Developing a Semantic Web-Based Distributed Model Management System: Experiences and Lessons Learned

Distributed model management systems (DMMSs) are decision support systems with a focus on managing decision models throughout the modeling lifecycle and across the extended enterprise. The advent and proliferation of web services and semantic web technologies offers the possibilities of sharing and reusing models in a distributed setting. This paper presents the design and implementation of a semantic web-based DMMS. Key lessons learned, technical and organizational issues encountered are summarized and directions for future research have been outlined. From a technical perspective, future research will need to explore the viability of tools specifically designed to facilitate the semantic annotation of models, specify and validate SA-SMML, and extend the white-box approach presented in this paper to other model types not amenable to structured modeling. From an organizational perspective, further research is needed in the areas of adoption issues and business models that would ensure the sustainable support for of such systems in the service enterprise.