7. 2GIRDIMPLEMENTATION: AMETADATABASE 135 7. 3 UNIQUE PROPERTIES OF THE GIRD MODEL 140 7. 3. 1 The Metadatabase As an Information Resources Lnctionary 140 7. 3. 2 The metadatabase as the GlobaVEnterprise Schema 142 8 THE GLOBAL QUERY SYSTEM 145 8. 1 MODEL ASSISTED GLOBAL QUERY 145 8. l. l The Need for Metadata Support 145 8. l. 2 User Interface for Query Formulation 147 8. 1. 3 Integrated Schema for Global Query 147 8. 2 THE CONCEPTUAL MODEL 148 8. 2. 1 The Goals 149 8. 2. 2 The Defmitive Model for Metadata Requirements 149 8. 3 THE EXECUTION MODEL 156 8. 3. 1 Model Traversal 156 8. 3. 2 Rule-Base Conversion 157 8. 4 ANALYSIS 159 8. 4. 1 Metadata Modeling vs. Schema Integration 159 8. 4. 2 Conceptual Evaluation of the MGQS A~h 100 9 ADAPTIVE CONCURRENT ARCHITECTURE 163 9. 1 CONCURRENT ARCHITECTURES FOR ADAPTIVE INTEGRATION 163 9. 2 ROPE: A NEW SOFTWARE METIIOD FOR ElM 167 9. 2. l The Model of ROPE 167 9. 2. 2 The Static Structure of ROPE 169 9. 2. 3 The Dynamic Structure of ROPE 173 9. 3 THE OPERATION OF ROPE 174 9. 3. 1 Rule Processing Operations 174 9. 3. 2 Knowledge Management Operations 176 9. 4 IMPLEMENTATION: ALABORATORYEIM 177 9. 5 SATISFACTION OF ElM REQUIREMENTS 180 10 MANUFACTURING INTEGRATION 183 10. 1 INFORMATION MANAGEMENT FOR MANUFACTURING ENTERPRISE INTEGRATION 183 10. 1.
There are two types of readers that will find this book useful: those who have an interest in the Metadatabase model as an integration technology, and those who also seek a general discussion on information system analysis and design. To this end, a general conceptual framework on enterprise integration and modeling is provided in the first chapter, and is used to tie together all of the remaining chapters of the book. The next two chapters present some basics and examples of systems analysis and design for enterprise modeling; which serve the purposes of general discussion on the subject as well as illustrating the modeling methods particular to the Metadatabase approach.The particular methods are discussed fully in Chapter 4. An overview of the Metadatabase Model is provided in Chapter 5 and illustrated with a 'paper demonstration' of a basic Metadatabase prototype in Chapter 6. The main technical elements of the model are presented in Chapters 7-9. The model is then applied to manufacturing in Chapter 10, where a core information model for implementing the Metadatabase approach to integration is also included.
Chapter 11 extends the Metadatabase technology into the realm of information visualization.The new user interface model developed can be applied to integrate the traditional management of information in an enterprise with new cyberspace applications such as electronic commerce. The Metadatabase model of enterprise information integration (for multiple systems) has been developed at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute under the sponsorships of Alcoa, Digital, GE, GM, and IBM (from 1986-1995 through the Computer-Integrated Manufacturing and the Adaptive Integrated Manufacturing Enterprises programs), the National Science Foundation (since 1991), Samsung (since 1995), and U.S. Army (since 1995). The technology is being developed into a product for Samsung and the Army. This is the first expository book on the topic.
