METAdoc: A framework for development of meta-protocol documents

There are available many standard models for data exchange covering a wide domain of business and industrial activities. ISO 10303 (STEP) is an International Standard (IS) releasing several of these standards. Each of them is identified as an Application Protocol (AP), strictly covering one scope of activity. Due to the large number of available APs embracing the major requirements for data exchange needed by one organization, nowadays the development of new APs could be made mostly based in a careful selection and reuse of subsets of the existent ones. At this moment there are emerging proposals for methodologies to support the development and implementation of new APs using such approach. However, APs must be technically documented. These documents include a huge amount of data represented in files with several megabytes of text. Although a significant part of the documentation of a new AP can be deduced from those describing the adopted modules, a methodology that could assist in this major task is lacking. Having such methodology established, a framework could be developed supporting the reuse of the existent standard schemata, avoiding time waste and systematic errors, and enabling data mining and data crossing for better selection of the modules. This paper presents METAdoc, a methodology to support the development of meta-AP documents, foreseeing a complete framework for development of standard APs, from documentation to implementation. The presented work results from the research in many international projects, with a strong contribution from the one done with ISO when developing the new ISO10303 Application Protocol: AP236.