Sammendrag
With the B2B data exchange becoming ubiquitous nowadays, automating as much as possible the exchange of data between collaborative enterprise systems is a key requirement for ensuring agile interoperability and scalability in B2B collaborations. Semantic differences and inconsistencies between conceptual models of the exchanged B2B data hinder agility, and ultimately the interoperability in B2B collaborations. In this paper we introduce a model-driven technique and prototype that support humans in reconciling the differences between the data models of the parties involved in a data exchange, and enable a high degree of automation in the end-to-end data exchange process. Our approach is based on the use of OMG Model-Driven Architecture (MDA) for abstracting platform-specific schemas and instances to platform-independent metamodels and models, specification of transformations at the platform-independent level, and generation of executable mappings for run-time data exchange. This paper presents the MDA-based data exchange framework we have developed, and focuses on the mapping metamodel and the generation of executable mappings from platform-independent transformations. Benefits of the proposed framework include the possibility of the mappings creator to focus on the semantic, object-oriented model behind the different platformspecific schemas and specify the mappings at a more abstract, semantic level, with both specification and execution of data mappings (i.e. design- and run-time mapping) provided in a single, unifying framework.