Reference Model - Overview

Overview

According to OASIS (Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards) a reference model is "an abstract framework for understanding significant relationships among the entities of some environment, and for the development of consistent standards or specifications supporting that environment. A reference model is based on a small number of unifying concepts and may be used as a basis for education and explaining standards to a non-specialist. A reference model is not directly tied to any standards, technologies or other concrete implementation details, but it does seek to provide a common semantics that can be used unambiguously across and between different implementations."

There are a number of concepts rolled up into that of a 'reference model.' Each of these concepts is important:

• Abstract: a reference model is abstract. It provides information about environments of a certain kind. A reference model describes the type or kind of entities that may occur in such an environment, not the particular entities that actually do occur in a specific environment. For example, when describing the architecture of a particular house (which is a specific environment of a certain kind), an actual exterior wall may have dimensions and materials, but the concept of a wall (type of entity) is part of the reference model. One must understand the concept of a wall in order to build a house that has walls.
• Entities and relationships: A reference model describes both types of entities (things that exist) and their relationships (how they connect, interact with one another, and exhibit joint properties). A list of entity types, by itself, doesn't provide enough information to serve as a reference model.
• Within an environment: A reference model does not attempt to describe "all things." A reference model is used to clarify "things within an environment" or a problem space. To be useful, a reference model should include a clear description of the problem that it solves, and the concerns of the stakeholders who need to see the problem get solved.
• Technology agnostic: A reference model's usefulness is limited if it makes assumptions about the technology or platforms in place in a particular computing environment. A reference model typically is intended to promote understanding a class of problems, not specific solutions for those problems. As such, it must aid the process of imagining and evaluating a variety of potential solutions in order to assist the practitioner. Note: That does not preclude the development of a reference model that describes a set of software applications, because the problem space may be "how to manage a set of software applications."