EEMCS

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Official URL: https://doc.novay.nl/dsweb/Get/Document-104911

Abstract

In this thesis, we propose a method for the semantic integration of service oriented
applications. The distinctive feature of the method is that semantically-enriched
service models are employed at different levels of abstraction (from business
requirements to software implementation) to deliver flexible integration
solutions.
In Chapter 2, we start with analyzing the most cited interoperability
definitions and derive common characteristics of interoperability. Next, we
use these common characteristics to define what interoperability means and
identify three different levels of interoperability, namely, syntactic, semantic
and pragmatic interoperability. Finally, we study literature from different areas
and identify possible interoperability problems at each of the interoperability
levels.
In Chapter 3, we present a short history of the enterprise application
integration (EAI) approaches, discuss their shortcomings and argue what is
required to address these shortcomings. We identify three main aspects of
the EAI problem. The first aspect concerns the difference in the information
models of the systems that have to be integrated. The second aspect concerns
the differences in the interaction protocols of the systems. Finally, the third
aspect concerns the complexity of building EAI solutions.
Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA), Knowledge Representation (KR)
and Model-Driven Architectures (MDA) have been proposed as solutions to
each of the indentified problems. In Chapter 3, we argue that, since the
problem aspects of current EAI approaches always occur together, SOA, KR
and MDA should be combined to deal with the problem as a whole.
In Chapter 4, we define a conceptual framework for service modeling. The
purpose of the framework is to serve as a common semantic meta-model that
enables the description, integration and reasoning about (integrated)
service-oriented applications. Using the framework one can model the
domain of a system, the interactions among its components and their
relations, and reason whether these components are interoperable. We
expect that our framework will have a wide spectrum of application, e.g.,
can be used to model services at a business, application and component
level, thus beyond the usual domain of web services.
In Chapter 5, we present a method for the semantic integration of serviceoriented
applications. We start by identifying necessary conditions for semantic
and pragmatic interoperability of service-oriented applications. Next, we
propose an integration method that enables business domain experts to
explicitly specify an integration solution at a higher level of abstraction. The
abstract solution is then (semi-)automatically transformed to a software
solution by adding technical details by the IT experts. Finally, we present a
method to verify formally whether the proposed integration solution meets
the identified conditions for interoperability.
In Chapters 6 to 9, we validate our integration method by applying it a
particular context, using particular technologies. In Chapter 1, we identified
a number of requirements for integration methods in general. To verify
whether our method meets these requirements we make a number of claims
and provide arguments for their validity. We do this by applying our method to
in a concrete context using concrete technologies. For that purpose, we
solve two integration problems from order management domain and travel
domain, respectively. When applying our integration method we observe a
number of effects. We analyse our observations and argue to what extent
our integration method meets the requirements defined in Chapter 1.
Finally, in Chapter 10, we summarise the conclusions of this thesis and
identify some topics for further research.

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