The new BMO-API

The new BMO-API provides access to the Business Management Ontology (BMO) through an object model. It will be used by text and graphical Editor Tools, such as the Business Process Editor (BPEdit), which is currently in development.

Providing an interface into the BMO, the BMO-API leverages low-level Ontology Access APIs, such as the Protégé OWL API. Thanks to its adapter architecture, the BMO-API can provide unified access to multiple Ontology Management Systems (OMS). While the Protégé OMS backend is supported in the current version, other backends that do not expose an OWL-API (e.g. the ebXML Registry) can be supported through a specific adapter. Thus, the BMO-API shields developers from the idiosyncracies of low-level Ontology Access APIs.

As a high-level API, the BMO-API provides logical locking of complex entities, such as Business Process Diagrams, thus preventing users from inadvertently wiping out each others’ modifications in concurrent editing sessions. Beyond providing lock management facilities, the BMO-API also supports logical transactions.

From the user perspective, the BMO-API is a ‘fault-tolerant’ API in that it allows users to save and retrieve logical entities that do not pass validation tests. For example, a user may want to define a Business Process Diagram and save it in the BMO while it is logically incomplete in order to continue working on it the next day.

When retrieving a logical entity (e.g. a Business Process Diagram) from the BMO, the BMO-API performs basic validation and compiles a diagnostics list that a Frontend Tool can present to the user. In the context of an Editor session, the user can then work down the diagnostics list and provide missing definitions or rectify questionable definitions.

Frontend Tool, BMO-API and Ontology Management System (OMS) can reside on the same physical system or on different systems. The figure below represents just one out of several distribution options.

BPEdit is the first tool that makes use of the BMO-API. It enables users to graphically view business process definitions using the Business Process Modeling Notation (BPMN), which has gained broad industry support.

The Business Management Ontology (BMO) represents an open and semantics-rich Ontology-based Information Model. It is inspired by public standards, such as BPMN, ebXML, and UBL.

The BMO-API will not be provided for public download, but will be made available on request. Please direct inquiries to dejenz<at>jenzundpartner.de