CIMOSA - News

Vol. 6.1, date 99-02-15
Editor: Martin  Zelm, Gehenbuehlstr. 18A, D-70499 Stuttgart

The CIMOSA - News is published by the CIMOSA Association. The CIMOSA News will report on CIMOSA applications, evolution of its technical specification, advancements in standardisation and related items. Contributions from other parties are welcome. The CIMOSA - News will be printed periodically and is also available in the internet at  http://cimosa.cnt.pl

Contents

Co-operations

PRIMA II (EP 20775):  XML Representation of CIMOSA Models has been further progressed. A working group in the PRIMA project with the CIMOSA Association and Rivcom, UK has developed the Document Type Definition (DTD) of the CIMOSA-XML metamodel. This metamodel is the basis for a common set of modelling constructs in order to build enterprise models, which can be presented in different views to different users. The presentation of the CIMOSA model starts from the functional hierarchy (decomposition) of the domain and enterprise functions (Domain Processes, Business Processes and Enterprise Activities). The behavioural description of the XML model is presented as a graphic representation. Information view and resource view are presented by listing Object Views, Capabilities and Capability Sets with a description of the enterprise functions that employ them as function inputs, function outputs, needed capabilities etc.

The specification of a Document Type Definition (DTD) for most CIMOSA constructs has been based on their formal definition in EXPRESS language. The population of an XML file with data from a particular CIMOSA model with CIMOSA DTD enables the model representation into Manager, Business and Technical type of description.The partial CIMOSA model 'Quality Document Management' described in a business functional requirements study has been used as a DTD prototyping example.The benefits can be summarised as: Exchange of CIMOSA models in a neutral form, style sheets that give users the ability to interact more with the model and the definition of logical links between information elements. The results of this work are reported in the PRIMA project deliverables and in a paper titled 'Process Repository as a management tool' by G.Salvato et.al. to be published in the upcoming special issue of Com-puters in Industry.

DARIF: A Forum 'Science meets industry with DARIF participation has been held in Stuttgart, Ger-many on 99-12-08/09. About 100 Universities from Baden- Württemberg participated in the Forum pre-senting the results of their research work. Concluding from the types of Forum attendance and from discussion with the visitors, it appears that the technology transfer proceeds from universities to consultants rather than directly to the target group, the SMEs. A summary of the project results has been published (see below). For information http://www.darif.fh-offenburg.de

5th Framework: with the new call for project proposals expected by March 15, preparation for proposals has to be started. Interested parties should establish contacts soon.

Tools

Interfacing Technology has further developed the FirstSTEP (FS) modelling tool into a tool suite which presently consists of four components covering different phases of business process engineering and manage-ment. The FS Designer supports enterprise engineer-ing in modelling, simulating and analysing business processes. FS Charter for Visio® and FS Viewer pro-vide functionalities for business users allowing to create process models and to distribute, validate and test models. Finally FS Designer for Unicenter® TNG™allows to monitor business processes. For information http://www.interfacing.com

Standardisation

ISO TC184/SC5/WG1 the voting on ISO/DIS 15704 'Requirements for Enterprise Reference Architectures and Methodology' has been completed prior to the joint WG1 IFAC/IFIP Task Force meeting which was held in Brisbane, Australia, November 16/18. According to the comments received the DIS status has been changed to FDIS and a second ballot is required by the member countries.

ISO 14258 'Concepts and rules for enterprise modelling' has been published with only a fraction of the necessary corrections made.  SC5 Secretariat to produce and publish a technical corrigendum.

CEN TC 310/WG1 held a meeting in Copenhagen on December 03/04 in which the draft of the work item on EMEIS (Enterprise Model Execution and Integration Services) was finalised. The convenor will submit it to CEN TC 310 for further processing. Next meeting at AFNOR, Paris, La Défense, on March 15 1999

Events

AIT Forum '98, Guyancourt/Paris, France, October 22/23 on results of the key projects from the AIT Initiative was organised by DG III and DG XII of the EU, Renault and the French Ministry of Economics, Finance and Industry and was attended by more than 200 people. Besides the key note presentations and those on project results, there were interesting sessions with representatives from French SMEs about net-worked enterprise. It appears that the technologies for such co-operations are in place but the general usage, without a few exceptions, is still lacking.

2nd Technology Ventures Congress, Glasgow, UK, October 29/30 was organised by Scottish Enterprises, Glasgow, UK and was attended by about 300 people about half of which were from industry, a significant proportion of which were SMEs. The congress focussed on technology transfer, presenting local, European and international transfer initiatives, success stories, visions from industrialists and a comprehensive analysis of the current state of industries and the educational system in view of global market developments. The congress demonstrated a well organised concept of technology transfer which is supported by a government agency (Technology Ventures, Scottish Enterprise) and involves all Scottish universities. Scottish Enterprise is the national economic development agency for Scotland. It employs 600 skilled professionals to provide a range of support for industry start-ups from University and for SMEs generally. For information see http://www.scotent.co.uk

Publications

Enterprise Engineering and Integration - Why and How', a primer on concepts, purpose and business value, has been published by the CIMOSA Association. The primer is a result of the Esprit project 21859, EI-IC. It summarises the main ideas, goals and bene-fits of enterprise engineering and integration in view of decision support and with emphasis on the new paradigms of extended, virtual and agile enterprises. The brochure presents the user view of enterprise engineering with its focus on the roles of users in enterprise modelling. It reports on the standardisation work on architectures for enterprise integration. The primer can be ordered from the CIMOSA Association.

Special Issue in Computers in Industry, about 20 papers have been received and reviewed for the issue on 'CIMOSA: CIM Open Systems Architecture - Evolution and Application in Enterprise Engineering and Integration'. The papers cover topics in evolution and applications of Enterprise Engineering and Integration, tools and infrastructures as well as standardisation. The special issue will be published in 2Q 1999.

Other Publications

Upcoming Events

Papers on project work of the CIMOSA Association will be presented at:

CIMOSA Promotion material

'Enterprise Engineering and Integration - Why and How', a primer on concepts, purpose and business value, CIMOSA Association, private publication.
'CIMOSA - a primer on key concepts, purpose and business value', and selected papers at CIMOSA web site www.cimosa.cnt.pl.

CIMOSA Literature

'CIMOSA - Open System Architecture for CIM'; ESPRIT Consortium AMICE, Springer-Verlag 1993, (ISBN 3-540-56256-7), (ISBN 0-387-56256-7)
'CIMOSA - Open System Architecture for CIM', Technical Baseline, Version 3.2; CIMOSA Association e.V., private publication 96/02/15.
'Enterprise Engineering and Integration: Building International Consensus'; Proceedings of ICEIMT'97 Intern. Conference on Enterprise Integration and Modelling Technology; Kosanke, K., Nell, J.G. (Eds.) Springer Verlag 1997, (ISBN 3-540-63402-9)

CIMOSA Association

The CIMOSA Association (COA) is a non-profit or-ganisation involved in promotion of Enterprise Engineering and Integration based on CIMOSA and its active support in national, European and international standardisation. COA members are industrial and research organisations.