Conformance Testing for XML-based STEP Conceptual Models

Abstract

ISO10303 STEP has been acknowledged by most of the industrial companies as the most important family of standards for the integration and exchange of product data under the manufacturing domain. The incremental use of XML as an effective format for STEP data exchange has increased the number of implementations of Application Protocols in global networked business environments, where organizations are willing to establish collaborative business practices integrating product data and business information. STEP defines a conformance testing methodology that, although developed for the validation of product data, can be extended to application in these hybrid industrial business environments. This paper proposes an innovative XML-based framework to implement it. The results have been validated under a real industrial scenario in the scope of an international research project.