Modelling in Coordination Systems

We describe an approach to the coordination of application systems based on the modelling and maintenance of inter-system dependencies expressed as data constraints together with update propagation rules. These dependencies are speciied by a Coordination Model which comprises a Coordination Interface for each application system together with a global Coordination View. A Coordination Interface describes local object types relevant for system-wide coordination. The Coordination View describes the subsystems, their globally important object types and the relationships between those object types. Additionally, the Coordination View speciies actions to restore global consistency in the event of constraint violations, thereby providing system coordination. Speciically, we describe how this approach has been adopted in a prototype Computer Integrated Manufacturing (CIM) system based on the coordination of CIM subsystems. In this CIM system, the Coordination Model is speciied using the NIAM data model.