Data Management Products
ATCCIS Baseline 2.0 includes several Data Management Products. Most of the Data Management Products were used as policy for the LC2IEDM.
Some data management concepts are explained in the side notes.
WP 3-1 DATA Naming Procedures for the LC2IEDM Data Model,
edition 5.0, consisting of one file
(see Data Naming in the side notes).
The purpose of this paper is to describe the naming conventions that support the ATCCIS Data Modelling work. The paper is intended to be utilised by those involved in the ATCCIS Data Modelling exercise and assumes that the reader is familiar with the concepts of ATCCIS, data modelling and IDEF1X in particular.
WP 3-6 ATCCIS Key Management, edition 5.0, consisting of
one file.
This paper describes a set of rules, which are to lead to unambiguous worldwide usage of keys for all ATCCIS operational and meta
data. Whenever a record is created, the key of that record, which consists of ‘id’ and ‘index’ attributes, must be globally unique. The value that the new record key is assigned must not have yet been used elsewhere already, these rules will ensure that this occurs.
In general, ATCCIS key management is based upon the principle of assigning limited sets of allowed values to all key generating organisations (e.g., nations, units, ATCCIS nodes). When these sets have no overlap (and the organisations again apply key management on their own sets), uniqueness of key values is
assured.
ATCCIS Information Resource Dictionary
(AIRD)
database.
As part of the WP 5-5, ATCCIS Information Resource Dictionary contains the essential and pertinent information from the ATCCIS information modelling efforts plus such additional information that is deemed to be important to ATCCIS
conformance. As such, the AIRD itself is a database with its own conceptual schema defining the structure and the content of the
LC2IEDM and ARM Management Data Model.
The ATCCIS End of Phase Documents have several Data Managing WPs:
WP 3-13 Guide to Change proposal for ATCCIS Data specifications,
edition 5.0, consisting of one
file.
The purpose of this paper is to outline the process of handling proposals to change ATCCIS data specifications that are under configuration control and to stipulate the standards to be followed in documenting the proposals. The procedures followed in the previous phases to evolve the Generic Hub data model varied from informal verbal suggestions to formally documented full-scale change proposals. The procedures worked reasonably well, but experience showed that ad hoc approaches sometimes led to less than optimum results. As the ATCCIS product acceptability and implementation expands and the participant community grows, it is necessary to embrace more formal and rigorous procedures to ensure that the Data Group provides an effective forum for deliberation by all delegates and that operational user requirements result in technically sound data specifications.
You may wish to read these WPs in order to get a concise view of ATCCIS:
ATCCIS Phase V Final Report, edition 5.0, consisting of one
file.
WP 5-7 Overview of the LC2IEDM, edition 5.0, consisting of one
file.
Use the Document Navigator to find quickly the documents relevant to you.
Key Management
The ATCCIS Working Paper 3-6 defines the common agreement about
the initial strategy for the management of data identification keys in
ATCCIS.
The present version served as the guide for key management during the ATCCIS Demonstration in 1997 and the ATCCIS Phase IV Command Post Exercise in 1999. It also proved to be a reasonable basis for national development teams building ATCCIS-based systems.
The paper is still subject to future investigation on key
management. Readers are invited to return any comments they have to the originator. One proposed alternative is included as Annex C.
Although applicable to ATCCIS in the first place, the paper
is also considered as a possible solution for key management issues in general. It may therefore be used by other (interoperability) programmes as well.
In many aspects this approach is similar to already existing NATO standards, for example, the assignment of unique NATO stock numbers.
It must be noted that the ATCCIS key management rules have only one objective, namely making keys unique.
The rules are definitely not intended to make the key values traceable by means of possible hidden information inside.
Other alternatives in key managements can be found in
An Enterprise Identifier Strategy for Global Naming
Data Managing Activities (Phase V)
LC2IEDM Edition 2
model and its documentation was completed in March 2000
at the end of Phase IV. The model was submitted to NDAG
to serve as the basis for NATO Reference Model as part of
the NATO Corporate DM, and was accepted.
At the Phase V start, a number of Article
V requirements remained unsatisfied by the data model.
In addition, there were a number of outstanding proposals for
model improvements that did not necessarily address a formal
requirement. Two papers that had
been under development in Phase IV were presented to the HoDs for
further consideration. These were the Optimisation Paper
that dealt with data model de-normalisation issues and a paper
that outlined management procedures for processing model change
proposals.
Data and
Operational Groups reviewed and prioritised 172 requirements
remaining from Phase IV work.
The primary goal in
data modelling was to extend the model to incorporate remaining
Article V requirements and the new requirements that were to
be produced by the Operational Group to support aspects of
joint operations and crisis response operations.
Work on Article V
requirements continued during Phase V. In addition, the
Operational Group issued in September 2000 an additional set of
requirements for Crisis Response Operations
(CRO).
In recognition of
changing realities of potential NATO military operations, ATCCIS
Heads of Delegation enlarged the scope in Phase V by adding
requirements for joint interfaces that are needed to support
land operations. The Operational Group issued formal
requirements in March 2001.
Data Group was
engaged throughout the entire phase in attempting to satisfy the
three sets of outstanding requirements, responding to critiques of
the model by NDAG, and processing further proposals for technical
improvements in the model.
The group considered
nearly 200 change proposals of which about 150 were accepted.
A new version of the model that features considerably broadened
functionality was produced. At the end of the phase, 95%
of Article V requirements were satisfied (vice 70% at phase
start). Furthermore, 92% of CRO and 95% of joint
interface requirements had been satisfied.
A small number of
requirements remain unsatisfied. In addition, WP
5-14 lists issues to be considered in the future.
These range in scope from suggestions for improving existing
definitions to substantive changes in the model structure.
The ATCCIS data model, the LC2IEDM, is a rich and powerful model capable of supporting a wide spectrum of military requirements. But it is not a static model. Information requirements evolve and new requirements emerge as the application of military force adapts to new threats. Responsibility for the continued evolution of the LC2IEDM now rests with MIP, which now has custody of the model.
The naming conventions proposed in WP 3-1
are aimed at supporting the requirements of the ATCCIS programme.
They are based on the proposal already
formulated in ATCCIS Phase II and documented in Working Paper 7L.
In WP 3-1, the fundamental principles of the Working
Paper 7L proposal have been revised to take account of the
particular requirements of the current ATCCIS programme, and
experience gained within the nations of applying a structured naming
convention since the publication of Working Paper 7L.
It is not the function or intention of ATCCIS to review and rationalise the various naming proposals currently being proposed by various external agencies throughout the nations.
The ATCCIS naming conventions apply to logical data modelling only.
The information contained within the validated Data Models
will need to be captured in a data dictionary. The term Data
Dictionary is used within this paper in the context of an ISO Information
Resource Dictionary (IRD). The definition of the information to
be stored in the ATCCIS Information Resource Dictionary (AIRD)
is defined in ATCCIS Working
Paper 4-1. This includes information relating to the entities,
attributes and relationships contained in the IDEF1X data model diagrams
as well as supporting information such as range of attribute values,
entity and attribute descriptions. Both the ERwin tool and the AIRD
must be capable of supporting the proposed naming convention.
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Change Proposals
The process for
managing change proposals involves a two-phase system.
The first phase is referred to as the concept
phase. It entails an initial
suggestion whose acceptability is uncertain.
The second phase requires a specific
proposal that is fully documented for consideration by the Data Group.