Service Metadata Functional Profile
A service description defines or references the information needed to use, deploy, manage and otherwise control a service. This includes not only the information and behavior models associated with a service to define the service interface but also includes information needed to decide whether the service is appropriate for the current needs of the service consumer. Thus, the service description will also include information such as service reachability, service functionality, and the policies and contracts associated with a service.
From inherited abstract Artifact Functional Profile
An artifact is a managed resource within the Semantic Infrastructure.
An artifact is associated with the following capabilities:
- descriptions to enable the artifact to be visible, where the description includes a unique identifier for the artifact and a sufficient, and preferably a machine processible, representation of the meaning of terms used to describe the artifact, its functions, and its effects;
- one or more discovery mechanisms that enable searching for artifacts that best meet the search criteria specified by the service participant; where the discovery mechanism will have access to the individual artifact descriptions, possibly through some repository mechanism;
- accessible storage of artifacts and artifact descriptions, so service participants can access, examine, and use the artifacts as defined.
From inherited abstract Change Functional Profile
Artifact descriptions change over time and their contents will reflect changing needs and context.
Architectural implications of change on the Semantic Infrastructure are reflected in the following capabilities:
- mechanisms to support the storage, referencing, and access to normative definitions of one or more versioning schemes that may be applied to identify different aggregations of descriptive information, where the different schemes may be versions of a versioning scheme itself;
- configuration management mechanisms to capture the contents of the each aggregation and apply a unique identifier in a manner consistent with an identified versioning scheme;
- one or more mechanisms to support the storage, referencing, and access to conversion relationships between versioning schemes, and the mechanisms to carry out such conversions.
From inherited abstract Composition Functional Profile
Artifact Descriptions may capture very focused information subsets or can be an aggregate of numerous component descriptions. Service description is an example of a likely aggregate for which manual maintenance of all aspects would not be feasible.
Architectural implications of composition on the Semantic Infrastructure are reflected in the following capabilities:
- tools to facilitate identifying description elements that are to be aggregated to assemble the composite description;
- tools to facilitate identifying the sources of information to associate with the description elements;
- tools to collect the identified description elements and their associated sources into a standard, referenceable format that can support general access and understanding;
- tools to automatically update the composite description as the component sources change, and to consistently apply versioning schemes to identify the new description contents and the type and significance of change that occurred.
From inherited abstract Interaction Functional Profile
Descriptions of interactions are important for enabling auditability and repeatability, thereby establishing a context for results and support for understanding observed change in performance or results.
Architectural implications of interactions on the Semantic Infrastructure are reflected in the following capabilities:
- one or more mechanisms to capture, describe, store, discover, and retrieve interaction logs, execution contexts, and the combined interaction descriptions;
- one or more mechanisms for attaching to any results the means to identify and retrieve the interaction description under which the results were generated.
From inherited abstract Interoperability Functional Profile
Descriptions provide up-to-date information on what a resource is, the conditions for interacting with the resource, and the results of such interactions. As such, the description is the source of vital information in establishing willingness to interact with a resource, reachability to make interaction possible, and compliance with relevant conditions of use.
Architectural implications of interoperability on the Semantic Infrastructure are reflected in the following capabilities:
- one or more discovery mechanisms that enable searching for described resources that best meet the criteria specified by a service participant, where the discovery mechanism will have access to individual descriptions, possibly through some repository mechanism;
- tools to appropriately track users of the descriptions and notify them when a new version of the description is available.
From inherited abstract Metrics Functional Profile
Artifact Descriptions include references to metrics which describe the operational characteristics of the subjects being described
Architectural implications of metrics on the Semantic Infrastructure are reflected in the following capabilities:
- access to platform infrastructure monitoring and reporting capabilities
- access to metrics information generated or accessible by related services
- mechanisms to catalog and enable discovery of which metrics are available for a described artifact and information on how these metrics can be accessed;
- mechanisms to catalog and enable discovery of compliance records associated with policies, contracts, and constraints that are based on these metrics.
From inherited abstract Policy Functional Profile
Artifact Descriptions include references to policies defining conditions of use and optionally contracts representing agreement on policies and other conditions.
Architectural implications of policy on the Semantic Infrastructure are reflected in the following capabilities:
- descriptions to enable the policy modules to be visible, where the description includes a unique identifier for the policy and a sufficient, and preferably a machine processible, representation of the meaning of terms used to describe the policy, its functions, and its effects;
- one or more discovery mechanisms that enable searching for policies that best meet the search criteria specified by the service participant; where the discovery mechanism will have access to the individual policy descriptions, possibly through some repository mechanism;
- accessible storage of policies and policy descriptions, so service participants can access, examine, and use the policies as defined.
Policy capabilities are specialization of Artifact capabilities.
Capability Elaborations
This Functional Profile includes, but is not limited to, the following capability elaborations:
- assembly
- complianceDiscovery
- componentAcquisition
- compositionArchive
- compositionChange
- configurationManagement
- discovery
- identity
- interactionLog
- interactionResults
- interoperabilityDiscovery
- metadata
- metrics
- metricsDiscovery
- monitor
- serviceChangeNotification
- serviceDescriptionModel
- store
- transition
- versioning
- webBasedRegistration
Derived From Requirements
- Gap Analysis::Interface::002 - Web-based browsing and registration Provide an integrated, web-based environment for model/service registration and browsing.
- Semantic Infrastructure Requirements::Service Discovery and Governance::Administer Services The use of well defined service metadata promotes better discovery and reuse of services during design and run time. Service metadata includes information about service interactions and dependencies. It also includes a classification scheme for organizing services based on business objectives, domain, and usage. It also links services to all the supporting artifacts in the specification and provides a placeholder for conformance statements. This enables better reuse across the enterprise and eliminates redundancy.
- Semantic Infrastructure Requirements::Artifact Management::Artifact Lifecycle Management Artifact lifecycle management and metadata requirements include the ability to: * Manage lifecycle, governance and versioning of the models, content and forms * Establish relationships and dependencies between models, content and forms * Determine provenance, jurisdiction, authority and intellectual property * Create represention and views of the information, realized through the appropriate transforms * Provide access control and other security constraints * Create annotations for better discovery and searching of artifacts * Develop usage scenarios and context for the information * Provide terminology and value set binding The artifacts are bound to the services via the service metadata. The service metadata combined with the artifacts and supporting metadata provide a comprehensive service specification. The artifact management requirements listed above are derived from the following use cases: * caEHR: The caEHR project has adopted ECCF for specifications and CDA documents for interoperability. The caEHR project requirements include the need for an infrastructure for managing all the artifacts generated during specification process, including HL7 models and documents. The caEHR project also intends to publish these artifacts for the community and vendors. The infrastructure needs to support better discovery, making all the relevant information available in the right context. * ONC and other external EHR adopters: ONC has adopted CCD and CCR for meaningful use. All national EHR implementations are expected to support forms and the semantics of these forms play a critical role in interoperability. The semantic infrastructure must provide a mechanism to create, store and manage these forms. * Clinical Trials: Clinical trials use forms to capture clinical information, and the semantics captured by these forms are critical for interoperability and reporting. The semantic infrastructure must provide a mechanism to manage the lifecycle of these forms.
assembly capability elaboration
Tools to facilitate identifying description elements that are to be aggregated to assemble the composite description.
complianceDiscovery capability elaboration
Mechanisms to catalog and enable discovery of compliance records associated with policies, contracts, and constraints that are based on these metrics.
componentAcquisition capability elaboration
Tools to facilitate identifying the sources of information to associate with the description elements.
compositionArchive capability elaboration
Tools to collect the identified description elements and their associated sources into a standard, referenceable format that can support general access and understanding.
compositionChange capability elaboration
Tools to automatically update the composite description as the component sources change, and to consistently apply versioning schemes to identify the new description contents and the type and significance of change that occurred.
configurationManagement capability elaboration
Mechanisms to support the storage, referencing, and access to normative definitions of one or more versioning schemes that may be applied to identify different aggregations of descriptive information, where the different schemes may be versions of a versioning scheme itself.
discovery capability elaboration
One or more discovery mechanisms that enable searching for artifacts that best meet the search criteria specified by the service participant; where the discovery mechanism will have access to the individual artifact descriptions, possibly through some repository mechanism.
identity capability elaboration
Descriptions which include a unique identifier for the artifact.
interactionLog capability elaboration
One or more mechanisms to capture, describe, store, discover, and retrieve interaction logs, execution contexts, and the combined interaction descriptions.
interactionResults capability elaboration
One or more mechanisms for attaching to any results the means to identify and retrieve the interaction description under which the results were generated.
interoperabilityDiscovery capability elaboration
One or more discovery mechanisms that enable searching for described resources that best meet the criteria specified by a service participant, where the discovery mechanism will have access to individual descriptions, possibly through some repository mechanism.
metadata capability elaboration
A representation of the meaning of terms used to describe the artifact, its functions, and its effects.
metrics capability elaboration
Access to metrics information generated or accessible by related services
metricsDiscovery capability elaboration
Mechanisms to catalog and enable discovery of which metrics are available for a described artifact and information on how these metrics can be accessed.
monitor capability elaboration
Access to platform infrastructure monitoring and reporting capabilities.
serviceChangeNotification capability elaboration
Tools to appropriately track users of the descriptions and notify them when a new version of the description is available.
serviceDescriptionModel capability elaboration
Service Model with capabilities to create, destroy, edit, maintain service descriptions.
store capability elaboration
Accessible storage of artifacts and artifact descriptions, so service participants can access, examine, and use the artifacts as defined.
transition capability elaboration
One or more mechanisms to support the storage, referencing, and access to conversion relationships between versioning schemes, and the mechanisms to carry out such conversions.
versioning capability elaboration
Configuration management mechanisms to capture the contents of the each aggregation and apply a unique identifier in a manner consistent with an identified versioning scheme.
webBasedRegistration capability elaboration
Provide an integrated, web-based environment for model/service registration and browsing.
