PDE3 – Frameworks for interoperability of

Product Data in SME based environment

Lecturer: Ricardo Gonçalves

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Contents

1. Introduction

2. Product Data Standards

3. funStep: a Standard-based Initiative for SMEs

4. Implementation Techniques and Frameworks

5. Testing

6. Demonstration Scenarios

LO-1: Introduction

Lecturer: Ricardo Gonçalves

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Product Data Technology

A new branch of technology is rapidly developing: the Product Data Technology

Some of the reasons are:• the quantity and the quality of product information necessary to sell a product

are increasing;

• the product life is increasing due to reuse and recycle; – the life of the product data sometimes last longer than the product itself (as in the

medical and nuclear field)

• the information society has an increasing role in any business

• products have become more complex due to the development of the materials technology and new processes

• automation is spreading in any phase of the product development, from the design to the recycling

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Industry concerns and demands

Most industrial data is generated and stored on computers and other electronical devices. This is causing that:– many companies are obliged to maintain the hardware and software that has

generated that data, otherwise it cannot be interpreted by modern systems.

The information society is developing very fast and a system becomes obsolete after a few months:

– different computer systems; – different softwares; – different program languages; – different representation of the data; – different structure of the data.

Industry is requiring that their information, besides being perpetual, becomes also independent of software systems

Systems need to be INTEROPERABLE!!!

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Interoperability

• Interoperability (Def) is the ability of two or more systems or components to exchange information and to use the information that has been exchanged

• IEEE Standard Computer Dictionary• Carnegie Mellon, Software Technology Roadmap, 2004

• Enterprise systems and applications need to be interoperable to achieve seamless operational and business interaction, and create networked organizations

• European Group for Research on Interoperability, 2002

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Holistic Approach to Interoperability

– Business layer: business environment and business processes

– Knowledge layer: organisational roles, skills and competencies of employees and knowledge assets

– Applications, data and communication components

– Semantics: support mutual understanding on all layers

Application

Data

Business

Knowledge

Application

Sem

antic

s

Business

Knowledge

Sem

antics

Enterprise A Enterprise B

Data

Communication

To achieve meaningful interoperability between enterprises, Interoperability must be achieved on all layers:

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Motivations1 for Interoperability

• e-Commerce is not working.– Market developments have slowed.

– The investment communities have retrenched.

• There is an abundance of technical solutions and standards.But implementations– are far from pervasive

– are more often than not isolated efforts and lack interoperability.

• There is a need– to go back to the technical basics of what enables business practices in a given

context

– to re-evaluate interoperability problems

– to re-assess the models and value propositions of e-commerce businesses

– to build industry confidence and buy-in.

1 - Man Sze Li (2003), member of the Second Chamber of the eEurope Steering Group, advisor for the European Commission and the Member States on the implementation of the eEurope 2005 Action Plan

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The SMEs Challenge

• SME present a major economic driving force.

• However each SME cannot compete with large enterprises on equal basis.– Alone SMEs find it difficult to exploit market opportunities that exceed

their production capacity or ability of some sort;– In an global networked business environment, organizations need to be

able to dynamically adapt in order to take advantage of market opportunities.

• In particular, SMEs need to be able to establish collaborative activities with external partners willing to compete with big enterprises.

• Challenge is on presenting SMEs– frameworks that will solve interoperability and integration issues– emerging technologies

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SMEs’ Motivation on Interoperability

• Reduction of processes’ error rate and costs

• Optimize processes from internal integration

• Better customer service and support

• Homogenize business methods and services

• Total control of own product and business data

• Explore new markets through global integration

• Widen collaboration for exploring opportunities

• “Implement once, conduct business with all!”