AP236-XML: A framework for integration and harmonization of STEP Application Protocols

Abstract

Today, organizations have to deal with the integration of applications across company borders, and must support collaboration of business processes between organizations in networked environments that are seamless, flexible and interoperable. This characteristic of horizontality, where one application embraces more than one domain of activity, is frequently found and raises the need for integration and cooperation between multiple standard application protocols and business objects. However, a standard for data representation cannot cove the whole range of activities one application needs to handle. This paper contributes by proposing a framework that supports interoperability in distributed heterogeneous networked environments, assisting in the integration of reference models described following dissimilar methodologies. This framework assists in the automatic mapping between ISO10303 STEP, UML and XML models. The proposed work results from research developed and validated in the scope of the IMS SMART-fm project (www.smart-fm.funstep.org, www.ims.org), involving partners from USA, Europe, Canada and Australia, using emerging approaches for modeling and technology.