A generic integration architecture for cooperative information systems

Cooperative information systems consist of existing legacy systems integrated in terms of a generic architecture which supports data integration and coordination among the integrated components. The paper presents a proposal for a generic integration architecture named CoopWARE. The architecture is presented in terms of the mechanisms it provides for data integration, and coordination. Data integration is supported by an information repository with an extensible schema, while coordination is facilitated by a rule set and an event-driven rule execution mechanism. In addition, the paper describes implementation and application experiences for the architecture in the context of a three year software engineering project.