JP2005063261A - Data linkage rule generation system and method, and computer program - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To introduce a system capable of significantly reducing the man-hours and period required for creating a data linkage rule used for linking a plurality of business systems and quickly linking data between business systems.
A data collaboration rule generation system 10 includes business model definition information including information indicating conceptual data collaboration used in each modeled business, and conceptual data used in the modeled business. Correspondence of data linked between the business systems 40a-n based on the system physical specification mapping definition information indicating the correspondence between the data and the data used in the business systems 40a-n that process the modeled business Generates system linkage rule definition information indicating attachment. The data control system 50 links the data of the business systems 40a to 40n using the generated system linkage rule definition information.
[Selection] Figure 1

Description

  The present invention relates to a data linkage rule generation system and method for generating information used to link data between a plurality of business systems, and a computer program.

  Conventionally, business systems such as internal / external information systems that have been utilized in companies are often set in business units. These business systems are individually developed, and each stores and stores data associated with the business. However, in the series of business flows, inefficiency occurs due to duplicate registration of the same data in different business operations, and at the same time, the actual data values differ between business systems, resulting in quality degradation. . Therefore, an attempt is made to solve this problem by reusing data once registered between different business systems by other business systems. These are called data linkage (integration).

On the other hand, Patent Document 1 discloses a system linkage definition method that divides a business process definition and an inter-application data linkage definition and notifies only the workflow related data to the workflow management system so that the application can be easily replaced. Yes.
JP 2002-132503 A

When developing a system for performing data linkage between the business systems described above, the following methods are generally adopted.
(1) Define the flow of existing work and the flow of data as they are as a physical model, and examine the direction of how they are physically linked.
(2) Analyze all the business systems you have and understand their specifications.
(3) Based on the result of (2), identify which data (single or plural data) is exchanged between business systems in which cooperation occurs. It also analyzes what conversions are required between business systems.
(4) Summarize the results of (1) to (3) as specifications for data linkage between business systems.
(5) The result of (4) is registered in an EAI or ETL (Extract Transform load) tool. EAI is an architecture that organically links a plurality of business systems to efficiently integrate data and processes. ETL is an architecture that extracts and converts data from a data source such as a mission-critical business system and loads it into a target system such as a data warehouse.
(6) As a result of (5), the EAI or ETL executes data transmission / reception between business systems.

According to such a development method, when there are a plurality of business systems to which data is linked, the analysis / design / setting linkage definition man-hours that occupy most of the development man-hours of EAI and ETL become enormous, and lead time There is a problem that becomes longer. Specifically, when n business systems are linked, man-hours corresponding to the number of owned business systems are generated for the analysis of the individual business systems described in (2) above. In addition, each of (3) grasping data linkage relationship between business systems, (4) creating data linkage specifications between business systems, and (5) registering data linkage specifications between business systems, Need to be performed in a mesh form, and the man-hour of “number of business systems × (number of business systems−1) / 2” is generated at the maximum. In addition, when m business systems are newly added to n linked existing business systems, [m × n + (m × (m−1)) / 2 for (3) to (5). ] Linkage definition is required.
However, Patent Document 1 does not significantly reduce the above-described steps and man-hours.

  The present invention has been made in consideration of such circumstances, and its purpose is to significantly reduce the man-hours and period required for creating data linkage rules used for linking a plurality of business systems. Another object of the present invention is to provide a data linkage rule generation system and method that can introduce a system for data linkage between business systems.

  In order to achieve the above object, the invention according to claim 1 is a data linkage rule generation system for generating information defining data linkage rules used for linking data between a plurality of business systems. , Mapping data between conceptual data indicating the linkage of conceptual data used in each modeled business, and conceptual data used in the modeled business, and processing the modeled business Based on the storage means for storing the system physical specification mapping definition information indicating the correspondence with the data used in the system, the conceptual data mapping information and the system physical specification mapping definition information in the storage means, between the business systems A system linkage rule definition information generation unit for generating system linkage rule definition information indicating association of linked data; A data association rule generation system characterized by obtaining.

  The invention according to claim 2 is the data cooperation rule generation system according to claim 1, wherein the conceptual data mapping information further includes information on a conceptual data cooperation method, and the system cooperation rule The definition information generation unit generates system linkage rule definition information further including information on a linkage method of data used in the business system.

  The invention according to claim 3 is the data linkage rule generation system according to claim 2, wherein the linkage method is an unconditional synchronous update or a synchronous update under a predetermined condition. Features.

  The invention according to claim 4 is the data cooperation rule generation system according to claim 3, wherein the predetermined condition includes a predetermined timing, an operation using data of the cooperation source, and the same cooperation source The present invention is characterized in that it is any one or a combination of data sharing that links data with data of a plurality of cooperation destinations.

  The invention according to claim 5 is a data linkage rule generation method for generating information defining a data linkage rule used for linking data between a plurality of business systems, and is used in each modeled business. Between conceptual data mapping information indicating the linkage of conceptual data to be processed, conceptual data used in the modeled business, and data used in the business system for processing the modeled business Prepare storage means for storing system physical specification mapping definition information indicating the correspondence, and the correspondence of data linked between business systems based on the conceptual data mapping information and system physical specification mapping definition information in the storage means A data linkage rule generation method characterized by generating system linkage rule definition information indicating attachment.

  The invention according to claim 6 is a computer program for use in a data linkage rule generation system for generating information defining a data linkage rule used for linking data between a plurality of business systems, the storage means Mapping information between conceptual data indicating the linkage of conceptual data used in each modeled business stored in the database, conceptual data used in the modeled business, and the modeled business Based on the step of reading the system physical specification mapping definition information indicating the correspondence with the data used in the business system that performs processing, and between the read conceptual data mapping information and the system physical specification mapping definition information Generating system linkage rule definition information indicating the association of data linked in A computer program for causing a computer to execute the.

  According to the above invention, compared to the conventional method, the process and man-hours related to the definition of data linkage rules used for linking a plurality of business systems are greatly reduced, and data linkage between business systems can be performed quickly. A system can be introduced.

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 is a diagram for explaining a functional outline of a data linkage rule generation system according to an embodiment of the present invention.
The business systems 40a to 40n are systems that execute various business processes. Here, it is assumed that data of these business systems 40a to 40n (hereinafter referred to as “business system 40”) are linked.

  First, the system development person prepares business model definition information, system physical specification definition information, and system physical specification mapping definition information. The business model definition information defines a linkage between conceptual data used in a modeled business when a series of business flows is conceptually modeled. The system physical specification definition information defines data and protocols used by the actual business system 40. The system physical specification mapping definition information defines mapping between conceptual data used in the modeled business and data used in the actual business system 40.

Next, in the data linkage rule generation system 10, the data control system 50 executes data linkage processing between the job systems 40 from the job model definition information, the system physical specification definition information, and the system physical specification mapping definition information. To generate system linkage rule definition information, protocol definition information, and data conversion rule definition information to be used. The system cooperation rule definition information defines data cooperation rules between the business systems 40. The system cooperation rule definition information defines a conversion rule between the protocol used by each business system 40 and the internal protocol of the data control system 50. The data conversion rule definition information defines rules for converting a data representation format (data attribute) used in the business system 40 to a data representation format (internal representation format) used inside the data control system 50. To do.
The data control system 50 refers to the system linkage rule definition information, protocol definition information, and data conversion rule definition information generated by the data linkage rule generation system 10 and executes data linkage processing between the business systems 40. .

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an outline of a procedure for generating the system cooperation rule definition information.
First, a system development person conceptually models a business relationship (flow), and further defines a metadata item list that is conceptual data used in the modeled business. Then, in accordance with the modeled business flow, metadata item mapping information (conceptual data mapping information) indicating cooperation between metadata used between the modeled business is created (step S1). Here, it is assumed that data linkage from “business M1” to “business M2” is included in a part of the business flow.

  Next, the system development person models the actual business system 40, extracts and defines the data items used by each actual business system 40 (step S2). Further, the system development person associates the modeled business with the actual business system 40. Here, it is assumed that the business M1 and the business system 40i are associated with the business M2 and the business system 40j. The system development person in charge maps the system physical specification mapping definition information that maps the metadata item of the business M1 and the data item of the business system 40i, and the system physical specification that maps the metadata item of the business M2 and the data item of the business system 40j. Mapping definition information is defined (step S3).

  Subsequently, the data linkage rule generation system 10 refers to the metadata item mapping information defined in step S1 and the system physical specification mapping definition information defined in step S3, and generates system linkage rule definition information (step S4). Then, the data control system 50 executes data linkage from the business system 40i to the business system 40j using the generated system linkage rule definition information (step S5).

Next, the configuration of each system will be described.
FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing an expanded function of the internal configuration of the data linkage rule generation system 10. Only functional blocks related to the present invention are extracted and shown. The data linkage rule generation system 10 can be configured with, for example, one or a plurality of servers.
The business model definition information storage unit 11 stores business model definition information. The business model definition information includes information that models the relationship (flow) of the business to be linked, a list of metadata (conceptual data) items used in each modeled business, and between metadata items Consists of mapping information. The mapping information between metadata items includes mapping information of the cooperation source and cooperation destination metadata to be linked in accordance with the modeled workflow, and linkage method information indicating the type and condition of the linkage.
The system physical specification definition information storage unit 12 stores system physical specification definition information. The system physical specification definition information includes a list of data items used by each business system 40, data structure information indicating attributes of data indicated by these data items, and a communication protocol and internal code used by each business system 40. It consists of system attribute information.
The system physical specification mapping definition information storage unit 13 defines a system physical specification mapping definition that defines a mapping between a metadata item indicating conceptual data used in a modeled business and a data item used in the actual business system 40. Store information.

The system cooperation rule definition information storage unit 31 stores system cooperation rule definition information. The system linkage rule definition information includes mapping information on data to be linked between the linkage source business system 40 and the linkage destination business system 40, and linkage method information indicating the type and condition of linkage.
The protocol definition information storage unit 32 stores protocol definition information.
The data conversion rule definition information storage unit 33 stores data conversion rule definition information.

The system cooperation rule definition information generation unit 22 uses the system cooperation rule from the metadata item mapping information in the business model definition information storage unit 11 and the system physical specification mapping definition information in the system physical specification mapping definition information storage unit 13. Definition information is generated and written to the system cooperation rule definition information storage unit 31.
The protocol definition information generation unit 24 generates protocol definition information based on the system attribute information of each business system 40 in the system physical specification definition information storage unit 12 and writes it to the protocol definition information storage unit 32.
The data conversion rule definition information generation unit 25 generates data conversion rule definition information from the system attribute information and data structure information of each business system 40 in the system physical specification definition information storage unit 12, and a data conversion rule definition information storage unit Write to 33.

The repository interface unit 21 includes a system cooperation rule definition information generation unit 22, a protocol definition information generation unit 24, and a data conversion rule definition information generation unit 25, a business model definition information storage unit 11, and a system physical specification definition information storage unit 12. Alternatively, an interface for accessing the system physical specification mapping definition information storage unit 13 is provided.
The data control interface unit 23 includes a system cooperation rule definition information generation unit 22, a protocol definition information generation unit 24, and a data conversion rule definition information generation unit 25, a system cooperation rule definition information storage unit 31, and a protocol definition information storage unit. An interface for accessing the unit 32 or the data conversion rule definition information storage unit 33 is provided.

  The business model definition information storage unit 11, the system physical specification definition information storage unit 12, the system physical specification mapping definition information storage unit 13, the system linkage rule definition information storage unit 31, the protocol definition information storage unit 32, or the data conversion rule definition information The storage unit 33 may be provided inside the data linkage rule generation system 10 or may be an external device such as a database server connected via a network such as a LAN (Local Area Network) or a VPN (Virtual Private Network). There may be. In addition, the system cooperation rule definition information storage unit 31, the protocol definition information storage unit 32, or the data conversion rule definition information storage unit 33 may be provided inside the data control system 50.

  FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing the function of the internal configuration of the data control system 50. Only functional blocks related to the present invention are extracted and shown. The data control system 50 is an existing EAI (Enterprise Application Integration) or ETL (Extract Transform load), and is connected to the business system 40 via a network. The data control system 50 includes a protocol adapter 51, a transmission / reception unit 52, a data conversion unit 53, a communication bus 54, and a BPM (Business Process Manager) 55.

The protocol adapter 51 refers to the protocol definition information in the protocol definition information storage unit 32, converts the protocol used in the message of the business system 40 and the internal protocol, and transmits / receives a message to / from the business system 40.
The transmission / reception unit 52 delivers the message from the business system 40 received via the protocol adapter 51 to the data conversion unit 53 and delivers the message instructed to be transmitted from the data conversion unit 53 to the protocol adapter 51.
The data conversion unit 53 refers to the data conversion rule definition information in the data conversion rule definition information storage unit 33, and represents the data representation format (data attribute) used by the business system 40 and the data representation format used internally (internal). Expression).
The communication bus 54 receives a message including data using the internal representation format from the data conversion unit 53 and receives the cooperation data to be set in the transmission message to the cooperation destination business system 40 to the data conversion unit 53. hand over.
The BPM 55 refers to the system cooperation rule definition information in the system cooperation rule definition information storage unit 31 to determine the message destination (cooperation destination) business system 40 and uses the data in the received message as the business of the cooperation destination. The data is converted into data used in the system 40.

  The business system 40 is a system or package that executes various business processes such as ordering, inventory management, and settlement, for example, and is connected to the data control system 50 via a network such as a LAN or VPN. When the business data is updated as a result of executing the business processing, the business system 40 transmits data to be linked with the other business systems 40 to the data control system 50. In addition, it receives data to be linked with another business system 40 from the data control system 50 and updates internal business data.

Next, a detailed procedure for generating the system cooperation rule definition information will be described.
FIG. 5 shows an example in which the relationship (flow) of business to be linked with data is modeled. The figure shows that a series of business flows has been modeled from “orders” to “shipment instructions” and “settlement”, and from “shipment instructions” to “shipments” and “inventory management”. Yes. Further, the system development person in charge associates each modeled business with the actual business system 40. In the figure, a business modeled as “order received” (hereinafter “order received model”) is associated with the business system 40a. In addition, business models modeled as “shipment instruction” and “shipment” (hereinafter “shipment instruction model” and “shipment model”, respectively) are associated with the business system 40b. Similarly, the “inventory management model” is associated with the business system 40n, and the “settlement model” is associated with the business system 40c. The person in charge of system development models the relationship of the business to be linked and registers information associated with the business system 40 in the business model definition information storage unit 11.

6 and 7 show setting examples of the mapping information between metadata items.
The system developer defines a list of metadata items used in each modeled business, and further defines mapping information between metadata items that defines the metadata items to be linked according to the business flow Then, the job model definition information storage unit 11 is registered.
In the mapping information between metadata items, a linkage method (type and condition of linkage) is also defined. There are two types of cooperation, “shared” and “inherited”. “Shared” indicates that data should always be updated synchronously unconditionally. Further, “inheritance” indicates that the update should be performed in cooperation under a certain condition. The types of these conditions are shown below, but these combinations may be used.
(1) Timing: Waiting for business completion, time, etc. (2) Operation: Numeric operation, logical operation, etc. between data of linkage source and other data or constant (3) Division (inheritance branch): Data of linkage source Inheritance to multiple linked data As mentioned above, the correspondence of data to be inherited may be one-to-one, one-to-many, many-to-one, and generally m-to-n Are in a relationship. As for the division (inheritance branch) of (3), only the same metadata item is defined as the link source in the same or different mapping information between metadata items. The type and conditions of cooperation are not clearly defined.

FIG. 6 shows the mapping information between metadata items of the cooperation source “order receiving model” and the cooperation destination “shipment instruction model”. In the figure, the metadata items used in the “order model” are “order number”, “customer number”, “order date”, “order product number”, “order product quantity”, and “delivery date” Is. The metadata items used in the “shipment instruction model” are “shipment instruction number”, “scheduled shipment date”, “order number”, “customer number”, “order date”, “shipment instruction item number”. ”,“ Shipment instruction product quantity ”,“ product inventory quantity ”, and“ delivery date ”.
In the mapping information between metadata items that defines the linkage of these metadata items, the "Order No.", "Order Date", "Order Item Number", and "Delivery Date" of the linkage source "Order Model" are linked. In cooperation with “Order No.”, “Order Date”, “Production Instruction Product Number”, and “Delivery Date” of the “Shipping Instruction Model”, all of the types of cooperation are “inherit”, and the condition of the cooperation is “XX Process Completed” "Time", "ZZZ processing time", "order confirmation", and "after inventory check" (timing). The “customer number” of the “order receiving model” is linked with the “customer number” of the “shipment instruction model”, and the type of linkage is “shared”. Furthermore, the “Ordered Product Quantity” in the “Order Model” is linked with the “Shipping Instruction Product Quantity” and the “Product Inventory Quantity” in the “Shipping Instruction Model” (inheritance branch), and the type of cooperation is “inherited” for both. However, it is indicated that the cooperation conditions are “quantity fixed (timing)” and “product inventory quantity−ordered product information (calculation)”, respectively.

FIG. 7 shows the mapping information between metadata items of the cooperation source “order receiving model” and the cooperation destination “settlement model”. In FIG. 6, the metadata items used in the “order receiving model” are the same as those in FIG. The metadata items used in the “Payment Model” are “Transaction No.”, “Shipping Date”, “Payment Deadline”, “Customer Number”, “Order Date”, “Transaction Product Number”, “Transaction “Product quantity”, “Transaction product unit price”, and “Payment method”.
In the mapping information between metadata items that defines the linkage of these metadata items, the "order number", "order date", "order number", "order quantity", " “Delivery date” is linked with “Transaction No.”, “Order Date”, “Transaction Product Number”, “Transaction Product Quantity”, and “Settlement Deadline” of the partner “Payment Model”. The conditions for inheritance are “XX processing completion (timing)”, “XY timing (timing)”, “order confirmed (timing)”, “YY-ordered product quantity (calculation)”, “after ZX (timing) ) ". The “customer number” of the “ordering model” is linked to the “customer number” of the “settlement model”, and the type of linkage is “shared”.
6 and 7, “Order No.”, “Customer Number”, “Order Date”, “Order Product Number”, “Order Product Quantity”, and “Delivery Date” of “Order Model” are “shipment instruction model”. ”And“ settlement model ”metadata items, that is, it indicates that division (inheritance branching) is performed.

8 to 10 show setting examples of system physical specification mapping definition information.
The person in charge of system development extracts data items used in each actual business system 40 and defines a list. Further, the system development person maps the data item list and the corresponding modeled business metadata item to define system physical specification mapping definition information, and the system physical specification definition information storage unit 12 Register with
FIG. 8 shows data items used in the business system 40a and metadata items of the “order model” shown in FIG. 6, and FIG. 9 shows data items used in the business system 40b and “data items used in the business system 40b”. FIG. 10 shows the system physical specification mapping definition information that defines the mapping between the data item used in the business system 40c and the metadata item of the “settlement model” shown in FIG. Is generated.

  In FIG. 8, the data items “order number”, “customer number”, “order date”, “product number”, “product quantity”, and “desired delivery date” used in the business system 40a are “order received”. This indicates that the metadata items “model No.”, “customer number”, “order date”, “order product number”, “order product quantity”, and “delivery date” are mapped.

  In FIG. 9, the data items “shipment instruction number”, “shipment number”, “customer number”, “scheduled shipment date”, “product code”, “product quantity”, “stock quantity” used in the business system 40b. , “Designated delivery date” are metadata items “shipment instruction No.”, “order number”, “customer number”, “scheduled shipment date”, “shipment instruction product number”, “shipment instruction product”, respectively. It shows that “quantity”, “product inventory quantity”, and “delivery date” are mapped.

  In FIG. 10, the data items “settlement number”, “shipment date”, “scheduled settlement date”, “customer number”, “order date”, “product code”, “product quantity” used in the business system 40c. ”,“ Product unit price ”, and“ Payment method ”are metadata items“ Transaction No. ”,“ Ship date ”,“ Payment deadline ”,“ Customer number ”,“ Order date ”,“ This indicates that mapping is performed with “transaction product number”, “transaction product quantity”, “transaction product unit price”, and “settlement method”.

FIG. 11 shows a system linkage rule definition information generation flow in the data linkage rule generation system 10.
The system linkage rule definition information generation unit 22 of the data linkage rule generation system 10 acquires the business system 40 that is the linkage source and the linkage destination of data (step S110). This may be specified by a system development person by inputting from an input means such as a keyboard or a mouse (not shown), or may be specified in advance in the data linkage rule generation system 10.

  When the system cooperation rule definition information generation unit 22 acquires the business system 40 as the cooperation source and the cooperation destination, the system cooperation rule definition information generation unit 22 from the system physical specification mapping definition information storage unit 13 via the repository interface unit 21. System physical specification mapping definition information is read out (steps S120 and S130). Furthermore, the system cooperation rule definition information generation unit 22 receives the mapping information between the metadata items of the business model corresponding to the cooperation source and cooperation destination business systems 40 from the business model definition information storage unit 11 via the repository interface unit 21. Read (step S140).

  When the system cooperation rule definition information generation unit 22 initializes the storage area of the system cooperation rule definition information table used internally (step S150), the first data is obtained from the system physical specification mapping definition information of the cooperation source business system 40. The item and the corresponding metadata item are extracted (step S160). Then, the metadata item used in the business model corresponding to the cooperation destination business system 40 and the cooperation method information are acquired from the metadata item mapping information using the extracted metadata item as a key (step S170). Further, the data item corresponding to the metadata item read in step S170 is extracted from the system physical specification mapping definition information of the cooperation destination business system 40 (step S180). The system cooperation rule definition information generation unit 22 stores the data items of the cooperation source / cooperation destination and the cooperation method information in the system cooperation rule definition information table (step S190). At this time, if a metadata item used in the cooperation source business model is used in the cooperation condition in the cooperation method information, it is converted into a corresponding data item used in the cooperation source business system 40. .

Next, the system linkage rule definition information generation unit 22 determines whether writing to the system linkage rule definition information table has been completed for all data items in the system physical specification mapping definition information of the linkage source business system 40 ( Step S200). If all the data items have not been completed (step S200: NO), the processing from step S160 to step S200 is repeated for the next data item.
When all the data items are completed (step S200: YES), the system cooperation rule definition information storage unit 31 stores the system cooperation rule definition information table stored therein via the data control interface unit 23. (Step S210).
In step S180, if the data item corresponding to the metadata item read in step S170 does not exist in the system physical specification mapping definition information of the cooperation destination business system 40, the process of step S190 is not performed. The process of step S200 is performed.

12 and 13 are diagrams illustrating examples of system cooperation rule definition information.
12 shows system cooperation rule definition information between the business system 40a and the business system 40b, and FIG. 13 shows system cooperation rule definition information between the business system 40a and the business system 40c.
In FIG. 12, the system linkage rule definition information between the business system 40a and the business system 40b includes the system physical specification mapping definition information of the business systems 40a and 40b and the business model “order model” corresponding to each of the business systems 40a and 40b. And the mapping information between metadata items between “shipment instruction models”.
In the figure, the data items “order number”, “product number”, and “desired delivery date” of the cooperation source business system 40a are the data items “shipment number”, “product code”, “designated delivery date” of the cooperation destination business system 40b. , And the cooperation condition is “when the XX process is completed”, “when the order is confirmed”, and “after inventory check” (timing). Further, the data item “customer number” of the business system 40a is linked to the data item “customer number” of the business system 40b, and the type of linkage is “shared”. The data item “product quantity” of the business system 40a is linked to the data items “product quantity” and “stock quantity” of the business system 40b, the type of linkage is “inherit”, and the condition of linkage is “quantity”. It is shown that “at finalization (timing)” and “inventory quantity−commodity quantity (calculation)”.

In FIG. 13, the system linkage rule definition information between the business system 40a and the business system 40c is the system physical specification mapping definition information of the business systems 40a and 40c and the business model “order model” corresponding to each of the business systems 40a and 40c. And it is generated with reference to the mapping information between metadata items between the “settlement model”.
In the figure, each of the data items “order number”, “order date”, “product number”, “product quantity”, and “desired delivery date” of the cooperation source business system 40a is the data item “ It is linked to “Settlement Number”, “Order Date”, “Product Code”, “Product Quantity”, and “Settlement Date”, the type of these linkages is “inherit”, and the condition for the linkage is “when XX processing is completed ( "Timing)", "XY time (timing)", "order confirmed (timing)", "YY-product quantity (calculation)", and "after ZX (timing)". Further, the data item “customer number” of the business system 40a is linked to the data item “customer number” of the business system 40c, and the type of linkage is “shared”.

Next, a procedure for generating protocol definition information and data conversion rule definition information will be described.
FIG. 14 is a diagram illustrating a setting example of system attribute information, data structure information, protocol definition information, and data conversion rule definition information.
In the figure, the system attribute information of the business system 40a indicates that the business system 40a uses “EUC” as an internal code and “MQ” as a communication protocol. In addition, the data structure information of the business system 40a includes data items “order number”, “customer number”,... Used by the business system 40a, which are “decimal number, 4 byte”, “alphanumeric character string, 16”, respectively. It has a data attribute of "digit",.
Similarly, the system attribute information of the business system 40b indicates that the business system 40b uses “Shift-JIS” as an internal code and “CORBA” as a communication protocol. Further, the data structure information of the business system 40b includes data items “shipment number”, “customer number”,... Used by the business system 40b, respectively, “binary number, 4 byte”, “alphanumeric character string, 20”. It has a data attribute of "digit",.

FIG. 15 shows a protocol definition information generation flow in the data cooperation rule generation system 10.
The protocol definition information generation unit 24 of the data linkage rule generation system 10 acquires the business system 40 that is the generation target of the protocol definition information (step S310). This may be specified by a system development person using an input means such as a keyboard or a mouse (not shown), or may be specified in advance within the data linkage rule generation system 10.

The protocol definition information generation unit 24 reads the system attribute information of the target business system 40 via the repository interface unit 21 (step S320). Further, the protocol definition information generation unit 24 initializes a storage area of a protocol definition information table used internally (step S330). Then, the communication protocol information in the system attribute information of the target business system 40 is read and written into the protocol definition information table (step S340). At this time, if the communication protocol used in the data control system 50 is different from the read protocol, “necessary” is set in the conversion information, and “no” is set in the same case. Then, it is determined whether writing to the protocol definition information table has been completed for all target business systems 40 (step S350). If the processing has not been completed for all the target business systems 40, the processes of step S340 and step S350 are repeated for the next target business system 40.
When all the target business systems 40 are finished, the protocol definition information table stored inside is written into the protocol definition information storage unit 32 via the data control interface unit 23 (step S360).

  In the setting example of the protocol definition information shown in FIG. 14, the protocol used by the business system 40a is “MQ”, the conversion is “necessary”, that is, the conversion is necessary in the data control system 50, the business The protocol used by the system 40b is “CORBA”, indicating that the conversion is “No”, that is, no conversion is required in the data control system 50.

FIG. 16 shows data conversion rule definition information in the data cooperation rule generation system 10.
The data conversion rule definition information generation unit 25 of the data cooperation rule generation system 10 acquires the business system 40 that is the generation target of the protocol definition information (step S410). This may be specified by a system development person using an input means such as a keyboard or a mouse (not shown), or may be specified in advance within the data linkage rule generation system 10.

The data conversion rule definition information generation unit 25 reads the system attribute information and the data structure information of the target business system 40 via the repository interface unit 21 (step S420). Further, the protocol definition information generation unit 24 initializes the storage area of the data conversion rule definition information table used internally (step S430). Then, the internal code information in the system attribute information of the target business system 40 is read and written into the data conversion rule definition information table (step S440). Further, the data conversion rule definition information generation unit 25 extracts the first data item and the data attribute information of the data item from the data structure information, and writes them in the data conversion rule definition information table (step S450). Then, it is determined whether or not all data items in the data structure information have been written to the data conversion rule definition information table (step S460). If the processing has not been completed for all the data items, the processing in step S450 and step S460 is repeated for the next data item.
If all data items have been completed, the data conversion rule definition information table stored therein is written into the data conversion rule definition information storage unit 33 via the data control interface unit 23 (step S470).

  In the data conversion rule definition information shown in FIG. 14, the internal code used by the business system 40a is “EUC”, and each data item “order number”, “customer number”,. ”,“ Alphanumeric character string, 16 digits ”,... Similarly, the internal code used by the business system 40b is “Shift-JIS”, and each data item “shipping number”, “customer number”,... Is “binary number, 4 byte”, “alphanumeric character”, respectively. Column, 20 digits ”,...

Next, data linkage processing using various data generated by the data linkage rule generation system 10 in the data control system 50 will be described with reference to FIGS.
FIG. 17 shows a protocol conversion processing flow using the protocol definition information generated by the data cooperation rule generation system 10.
When the protocol adapter 51 of the data control system 50 receives a message from the business system 40 (step S510: received message), the protocol adapter 51 refers to the protocol definition information in the protocol definition information storage unit 32, and transmits the received message ( The conversion information corresponding to the business system 40 of the cooperation source) is read. If it is determined that the read conversion information is “necessary” and the protocol of the received message does not match the internal protocol (step S520: NO), this received message is used inside the data control system 50. (Step S530). Then, the received message subjected to protocol conversion is transferred to the transmission / reception unit 52 (step S540). If it is determined that the conversion information is “NO” and the protocol of the received message matches the internal protocol (step S520: YES), the received message is received by the transmission / reception unit 52 without performing protocol conversion. hand over.

  On the other hand, when the protocol adapter 51 receives a transmission message from the transmission / reception unit 52 (step S510: transmission message), the protocol definition information in the protocol definition information storage unit 32 is referred to, and the business system 40 that is the transmission destination of the transmission message. Read conversion information corresponding to. If it is determined that the read conversion information is “necessary” and the protocol used by the business system 40 of the transmission destination (cooperation destination) does not match the internal protocol (step S550: NO), this transmission The message is converted into a protocol indicated by protocol information corresponding to the destination business system 40 in the protocol definition information (step S560). Then, the transmission message subjected to protocol conversion is transmitted to the destination business system 40 (step S570). If it is determined that the conversion information is “NO” and the protocol used in the destination business system 40 matches the internal protocol (step S550: YES), the message is not converted into the protocol. Is transmitted to the business system 40 of the transmission destination.

FIG. 18 shows a data conversion processing flow using the data conversion rule definition information generated by the data cooperation rule generation system 10.
When the data conversion unit 53 of the data control system 50 receives the received message via the transmission / reception unit 52 and extracts the data in the message (step S610: received data), the data corresponding to the business system 40 of the transmission source The conversion rule definition information is read from the data conversion rule definition information storage unit 33. Then, referring to the internal code information in the data conversion rule definition information and the data attribute information corresponding to each data, the data attribute of each data in the received message matches the internal representation format of the data control system 50. It is determined whether or not there is (step S620). If it is determined that the attribute of the data item in the received message does not match the internal representation format (step S620: NO), the data attribute is converted to the internal representation format (step S630). If it is determined that they match (step S620: YES), no conversion is performed.

  On the other hand, when the data conversion unit 53 of the data control system 50 receives a message to be transmitted from the communication bus 54 to the cooperation destination business system 40 and extracts data in this message (step S610: transmission data). Data conversion rule definition information corresponding to the transmission destination (cooperation destination) business system 40 is read from the data conversion rule definition information storage unit 33. Then, referring to the internal code information in the data conversion rule definition information and the data attribute information corresponding to each data, whether or not the attribute of the data used in the destination business system 40 matches the internal representation format. Is determined (step S640). If it is determined that they do not match (step S640: NO), this transmission data is converted into a data attribute used in the destination business system 40 (step S650), and transferred to the transmission / reception unit 52. If it is determined that the data attribute used in the destination business system 40 matches the internal representation format (step S640: YES), the data is received by the transmission / reception unit 52 without being converted. hand over.

FIG. 19 shows a data linkage processing flow using the system linkage rule definition information generated by the data linkage rule generation system 10.
When the BPM 55 of the data control system 50 reads one received message received by the communication bus 54 (step S710), the business system 40 of the data linkage destination is determined from the message ID of this received message (step S720). Then, one data item is extracted from the received message, and it is determined whether or not this data item is a cooperation target (step S740). This is because the system cooperation rule definition information corresponding to the cooperation source business system 40 and the cooperation destination business system 40 that are the transmission source of the message is read from the system cooperation rule definition information storage unit 31, and the extracted data item exists here. Judgment by whether or not. If it is a cooperation target, creation of cooperation data, which will be described later, and storage in an internal cooperation data storage area are performed (step S750). Then, it is determined whether or not all data items in the received message have been processed (step S760). If processing has not been completed for all data items (step S760: NO), the processing from step S730 to step S760 is performed for the next data item. If all data items have been processed (step S760: YES), the communication bus transmits a message for transferring the data to be linked stored in the linked data storage area to the linked business system 40. 54 is instructed (step S770).

FIG. 20 shows a detailed processing flow in step S750 of FIG.
The BPM 55 refers to the system cooperation rule definition information corresponding to the cooperation source business system 40 and the cooperation destination business system 40 in the system cooperation rule definition information storage unit 31. Then, the type of cooperation of the data item currently focused on is read out, and it is determined whether or not the cooperation is shared (step S810). If the type of cooperation is shared (step S810: YES), the data in the received message corresponding to the data item of interest is stored as is in the internal cooperation data storage area as the cooperation data (step S820).

  On the other hand, when it is determined that the cooperation is not shared, that is, inheritance (step S810: NO), it is further determined whether or not the cooperation condition is a timing by referring to the cooperation condition (step S830). . If the cooperation condition is timing (step S830: YES), it is determined whether or not the timing condition is OK (step S840). For example, if “when order is confirmed” is set as a cooperation condition in the system cooperation rule definition information, this should be set when “order confirmation” is performed in a certain business system 40. Judgment is made based on whether or not specific data has already been set. If the timing is not OK (step S840: NO), the processing from step S760 in FIG. 19 is performed.

If it is determined in step S840 that the timing is OK, it is determined whether or not there is a calculation as a cooperation condition (step S850). If there is no calculation (step S850: NO), the data in the received message corresponding to the data item of interest is stored as the linkage data in the linkage data storage area (step S820). If there is an operation (step S850: YES), after performing the operation defined in the cooperation condition (step S860), the data is stored in the cooperation data storage area (step S820).
If it is determined in step S830 that the cooperation condition is not timing, processing from step S850 is performed.

According to the above-described embodiment, the steps and man-hours when performing data linkage between business systems are as follows.
(1) Pre-setting: Registration as a detailed business model that standardizes a series of tasks to be linked. This corresponds to linkage scenario setting in the conventional technology. In the prior art, the existing business is defined as a physical model as it is, but since it does not drop to the details, it is slightly less man-hour.
(2) Individual system analysis: Analysis of n business systems (man-hour equivalent to conventional technology)
It is necessary to ascertain what the business system to be linked is, and what the specifications are, as in the process of the prior art. However, this process is unnecessary if there is a system development person who understands the specifications of the target business system. In the conventional technology, since one or several personnel who are in charge of system development need to clearly understand all business systems in order to perform linkage definition, it is necessary to analyze each business system specification. According to the present embodiment, a system development person who understands the business system specification registers the specification and performs mapping with the business model (steps described later), and the linkage definition is automatically generated. .
(3) System specification registration: Registration for n business systems The system development person who analyzed the business system specifications or the system development person who understands the business system specifications registers the specifications. This registration need only be the number of business systems. Here, only the business system name, the data items held by the business system, and their specifications are registered.
(4) Mapping registration: Registration for n number of business systems The system development person who analyzed the business system specifications or the system development person who understands the business system specifications must register the system specifications registered in (3). Mapping with business model. Here, mapping registration need only be performed for the number of business systems. This is because it is necessary to understand which business model and conceptual data from the business system analysis in (1) corresponds to which actual business system and which data item the business system has in this mapping. Because it will not be.
When the above-described steps and man-hours according to the present embodiment are compared with the steps and man-hours according to the conventional technique, the number of steps itself is reduced, and the number of steps in each step is reduced. This means that if the number of target business systems increases, the total man-hour will decrease significantly.
If a system development person who understands business system specifications registers the specifications and mappings of each business system, the linkage definition process can be performed in parallel for each business system, and only man-hours are required. Even if it is not a period, it can be overwhelmingly shortened.

  Note that the data linkage rule generation system 10, the business system 40, and the data control system 50 described above have a computer system therein. The above-described operation process is stored in a computer-readable recording medium in the form of a program, and the computer system reads and executes this program to perform the above processing. The computer system here includes an OS and hardware such as peripheral devices.

  In addition to ROM, “computer-readable recording medium” refers to a portable medium such as a magnetic disk, a magneto-optical disk, a CD-ROM, a DVD-ROM, or a storage device such as a hard disk built in a computer system. That means. Furthermore, the “computer-readable recording medium” refers to a volatile memory (RAM) inside a computer system that becomes a client or a system when a program is transmitted via a network such as the Internet or a communication line such as a telephone line. In addition, those holding programs for a certain period of time are also included.

The program may be transmitted from a computer system storing the program in a storage device or the like to another computer system via a transmission medium or by a transmission wave in the transmission medium. Here, the “transmission medium” for transmitting the program refers to a medium having a function of transmitting information, such as a network (communication network) such as the Internet or a communication line (communication line) such as a telephone line.
The program may be for realizing a part of the functions described above. Furthermore, what can implement | achieve the function mentioned above in combination with the program already recorded on the computer system, and what is called a difference file (difference program) may be sufficient.

It can be used as an interface component to reduce the coordination definition man-hours, which is a drawback of data linkage tools.
Further, it can be applied as a base for transmitting and receiving distributed physical data. That is, no matter how the data is distributed, the location and format can be grasped and used via the business model arranged in the center.
Furthermore, it is applicable as system asset management (information resource management, data management). That is, it manages what is present as a system asset, how it is arranged, what type, and specification. In addition to the specification, there are the following usage aspects by managing the mapping.
(1) Understanding what kind of work is supported (system map)
(2) System change impact analysis (3) Inter-system interface analysis and design

It is a figure for demonstrating the function outline | summary of the data cooperation rule production | generation system by one Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the outline | summary of the production | generation procedure of the system cooperation rule definition information by the embodiment. It is the block diagram which expanded the function and showed the internal structure of the data cooperation rule production | generation system by the embodiment. It is the block diagram which expanded and showed the internal structure of the data control system by the embodiment. It is a figure which shows the example which modeled the relationship of the operation | work of the cooperation object by the embodiment. It is a figure which shows the example of a setting of the mapping information between metadata items by the embodiment. It is a figure which shows the example of a setting of the mapping information between metadata items by the embodiment. It is a figure which shows the example of a setting of the system physical specification mapping definition information by the embodiment. It is a figure which shows the example of a setting of the system physical specification mapping definition information by the embodiment. It is a figure which shows the example of a setting of the system physical specification mapping definition information by the embodiment. It is a figure which shows the system cooperation rule definition information generation flow by the embodiment. It is a figure which shows the example of the system cooperation rule definition information by the embodiment. It is a figure which shows the example of the system cooperation rule definition information by the embodiment. It is a figure which shows the example of a setting of the system attribute information by the same embodiment, data structure information, protocol definition information, and data conversion rule definition information. It is a figure which shows the protocol definition information generation flow by the embodiment. It is a figure which shows the data conversion rule definition information by the embodiment. It is a figure which shows the protocol conversion processing flow by the embodiment. It is a figure which shows the data conversion processing flow by the embodiment. It is a figure which shows the data cooperation processing flow by the embodiment. It is a figure which shows the detailed processing flow of cooperation data creation and storage by the embodiment.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... Data cooperation rule production | generation system 11 ... Business model definition information storage part 12 ... System physical specification definition information storage part 13 ... System physical specification mapping definition information storage part 21 ... Repository interface part 22 ... System cooperation rule definition information generation part 23 ... Data control interface unit 24 ... Protocol definition information generation unit 25 ... Data conversion rule definition information generation unit 31 ... System cooperation rule definition information storage unit 32 ... Protocol definition information storage unit 33 ... Data conversion rule definition information storage unit 40a, 40b 40c, 40i, 40j, 40n ... business system 50 ... data control system 51 ... protocol adapter 52 ... transmission / reception unit 53 ... data conversion unit 54 ... communication bus 55 ... BPM

Claims (6)

A data linkage rule generation system that generates information defining data linkage rules used to link data between multiple business systems,
Conceptual data mapping information indicating the linkage of conceptual data used in each modeled business, and conceptual data used in the modeled business, and a business system that processes the modeled business Storage means for storing system physical specification mapping definition information indicating correspondence with data used in
A system linkage rule definition information generating unit for generating system linkage rule definition information indicating association of data linked between business systems based on mapping information between conceptual data and system physical specification mapping definition information in the storage means; ,
A data linkage rule generation system comprising: The conceptual data mapping information further includes information on a conceptual data linkage method,
The system linkage rule definition information generation unit generates system linkage rule definition information further including information on a linkage method of data used in a business system.
The data linkage rule generation system according to claim 1.   3. The data linkage rule generation system according to claim 2, wherein the linkage method is unconditional synchronous update or synchronous update under a predetermined condition.   The predetermined condition is any combination or a combination of predetermined timing, calculation using cooperation source data, and sharing that links the same cooperation source data with a plurality of cooperation destination data. 4. The data linkage rule generation system according to claim 3, wherein A data linkage rule generation method for generating information defining data linkage rules used to link data between multiple business systems,
Conceptual data mapping information indicating the linkage of conceptual data used in each modeled business, and conceptual data used in the modeled business, and a business system that processes the modeled business Prepare storage means to store system physical specification mapping definition information indicating the correspondence with data used in
Based on the conceptual data mapping information and the system physical specification mapping definition information in the storage means, system linkage rule definition information indicating the association of data linked between business systems is generated.
A data linkage rule generation method characterized by that. A computer program used in a data linkage rule generation system that generates information defining data linkage rules used to link data between a plurality of business systems,
Conceptual data mapping information indicating the cooperation of conceptual data used in each modeled business stored in the storage means, conceptual data used in the modeled business, and the modeled data Reading system physical specification mapping definition information indicating correspondence with data used in a business system that performs business processing;
Generating system linkage rule definition information indicating association of data linked between business systems based on the read conceptual data mapping information and system physical specification mapping definition information;
A computer program for causing a computer to execute.

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