In the first IT cluster meeting in Athens, October 2014, the basic idea was to share views of participants of the work packages 6 - 8 and to get a better view of the demonstrators in the CORE project. After half a year’s work and producing the first set of deliverables, it was time to share the status of the IT cluster and to achieve a common view on results of the IT cluster. All demonstrators were also briefly introduced to get a view of their (future) IT requirements. We will not discuss these in detail.
Each of the work packages was briefly introduced and discussed. WP6 for instance has produced an initial version of the Public Private Governance Model and an overview and analysis of relevant standards. Work on the reference framework is on schedule. It will consolidate and make available the CORE results via a so-called Smart eGuide. Input to the framework is required from several developments in the risk cluster, like visibility and risk assessment, and other tasks of the IT cluster, like the development of the connectivity infrastructure providing input to the interoperability building blocks.
Work package 7, providing the infrastructure and supporting tools, had a demonstration of developments. Firstly, TNO presented a tool to support message specifications based on a model, where each demonstrator could use the tool and the model to generate their interface specifications. As model, an ontology can be provided, but also other models like Uniform Business Language and Core Components can be used to construct XSDs. The tool is really simple, TNO will provide a user guide to apply it. CLMS presented an initial range of tools for interoperability like an ontology viewer and a transformation tool that is configured (semi-)automatically using vocabularies. This tool is under development, but it would really provide benefits for organizations to configure their IT systems to support interface specifications. It would lower costs of interoperability drastically. Finally, Atos presented a mockup of a tool by which a community can configure the events they share to achieve supply chain visibility. It will provide all participants in a community to have a clear view of what they all share in terms of events with each other.
The third work package, WP8, is developing some interesting new concepts that can be used by visibility - and risk assessment tools. The concept, knowledge graph, captures and links all relevant events to construct a view of supply chains for visibility and risk assessment. Secondly, the work package will develop a number of components for constructing a dashboard, with interfaces to other systems. The way to develop these components is by developing dashboards for demonstrators, which is done by for instance Descartes and Intrasoft.
The developments of work package 11 and 12, the Rotterdam and Schiphol demonstrator, are taken as inspiration to develop an IT architecture. Within these demonstrators, a federated infrastructure for event distribution will be developed for visibility and optional dual filling to Dutch Customs. Abstraction of this specific implementation will be the first version of an architecture, where the
second part is to support additional data sharing mechanisms and services to meet seamless interoperability and support various CORE objectives. There is a first overview of functionality of both versions of the architecture, the IT cluster will further develop these and come with a draft development plan meeting demonstrator requirements for interoperability.
The concepts of IT products and services will be further elaborated and serve as value propositions to demonstrators and the risk cluster work packages. Examples of products and service are producing interface specifications, rapidly develop dashboards, etc. Based on the Osterwalder business model canvas, these value propositions will be elaborated and will be input for the exploitation plan. An agile approach is taken, with half year cycles, to rapidly develop and adjust these value propositions according the 'lean startup'. This approach will certainly contribute to the success of CORE.