Enterprise Integration and Modeling

The research on Enterprise Integration and Modeling by this group has been providing information technology solutions to enterprise management and productivity problems in computerized manufacturing and services. Major sponsors of the research have included Alcoa, Digital, GE, GM, IBM, and the National Science Foundation since 1985; while additional support is pending from a number of private and public sector sources in the U.S., Canada, Hong Kong, and Korea. The Samsung Electronic Corporation has decided to adopt the metadatabase model, which is at the core of this research, for its enterprise integration and re-engineering projects. The US Army is in the process of sponsoring further development and deployment of the Metadatabase Technology for its manufacturing and logistic systems.

A number of researchers have participated and contributed to this research. All these researchers have their roots in Rensselaer, but are now spread over several universities and companies in a few countries. Their research has given rise to the following original line of work:

• The TSER (two-stage entity-relationship) approach to information modeling, database and rulebase design, and metadata integration.
• The MDB (Metadatabase) Model for scalable and adaptive integration of distributed/collaborative multiple enterprise information systems.
• GIRD (Global Information Resources Dictionary) and metadata management system.
• Model-based GQS (Global Query Systems).
• ROPE (Rule-Oriented Programming Environment) and architecture.
• The Visual Information Model and a four-dimensional visual query system.
• An information integration theory and reference model. A micro-economical model based on the Transaction Cost theory for assessing the value of information using the information integration theory.
• Information planning and activity-based management methods

These results have been reported in over forty papers by the researchers.

The TSER modeling system has been implementd into a CASE tool suite running either on PC/Windows or IBM RS6000. The Metadatabase system has been prototyped at Rensselaer and demonstrated to the sponsors through Rensselaer's Adaptive Integrated Manufacturing Enterprise Program. A visual global query prototype also exists at Rensselaer. The PC Windows version of TSER and many major publications are available.