Elmer PreviewA Standards-Based Architecture for Creating a Unified Information Space: Elmer Preview A Standards-Based Architecture for Creating a Unified Information Space F. Andy Seidl Chief Architect, Emerging Technologies Starbase Corporation


Overview: Overview Business and industry drivers Project goals Topic maps Code and content domain Semantic typing and text searching Elmer architecture Demo


Business Drivers: Business Drivers Product integration Starbase products—StarTeam, Caliber-RM, eXpressroom, Genitor/OCS, Codewright Third-party products—testing, email, UML, CRM, many others Information efficiency Knowledge shared across repositories Intuitive search and navigation Event subscription and notification


Industry Drivers: Industry Drivers Information tsunami Maturing standards web services UDDI XML XTM J2EE and .NET Mature capacity


Goal:Create a Framework for Describing, Coalescing, and Accessing Domain Knowledge.: Goal: Create a Framework for Describing, Coalescing, and Accessing Domain Knowledge. Unify view of information stored in physically separate repositories Provide search and discovery across related knowledge domains Automate detection and notification of "knowledge events" Create simple procedures for supporting new data sources


Integrate Once Strategy: Integrate Once Strategy Integrate Applications Through A Common Information Model


Knowledge Event Detection: Knowledge Event Detection No Central Publication Point Difficult to Detect Cross-application Events Central Event Publisher Single Event Detection Point


Topic Map Advantages: Topic Map Advantages Standardized, XML-based, proven Unifies multiple information resources Enables meaningful representation and navigation of information objects Facilitates deployment of information sets into different environments with different requirements


Think of Topic Maps As…: Think of Topic Maps As… A “GPS” for an information space An international standard for typed links A standard language for knowledge representation and interchange A framework that bridges the gap between knowledge representation and information management


Ontology: Ontology A taxonomy with attitude A schema for organizing “stuff” A specification of Topics (subject matter) Associations (relationships) Occurrences (resource locations) that exist in a given domain of expertise


Code and Content Domain: Code and Content Domain Topics people, change requests, companies, files, email addresses, … Associations created by, assigned to, mentioned in, works for, used by, … Occurrences web page, shortcut, VRX resource, photograph, icon, …


TAO of Code and Content: TAO of Code and Content


Queries That Span Repositories: Queries That Span Repositories Are there any requirements documents for deliverables that address bug X? Who are the business contacts at companies that have requested feature Y? What developer(s) wrote the JSP tags used in these 6 web pages?


Combined Power of Semantic Typing and Text Searching: Combined Power of Semantic Typing and Text Searching Find all user interface bugs that are assigned to someone that works for my boss. Show me all documents created by Sam that include the words "server" or "maintenance". “Hits” grouped by/augmented with context information: Resource type Synopsis Version history E-mail address of author


Elmer ArchitectureA View from 30,000 Feet: Elmer Architecture A View from 30,000 Feet


Fundamentals: Fundamentals Built on industry standards Loosely coupled services Plug and play Scaleable Language independent J2EE and .NET compatibility


Desired Outcomes: Desired Outcomes Integration of Starbase and partner products Framework for notifying users of knowledge events SDK for third-party integration Generalized tools for spanning other problem domains


Slide19: Elmer Architecture


Demo: Demo Screen Shots of Elmer in Action See Live Demonstrations at Ontopia’s Booth


Summary of Achieved Objectives: Summary of Achieved Objectives Integrate once, use everywhere Powerful search and discovery across unified information space All domain perspectives notified of changes made to relevant objects Streamlined inclusion of new data sources Platform independent implementation and hosting


Questions?: Questions? F. Andy Seidl Chief Architect, Emerging Technologies Starbase Corporation Andy.Seidl@starbase.com