One World Information System

Tuesday, June 16, 2009

GLOBAL PROPOSAL: REVOLUTIONIZING HUMAN KNOWLEDGE-SHARING AND OPERATIONS

REVOLUTIONIZING HUMAN KNOWLEDGE-SHARING AND OPERATIONS

Providing contextual awareness software and services (CASS) to unify the digitally-recorded knowledge of the world and the web for easy and low-cost use.

TARGET: TO DEPLOY THE CASS CAPABILITY OF THE NON-PROFIT ONE WORLD INFORMATION SYSTEM (OWIS), ENABLING APPROPRIATELY-SECURE AND SITUATIONALLY-RELEVANT UNIFIED DIGITAL KNOWLEDGE FOR GLOBALLY-COMMON USE.

Revolutionize human interactions, database applications, online services, communication, and the operations and management of all organizations, communities, groups, and individuals.
Enable knowledge-workers to securely and profitably organize, share, and unify their distinct knowledge and viewpoints into a common globally-networked knowledge pool.

RATIONALE: A unified knowledge capability, beyond that of current global “Semantic Web” efforts, will support knowledge-sharing and provide new and current operations with analysis, planning, decision-making, and performance management with situationally-relevant historical and current knowledge from public networks and any available privately-accessible networks.

FINANCIAL: The key financial objectives are to:

OWIS completes a web-capable operational prototype CASS software product in three months for $100,000, using our solution architecture, system design, and open-source technology.
Subsequently, OWIS completes a web-capable and secure pilot CASS software product for a reference client organization in three months for $150,000, using open-source technology.
Subsequently, OWIS completes a web-capable and secure commercial CASS software product in three months for $200,000 using mostly open-source technology.
OWIS establishes CASS capability branding and a CASS service capability sufficient for 10,000 online users over six months, in parallel with the software pilot and final software development, for $250,000.
OWIS achieves sales of 5,000 CASS full-user accounts in three months, at $25.00 per account.
OWIS achieves sales of 5,000 CASS full-user accounts per month thereafter, with an increase in service capacity sufficient to have capacity for 5,000 accounts for rapid growth needs.
OWIS provides those individuals who cannot afford the full-user account fees with free basic accounts after 20,000 paid user accounts are sold, using donated funds and other non-profit revenues to cover the free account costs.

STATUS: CASS capability analysis and design over the past several years, and recent advances in semantic technology and market awareness of knowledge-management, position this CASS opportunity to be appealing for early innovators and those seeking dramatic, yet managed, change.

ACTION: Willing individuals provide OWIS with annual donations of $10, informal groups and communities with $100, small organizations with $250, medium-sized organizations with $1000, and large organizations with $5000, or anyone provide one or more grants to fund the sequence of CASS capability development and deployment described above, whole or in-part. Make Donations at http://www.one-world-is.org/paypal/paypal-contribute1.htm. Contact grants@one-world-is.org to discuss Grant offers. Verifiably pass this proposal to 10 other people to win a no-cost CASS full-user account when CASS is operational.

Roy Roebuck, +1 (703) 598-2351, roy@one-world-is.org, 06/16/2009.

Tuesday, May 12, 2009

Shifting My Focus Outward

I have decided to shift my focus outward a bit, looking at all of the diverse things I've been pursuing over the past three decades in a new light.

I now see that all of my management and technology efforts, and my physical science, social science, management, and technology education are all about helping people, as individuals, in groups, in organizations, or in combinations of these, to communicate more effectively and efficiently, and thus to be able to cooperate, and interoperate, with greater ease.

To facilitate that, I've developed the following mission and goals:

Mission:
Establish endeavor networked knowledge organization system (ENKOS) for Concurrent Management of:

Operations Life Cycle for Appropriate Operational Transparency, Accountability, and Discipline;
Performance;
Security Architecture;
Enterprise Architectures;
Green Scorecard Efforts for Federal Agency Executives.

Goals:

Implement ENKOS for System/Program Architectures
Implement ENKOS for Business Function/Portfolio/Segment Architectures
Implement ENKOS for Government, Commercial, and Non-Profit Organizations' Enterprise IT Architectures
Implement ENKOS for Organization Concurrent Knowledge-based Operations
Implement ENKOS for Value-Chain Concurrent Knowledge-based Operations

For 33 years I have worked from a "whole enterprise" perspective of management science, information science, social science, physical science, and technology. See http://gem-ema.one-world-is.org/.

I focus on solutions for the unmet needs of organizations, groups, and individuals. In doing this, I apply science and technology to social needs, building innovative and original enterprise management (EM) capabilities using enterprise management architecture (EMA) built using terminology management techiques.

The Terminology-driven EMA enables progressively automated interoperability across the meaning, intention, data, process, and service levels, supporting all aspects of IT integration, interoperability, unification, and unified-view federated operations.A socio-technical focus enables me to operate "out of the box".

My non-profit management-education and research organization enables organizations and groups of organizations, and the individuals and teams within them, to gain new capabilities in secure and shared situational awareness and distributed co-operation.

My organization is currently running in the "seed money" and "startup" phases, and is seeking donations, grants, and contracts to pursue the above goals in supporting individuals, groups, and government, commercial, and non-profit organizations.

Services: Terminology Development and Management (TDM) to build ENKOS with integrated:

dictionary,
concept models: Concept maps, DLG/triples, CONOPS, OV2/etc., conceptual data model, logical data model (ERD), Domain Ontologies and KB (e.g., Architecture), Unifying Ontology and KB (e.g., Enterprise Management Architecture - EMA), Axiology and Value-Chains (EMA)
taxonomy
thesaurus (i.e., jargon and language translators)

Thursday, April 30, 2009

My Ideas and Comments at Recovery.gov

See my Ideas and Comments for Recovery.gov

Visit this discussion site for Recovery.gov.

Search for RoyERoebuck (and RoyRoebuck for one idea). Review my ideas and comments, and make your own comments.

I've used the terms: terminology, management life cycle, management controls, and semantics in my ideas and comments.

All of these ideas and comments are based on the General Endeavor Management (GEM) and its Enterprise Management Architecture (EMA) approach I've described in my previous blogs.

Monday, February 23, 2009

Meanings of “Lattice” and “Framework” in relation to General Endeavor Management (GEM).

The underlying General Endeavor Management (GEM) model is a “lattice” or architecture, that represents the structured and evolving knowledge within and around an endeavor. By following the GEM approach, those persons and groups participating in an endeavor gain appropriate, increased, evolving, and dynamic “awareness” of their endeavor and its environment, extending outward as far as others have modeled tehir own GEM lattices.

See the lists below. The GEM lattice consists of seven types of relationships between seven types of fundamental, or primitive, subjects relevant to the endeavor, with seven types of “life cycle” time relationships within a “requirement”, and seven types of participant “roles” in any process (as a time-relationship). This 7x7x7x7, or "7Cube" lattice, called an “endeavor management architecture” (EMA), provides an “exactly solvable” model of a viewpoint, and thus a consistently-reusable model, representing a discrete subgroup of records about the continuum of human knowledge seen from the viewpoint of a single endeavor.

Subject Relation Types
A. Equivalence
B. Categorization
C. Containment
D. Sequence
E. Change
F. Variance
G. Description

Subject Reference Catalogs
B.I. Location
B.II. Organization
B.III. Organization Unit
B.IV. Function (= Operation Capability)
B.V. Process
B.VI. Resource
B.VII. Capability Requirement by Organization Unit

Required Capability Life Cycle State
B.VII.1. Concept
B.VII.2. Request
B.VII.3. Authorize/Allocate
B.VII.4. Procure/Develop
B.VII.5. Deploy
B.VII.6. Operate/Maintain
B.VII.7. Assess/Improve/Dispose

Subject Value-Chain (Sequence Relation) Roles
D.1. Customer
D.2. Supplier
D.3. Authority
D.4. Partner
D.5. Internal
D.6. Outsource
D.7. Public

To those who consider building an “exactly solvable” model of human-knowledge an impossible task, consider the following - Even though the “universe” is infinite and expanding, science has now proven that it is not “random”, but is simultaneously “chaotic” and “orderly” moving between the two states in a continuous flow, and that chaos is only an extremely complex order, currently beyond our ability to model and thus understand, measure, and manage. By identifying the underlying “patterns” of order that repeat at all scales of the universe, one can simplify the complexity. This is what is done by humans through their “terminology” (conveyance of meaning), “architecture” (representation of viewpoint, their “ontology”), “science” (consistently-reusable knowledge), and “engineering” (specification for precision and reuse). GEM is a repeating pattern of recorded-knowledge. There is much knowledge that is not recorded in a sharable media, but by using the GEM pattern when considering this non-recorded knowledge, one gains a structure by which this non-recorded knowledge can be subsequently recorded in an orderly form, and then appropriately shared and interconnected with other endeavors’ GEM 7Cube representations.

Every endeavor that builds an “enterprise architecture” is building a simplifying endeavor knowledge-model, or knowledge-lattice. Most enterprise architecture efforts build incomplete knowledge-lattices because they only consider a portion of the overall endeavor knowledge that must be identified and linked together, i.e., only a small portion of the GEM 7Cube lattice. OMB FEA, DoDAF, TOGAF, Zachman, MODAF/NAF, and ArchiMate EA “Framework” approaches result in incomplete endeavor knowledge-lattices. A Framework approach to EA only describes or specifies the “outputs” of a knowledge-modeling effort, showing only a very narrow “closed world” view, and not the process to be followed, the underlying data structure to give coherency and consistency to the process and outputs, or specifications of technology to support the process, data structure, and output generation. In simple terms, a Framework roughly and partially describes the “destination” of a modeling effort, but gives no information on how to get to the destination. Thus, a Framework approach to EA results in inconsistent efforts and broadly incoherent outputs and results for those seeking to model their endeavor’s knowledge-lattice. Diverse Framework-based EA approaches cannot be integrated without first giving them a common “integrating foundation” or “backplane”. A GEM-based EMA provides this coherent and consistent integrating foundation.

To improve on less complete and useful EA efforts, and to integrate and then unify them, a GEM-based EMA follows a single consistent and tailorable modeling process, and uses a single consistent and extendable data structure, and can thus provide a single coherent and consistent base of knowledge from which to generate fully integrated output to meet the requirements of any “Framework”. Following GEM to build an EMA results in a full endeavor knowledge-lattice that encompasses all physical and conceptual aspects (i.e., matter, energy, space, time, and intelligence) of the “recorded” endeavor. An EMA knowledge-lattice provides a “primitive cell” that can be used to consistently connect to other endeavor knowledge-lattices, thus providing the means to coherently “tile” various endeavors together within their shared environment.

The connections or links between various endeavor EMA knowledge-lattices can extend outward to encompass all endeavors that are sequentially “upstream” and “downstream” from each single endeavor, comparable to the inputs, controls, outputs, and mechanisms of a single “process model” for the whole endeavor. This whole-endeavor knowledge-lattice thus provides all contributing specified “value-streams” for every endeavor internal activity, and a specified “value-chain” for every endeavor interaction with other endeavors and its operating environment, and every “value-lattice” that is discovered in exploring and identifying links extending outward from each value-stream and value-lattice. This connected-tiling of distinct endeavor knowledge-lattices extends outward to encompass all recorded human knowledge into a single unified “value and knowledge-lattice”.

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References:

Wikipedia Dictionary
Lattice (group)
In mathematics, especially in geometry and group theory, a lattice in real vector space Rn is a discrete subgroup of Rn which spans the Rn. Every lattice in Rn can be generated from a basis for the vector space by forming all linear combinations with integral coefficients. A lattice may be viewed as a regular tiling of a space by a primitive cell.

Basis (linear algebra)
Basis vector redirects here. For basis vector in the context of crystals, see crystal structure.
In linear algebra, a basis is a set of vectors that, in a linear combination, can represent every vector in a given vector space, and such that no element of the set can be represented as a linear combination of the others. In other words, a basis is a linearly independent spanning set.

Linear span
In the mathematical subfield of linear algebra, the linear span, also called the linear hull, of a set of vectors in a vector space is the intersection of all subspaces containing that set. The linear span of a set of vectors is therefore a vector space.

Primitive cell
In geometry, solid state physics and mineralogy, particularly in describing crystal structure, a primitive cell, is a minimum cell corresponding to a single lattice point of a structure with translational symmetry in 2D, 3D, or other dimensions. A lattice can be characterized by the geometry of its primitive cell.

Lattice model (physics)
For other meanings, see lattice model (disambiguation)
In physics, a lattice model is a physical model that is defined on a lattice, as opposed to the continuum of space or spacetime. Lattice models originally occurred in the context of condensed matter physics, where the atoms of a crystal automatically form a lattice. Currently, lattice models are quite popular in theoretical physics, for many reasons. Some models are exactly solvable, and thus offer insight into physics beyond what can be learned from perturbation theory. Lattice models are also ideal for study by the methods of computational physics, as the discretization of any continuum model automatically turns it into a lattice model.

Framework
A framework is a basic conceptual structure used to solve a complex issue. This very broad definition has allowed the term to be used as a buzzword, especially in a software context.

Collins Dictionary
lattice [lat-iss]
Noun
1. Also called: (latticework) a framework of strips of wood or metal interlaced in a diagonal pattern
2. a gate, screen, or fence formed of such a framework
3. an array of atoms, ions, or molecules in a crystal or an array of points indicating their positions in space

American Heritage Dictionary
lat·tice
n.
1.
a. An open framework made of strips of metal, wood, or similar material overlapped or overlaid in a regular, usually crisscross pattern.
b. A structure, such as a window, screen, or trellis, made of or containing such a framework.
2. Something, such as a decorative motif or heraldic bearing, that resembles an open, patterned framework.
3. Physics
a. A regular, periodic configuration of points, particles, or objects throughout an area or a space, especially the arrangement of ions or molecules in a crystalline solid.
b. The spatial arrangement of fissionable and nonfissionable materials in a nuclear reactor.

tr.v. lat·ticed, lat·tic·ing, lat·tic·es
To construct or furnish with a lattice or latticework.

Webster’s Dictionary
Framework
(n.) Work done in, or by means of, a frame or loom. (n.) The work of framing, or the completed work; the frame or constructional part of anything; as, the framework of society.

FOLDOC Software Dictionary
In object-oriented systems, a set of classes that embodies an abstract design for solutions to a number of related problems.(1995-01-30)

Saturday, July 12, 2008

GEM-EMA Methodology Posted

One of the things I have seen over the years is tremendous inconsistency in the way supposedly unified organizations operate and share information. It is sometimes even worse than those organizations that were not even considering each other in their formation.

The boundaries to communication and cooperation that are put up for political and "fear" reasons costs the owners/citizens of those endeavors at least 60% of the annual cost of operations. Every action is start-stop-wait-restart that crosses any capability, resource, process, function, organization-unit, organization, or location boundary.

From my experience, I submit that these artificial boundaries/constraints are not technical, legal, or regulatory, they are caused by indifference, ignorance, fear, doubt, greed, lust for power, lust for control, etc., all human vices of the workers, supervisors, managers, executives, and boards performing their activities. In some ways, these vices are understandable as "defensive/security" actions against possible unseen threats, perceived risks, etc. But adequately shared and appropriately secured information flow to all the participants within and around an endeavor is the cure to that feared-risk.

There are hundreds, if not thousands of "methods/techniques/tools/notations" that claim to provide "enterprise-wide improvement", but how can they do that if they only operate with a fragment of the enterprise, and with only a partial awareness of what the enterprise consists of and how all the pieces relate to each other. Some examples of these partial-enterprise improvement approaches are BPR, TQM, SixSigma, Lean, EA, Balanced Scorecard, CMMI, and SDLC. These efforts can heal a piece of the enterprise, but don't see or care about the whole-enterprise - it is out of their "scope". It seems only the Owners, Board, and Executives have the whole enterprise in their scope. All of the Managers, Supervisors, and Workers are forced to keep their nose to their functional/localized grindstone and not seek to better the whole enterprise - their operating environment.

An "enterprise architecture" (EA) can provide the "full awareness" needed for enterprise-wide or "whole-enterprise" improvement, BUT ONLY if it is built from the start, or extended, to encompass all enterprise requirements, for all resources, for all processes, for all functions, of all organization units, within all cooperating organizations, at all locations. Most EA approaches only consider IT requirements and IT resources, which are sub-sub-categories of materiel resources. These partial IT EA approaches do not address decision-making-requirements for HR, Finance, Logistics (Equipment, Supplies, Transportation, Energy, Services), Facilities, Contracts, and value-measurement and management, among the any diverse enterprise functions and external environmental issues.

GEM-EMA is the only publicly available whole-enterprise management approach, encompassing a whole-enterprise architecture available. GEM-EMA is intended to provide a means for all diverse organizations, staffs, programs, projects, and individual endeavors to be consistently identfied, informed, and engaged in dramatic management improvement. (e.g., reduce cost of value-stream, value-chain, and value-lattice operations by 40% or more, all with increased adaptability, responsiveness, quality, and timeliness)

I have posted my General Endeavor Management (GEM) methodology at the link shown, including my Enterprise Management Architecture (EMA) methodology with its Business Architecture, Data Architecture, Service Architecture, and Technology Architecture parts. It is public domain.

Tuesday, April 15, 2008

Part 4: Universal Management Solution

Continuing my blog thread on Universal Management Solution, here are some more of the definitions I use.

ARCHITECTURE PRIMITIVES: An enterprise can include:

SUBJECTS: There would thus need to be reference/lookup taxonomies for each of the following enterprise “subject classes” (Location, Organization, Organization Unit, Function, Process, Resource, Requirement).

one or more Organizations (consider supply-chain participating organizations within the enterprise and beyond the enterprise-environment) [WHO is responsible?],
one or more organization units (OU) within the organizations (consider staff, program, and project offices, informal teams, positions, roles) [WHO performs?],
one or more Functions (the name of a "work" endeavor) [WHAT is done? WHY is it done? WHAT is the misson?, WHAT are the authority boundaries? WHAT are the performance targets? WHAT is the budget?],
one or more Locations (physical, virtual, or conceptual) [WHERE is it done?],
one or more Resources (Tangibles as matter, energy, space, and time. Intangibles as intelligence. There are limits on tangible resources. There are no limits on intangible resources.) [WHAT makes up the budget?]
one or more Processes (i.e., work-Functions performed in some sequence at one or more Locations, by one or more Organization Units, creating one or more resource-outputs, consuming one or more input-resources, constrained by one or more control-resources, and enabled by one or more mechanism-resources, for one or more Organizations, in reaching the success measures in relation to the outputs’ results, of one or more Endeavors.) [WHAT is performed by WHO, WHEN, with WHAT resources, to produce WHAT resources?]
one or more Requirements for specified process results (measured customer satisfaction with process outputs) [WHAT is required as outcome to satisfy the WHY, from WHAT results, based on WHAT products?].

RELATIONSHIPS: To describe a Requirement, the relationships between these classes, their subclasses, or their instances would have one or more of the following types of Relationships: Equivalence, Categorization, Containment, Sequence, Version, Variance, and Descriptive, all arrayed as a single Relationship taxonomy.

RELATION VALUE-ROLE: For a Sequence relationship, each node in the triple flow from predecessor to successor would have a value-chain role: Customer, Performer, Supplier, Authority, Outsource, Subordinate, Public. Many of the technologies being developed and deployed for “customer-relationship management” purposes can also be used for “all relationship management”, also called Extended Relationship Management (XRM).

REQUIREMENT LIFE CYCLE ROLE: For each requirement, as a collection of relationships, the requirement would be identified as in a life cycle state of: Conceptual, Requested, Authorized, Procurement/ Development, Deployment, Operation/ Maintenance, Disposition.

UNIFIED MANAGEMENT FOR UNIFIED VALUE: By aggregating the enterprise architectures (world views) of complex and diverse multiple endeavors, into a single managed repository sharing a common controlled vocabulary, and by then mapping these different EA’s to the General Endeavor Management (GEM) world view ontology,, the complexity and diversity details in these various world views can be resolved into a simpler and orderly unified view, a unified management ontology, thus enabling subsequent federated world-views of the unified whole endeavor. This then enables holistic “value-chain” management, called Axiology, for the full endeavor operating within its environment.

More material on this GEM approach is published at http://www.one-world-is.org/, and is released into the public domain.

I am available for discussion, orientation, training, development, and implementation support for this approach through the early-stage non-profit educational corporation (EIN 20-8041935) at the URL above.

I am seeking donations (seed capital and start-up funding as cash, stock assignments, equity equivalents, etc.), grants, and supporting-angels, to enable me to further document and deploy this GEM capability for ubiquitous use. I am available on a limited basis for fee-for-service contracts (training, development, implementation, operation).

End of Thread: Universal Management Solution