Facilitating Business Interoperability from the Semantic Web
This paper proposes a comprehensive approach to facilitate business-to-business interoperability through the Semantic Web. It introduces an ontological framework that integrates existing standards, such as ebXML and RosettaNet, along with a robust integration framework. The complexities of heterogeneous business information systems and the proliferation of diverse XML-based solutions necessitate a standardized semantic approach. The work outlines challenges, such as the need for common semantics and the limitations of each XML standard. Future efforts will focus on refining these methodologies to automate XML formalization and enhance interoperability.
Facilitating Business Interoperability from the Semantic Web
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Presentation Transcript
Roberto García, Rosa Gil Universitat de Lleida, Spain Facilitating Business Interoperability from the Semantic Web
Contents • Introduction • Proposal • Ontological framework • Integration framework • Conclusions • Future Work
Contents • Introduction • Proposal • Ontological framework • Integration framework • Conclusions • Future Work
Introduction • Networked Business to Business • Interoperability • Standardisation approach • Define common lingua • Usually based on an XML Schema formalisation • No one-fits-all solution • Proliferation: Biztalk, RosettaNet, ebXML, UML, BPEL… • Sofistication: domain complexity • Complexity + Heterogeneity Busines Information Systems difficult to manage and integrate
Introduction • Some existing standards: • OASIS • ebXML, Electronic Business using eXtensible Markup Language • CPPA (Collaboration Protocol Profile and Agreement) • BP (Business Process) • … • BPEL-WS, Web Services Business Process Execution Language • UBL, Universal Business Language • Microsoft BizTalk • RosettaNet • … • Common aspects: non formal semantics and XML-based
Contents • Introduction • Proposal • Ontological framework • Integration framework • Conclusions • Future Work
Proposal • Semantic Metadata and Ontology facilitate management and integration • Semantic Approach to BIS • Related work: • The Enterprise Ontology • eCl@ss OWL (Web Ontology) • EDI Ontology (OWL) • RosettaNet Ontology (OWL)
Proposal • Limitations: • Whole effort for each XML standard formalised • Break with existing XML based BIS • Lack momentum, ontological framework but no data • Alternative: • Automate XML formalisation (at least to some extent) • Keep links to existing XML based BIS • Also map existing data
Contents • Introduction • Proposal • Ontological framework • Integration framework • Conclusions • Future Work
Ontological Framework • ebXML, WSBPEL, UBL, RosettaNet,… • XMLSemantic Web • “XML Semantics Reuse Methodology”ReDeFer implementation • XSD2OWL: schema to ontology • XML2RDF: XML instance data to RDF instances
XML Schema OWL element|attribute rdf:Property owl:DatatypeProperty owl:ObjectProperty element@substitutionGroup rdfs:subPropertyOf element@type rdfs:range complexType|group|attributeGroup owl:Class complexType//element owl:Restriction extension@base|restriction@base rdfs:subClassOf @maxOccurs @minOccurs owl:maxCardinality owl:minCardinality sequence choice owl:intersectionOf owl:unionOf Ontological Framework • ReDeFer XSD2OWLMappings:
Ontological Framework • ebXML BP classes • Hierarchy from XSDcomplex types andextension relations
Ontological Framework • Apply methodology to existing XML standards • ebXML • Collaboration Protocol Profile and Agreement (ebCPPA)cpp-cpa-v1_0.owl • Business Process (ebBP) ebbp-2.0.3.owl • BPEL-WS • Web Services Business Process Execution Language (WSBPEL)business-process.owl • Integrate RosettaNet Ontology (from LSDIS, Univ. of Georgia)
Ontological Framework • A generic XML semantics reuse methodology • Already validated in other domains: • Multimedia: MPEG-7 ontology (W3C MMSEM XG) • Digital Rights Management: MPEG-21 ontologies (MPEG) • Newspapers: IPTC, NewsML and NITF ontologies
Ontological Framework: Instances • ReDeFer XML2RDF: XML tree RDF graph. • Deduce blank node types (i.e. XSD Complex Types) from XSD2OWL ontologies restrictions.
Ontological Framework: Instances • ebXML CPP example from XML to RDF (fragment) • Includes XML tree but also XSD complex types
Contents • Introduction • Proposal • Ontological framework • Integration framework • Conclusions • Future Work
Integration Framework • Load Ontological Framework
Integration Framework • Integrate Ontologies • OWL semantic relations for equivalence and inclusion: subClassOf, subPropertyOf, equivalentClass, equivalentProperty, sameIndividualAs, etc. • More complex mappings using Semantic Web Rules • Generate mappings: • OWL Ontology Aligner • User supervision
Integration Framework • ebXML BP to ebXML CPA mappings
Integration Framework • ebXML BP to BPEL-WS mappings
Integration Framework • Semantics into practice • Scenario: the previous ebXML CPP example • Semantics formalised by ebXML CPPA Ontology • Semantics connected to data through references to: • Classes, and their hierarchy, for XSD complex types • Properties, and their hierarchy/restrictions, for XSD elements
Integration Framework • Semantics into practice • Task: get all SignalEnvelope types • XML tools: many XQueries and aware of schema structure • Semantic tools: 1 query, unaware and support changes
Contents • Introduction • Proposal • Ontological framework • Integration framework • Conclusions • Future Work
Conclusions • XSD2OWLtake profit from XML Schema hidden semantics • We formalise them when building ontologies, but also implicitly when we make XML Schemas • Ontologies from XSD • ebXML, BPEL-WS… and more to come (automatic) • First formalisation step • Hook more detailed semantics • Map to other ontologies
Conclusions • XML2RDF: reuse existing XML metadata to add momentum to Semantic Web BIS • Model XML tree as graph • Enrich with links to concepts in ontologies • Facilitate implementation using Semantic Web tools (DL reasoners, rule engines, semantic queries,…)
Contents • Introduction • Proposal • Ontological framework • Integration framework • Conclusions • Future Work
Future Work • Map other Business XML Schemas to OWL • More detailed integration (also rules) • Advanced ontology alignment tools • Formal business ontology as hub for integration • Demonstrator: simple semantic BIS • …
More at: http://rhizomik.net …/redefer (mapping tools) …/ontologies/bizontos (eBiz ontologies) Contact: {rgarcia,rgil}@diei.udl.cat Thank you for your attention