Systematisation of Interoperability Body of Knowledge: the foundation for Enterprise Interoperability as a science

TLDR

The recent challenge of establishing an Enterprise Interoperability Science Foundation has prompted academic efforts to systematise the Interoperability Body of Knowledge from fragmented, disparate sources. The paper seeks to clarify the levels of specificity in interoperability research by examining Models, Theories, and Frameworks. It revises these concepts in light of recent work on the Enterprise Interoperability Science Foundation. The synthesis, based on expert consultation, outlines the current state of Enterprise Interoperability work within the European Commission’s Future Internet Enterprise Systems cluster.

Abstract

The recently posed challenge of developing an Enterprise Interoperability Science Foundation (EISF) prompted some academic agents to attempt a systematisation of the Interoperability Body of Knowledge (IBoK). Still in their embryonic stages, these efforts have sought to organise and aggregate information from very fragmented and disparate sources, and with different granularities of detail, distinct epistemology origins, separate academic fields, etc. This paper aims to distinguish between levels of specificity of the Interoperability academic work, which are often confused, by considering Models, Theories, and Frameworks. The paper revises these concepts within the context of the EISF's recent work. The results presented here, reflecting consultation with the expert community, provide the synthesis of the current state of play regarding the work developed by the Enterprise Interoperability (EI) at the European Commission's Future Internet Enterprise Systems (FInES) cluster.