed and implemented
SISAI Meeting - Luxembourg June

11. After CORA…CORE!
COmmon Reference Environment (CORE), financed by Eurostat under 2010 Statistical Workprogramme
Countries involved: it (coordinator), fr, nl, no, pt, se
Duration: December January 2012
SISAI Meeting - Luxembourg June

12. CORE Principal Outcomes
Environment for the definition and execution of statistical processes
Definition of a process in terms of services selected by an available repository
Execution of the composed workflow
SISAI Meeting - Luxembourg June

13. Principal Outcomes: Design
CORA information model
Design of CORE services and processes
SISAI Meeting - Luxembourg June

14. Principal Outcomes: Implementation
Selection of an available middleware solution for process execution
Realization of an environment able to permit the execution of processes
Interfaces (GUIs) for defining CORE processes for statistical users
Integration APIs
Repository of integration layers
SISAI Meeting - Luxembourg June

15. Principal Outcomes: Testing
Realization of processes starting from services implementing some GSBPM blocks
Evaluation of costs related to integration
Prototype implementation (to be engineered)
SISAI Meeting - Luxembourg June

16. CORE Architecture (1)
GUIs to support modelling CORA processes according to CORA grid
Modeling & control flow constructs
Drag & drop facilities for process design
Global schema
Implementation: we are evaluating the usage of an open process editor tool (Oryx - potsdam.de/Oryx/WebHome )
SISAI Meeting - Luxembourg June 16 16

17. CORE Architecture (2) Process Runtime Controlled execution of services
Implementation: integration of existing WF solution, currently in evaluation phase
Service Runtime
Integration APIs (in-out data transformation)
Service execution
Implementation: CSV and SQL data transformations are currently being implemented
Service Repository
Deployment of services
SISAI Meeting - Luxembourg June 17

18. CORE Information Model (1)
First draft of CORE information model
To be released, currently in discussion phase
SISAI Meeting - Luxembourg June

19. CORE Information Model (2)
Design Principles:
Rectangular data sets
Strong typing
Kinds
Free-style arguments
Other
SISAI Meeting - Luxembourg June

20. CORE Information Model (3)
Service info package
Name
CORA vertical axis
CORA horizontal axis
Version
Documentation
SISAI Meeting - Luxembourg June

21. SISAI Meeting - Luxembourg June 7-8 2011

22. CORE Information Model (3)
Rectangular data sets
A data set consists of rows and columns of data
Same proposal independently made by WP2 leader (CBS) and WP3 leader (Istat)
SISAI Meeting - Luxembourg June

23. CORE Information Model (4)
Strong Typing
Each column contains data of one value type only
Data sets are strongly typed
Rules are typed. This means that a rule can be applied to (a row of) data only if the types of the rule and the (row of) data match
Parameters are typed. Actual parameter values are limited to values of a given predefined type only
Proposed by WP2, hard to get in WP3 opinion
SISAI Meeting - Luxembourg June

24. CORE Information Model (5)
Kinds:
The information model leaves open the actual form or structure of data sets, but provides a mechanism for specifying such a form or structure instead, through data set kinds
Examples: micro datasets consisting of variables, aggregated data set consisting of dimensions and measures etc.
SISAI Meeting - Luxembourg June

25. CORE Information Model (6)
Free-style arguments:
Rules and parameters for which it is not feasible to express them in the format offered by the information model
Examples: scripts that are expressed in a tool-dependent format
SISAI Meeting - Luxembourg June

26. CORE Information Model (7)
CORE Services Arguments
Data sets, rectangular data sets (with possible specification of data kinds)
Expressions, e.g. if-then-else(<(x,5),x,5)
Parameters, supply a single item of information, e.g. number of loops
Rules, expressions applied to data set definition, e.g. editing rule of the form if- then-else(<(x,y),x,y)
SISAI Meeting - Luxembourg June