[[TracNav(TracNav/ISO15926Primer)]] = Getting Started with ISO 15926 = Status of this document: Working Draft This document is open for feedback, please post questions and comments in the forum at the bottom of this page. You will [wiki:WikiStart#Contactpoints need a login] to post in the forum. ---- [[PageOutline(2-4,Contents,inline)]] == Abstract == Implementing ISO 15926 at the introductory end is relatively simple, with proven tools. Many organizations are realizing business benefits today. At the top end, ISO 15926 is evolving quickly, with new tools and implementation methods being developed, more or less, as we speak. This section proposes ideas for analyzing the information interoperability needs at your organization and planning the implementation of ISO 15926. ---- The purpose of this section is to give you a roadmap for implementing ISO 15926 at your organization. Of necessity, the roadmap will not be a single direct route to a single end-point. This means that you can start with limited goals, say, to map two interacting applications together using ISO 15926 part 4 (15926-4). Later on you can work up to a full 15926-9 façade. So this section will not be like a route map from your travel agent showing the shortest route from your house to the beach. Instead it will be more like a roadmap of the entire countryside. For instance, if you lived in London, England and wanted to go the beach at Cannes, an easy way would be to take the Eurostar to the Gare de Nord train station in Paris, transfer to the Gare de Lyon, then take the train à grande vitesse (TGV) to Cannes. On the other hand, if you channeled Rowan Atkinson and took a side road you would have a much more interesting journey. [[Image(GettingStarted_Cannes.JPG, 500px)]] '''Figure 1 - A More Interesting Route to the Beach''' == ISO 15926 Roadmap == The goal of ISO 15926 is to remove ambiguity. Data exchanges operate better when ambiguity is eliminated. But removing ambiguity between information sharing partners can be labor intensive. Thus, the higher the ambiguity, the higher the cost to implement effective and efficient data exchanges. [[Image(GettingStarted_Map.JPG, 300px)]] '''Figure 2 - ISO 15926 Roadmap''' ---- == Getting Ready == With the exception of the first step, "Read the Friendly Manual", most of this isn't in a precise order. We suggest you start with something simple, and internal to your company. === Read the Primer === Well, actually, you're already reading it. But in case you linked directly to this page, start at the beginning. Select the "Primer Introduction" link in the big green box in the upper right hand corner of this page. It is important to understand that ISO 15926 is a fundamentally different approach to making machines able to talk to each other and convey meaning. In the past we've viewed machine-to-machine communication as a technology problem, building more powerful processors, or writing more artful code. But we ran into the wall of not knowing how to handle the information. ISO 15926 sidesteps the powerful chips and Machiavellian code and focuses on modeling information. === Make a Map of Your System Landscape === You will need to know all the individual software applications your organization uses, where they get their input from, and where their output goes. Show all of the information exchanges. Your most important applications will probably already be mapped together either with custom programming or commercial middleware. Other information exchanges might be made manually with manual keyin every time, or exchange files in a neutral format, or perhaps ad hoc software. Show all of them, even if they seem to be working properly. === Join FIATECH or POSC Caesar - Get Involved in a Project === Right now (this is being written in the late winter of 2009) is a good time to join FIATECH or POSC Caesar. ISO 15926 is being developed right now. The developers are accessible. If you join, there will be people to assist you getting up to speed. Along with getting help, you may end up helping others, too. This is a good thing. Outside of working on ISO 15926 many of us are competitors, so the natural tendency is too horde information. But if we cooperate, then interoperability of information gets easier, projects become easier, and as projects become easier and cheaper, the owners (who in the end, pay for everything) will be able to do more. The pie gets bigger. ---- == Build a Business Case == The very first line in this Primer explains why we need ISO 15926: ''So we can exchange complex plant and project information easier and cheaper.'' So if ISO 15926 actually accomplishes this, it shouldn't be too difficult to build a business case. Here are some ideas: * Look at your system landscape. * Which applications are linked? * What could you do differently if more of them, or all of them, were able to exchange information easily? * What does it cost your organization to maintain the existing links between applications? * Is your organization forgoing opportunities to upgrade individual applications because doing so may break links to other applications? All of these questions lead to justification to implement ISO 15926. Basically, you are counting the cost, in both financial and business efficiency terms, of the status quo. You will likely end up with something in one of the following categories: * Increase Reliability - For instance, if your current method of interoperability requires manually rekeying information between applications. If you map your applications to ISO 15926-4 they will be able to exchange information automatically. * Saving Money - For instance, if you have to repeatedly map one application to other applications. If you use ISO 15926 you only have to map it once more. * Saving Time - For instance, if you repeatedly have to map applications to other, external, applications in a short period of time. If you map to ISO 15926, the application will be ready to exchange information with any other ISO 15926-compliant application. * Reduce Maintenance - For instance, if you currently use custom maps to move information between applications and you have to continually revise the maps because of version changes in the linked application software. If, instead, you map each application to ISO 15926-4 and the application changes, you will only have to revise the map to ISO 15926-4, none of the other maps will have to change. * Interoperability of Internal Applications - For instance, if your organization runs many proprietary applications that have to talk to each other, instead of mapping each of them together one pair at a time, map each to ISO 15926. * Experience - For instance, if you anticipate having to implement ISO 15926 in the future, you can do a small project to map two applications together using ISO 15926-4. You will learn enough to be able to judge the impact of implementing ISO 15926 on a larger scale. ---- == Decide What To Do == === Choose an Information Flow to Automate === Look for an opportunity to improve an information exchange by using ISO 15926. Preferably, the entire information exchange should be within your organization, as opposed to automating an exchange with a business partner. Choose something simple to start with if you have a choice. A good place to start is mapping applications together using ISO 15926 Part 4 (ISO 1596-4). Here are three examples: * [wiki:ISO15926Primer_GettingStarted_Automate Automate a Manual Exchange] * [wiki:ISO15926Primer_GettingStarted_Encapsulate Encapsulate an Application] * [wiki:ISO15926Primer_GettingStarted_Decouple Decouple an Application from a Confederation of Applications] The scope of implementing IOS 15926 is represented by the little red "ISO 15926" parallelogram in each diagram. But what you actually do depends on the level of compliance you choose. With each level, you will be doing something different. === Gather Application Information === Dig into each application. * Document the schema - catalogue what's there. * Do this for the information that has to move, not necessarily everything. * Cover any special requirements. For instance, uncover any relationships that have to be maintained. Understand them all. === Choose a Level of Compliance === Refer to Figure 2, above. The tools for building full compliance are getting easier all the time, but we suggest you start at an easy level. The work you invest at the easy level will not be wasted when you continue to full compliance later. ---- == Introductory Level: Getting Your Feet Wet == The objective is to map two applications together using the definitions in ISO 15926 Part 4. [wiki:SO15926Primer_GettingStarted_FeetWet Getting Your Feet Wet with ISO 15926] ---- == Something In Between == ... ... ---- == Implement a Complete Façade == The objective is to implement a full ISO 15926 Façade. [wiki:SO15926Primer_GettingStarted_Facade Implement a Façade] ---- == Further Down the Road == === Play with RDS/WIP === Understand the purpose of RDS/WIP. Look at the classes that are there Look at the types and subtypes To know how deep to model, match the legacy system. For instance, to move an instrument list you may only need the class of instruments, not every subtype. It depends on how the legacy system at each end holds them. But the legacy system at each end may not be at the same level. While one application may only use the base class, the other may you subclasses. Most of the steps will be the same as they would have been without ISO 15926, you will just be modeling the information to ISO 15926 standards. === See What Existing Models Are Available === ... ... === Use the Ontology Browser === Use the ontology Browser to examine content to see if the mapping is correct. ... ... == Acknowledgements == Thanks to Robin Benjamins for the drawing Figure 2 is based on. ---- [[ViewTopic(ISO15926Primer_GettingStarted)]]