[XML-DEV Mailing List Archive Home] [By Thread] [By Date] [Recent Entries] [Reply To This Message] Re: RE: Caution using XML Schema backward- or forward-c ompati
> > When you say 'interoperability', you open a very deep can of system worms. > As has been asked many times on this list, what do you mean by > 'interoperability'? Last time I asked, the reply I got was something along > the lines of "well, Len, we ALL know what we mean by that; we don't have to > define it" but that sort of punt doesn't work in a standard and that > assumption is specious. My reply is still, "Data is portable. Systems > interoperate". Without a systemic definition, a standard promising > "interoperability" is guaranteed to fail without out-of-band definitions. > Without consolidation into a process-mediated contract/standard/spec, the > drift is inevitable. So now it comes down to the size of the system, its > role among systems of systems, and the different gaps emerging from > unforeseen applications of these. > Data is portable. Systems interoperate. That seems a good starting point for defining what interoperability is; how about: Interoperability can be said to exist in an exchange between systems when two parties managing systems that exchange and process data in an pre-agreed upon manner are also in agreement that the exchange and processing of the data is proceeding in the manner that was previously agreed upon. By this definition one sees that interoperability, as so many things are, exists in portions of a complex system. To determine the state of interoperability in a complex network of many parties there are different methods: 1. The internal network report: The degree of interoperability between any two systems in a series of exchanges is measured by the agreement of the parties managing the systems as to what portions of the exchange are functioning correctly; the data from all systems that return this data for measurement can be used to determine the general state of interoperability in the system. The factors of any interoperability measure is then: when does the network interoperate, when does it fail to interoperate, how much data about interoperability of the network are we missing? 2. The external network report: In many modern networks where interoperability is supposed to be taking place the internal network report is of little use, this can be for the following reasons: There is too much interoperability data missing for a reasonable analysis, the parties managing the systems that are doing the exchanges cannot reliably be ascertained or queried as to the interoperability of their systems, or there is no agreed upon system for putting the internal network report into action. In such a system interoperability cannot directly be determined but rather the chance that interoperability exists can be evaluated (with much argument and discussion as to the meaning of the evaluations), such a method involves inspection of the transports between the systems and examination of the data against an agreed upon set of standards that are supposed to achieve interoperability. In the cases where the data moving between the systems match specified requirements for that data it is assumed that there is a high chance of interoperability, in the cases where the data does not match specified requirements it is assumed that there is a less chance of interoperability, in the cases where it can not be accurately determined if the data matches or does not match there is an unknown chance of interoperability. This method can be, with lots of data-crunching power and with abilities to determine specifically what systems on the network are responsible for what data being exchanged[this second is not always doable in many types of networks], used to determine the chance of interoperability in two systems, including the chance of interoperability of two systems on the network that have as yet not exchanged data. The first may exist in an efficiently managed company. The second is I believe somewhat regularly, if imperfectly, implemented. Obviously one would prefer to determine the actual interoperability among the systems that take part in a network for data exchange, but most often we can only determine the chance of interoperability. Cheers, Bryan Rasmussen
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