Semantic Web-Based Information Systems: State-of-the-Art ...

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Figure 11. Overview of the ECMIF methodology
A meta-framework that offers a methodology, modeling language, and prototype tools
for all e-commerce users to achieve secure interoperability of the service, regardless
of system platforms and without major adjustments of existing systems.
An important premise of the project is the following definition of interoperability:
Interoperability, as seen from the business point of view, takes place when the business
effects for the two involved enterprises are the same as if each of them were
conducting a given business process with a partner using the same e-commerce
framework.
The ECIMF project has built on the experiences from projects, such as ebXML
(n.d.), UN/CEFACT Unified Modeling Methodology (n.d.), RosettaNet (n.d.), BizTalk
(n.d.), and various Web services initiatives. An extended version of Conzilla
has been used as an experimental platform for the project. The extensions were
constructed specifically in order to support the conceptual calibration methodology
that was described previously.
The ECIMF makes use of three different types of models: semantic, dynamic, and
syntactic. For each e-commerce system involved, these models are constructed in
a top-down manner, combined with an iterative process of refining the higher-level
models, based on the additional information gathered in the process of modeling the
lower levels, as shown in the left part of Figure 11. Here, we will illustrate briefly
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