Introduction
Dear Colleagues,
Having joined this list and participated in a few discussion, I think I
should introduce myself, since I am probably not known to most of you.
My name is Matthew West and I work for Shell in the UK (I have done for 20+
years). My background is in Chemical Engineering, but this was always IT
based, and for the last 15 years I have been working in the field of
Information Management with a special interest in data modelling.
In the early nineties I was principally responsible for developing "best
practice" guidance for data modelling in the Shell Group. This included a
multi-dimensional "generic framework", which I guess you would describe as
an "upper ontology". This has been widely used in Shell, and is still very
much in use today.
The ideas from the generic framework have been carried into the
standardisation arena. There is a considerable need for standardisation of
information in the Process Industry, and my background in engineering and
information management lead to my involvement in this arena. This work has
been carried out in EPISTLE (European Process Industries STEP Technical
Liaison Executive) http://www.stepcom.ncl.ac.uk/epistle and ISO TC184/SC4 -
Industrial Data http://www.cme.nist.gov/sc4.
Some of the standards I have been involved in include:
- ISO 10303 STEP (STandard for the Exchange of Product model data)
- ISO 15926 Data Sharing and Integration for Oil and Gas (At CD)
- ISO 18876 IIDEAS (Integration of Industrial Data for Exchange Access and
Sharing. (at NWI)
http://www.pdtsolutions.co.uk/iideas
The Shell generic framework was taken as a start point for the EPISTLE
Framework, later known as the EPISTLE Core Model (ECM) which in turn is the
basis for ISO 10303-221 and ISO15926-2. Again, these models have been used
in practice, supported by domain ontologies for Process Plant design. The
current version is ECM V3.1, and this is a considerable expansion and
improvement on the original Shell Framework. I am one of the members of the
modelling team. Again, this model has been used in anger to deliver benefits
in an industrial context.
In 1995 SC4 set up WG10 - Technical Architecture (I am Deputy Convenor) to
look at a number of difficult problems that STEP and the other standards
being developed. These included particularly looking at why the different
standards being developed were not necessarily compatible with each other.
Even different parts of STEP were not necessarily interoperable. I became
project leader for the Preliminary Work Item project "SC4 Data
Architecture".
At about this time I was introduced to some recent developments in
Metaphysics (by Chris Partridge and Nicola Guarino) and started an
investigation into the advances in Metaphysics over the last 200 or so
years. This has been very fruitful, and the SC4 Data Architecture PWI is in
the process of developing a new generation framework. One result of this PWI
is ISO 18876 which has just passed its NWI ballot for Part 1 - Introduction
and Architecture, and Part 2 - Integration and Mapping Methodology.
(By the way, the architecture document - a draft of which can be found at
the IIDEAS web site above - is what I think an architecture for the SUO
should look like. I.e. it shows the shape/outline of the model/ontology
itself and how to integrate different ontologies into it, rather than an
implementation architecture for an ontology.)
All the data models I have indicated above were created using an Entity
Relationship language, most of them in EXPRESS (ISO10303-11). However, there
are some underlying limitations in E-R that were proving difficult for
developing a high level integration model, in particular the inability to be
able to indicate that one entity type is a member (not subtype) of another.
This has lead to developing a modelling language called EXIST (EXpression of
Information based on logic and Set Theory). This is broadly similar to KIF
and Conceptual Graphs, but supports higher order logic. We are close to
having a prototype implementation.
That's the story so far.
My interest here is to learn more of what is going on "on the other side of
the hill" and to discover what level of agreement is possible in
establishing an upper level ontology.
Regards
Matthew
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Matthew West
Operations & Asset Management
Shell Services International
H3229, Shell Centre, London, SE1 7NA, UK.
Tel: +44 207 934 4490 Fax: 7929
Exchange e-mail: Matthew.R.West@is.shell.com
Compuserve e-mail: Matthew_West@compuserve.com
http://www.shellservices.com/
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