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Both within Europe and internationally, when companies collaborate they invariably need to exchange information electronically. However, due to the large number of diverse information systems, the data format (syntax) of messages usually differs from company to company. In such cases, users either have to agree on a common standard or map the data schema of one business partner to that of another.

Today, the schema mapping process focuses on syntax. The key drawback to this approach is that mappings must be performed by a technical person who has schema knowledge, whereas what is required is the mapping of business information by business people.

STASIS focuses on identifying semantic entities and enabling the mapping of those semantic pieces by business users and aims to address the following key statement:

STASIS will enable SMEs and larger enterprises to fully participate in the e-Economy by delivering a semantic application and services based on the open SEEM registry and repository network. The project will ultimately develop a neutral standard mapping format which can be exploited by existing transformation tools and technologies.

STASIS innovates in the area of B2B semantics. It will remove the two biggest barriers which currently prevent many SMEs from trading electronically in the B2B environment – i.e. cost and time – by delivering a software application which will allow users to easily identify and map related elements using semantics.

STASIS will have the greatest impact on sectors where development is most needed – e.g. the automotive sector where an exchange of information is crucial for further development. These include business groups isolated for reasons of geography and those affected by social isolation such as linguistic barriers and time differences between the supplier and the markets.

It is widely reported that only 5% of companies are trading electronically in a classical sense and it is also known that 99% of all European companies are SMEs. Thus it is not hard to see that there is an extremely large market place which could benefit from STASIS.

From a business perspective user requirements and insight are key to STASIS. The project has industrial partners in both the Automotive and Furniture sectors. These links will allow requirements analysis, testing and validation to be performed throughout the lifecycle of the project. This process will create a product that is capable of being used in the real world. However, STASIS itself is generic and applicable to all business sectors.

Supply Chain cooperations worldwide call for internationally developed solutions. An example would be Chinese and Eastern European countries who now contribute significantly to the global economy. As a result of this four partners are from China and Bulgaria.

STASIS is a Research and Development project sponsored under the European Commission's 6th Framework programme. Its objective is for Research, Development and Validation of open webServices based distributed semantic services for SME empowerment within the Automotive, Furniture and other sectors.

STASIS commenced September 1^st 2006 and lasts for 3 years until August 2009 with a total budget of €4m. The following 12 commercial, academic and user organisations are involved in the project: AIDIMA, Beiqi Foton Motor Co., Ltd., Centre for Internet Technologies, iSoft, MARINER S.A., Shanghai Sunline Co. Ltd., TANet, TIE Nederland B.V., Tsinghua University, Universita di Modena e Reggio Emilia, University of Oldenburg and ZF Friedrichshafen AG. The partners are spread across Europe and China and are led by the managing partner TIE.

STASIS has strong links to major standardisation and interoperability organisations within Europe and beyond. The project is committed to use and interact with open standards/bodies including:

European Standards Groups:

• eBusiness Board for European Standardisation (CEN/eBES)
• eBusiness Interoperability Forum (CEN/eBIF)

International:

• United Nations CEFACT, whose role is to promote eBusiness

Several of the outputs from STASIS will form the basis of submissions to standardisation bodies. Data formats and methodologies for handling e-Business information and using semantic ontologies to develop mappings between similar structures will be formalised and presented as draft discussion documents for consideration by CEN and other standards groups.

For further information on STASIS, download our project flyer.