AvaliaçãoInformation Architecture da Teoria and deEnterprise Sistemas Ontologies NormalizadosAn Enterprise Ontology naApproach Implementação for Defining the Enterprise Information de SI EvolutivosArchitecture Bernardo Silva Gomes André Filipe Saraiva Varela (Licenciado em Engenharia Informática e de Computadores) Dissertation for the degree of Master in Information Systems and Computer Engineering Dissertação para obtenção do Grau de Mestre em Engenharia Informática e de Computadores Jury Chair: Prof. José Tribolet Júri Presidente AAdviser: definir Prof. André Vasconcelos Orientador Prof. Doutor Carlos Nuno da Cruz Ribeiro Co-Orientador Prof.Co- DoutorAdviser: André Prof. Pedro Ferreira Sousa Ferrão Couto e Vasconcelos Co-Orientador Empresarial Eng. Gonçalo Caseiro Vogal Prof.Vowel António: Prof. Manuel Artur Caetano Ferreira Rito da Silva November 2011 Julho 2011 Abstract The role played by information in organizations is becoming increasingly important, since it is becoming clear its relevance as a basic background for Enterprise Architecture design and engineering. This is materialized in the Information Architecture, which represents the main information support for organizations, depicting and defining how is information defined and related among their environment. This architecture needs to be stable and consistent, since it is the main focus when organizations develop and manage their Information Systems. The way that this architecture is defined is still not well defined, since there are no major methodologies to apply. These architectures are actually developed taking in consideration the particular requirements for each organization, meaning that there are reference methodologies to be followed. The Portuguese Public Administration, being aware of that fact, wants to be well prepared regarding the information context, having a consistent Information Architecture to be used as a reference. Our work was initially framed in the development of such a Reference Information Architecture for the Portuguese Public Administration. However, and due to the lack of concrete methodologies to define the Information Architecture, we re-assigned our objectives in order to address this particular problem. Basing our approach on the Enterprise Ontologies theme, and using DEMO methodology as a starting point, we propose a methodology for defining the Enterprise Information Architecture. This methodology includes some major steps, including (1) applying the DEMO methodology in order to obtain its State Model, (2) applying two different mapping schemas (including ORM to UML mapping), in order to transform that State Model into an UML model, and (3) applying some complementary steps to adjust that UML model to an Information Architecture model. The proposed methodology is applied and discussed using two study cases. The first one is based in the related literature, and the second is framed in the Portuguese Public Administration context, in particular with the Balcão Perdi a Carteira service. Keywords: Enterprise Architecture, Information Architecture, Information Entities, Attributes, Relationships, Enterprise Ontologies, DEMO, Transactions, Data Modeling Mapping ii Resumo O papel da informação nas organizações tem-se vindo a tornar cada vez mais importante, devido ao facto da sua importância enquanto suporte fundamental para o desenho e engenharia da Arquitectura Empresarial. Tal facto é concretizado na Arquitectura de Informação, a qual representa o principal suporte de informação para as organizações, definindo e detalhando como é que esta informação definida e está relacionada no contexto do seu ambiente. Esta arquitectura necessita de ser estável e consistente, dado que é o principal foco de referencia no desenvolvimento e manutenção dos Sistemas de Informação. A forma como esta arquitectura é desenvolvida ainda não está claramente definida, uma vez que não existem metodologias para aplicar. Estas arquitecturas são actualmente desenvolvidas tendo em conta os requisitos particulares de cada organização, o que evidencia a falta de metodologias de referência a serem seguidas. A Administração Pública Portuguesa considera também este um factor determinante, pelo que quer garantir que está adequadamente preparada no contexto informacional, pretendendo ter uma Arquitectura Informacional de Referência. O nosso trabalho estava inicialmente enquadrado no desenvolvimento desta arquitectura de referência. No entanto, e dada a falta de metodologias concretas para a definição da Arquitectura Informacional, os objectivos foram revistos no sentido de abordar este problema. Baseando a nossa abordagem nas Ontologias Empresariais, e usando a metodologia DEMO como ponto de partida, propõe-se uma metodologia para a definição da Arquitectura Informacional. A metodologia proposta inclui alguns passos fundamentais, entre os quais se inclui (1) a aplicação da metodologia DEMO até se obter o State Model, (2) aplicar dois mapeamentos específicos (incluindo um mapeamento entre ORM e UML), de forma a transformar o State Model num modelo UML, e por último (3) a aplicação de passos complementares de forme a ajustar este modelo UML para um modelo de uma Arquitectura Informacional. A metodologia proposta é aplicada e discutida com base em dois casos de estudo. O primeiro é baseado num exemplo da literatura relacionada, enquanto que o segundo está contextualizado no seio da Administração Pública Portuguesa, em particular com o serviço Balcão Perdi a Carteira. Palavras-chave: Arquitectura Empresarial, Arquitectura Informacional, Entidades Informacionais, Atributos, Relações, Ontologias Empresariais, DEMO, Transacções, Mapeamento de Modelos de Dados iii Acknowledgments The process that is expressed in this dissertation was, for sure, the most challenging project I have faced so far in my life. It has been an year full of experiences. The results of this work would not be possible without the support of a numerous set of people that supported me during this trip. I want to express my deepest gratitude to my supervisor, Prof. André Vasconcelos, who gave me the opportunity to develop a work in such an interesting theme. I want to thank him for the innumerous meetings, the excess of emails and questions, and essentially for his patience and knowledge, which allowed me to find the best way to achieve the objectives. I thank him for everything. I thank my co-supervisor, Prof. Pedro Sousa, who also gave me an accurate support in critical stages of this dissertation. His advises were essential, and I thank him for that. I am also grateful to Prof. José Tribolet, who helped me understanding some key concepts for this dissertation. His endless knowledge allowed me to define my dissertation. I thank him for helping me defining the path to follow. I also need to thank to Prof. Artur Caetano and Prof. Jan Dietz, who both helped me in crucial moments of my dissertation, giving the necessary pointers to be able to move forward. I thank them for their availability to help. I also thank to AMA, especially to Eng. Maria João Marques, for their support. I thank them for the opportunity to have a consistent enterprise environment in which I was allowed to test my solution. I also thank them for their 100% availability during this process. I thank my colleagues, who accompanied me since my first day at university. I especially thank Emanuel, Johanson, Francisco, Alexandre Oliveira, João Cabral, Bruno Félix, Pedro Magalhães, Pedro Figueiredo, Alexandre Reis, and João Lima. I would never have reached this point without them, and I am in debt to all of them. I also thank to my long time friends, who have always supported me. I thank them for being there, and making this process much easier. I thank my family, especially my mother Hortense and my father Raul, for giving me the conditions and the opportunity to get to the end of this course. I also thank my brothers, grandparents, uncles and cousins, for all their support. Finally, I thank Mónica to whom I dedicate this thesis. I thank her for all the passed years, the endless patience, support and motivation. I thank her for ‘being there’ every single day, allowing me to reach the finish line. iv Table of Contents List of Figures ....................................................................................................................................................... viii List of Tables ............................................................................................................................................................ x List of Acronyms ..................................................................................................................................................... xi Notation .................................................................................................................................................................. xii Chapter 1: Introduction ............................................................................................................................................ 1 1.1 Motivation .................................................................................................................................................................... 2 1.2 Document Structure ..................................................................................................................................................... 3 1.3 Summary .....................................................................................................................................................................