MIKE2:Integrated Content Repository

From MIKE2.0 Methodology

The Integrated Content Repository brings together the open assets from the MIKE2.0 Methodology, shared assets available on the internet and private assets (held internally by organisations linked to MIKE2.0). The Integrated Content Repository is a virtual hub of assets that can be used by an Information Management community, some of which are publicly available and some of which are held privately.

Any organisation can follow the same approach as BearingPoint and integrate their internally held assets to the open standard provided by MIKE2.0 in order to:

• Build community
• Create a common standard for Information Development
• Share leading intellectual property
• Promote a comprehensive and compelling set of offerings
• Collaborate with the business units to integrate messaging and coordinate sales activities
• Reduce costs through reuse and improve quality through known assets

The Integrated Content Repository is a true Enterprise 2.0 solution: it makes use of the collaborative, user-driven content built using Web 2.0 techniques and technologies on the MIKE2.0 site and incorporates it internally into the enterprise. The approach followed to build this repository is referred to as a mashup.

Information Management Asset Types

The MIKE2.0 architecture includes three types of Information Management (IM) Assets:

• Open Assets
• Shared Assets (Open and Private)
• Private Assets

These assets are mapped together to form a common standard for Information Development.

Open Assets

Open Assets are provided through the MIKE2.0 Methodology. MIKE2.0 provides a method-based approach to Information Management (IM) best practices. Collectively, these assets and practices comprise the Information Development piece of the MIKE2.0 framework.

At a high level, MIKE2.0 aims

1. to shape Information Development
   
2. allow for community development and enhancements
   

Everything classified as an Open Asset sits physically hosted on the open methodology wiki site. What's more, all assets are available under the creative commons license.

Content on the open site can be classified as either:

• core content
  
• non-core content
  

Core content provides the more stable aspects of the MIKE2.0 Methodology. This content only changes as part of a release cycle. This approach goes into effect once the beta period of the Baseline Release culminates. Non-core content is more dynamic in nature. Any contributor can change this at any time.

Shared Assets

Shared Assets have been made available to the public. They are linked onto the Open Methodology site through common metadata. Shared Assets can take on a number of forms, including:

• wikis
  
• blogs
  
• whitepapers
  
• online books
  
• code
  

Shared Assets are divided into two categories, based on the extent to which they can be changed.

Shared-Open Assets

Shared-Open Assets have been made available to the public. They are linked onto the Open Methodology site through common metadata. These assets are open for other contributors to change; they may not be hosted on the open methodology site.

Examples of Shared-Open assets include:

• An article on Data Modeling on Wikipedia
• An open source data integration tool like Kettle
• A tool to measure complexity of data models applying Small Worlds Theory

Shared-Open Assets represent any publicly available content that contributors edit. Note two things with respect to these assets:

• They are open
  
• They can be specifically applied to extend the MIKE2.0 Methodology
  

These assets are part and parcel to the MIKE2.0 approach. It should be noted that they will typically serve other purposes as well. What's more, the dynamic nature of some content must be considered--e.g. a page on Wikipedia changing. Keep this in mind when sourcing the material on the site.

Shared-Private Assets

Shared-Private Assets have been made available to the public. They are linked to the Open Methodology site through common metadata. Although they have been built in a collaborative form, the broader community cannot change these assets.

Examples of Shared-Private assets include:

• A whitepaper on the impact of Information Management to Financial Services organisations
• Published case studies on the use of MIKE2.0
• IBM technique paper on the use of SOA
  

Private Assets

Private Assets represent content held internally and not shared with the public. However, this content has been linked into the Open Methodology site through common metadata. It is "guarded IP" located behind the firewall. Direct access is limited to an internal group of users. Users of these private assets are under no obligation to make their private assets known, although they are encouraged to share content or its benefits with the open community. Anyone can map in their own assets to the open method. In other words, these assets do not need to emanate from a project that used the Open Methodology.

In addition to functional tags, content ideally should be Peer Reviewed and Maturity Rated. These activities should be performed using governance standards put forward as part of the open method

Information Management Asset Association

Information Assets are associated through the use of common metadata tags that are part of the MIKE2.0 Methodology. Listed below are the key mechanisms for linking open, client, shared, and private assets.

Meta-Model

• The Meta-Model is defined through a common language for The meta-model. It uses categories stored in the open methodology wiki.

Tagging

• Tagging applies and generates metadata assets used to link internal, open, and publicly available assets in a folksonomy-based approach. These tags form the intellectual property (IP) loaded into the meta-model. Examples of tags include:

• At an activity or task level, through the Overall Task List
• At an architectural component level into the SAFE Architecture
• By asset type, as defined by the Content Model and in particular Supporting Assets
• Via user-driven maturing ratings

Articles in the wiki use a common set of categories to classify assets. Bookmarked articles use these common categories as tags.

Search

• Search techniques can be applied across federated repositories. They are configured to search on assets both within the wiki and through selected repositories. The openmethodology site currently sports an independent search capability for: (1) the MIKE2.0 Wiki, (2) the Information Development Blog, and (3) Openmethodology Bookmarks. This is provided by Google Custom Search. At the same time, MediaWiki's internal search feature is still available because it provides more granular search functionality within the wiki.

Social Bookmarking

• Social Bookmarking techniques are applied to link content from the site into the open methodology. The common tags that are part of the open methodology wiki are used to link to external assets.

Transclusion

• Transclusion is used to include part of article into another article by reference. In terms of the Content Repository, it is used to include content from the open site into private asset repositories.

Information Management Asset Repository

The MIKE2.0 Methodology provides the single Integrated Content Repository that is available from the open site. User communities can also have their private content repositories where they link into MIKE2.0 by applying Enterprise 2.0 techniques and technologies.

Any organisation can follow the same approach as BearingPoint and integrate their internally held assets to the open standard provided by MIKE2.0.

• Asset Lineage allows assets to be traced across the environment, linked together through the open method. The lineage can be displayed in a graphical form.

• Reports can be generated against the common metadata repository. Standard reports should be able to view data lineage, asset history and overall set of contributions.

• The Security Model provides a mechanism for users to customise what aspects of their content (if any) they want shown as being part of the open method, i.e. users can map their assets into the open method through tags but do not need to expose this information. Users ultimately control what they would like to expose.

• Configuration Management of asset metadata is stored in the repository to ensure they are stored in the correct fashion and with the last version. Versioning provides the ability for looking back into the history of assets.