1. STASIS Technical Innovations - Simplifying e-Business Collaboration by providing a Semantic Mapping Platform - Dr. Sven Abels - TIE -

2. Agenda Problem Description 'Normal' Syntax Based Approach STASIS Approach Technology and Realization Sharing Information – The SRRN Defining Concepts Defining Schemas and SSEs Next Steps & Conclusion 2

3. Problem Description Problem If I have information in my format, and it is integrated into my systems, I want to put minimal effort into mapping this into any format (standardised or not) to do electronic business with another party. Requirements coming from users: Automotive and Furniture sectors However: STASIS itself is sector neutral “Usual/Normal” Approach 1.Import schemas of both business partners (e.g. XSD) 2.Map syntactical elements towards each other with a mapping tool (e.g. TIE Integrator) 3.Use a mapping processor to actually map the data between the business partners (e.g. XSLT processors) 3

4. Syntax Based Approach Syntax based approach (Graph mapping between schemas): 4 Source XSD Destination XSD

5. Syntax Based Approach Some Real World Examples: 5 © Altova © TIE

6. Disadvantages and STASIS Idea Some Disadvantages Detailed knowledge of both schemas necessary. Hard to maintain No semantic aspects are covered No support of logical constraints (inheritance, etc.) Hard to understand: Normally people don’t think in syntax; they think in semantics! 1 Poor (=almost no) reuse of mappings possible Our idea: Create a mapping that is based on the semantics instead of the syntax 6 1 With the exception of IT people of course. ;-)

7. STASIS Approach Creating a semantic mapping – What does it mean in the STASIS approach? 1.Import schemas into a Format neutral format (Stasis Neutral Format, SNF) 2.Identify semantic ‘elements’ by grouping syntactical data into semantic entities (STASIS Semantic Entity, SSE) 3.Once those semantic elements are identified: All mappings are performed by mapping semantic elements. 4.Once the mapping is complete: Export mapping back to a mapping format that can be used by external tools Share mapping information for reuse 5.Process data based on the mapping (out of scope; using existing mapping processors such as XSLT or TIE Integrator)  STASIS will not perform the mapping process. It will help users to create it in a smarter way. 7 1 With the exception of IT people of course. ;-)

8. STASIS Approach Creating a semantic mapping – What does it mean in the STASIS approach? 1.Import schemas into a Format neutral format (Stasis Neutral Format, SNF) 2.Identify semantic ‘elements’ by grouping syntactical data into semantic entities (STASIS Semantic Entity, SSE) 3.Once those semantic elements are identified: All mappings are performed by mapping semantic elements. 4.Once the mapping is complete: Export mapping back to a mapping format that can be used by external tools Share mapping information for reuse 5.Process data based on the mapping (out of scope; using existing mapping processors such as XSLT or TIE Integrator)  STASIS will not perform the mapping process. It will help users to create it in a smarter way. 8 1 With the exception of IT people of course. ;-) Various formats (XSD, RDB, EDI...) Prototype 1: XSD Various formats (XSD, RDB, EDI...) Prototype 1: XSD You may link semantic elements to each other or to a global concept (SSE T ) to help STASIS in the mapping process STASIS uses this data to perform a reasoning and to suggest parts of the mapping automatically Also considers old mappings and mapping to a common third party. You may link semantic elements to each other or to a global concept (SSE T ) to help STASIS in the mapping process STASIS uses this data to perform a reasoning and to suggest parts of the mapping automatically Also considers old mappings and mapping to a common third party. Using a federated (i.e. distributed) semantic network. No single point of failure Based on standards Using a federated (i.e. distributed) semantic network. No single point of failure Based on standards

9. Technology and Realization We have selected a set of technologies as a base for the implementation process of the STASIS implementation: Eclipse for user interface (EMF, GEF and GMF) for plugin management SRRN network WebServices for P2P network communication RDF/OWL for resource description OWL for semantic descriptions (SSEs, SNFs, etc.) Jena for parsing Log4J for logging STASIS implementation is divided into 3 phases 1.Phase I: Basic functionality, Simple mapping creation, schema import 2.Phase II: Complex mappings, reasoning, information sharing, usable GUI, etc. 3.Phase III: Final Prototype incl. User Management, advanced schema format support, etc. 9

10. Plugins STASIS is broken down into a set of components Each component is realized as an Eclipse Plugin We have developed a common Eclipse Base Workbench which integrated all Plugins Selected Plugins / Components Common Data Model + Import/Export SNF Editor (=Schema) SSE Editor (=Semantic Entities) SSE T Editor (=Common understanding/Concepts) Search & Retrieval SRRN Network (=Distributed P2P network for sharing information) Purification (=Detecting and Removing Garbage) Comparator (=Mapping between partners, reasoning, mapping generation) Logging Dynamic Library … 10 Next Slides

11. I: Sharing Information – The SRRN In order to share mappings, semantic entities and concepts, we will use a distributed network, the so called SRRN (Seamless Registry and Repository Network) The SRRN is taken from another European FP6 project called SEAMLESS and it’s been originally developed within the FP6 SEEMseed project The SRRN is extended to provide some additional functionality needed by STASIS A WebService adapter will make the SRRN usable by our Eclipse Plugins The SRRN helps us by… distributing information, describing entries in RDF/OWL and querying entries using the SparQL standard (Since Jan. 2008: SparQL is the approved W3C recommendation) 11

12. I: Sharing Information – The SRRN 12 Please refer to http://www.seamless-eu.org/ for more informationhttp://www.seamless-eu.org/

13. II: Defining Concepts STASIS supports the specification of so called SSE T entries. Those are semantic concepts that model a common understanding of a specific entity For example: 13 … … cName Customer Name Person Name Concept Sven Abels Concrete Instance (Data). Ignored in STASIS XSD Schema file. Used as Input SNF Representation of Schema (Neutral Format) SSE (Semantic Entity) Used for Mappings between partners SSE T entry Global Idea of a Person Name

14. II: Defining Concepts How do we create, manage and change concepts? Requirement: Easy to use, capable of modelling all ontology concepts Approach: Selected Framework: Eclispe GEF Framework 14 Person Name Concept Person + Document - date revision Invoice + Address + author

15. II: Defining Concepts STASIS has started to implement a first Alpha version of the SSE T editor First version that allows saving/loading from OWL will be available by the end of April. 15 Person Name Concept

16. III: Defining Schemas and SSEs STASIS will offer an easy to use editor for defining schemas in the STASIS Neutral Format (SNF) STASIS will also offer an editor that allows the definition and management of the semantic entities (SSEs) Since both editors have quite some overlapping functionality, the STASIS team has decided to implement them as one holistic plugin with one integrated GUI allowing the specification and linking of both. Selected Framework: EMF and GMF 16 cName Customer Name

17. III: Defining Schemas and SSEs STASIS has started to implement a first Alpha version: 17 cName Customer Name

18. Next Steps & Conclusion Next steps and Conclusion STASIS has finished specifying concepts, approaches and formats Prototype Implementation has been started. First Alpha Version will be available End of April. Full Prototype will be ready by the End of December. Next steps include the 3 phases of the implementation as well as the discussion with users and their needs We are also working on a joint example to be used for evaluation and during the implementation and debugging phase Questions, Ideas & Cooperation? Please send me an email: sven.abels@tieglobal.comsven.abels@tieglobal.com 18

19. STASIS Technical Innovations - Simplifying e-Business Collaboration by providing a Semantic Mapping Platform - Dr. Sven Abels - TIE -