=Paper=
{{Paper
|id=Vol-1701/paper24
|storemode=property
|title=Lessons Learned in Aligning Data and Model Evolution in Collaborative Information Systems (Extended Abstract)
|pdfUrl=https://ceur-ws.org/Vol-1701/paper24.pdf
|volume=Vol-1701
|authors=Thomas Reschenhofer,Manoj Bhat,Adrian Hernandez-Mendez,Florian Matthes
|dblpUrl=https://dblp.org/rec/conf/emisa/ReschenhoferBHM16
}}
==Lessons Learned in Aligning Data and Model Evolution in Collaborative Information Systems (Extended Abstract)==
https://ceur-ws.org/Vol-1701/paper24.pdf
Jan Mendling, Stefanie Rinderle-Ma, Eds.: Proceedings of EMISA 2016,
Lecture Notes in Informatics (LNI), Gesellschaft für Informatik, Bonn 2016
Lessons Learned in Aligning Data and Model Evolution in
Collaborative Information Systems (Extended Abstract)
Thomas Reschenhofer1, Manoj Bhat1, Adrian Hernandez-Mendez1 und Florian Matthes1
Abstract: Today’s enterprises have to align their information systems continuously with their
dynamic business and IT environment. Collaborative information systems address this challenge
by involving diverse users in managing the application’s data as well as its conceptual model. In
this sense, both the data and the model co-evolve. There are different approaches for aligning data
and model evolution, wherein either the data is aligned to the model, or vice versa.
In this work, we present a hybrid approach supporting both strategies and elaborate on our
experiences of applying the approach in projects for over five years. Thereby, we discuss
challenges and issues faced in those projects. We formulate those issues and respective solutions
as lessons learned, which not only hold for the concrete system which was applied in those
projects, but which should guide the design and implementation of all software systems supporting
the co-evolution of data and model.
The work summarized in this extended abstract has been published in [Re16].
Keywords: Lessons learned, best practices, model evolution, data evolution, collaborative
information systems, semantic wiki
1 Introduction
The demand and requirements for information systems are changing continuously due to
an increasingly turbulent business environment, technology innovations, and legal
regulations. Adaptive information systems enable enterprises to adapt their software
systems to meet the demands of such a dynamic business and IT environment.
One aspect of an information systems that is subject to frequent changes is its conceptual
model – also referred to as the user-model [MK15]. The reasons for the user-model
changes are manifold and range from the correction of mistakes to the adaption to new
laws and regulations. If the information system is not able to adapt to the changing
environment, the quality of the system’s support for its business will decrease over time
[vWv06]. Therefore, meta-model based information systems that allow users to
dynamically update and evolve their user-models in order to meet the demands of the
changing business needs are becoming popular. In a collaborative environment, this
approach implies at least two different co-existing user roles for managing the user-
model and its application data [SDW08] namely model designers who are responsible
1
Technical University of Munich (TUM), Department of Informatics, Boltzmannstr 3, 85748 Garching,
{thomas.reschenhofer, manoj.mahabaleshwar, adrian.hernandez}@tum.de, matthes@in.tum.de
16 Thomas Reschenhofer, Manoj Bhat, Adrian Hernandez-Mendez, Florian Matthes
for user-model changes, and end-users or data owners performing data changes.
Achieving such a collaborative environment that supports the evolution of both the user-
model and its data in a coherent and consistent manner is a non-trivial task. Matthes et
al. [MNS11] tackle this challenge with the so-called Hybrid Wiki approach. Thereby,
the application data is initially represented by the unstructured wiki pages which can be
structured incrementally and collaboratively by attaching types, attributes, and integrity
rules. At the same time, model designers can define and adapt the user-model which
imposes certain constraints on the underlying wiki pages and thus induces a schema on
the application data.
Our experiences related to the application of a collaborative information system (CIS)
that implements the Hybrid Wiki approach in a variety of use-cases and domains
revealed a couple of challenges and issues which are not only related to the Hybrid Wiki
approach in particular, but to collaborative approaches for the co-evolution of user-
models and data in general. In this paper, we discuss our experiences of applying the
Hybrid Wiki approach in industrial and research projects, and the consequences for the
redesign of this approach.
2 Hybrid Wikis
The goal of the Hybrid Wiki approach is to empower non-expert users to collaboratively
gather and consolidate information in a knowledge-based information system [MNS11].
It tries to reduce the complexities involved in using semantic wikis and their
corresponding technologies including the markup language and the query language. The
term "hybrid" refers to wiki pages which integrate a subset of semantic wiki features into
classical wiki software.
The Hybrid Wiki approach enables data owners to iteratively structure initially
unstructured data by adding attributes to wiki pages. Additionally, users can annotate
wiki pages with type tags which enable the system to identify similarities between wiki
pages. Furthermore, model designers can define type tag definitions, attribute
definitions, and validators in order to specify constraints on the data. In this way, the
model designer defines the user-model and urges the data owners to capture data
corresponding to the user-model. It should be noted that in the Hybrid Wiki approach
data owners are not restrained by strict integrity constraints while capturing information
in wiki pages and their attributes, i.e., a value violating integrity constraints as defined in
the user-model can still be stored in the CIS [MNS11].
The Hybrid Wiki approach was applied in several industrial and research projects in the
domains Enterprise Architecture Management (EAM), Collaborative Product
Development (CPD), and Collaborative Content Management (CCM) for more than five
years [MN11], [RRS14].
Lessons Learned in Aligning Data and Model Evolution in Collaborative Information Systems
17
3 Lessons Learned in Aligning Data and Model Evolution
Patton [Pa01] defines lessons learned as the knowledge which is derived from the
screening of a situation and which can be applied in similar situations in the future. In
the context of this paper, a lesson learned represents an issue we faced in the application
of the Hybrid Wiki approach and the consequential redesign and reimplementation of
our Hybrid Wiki system.
3.1 Relevance of Terminology
The starting point for defining the terminology of the Hybrid Wiki meta-model were
wikis and wiki pages. However, these terms already refer to a certain form of
representation and content creation, while the Hybrid Wiki approach was not only
applied as a means for traditional knowledge management but also as a user-driven and
model-based repository. Consequently, the stakeholders in the respective cases refer to
their information objects using more general terms, e.g., Entities or Workspaces. In order
to foster the adoption of the Hybrid Wiki approach in the future projects, we applied
those implicitly proposed terminology changes to the Hybrid Wiki meta-model.
3.2 Simplicity vs. Expressiveness
Originally, the Hybrid Wiki meta-model allowed to assign multiple types (type tags) to
one entity (wiki page). However, this seemed to be too complicated for the majority of
users. As a consequence, we redesigned the meta-model accordingly, i.e., entities can
only be assigned to a single type. On the other hand, the meta-model was extended by
additional constraints to differentiate between additional types of attributes, e.g., dates or
Booleans.
3.3 Configurability of Modeling Approach
Depending on the degree of maturity of the model, either a flexible data-first or a more
restrictive model-first approach is desirable. Consequently, means for seamlessly
changing the modeling approach in order to align it to the current needs are required,
e.g., by activating or deactivating so-called free attributes (attributes which are not
defined by the user model), or by configuring the strictness of constraints.
3.4 Searchable Inconsistencies
While inconsistencies between data and model are inevitable, users have to be supported
in identifying and resolving them. This implies the need for facilities enabling the search
for inconsistencies and to create data consolidation views.
18 Thomas Reschenhofer, Manoj Bhat, Adrian Hernandez-Mendez, Florian Matthes
4 Conclusion
There are three main conclusions which we draw from our experiences from the
applications of the Hybrid Wiki approach. First, finding the right balance between data-
and model-first approaches is decisive. The practical applications of the Hybrid Wiki
approach revealed that in early stages of the user-model design, a focus on the data-first
approach enables model designers to harness collective intelligence among the system’s
users and to utilize each individual’s domain-specific knowledge. As soon as the user-
model reaches a certain degree of maturity, the design space should be restricted in order
to enforce a convergence of the user-model. Second, the co-evolution of both the user-
model and its data yields to inconsistencies between them. One important success factor
of software systems is the integration of adequate data consolidation tools and
techniques. Third, a conceptual model enabling the co-evolution of user-model and data
must have the right balance between simplicity and expressiveness. The basic concepts
of a pragmatic approach to model and data co-evolution should be usable and
understandable by a broad spectrum of both data owners and model designers.
5 Bibliography
[MK15] McGinnes, S.; Kapros, E.: Conceptual Independence: A Design Principle for the
Construction of Adaptive Information Systems. In Information Systems, 2015, 47.
[MN11] Matthes, F.; Neubert, C.: Wiki4EAM - Using Hybrid Wikis for Enterprise
Architecture Management. In Proceedings of the International Symposium on
Wikis and Open Collaboration, 2011; p. 226.
[MNS11] Matthes, F.; Neubert, C.; Steinhoff, A.: Hybrid Wikis: Empowering Users to
Collaboratively Structure Information. In Proceedings of the International
Conference on Software and Data Technologies, 2011; pp. 250–259.
[Pa01] Patton, M. Q.: Evaluation, Knowledge Management, Best Practices, and High
Quality Lessons Learned. In American Journal of Evaluation, 2001, 22.
[Re16] Reschenhofer, T. et al.: Lessons Learned in Aligning Data and Model Evolution in
Collaborative Information Systems. In Proceedings of the International Conference
on Software Engineering, 2016.
[RRS14] Rehm, S.; Reschenhofer, T.; Shumaiev, K.: IS Design Principles for Empowering
Domain Experts in Innovation: Findings From Three Case Studies. In Proceedings
of the International Conference on Information Systems, 2014.
[SDW08] Spahn, M.; Dörner, C.; Wulf, V.: End User Development: Approaches Towards a
Flexible Software Design. In Proceedings of the European Conference on
Information Systems, 2008; pp. 303–314.
[vWv06] van Oosterhout, M.; Waarts, E.; van Hillegersberg, J.: Change Factors Requiring
Agility and Implications for IT. In European Journal of Information Systems,
2006, 15; pp. 132–145.