Datawalk™

•  The first task in datawalk™ is to define the file structure to be walked and then provide a label, the application reference for an instance of a walk. An instance of a walk may contain a maximum of two independent walks but both are against the same file structure.

•  Figure 1 shows datawalk™ opened for a file structure with the database alias of “CBMLMS” and an application reference of “demonstration walk”.

Figure 1 showing datawalk™ opened with a database alias of “CBMLMS” and an application reference of “demonstration walk”

The display shows the window divided into two so that two completely separate walks may be performed on the same file structure.

•  The “continue walk” icon for the left hand side is pressed and a display is presented of all the possible starting points for the walk. Figure 2 shows the starting point for a walk of an information repository. The datawalk™ rules displayed in the examples of this paper are the rules for the information repository.

Figure 2 shows the starting datawalk™ options for the specific rules

•  The “starting datawalk™ options” for the information management repository are, as displayed:

Array characteristic
Business domain
Categorisation characteristic
Complex characteristic CPX
Complex characteristic quantity
Context
Entity class
Entity class set
IERM (implementation semantics for messages)
Intrinsic characteristic
Level
Referential characteristic
Scope

•  This list of starting points are simply tailored to reflect the requirements of a particular datawalk™.

•  An option to include only records containing a specific character string in the record identifier is available.

•  The walker makes a selection for a starting point by highlighting the required selection and pressing the “next” key.

•  Figure 3 shows “context” has been selected and, as no relevant string was stated, all the contexts are read from the database and presented.

Figure 3 a displayed list of “contexts” from the repository

•  The context: “C2IEDM V6 Info Content” is required and the walker decides to define a string to help to locate this context. The walker inputs C2 into the space at the top of the context window.

•  This causes the search to produce the display as shown in figure 4.

Figure 4 a displayed list of “contexts” showing all contexts matching the defined string.

•  The context: “C2IEDM V6 Info Content” is selected and the display becomes as shown in figure 5.

Figure 5 the left hand side shows the context “C2IEDM V6 Info Content”

•  The “continue walk” icon for the left hand side is pressed and a display is presented of all the options for the next stage of the walk from a “context”. Figure 6 shows the options to continue the walk from a “context” of the information management repository.

•  The “datawalk™ options” for the information management repository from of “context” are, as displayed:

Business domain
Level
Scope

In hierarchical terms “business domain” and “scope” are combine to form “context”. “Level” is combined with “context” to form “context at a level”.

Figure 6 the options for continuing the datawalk™

•  The “context at a level” is selected and the two available “levels” are displayed as shown in figure 7.

Figure 7 the options for “level” at this point of the datawalk™

•  The “level C” is selected and the display becomes as shown in figure 8.

Figure 8 the display shows the context at a level of “C2IEDM V6 Info Content C”

•  The “continue walk” icon for the left hand side is pressed and a display is presented of all the options for the next stage of the walk from a “context at a level”. Figure 9 shows the options to continue the walk from a “context at a level” of the information management repository.

•  The “datawalk™ options” for the information management repository from “context at a level” are, as displayed:

Array characteristic
Business domain
Categorisation
Complex characteristic CPX
Complex characteristic quantity
Entity class
Entity class set
Intrinsic characteristic
Referential characteristic
Scope

In hierarchical terms “business domain” and “scope” are what were combined to form “context”. All the others are types of things within a “context at a level”.

Figure 9 the options for continuing the datawalk™

•  The “entity class” is selected and the list of all available “entity classes” are displayed as shown in figure 10.

Figure 10 the “entity classes” contained in the context at a level “C2IEDM V6 Info Content C”

•  The requirement, for example, is to find an entity class associated with “medical”. The walker inputs “medical” into the space at the top of the context window.

•  This causes the search to produce the display as shown in figure 11.

Figure 11 the “entity classes” containing the word “medical” in the context at a level “C2IEDM V6 Info Content C”

•  The “entity class” “Medical facility, hospital” is selected and the display becomes as shown in figure 12.

•  On the Datawalk™ the “entity class” “Medical facility, hospital”, as the last found, is highlighted automatically.

•  The highlighted element marks the current point in a walk.

•  The cursor may be moved and any other element in the walk highlighted which then becomes the current point in a walk.

Figure 12 the display shows the “entity classes” “Medical facility, hospital” and the pathway used to arrive at this point in the datawalk™

•  At any point in the walk the element details for the selected element may be presented. This is shown in figure 13

Figure 13 the display shows the “element details” for the “entity class” “Medical facility, hospital”

•  The context at a level “C2IEDM V6 Info Content C” is selected with the cursor and highlighted thus becoming the current point in the walk.

•  Using the same procedure as for selecting the “entity class” “Medical facility, hospital” another entity class is selected.

•  This time the selected “entity class” is “organisation” and this is displayed as shown in figure 14. “Organisation” is top of the display and there is no need for a string search.

•  “Entity class” “organisation” is the current point in the walk.

Figure 14 the display shows the walk to this point displaying including “entity class” “organisation”

•  With “organisation” as the current point in the walk the “continue walk” icon for the left hand side is pressed and the display as in figure 15 is presented. The options displayed depends, as always, on the type of thing that is the current point of the walk.

•  The “datawalk™ options” for the information management repository from an “entity class” are, as displayed:

Array characteristic
Categorisation
Complex characteristic CPX
Complex characteristic quantity
Context at a level
Intrinsic characteristic
Member Entity class set
Owner Entity class set
Referential characteristic
Status

In hierarchical terms “context at a level” is what the “entity class” belongs to. All the others are types of things within an “entity class”.

Figure 15 the options for continuing the datawalk™ from an “entity class”

•  The “intrinsic characteristic” is selected.

•  There is only one “intrinsic characteristic” in the “entity class” “organisation” namely “Nickname name”so this is automatically selected and displayed in the datawalk™ display as shown in figure 16.

Figure 16 The “intrinsic characteristic” “Nickname name” displayed in the datawalk™ under “entity class” “organisation”

•  The data walker highlights the same “entity class” “organisation”.

•  The “continue walk” icon for the left hand side is pressed and the same display as shown in figure 15 is presented.

•  The “referential characteristic” is selected. There are two “referential characteristics” and these are presented as shown in figure 17.

Figure 17 Two “referential characteristic” for the “entity class” “organisation” are presented

•  The “referential characteristic” “Assigned establishment through” is selected and the datawalk™ display becomes as shown in figure 18.

Figure 18 The datawalk™ display after the “Assigned establishment through” “referential characteristic” has been selected.

•  With the “referential characteristic” “Assigned establishment through” as the current point in the walk the “continue walk” icon for the left hand side is pressed and the display as in figure 19 is presented.

•  The “datawalk™ options” for the information management repository from an “referential characteristic” are, as displayed:

Context at a level
Native Entity class or Entity class set
Referred Entity class or Entity class set
Status

In hierarchical terms “context at a level” and “Native Entity class or Entity class set” are what the “ referential characteristic ” belongs to. “Referred Entity class or Entity class set” is what the “ referential characteristic ” points at. “Status” is a type of thing within a “ referential characteristic ”.

Figure 19 the options for continuing the datawalk™ from a “referential characteristic”

•  The “ Referred Entity class or Entity class set ” is selected.

•  Within the information management repository there can be only one “ Referred Entity class or Entity class set ” for a “referential characteristic”. So the “ Referred Entity class or Entity class set ” for the “referential characteristic” “Assigned establishment through” is automatically selected and displayed in the datawalk™ display as shown in figure 20.

Figure 20 the presentation of the “referential characteristic”

•  The “ Referred Entity class or Entity class set ” for the “referential characteristic” “Assigned establishment through” is the “entity class” “OBJECT-TYPE-ESTABLISHMENT”. (The upper case reflects how the name of the “entity class” was input and has no more meaning than that.)

•  This walking using datawalk™ can go on indefinitely.

•  Let us assume that the “entity class” “OBJECT-TYPE-ESTABLISHMENT” is something we require. (Although another elements may be selected by highlighting.)

•  The tasks to be performed will vary with the data structures being walked.

•  For the information management repository the verbalise icon is pressed and the following display as in figure 21 is presented.

•  The “verbalise options” for the information management repository are, as displayed:

CBML as XML.
Verbalisation style A.

Figure 21 the presentation to select the type of verbalisation

•  If the “verbalise option” “Verbalise style A” is selected the report as seen in figure 22 is presented.

Figure 22 verbalisation style A

•  If the “verbalise option” “CBML as XML” is selected the report as seen in figure 23 is presented.

Figure 23 CBML as XML

•  As discussed earlier it is possible to perform in datawalk™ two simultaneous walks. An example of this is presented figure 24.

Figure 24 two simultaneous datawalk™

•  The display shows two distinct walks using datawalk™ on the information management repository. The left hand side is of a CBML model and the right hand side is a physical message representation.

•  An “entity class set” “Main Activity Code” is highlighted in the left hand side.

•  An “IERM segment” “UK SCATMINMSG_58_MINECOMP” is highlighted in the right hand side.

•  The walker decides that these two highlighted elements need to be mapped to each other, the mapping icon is pressed and the mapping is performed.

•  The activities to be performed on the highlighted element or pair of highlighted elements will vary with the application.

•  Datawalk™ is currently restricted to two simultaneous walks but this could be extended if required by an application.

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