The Object Management Group (OMG) has issued a request for proposals for the pedigree and provenance model and notation (PPMN) specification. The PPMN specification will be part of the BPM family of modeling and notation standards, and will support tracking the pedigree and provenance of physical and abstract things.
OMG’s BPM+ provides a set of standards for defining the P&P of models and elements. It also includes Business Process Model and Notation, Case Management Model and Notation, and Decision Model and Notation.
“We identified a need for a P&P specification nearly five years ago and have been discussing requirements for a standard for several years. There’s great opportunity for P&P in healthcare, but its application and potential use crosses industries ranging from farm to table, manufacturing, data mining to contact tracing in healthcare,” said Robert Lario, University of Utah & Veterans Administration, and co-chair of the OMG Healthcare Task Force and BPM+ Methodology Initiative. “There is also an opportunity for P&P to become an open standard for expressing ledger entries in a Blockchain.”
According to the organization, the PPMN specification will help provide ownership history of an entity that can help users decide whether or not to purchase that entity from a seller and legitimate transfer of ownership. In addition, custodial history will ensure safety and the handling of the entity. “For example, the temperature, humidity, and other factors of food storage can affect whether and how long the items may be safely consumed. In the healthcare industry, P&P ensures that the calibration of equipment and training of staff is included with patient data. In military application P&P can be applied to how intelligence was gathered and how information can be shared among mutual allies. PPMN will standardize how disparate organizations and industries express their P&P, opening the door for pooling, deep analysis, and learning,” OMG wrote in its announcement.
Additionally, the specification will provide a standard and interoperable solution for exchanging and displaying lineage, ownership and custody of information.
“In many industries organizations, individuals and other interested parties depend on the ability to assess the trustworthiness or authenticity of the things or entities they use and/or produce. This requires an understanding of the full history of that entity including its lineage, or how it came to be, its ownership history, and its custodial industry,” said John Butler, CEO of Auxilium Technology Group and co-chair of the OMG Pedigree and Provenance Working Group.
More information is available here.
