Numerous repositories are coming along with great momentum. The EC/EDI world is just beginning to evaluate their usefulness related to EC/EDI systems. Although usable, these repositories are not originally designed specifically for EC/EDI repository architectures, but rather software usage.
5.1 Universal Repository
The UNISYS Universal Repository (UREP) is sold as a dynamic, extensible information system that defines, integrates, and manages metadata and business data. It is based on leading industry standards that support best-of-breed tool integration and interoperability across heterogeneous platforms. Independent Software Vendors (ISV) and large corporations are implementing UREP in domains such as the following:
· Tool interoperability
· Enterprise asset management
· Legacy integration
· Application life-cycle management
· Component-based development
· Corporate metadata management
· Data warehousing
The UNISYS UREP is pre-packaged with a set of object services that can be used as-is or customized for the application environment. One of the main advantages of the UREP is its popular version control service that allows developers and users a unique view into their object and data information. Once the repository services are customized, your business models automatically inherit the new capabilities while interfacing directly with popular off-the-shelf tools.22
For additional information, see http://www.marketplace.unisys.com/urep.
5.2 Microsoft Repository
Microsoft Repository is a tool for storing and sharing information about the artifacts of software systems and how they interrelate. This information enables multiple tools to work together across the application development life-cycle. By providing a common format for storing information about databases, reusable components, and assorted data warehousing tools, disparate tools can easily share metadata about software artifacts.
Microsoft Repository is composed of two major components: a set of COM interfaces that a developer can use to define open information models, and a repository engine that is the underlying storage mechanism for these information models. The repository engine sits on top of either Microsoft Structured Query Language (SQL) Server or Microsoft JET database systems. Microsoft Repository 2.0 ships with the Visual Studio 6.0 Professional and Enterprise Editions, Visual Basic 6.0 Professional and Enterprise Editions, and SQL Server 7.0.
Microsoft Repository is extensible and based on open COM/ActiveX interfaces. It supports component sharing using the Open Information Model and the Unified Modeling Language. It is supported by a large number of independent software vendors.23
The Microsoft Repository can allow EDI document standards, data dictionaries, and business process definitions to be stored and shared between trading partners. A technology preview http://msdn.microsoft.com/workshop/xml/articles/xmlsql/demonstrates the way Microsoft intends to provide native XML capabilities within the SQL Server 7.5 product. The implications of this are that the specifications/directories for EDI standards may be loaded into the SQL Server database and, with a bit of work to create the XSL style sheet templates, the resultant repository could be shared or replicated across a large community.
Using Microsoft Repository and XML SQL, an XML/EDI document could be extracted directly from the SQL Database into a browser window. The information stored in the SQL database would be the EDI specification but the resulting XML document would draw together the presentation, application logic, and data (from the e-business database) in a single document object.
For additional information, see http://msdn.microsoft.com/repository/.
5.3 POET - XML Repository
The POET repository is a commercial proprietary repository trying to store a large range of different XML entities such as metadata, full text queries, APIs, and hierarchical namespaces.
The repository's main modules are listed below.
· OO database engine
· XML Meta-Model
· API - C++, JAVA
· Graphical Administration Environment
22 http://www.marketplace.unisys.com/urep
23 http://www.microsoft.com/repository
