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DeveloptheOntologyforInternetCommercebyReusingExistingStandardsYuxiaoZHAODeptofComputerandInformationScience,LinkpingUniversity,S-58183,Linkping,SWEDENyuxzh@ida.
liu.
sehttp://www.
ida.
liu.
se/~yuxzh/AbstractThispaperattemptstopresentanapproachtodeveloptheontologyforInternetcommercebyreusingthevocabularyfromtheexistingstandards,industryinitiativesorXML-basedframeworks.
Theapproachallowsontologydeveloperstosharethecommonvocabularyandbuilditfromasolidfoundation.
Thepaperincludestwomaincontributions:1.
anapproachtodeveloptheontologyforthedomainofInternetcommerce;2.
theguidelinesaboutwhatvocabularycanbereusedfromtheexistingstandards.
1.
IntroductionOntologyisthekeyenablerinthetechnologyofsemanticWeb(SW).
TodevelopapplicationsofSWforInternetcommerce,wewillfirsthavetobuildthewell-craftedontology1forthedomaintofacilitateSWadoption(Euzenat2002).
Theontologydemandsatleasttworequirements:1.
Aformalontologylanguageisnecessary,forinstance,Webontologylanguage(OWL),DAML+OIL(McGuinnessetal2002),XMLSchemaorRDF2.
W3CisdevelopingOWL,anditssuccesswillsignificantlyeasetheproblem.
2.
Itneedstofosterinteroperability,Ontologicalcommitmentisimportant.
Itistheagreementbymultipleparties(personandsoftwaresystems)toadoptaparticularontologywhencommunicatingaboutthedomainofinterest,eventhoughttheydonotnecessarilyhavethesameexperiences,theories,orprescriptionsaboutthatdomain(HolsappleandJoshi2002).
1TheontologyinthispaperindicatestheontologyforthedomainofInternetcommerce.
2GilandRadnakar(2002)comparedthreekindsofsemanticmarkuplanguages,XML,RDF(ResourceDescriptionFramework)andDAML+OIL(DARPAAgentMarkupLanguage+OntologyInferenceLayer).
ForpracticalreasonstheirconclusionistouseXMLSchemafordevelopinguser-orientedtoolsoperatingoverthesemanticWeb.
Tomeetthesecondrequirement,theontologyengineersshouldprobablyconsiderthereuse.
Therearetwotypesofontologyreuses,onebeingdirectreusefromexistingontologylibrary3,andtheotherbeingreusefromexistingvocabulary4.
Eitherwaywillsaveagreatdealofeffortsandtimecomparedtobuildingtheontologyfromscratch.
WeattempttoprovideanapproachtodeveloptheontologyforInternetcommercebyreusingexistingindustrystandards,orXML-basedframeworksfocusingontheintegrationissuesinInternetcommerce(Zhao2001).
Further,wetrytoanswerwhatvocabularycanbereusedandhowtoreusethem.
Thispaperisorganizedasfollows:Section2describestheapproachfortheontologydevelopment.
Section3addresseshowtocapturethevocabularyandhowtoreusethem.
Section4concludesthepaperandidentifiesthefutureresearch.
2.
AnapproachtodeveloptheontologyforInternetcommerceThissectionistopresenttheapproachfordevelopingtheontologybyreusingXML-basedstandards.
Figure1showstheprocessestodeveloptheontologyfortheInternetcommerce:Applicationsinthetopboxrepresenttheprogramswearedeveloping.
OntologyRequirementsaretoservefortheapplicationsoperatinginanontology-sharingcommunity.
Basedontheontologyrequirements,VocabularyCaptureisamethodforcollectingthesetofrelatedconceptsbyreusingthestandards,whichmayincludestandardssuchasXMLSchema(XSD),RDF/RDFS(RDFSchema),ISO(InternationalOrganizationforStandards)standards,ANSI(AmericaNational3SuchasDAMLontologylibrary:http://www.
daml.
org/ontologies/.
4OntologyinthesemanticWebistheformalspecificationofconceptsandrelationshipsbetweenthem.
Thevocabularyisthesetoftheconcepts.
StandardsInstitute)standards,andUBL(UniversalBusinessLanguage),xCBL(XMLCommonBusinessLanguage),OAGIS(OpenApplicationsGroupInterfaceSpecification),andRosettaNet.
Inthenextsectiontheprocessisfurtherdiscussedindepth.
OntologyEnhancementsaretomodifysomeconceptsandaxiomstomeetcustomizedrequirementsandaddsomeotherrequirementsthatwehavenotcoveredbutofwhichtheapplicationsdodemand.
SowedemandsomeontologytoolslikeProtégé-2000(Noyetal2001),whichsupporttheontologylanguageweprefer.
Ofcourse,theproducedOntologyDocumentsshouldbevalidatedandverifiedtoshowwhetheritmeetstheapplicationsrequirements.
TheapproachreusesexistingXML-basedstandardsandithastheadvantageofleveragingavarietyofbestpracticeandexpertknowledgethatthestandardsdependon,forinstance,naminganddesignconventions,theformoftheconcepts,relationshipmodeling,taxonomy,typedefinitions.
Comparedtobuildingtheontologyfromscratch,wecouldsaveagreatdealoftimeandmoneybutproducetheontologywithhigherinteroperabilitythatwillprobablybeneededinthefuture.
Theadvantagewillbecomeincreasinglyobviouswiththegrowthoftheontologysize.
Sincewewilldeterminetheextenttowhichwereusethestandardsatthestartoftheontologydevelopment,theconcernaboutreusewillnotoverlyinfluenceourchoiceofontologytoolsandformaldevelopmentprocesses.
Wemayforexamplechoosenothinginthestartandthencomebackfromthefollowingprocesses.
Figure1:TheprocessesofdevelopingtheontologyforInternetcommerceApplicationsOntologyRequirementsVocabularyCaptureOntologyDocumentsOntologyEnhancementsXSDRDF(s)ISOANSIRosettaNetOAGISxCBLUBL/ebXML3.
VocabularyCapture3.
1AvailablestandardstobeusedOurresearcheshaverealizedthatthereexistmanyindustryinitiatives,orXML-basedframeworksforInternetcommerce,whicharereallyvaluableforbuildingtheontology.
ZhaoandSandahl(2000)comparedthosemajorframeworksthatwereactiveatthattime,i.
e.
,Microsoft'sBizTalk,Ariba'scXML(CommerceXML),Commerce.
net'seCoFramework,IDEAlliance'sICE(InformationandContentExchange)protocol,IOTP(InternetOpenTradingProtocol)inIETF(InternetEngineeringTaskForce),OpenApplicationGroup'sOAGIS,RosettaNet'sPIPs(PartnerInterfaceProcesses),andCommerceOne'sxCBL.
Zhao(2001)furtheraddressedothereightemergingframeworksfocusingonB2Be-business,i.
e.
,ebXML(e-businessXML),UDDI(UniversalDefinition,Discovery,andIntegration),SOAP(SimpleObjectAccessProtocol),WSDL(WebServicesDescriptionLanguage),RDF,OFX(OpenFinancialeXchange),VoiceXML,andWf-XML(WorkflowXML).
Ourresearchdemonstratedthatallframeworksinvolvedifferenttypesofvocabularythatwetrytoreuseintheontologydevelopment.
Table1showstheseframeworks'functionality,whichisneededinthedevelopmentofInternetcommerce.
LastcolumninTable1denotestheemphasisofvocabularyintheframeworks.
Wecanfindsevenframeworkshaveheavyvocabularyinvolvement,i.
e.
,ebXML,cXML,ICE,OAGIS,RosettaNet,UBLandxCBL.
Ourlatestresearchindicatesthatfourframeworkstendtohavehigherpossibilityofcontributingtotheontology,i.
e.
,xCBL,UBL(UniversalBusinessLibrary),RosettaNetandOAGIS(seeTable2).
WedropICEprotocolbecauseitfocusesoninformationsyndicationanddropcXMLbecauseitgivesmoreproprietarysolutionsforitse-procurementsoftwareanditsinfluenceonthereuseisrelativelylow.
OASIS(TheOrganizationfortheAdvancementofStructuredInformationStandards)initiatedUBLprojectlaterthanotherframeworksbutsomecharacteristicsmakeitsubstantiallyimportantinthefuture,e.
g.
,itsneutrality,takeoverofUDDI,offeringBIEs(BusinessInformationEntities)forebXML,aswellasitsbasisonexistingframeworkslikexCBL.
Table1:XML-basedframeworksandtheirfunctionality(Zhao2001)NameRegistrySearchContractingConfigurationMessagingSyntax&SemanticsVocabularyebXMLXXXXXXXeCoFrameworkXXXxUDDIXXXxxSOAPXxxBizTalkXxxcXMLXXXICEXXXOAGISXxXRosettaNetXxXOFXXxxVoiceXMLXxxRDFXxUBLXXWSDLXxWf-XMLXxxCBLXX---majorconcentrationX---involvedTable2:VocabularyinfourindustryinitiativesInitiativexCBLUBLRosettaNetOAGISHyperlinkwww.
xcbl.
org/xCBL4.
0www.
oasis-open.
org/committees/ubl/www.
rosettanet.
orgBusinessDictionary2.
1TechnicalDictionary(RNTD2.
0)www.
openapplciations.
orgOpenApplicationsGroup,OAGIS8.
0PlayersCommerceOne,Inc.
OASISebXMLRosettaNetConsortium,asubsidiaryofUCC(UniversalCodeCouncil)MostmembersarevendorsofERP,EAIandSCMGoalsTodevelopXMLdocumentsandframeworktoallowinteroperabilitybyexchangingrobust,reusable,XMLdocuments.
Itessentiallyservesasthe"mothercode,"toletallparticipantscanunderstand.
TomodifyanexistingXMLlibrary(xCBL)forebXMLCoreComponentsandtodesignamechanismtogeneratecontext-specificbusinessschemasbyxPath.
Aimsatintegrationbetweensupplychainpartners,transactionconsistencyandtheeliminationofcommunicationsinefficienciesinelectroniccomponent,informationtechnologyandsemiconductormanufacturingcompanies.
todefineaunifyingstandardfore-BusinessandApplicationinteroperability.
ItisthelargestpublisherofXMLbasedcontentforbusinesssoftwareinteroperabilityintheworld.
FocusDefinecommondatatypesfore-procurementDevelopthestandardlibraryandthemechanismDefinePIPs(PartnerInterfaceprocesses)andrelateddictionaryDefinesBODs(BusinessObjectDocument)&modelsanyinteractionasaVERBandNOUNVocabularyTypeXSD(XMLSchema)XSD;UML(UnifiedModelingLanguage);SpreadsheetXSDXSD;XSLT(XMLStylesheetLanguageTransformation);XPathVocabularyInclusionCore;Catalogue;Applicationintegration;Ordermanagement;Preordermanagement;Financial;Materialmanagement;Messagemanagement;Statisticsandforecasting.
Corelibrary:UBLTradingCycleWillinclude:Vendormanagedinventory;Self-billing;MasterOrderandCalloffs;PriorQuoteRequest&Quotation;InternationalTraderequiringMulti-party;Transportation;HireTrade.
Technicaldictionary(www.
rntd.
info/draft/):productclassificationBusinessdictionary2.
1:BusinessDataEntities;BusinessProperties;FundamentalBusinessDataEntities.
CRM(CustomerRelationshipManagement);Contracts;CoreComponents;HRXML(HumanResourceXML);ProductDataCollaboration;Logistics;Warranty.
FormasexampleoforderSimpleType:OrderTypeCodeTypePaymentTermCodeTypeRequestedResponseCodeTypeServiceCodeTypeComplextType:OrderTypeTypePaymentTermTypeRequestedResponseTypeServiceLevelTypeUBLTradingCycle:OrderOrderResponse(simple)OrderResponse(complex)OrderCancellationDispatchAdviceReceiptAdviceInvoiceBusinessDataEntities:OrderConfirmationOrderForecastOrderForecastItemOrderInformationOrderLeadTimeOrderNumberInformationOrderQuantityOrderReferenceOrderShippingInformationOrderShippingInstructionOrderStatusOrderStatusQuantityBusinessProperties:OrderCountryOrderDateTimeOrderForecastQuantityFundamentalBusinessDataEnti-ties:OrderForecastQuantityTypeCodeAbstracts:Verbs(Acknowledge,Get,Post,etc),Nouns(PurchaseOrder,Credit,Receipt,etc).
BODs,e.
g.
AcknowledgePurchaseOrder.
Manyscenarios(e.
g.
12.
0PurchaseOrderProcess)aredefinedbyaspectsofscenariosdiagram,assumption,componentdefinition,businessworkflow,exceptionhandling.
SpecialSpecialCoreReusableGeneralCore3.
2ReuseisnotsosimpleReusingthestandardsistheoreticallynotdifficult.
Forexample,wecanusesomequerylanguageandlogiccombinationssuchasintersectionanduniontosearchwhatwewant.
Unfortunately,theyarenotavailableindatabases;instead,theyResideindistributedWebsitessettingdifferentaccesspolicy.
ForOAGIS,wehavetoregisterfirst,downloadthezippedfile,unzipit,andreadtheunzippedfilesviaabrowser.
ForxCBL,wedon'tneedtoregisterpersonalinformationbutwedirectlyaccesstothemviaitsWebsite.
ForUBL,thereisnoformallibraryforthevocabulary,insteadtherearemanydocumentstodiscussthemechanismandmethodologyhowtocreatethevocabulary,showingitisintheinitialstage1.
ForRosettaNet,youhavetoacceptthelicenseconditionsfirst,thendownload-unzip-readtheunzippedfileslocally.
Usedifferentdata/documentmodeling,i.
e.
,xCBLusesapragmaticwaytoabstractthedocumentsfore-procurementsoftwaredevelopment.
UBListryingtoapplydocumentengineeringanddata-centricwayandcategorizeanydocumentascontent,structureandpresentation,consideringxCBLandstandardsfromISOandUNforebXMLCoreComponents.
RosettaNetconsidersproductclassificationintechnicaldictionarybesidesbusinessentitiesandtheirproperties.
OAGISmodelsanyintegrationscenarioasthecombinationofaverbandanounsuchasGetReceipt.
Usedifferentschema(typesandconstraintsoffiles)tospecifytheirvocabularyand/orrelationships,althoughXMLSchemahasbeenunanimouslyused.
UBLisstillininitialstagewhileotherthreekindsofvocabularyareupdatingfrequently.
WeshowedthelatestversionoftheframeworksinTable2.
Therefore,theproblemhasactuallybeentransformedintoknowledgemergingandacquisition,thatis,queryingmultiple,access-constrained,form-differedanddistributedWebsources,whichcanbechallenging.
Thisresearchisnottosolvethisproblembuttocompareandcontrastthevocabularyintheseframeworks,categorize,analyzeand1ForthelatestUBLversion,0p70,publishedonJan27,2003,thereisacorelibrary.
Toaccesstoit,youhavetodownloadthezippedfile,unzipitandreadthemviaabrowser-thiscouldbeageneralpatternforaccessingtosuchahugesource.
structurethem,andthenpresentthelayeredvocabularyforreuse.
3.
3LayeredvocabularyforreuseWefindthatsomevocabularyrepresentsgeneralbusinessinformation,documents,activities,processesandinteractions,andthushashigherusefrequency,whileothervocabularyisspecializedandnotoftenused.
Layeredvocabularyreflectstheclassificationofthevocabulary.
Figure2showsthelayers.
ThedarkcirclesignifiesCorevocabularythatprobablyisthemostfrequentlyusedinInternetcommerceapplications.
CorevocabularymayreusesomeGeneralvocabulary,whichisverygeneralforapplicationsofvariousfields.
Reusablevocabularyrepresentssomerelativelyspecializedcommunity,butitalsocanbereuseinthesecommunities.
SpecialvocabularyisextremelycustomizedforonecommunitybasedonSpecialand/orCorevocabulary.
Figure2:ThelayersandrelationshipsofthecommonvocabularyforInternetcommerceAsweunderstandthelayers,wegofurthertoanswertwoimportantquestions:(1)whatcontentsshouldbeincludedineachlayerAnd(2)whichframeworkscanbereusedforthemOurresearchshowsthatbesidesXML,XMLSchemaandRDF/RDFs,whichcanbedirectlyused,thefollowingcomponentsshouldbeaddressedinGeneralvocabulary,whichwillbereusedmorebroadly:DateandTime:ISO8601;RosettaNet;OAGISCurrency:ISO4217;OAGISGeographysuchasCountry:ISO3166;OAGISLanguage(speaking):ISO639Quantity:RosettaNet;OAGISAddress:NameandAddressMarkupLanguage(NAML);RosettaNet;OAGISCorevocabularyshouldinclude:Stakeholder(ownership,manager):RosettaNetOrganization(type,manager,middlemanager,personnel):RosettaNet;OAGISHumanResourcemanagement:OAGIS;RosettaNetService:RosettaNetfortraditionalservices;DAML-S(DSC2002)forWebservicesCatalog(price,product,database,etc):UBL;xCBL,RosettaNet;OAGISMaterialManagement(inventory,hardware,software,equipment,part,component,maintenance,etc):xCBL;UBL;RosettaNet;OAGISProcurement(PurchaseOrderorPO,POrequest,POresponse,POchange,etc):UBL;xCBL;RosettaNet;OAGIS;cXMLPayment(invoice,credit,confirmation,deadline,security,etc):xCBL;UBL;RosettaNet;OAGISAccounting(account,ledgerreports,etc):xCBL,OAGIS;RosettaNetMarketing/sales(brand,advertising,customer,user,etc):OAGIS;RosettaNetProductdata:RosettaNet;OAGIS;UN/SPSC1offersstandardizedproductsandservicescodesusingfivelayersofSegment,Family,Class,CommodityandBusinessFunctionCustomerdata:xCBL:UBL;OAGIS;RosettaNetStatistics:UBL;xCBL;RosettaNet;OAGISSecurityPrivacyReusablevocabularyshouldinclude:Transport(statusrequest,shipping,etc):UBL;OAGIS;RosettaNetContracting(form,signature,execution,evaluation,etc):RosettaNet;OAGIS1Seehttp://www.
unspsc.
org/Projectmanagement(goal,budget,personnel,schedule,status,change,process,etc):OAGISMiddlemen(subcontractor,serviceprovider,etc):RosettaNet;OAGISQuality(ISOstandards,certificate,etc):ISO;RosettaNetIndustry:RosettaNetofferstechnicaldictionaryinindustryofelectroniccomponent,ITandsemiconductor;manyindustryinitiativescoexist2.
Specialvocabularycanbebuiltonthebasisofthecommonvocabularyandcanbeextendedintermsof:Geographiccharacteristic(climate,political,legal,habitualdifferences)Context(merger,spin-off,financialconditions)Businessstrategy4.
ConclusionsandfutureworkThispaperprovidesanapproachtodeveloptheontologyforInternetcommercebyreusingXML-basedstandardsorindustryinitiatives.
WeaddressnearlyallinfluentialinitiativesthatwecanreuseforInternetcommerce,inparticular,fourstandards,UBL,xCBL,OAGISandRosettaNet,willbecomeveryimportant.
Wealsocategorizethevocabularyintofourlayersandrelatedstandardsforeasyreuse.
ThefourlayersarecalledGeneral,Core,ReusableandSpecial.
Forfutureresearch,weplantoidentifyallCorevocabularytobuildtheCoreontologyusingOWLorDAML+OILforpracticaluse.
ThenwetesttheontologybydevelopingsomeapplicationsforInternetcommerceinordertoevaluatetheadvantagesofSWinthisdomain.
ZhaoandSandahl(2003)identifiedseveralapplicationssuchassemanticrouting.
Inaddition,weconsiderdesigningsomemodelsandimplementingsometoolstoeasethestandardsreuse.
AcknowledgementsTheauthorwouldliketoacknowledgeKristianSandahl,AngelaYongandtwoanonymousreviewersforvaluablecomments.
ThisworkhasbeenfundedbySSF(SwedishStrategicFoundations)throughECSEL(ExcellenceCenterinComputerScienceandSystemsEngineering),LinkpingUniversity,Sweden.
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