Interoperability

Definition

Interoperability

the quality factor representing the degree to which a system operates effectively with specified [types of] external systems by successfully providing services and data to them and using services and data provided by them

Classification

As illustrated in the preceding figure, Interoperability is part of the following inheritance hierarchy:

• Type: Concrete
• Superclass: Quality Factor
• Subclasses:
  • Intraoperability

Responsibilities

The typical responsibilities of Interoperability are to:

• Measure the degree to which systems can collaborate effectively with others
• Support the analysis and specification of interoperability requirements.
• Provide a foundation for evaluating the quality of an architecture.

Subfactors

Interoperability is typically decomposed into the following aggregation hierarchy of subfactors:

• Data Interoperability
• Protocol Interoperability
• Service Interoperability

Measures

Interoperability is typically measured in terms of the:

• Number or percentage of successful types of interactions
• Number or percentage of interface/protocol defects
• Cost of integration (including associated testing)

Mechanisms

Typical mechanisms for implementing interoperability include:

• Interface wrappers

Guidelines

The following guidelines have been found to be useful when producing interoperability requirements:

• Interoperability includes successful integration with external:
  • System and software applications.
  • Data, hardware, software, and subsystem components.
• Interoperability does not mean integration with “wetware” (personnel) components, which is covered under usability.
• Successful integration means that the application can successfully communicate with the other applications and components to exchange data, make requests, and raise exceptions.