The Climate Resilience Demonstrator (CReDo) is a pioneering climate change adaptation digital twin project developed by the National Digital Twin programme that provides a practical example of how connected data can improve climate adaptation and resilience across a system of systems. At the webinar, Matthew West, technical lead for the National Digital Twin programme, will provide an overview of the Information Management Framework (IMF) “thin-slice” approach, a vehicle for the development of the IMF ontology that helps to prepare source data to be compliant with quality requirements for sharing within the National Digital Twin. It is an extensible approach that works in small incremental steps, hence starts small and expands. Tom Burgoyne, Enterprise Data Architect at Anglian Water Services, will share early insights into his experience of running this approach under the guidance of the IMF team through CReDo, and next steps to build upon this work. To register for the webinar, please click here. Find out more about CReDo here.

We would like to announce a couple of changes to the IMF Community network: You may be aware that the content of this open network has been publicly available since 30 November 2021. It means that posts in the forum are also visible to guests of the website (non-registered members). In line with the change in permissions, we have also refreshed the description for the network, to align with an enriched definition of the IMF. Following the publication of the Pathway towards an Information Management Framework, we have enriched the definition of the IMF to emphasise the importance of the non-technical elements of the framework, which have always been recognised as crucial for the realisation of a National Digital Twin. Non-technical and technical elements are placed on an equal footing: The Information Management Framework is a collection of open, technical and non-technical standards, guidance and common resources to enable the seamless sharing of data across organisations and sectors. The changes to the network reach and its description reflect the widening scope and relevance of the IMF and position the network as a window to the IMF team thinking, and as a unique channel for members to contact the team and ask questions about IMF resources.

Matthew West, Technical Lead for the NDTp, recently gave an internal presentation on the Information Management Framework (IMF) with a focus on its Change dimension. After introducing the IMF and its scope, the presentation touches on why the IMF doesn’t exist already and provides insights into macro-economic enablers to support its development and adoption. One of the key points is looking into the values / benefits of information in order to establish the business case for the required market enablement. Access the slides deck and watch the recording below:

Dear All, we will follow the changes tracking as per ISO 19650-3 during AIM by using the iModel which is handy for FM guys to update by using simple Web Viewing tools and also the FM guys may not be familiar with different type of native format files. How to update these changes in native format files which is mandatory for the success of connected Digital Twins (Public users). Updation of the native format files for its life time is not advisable. The Software application tools need to be support to update the native format file when iModels are getting changed. Will it be suggestable ? Please advise.

Thank you for the help Sarah! I will attend next week's Gemini Call.

Hi Ajeeth, I like your thinking! Good places to start are with the The Gemini Principles - Public Resources - DT Hub Community (digitaltwinhub.co.uk). and the Digital Twin Toolkit - Public Resources - DT Hub Community (digitaltwinhub.co.uk) Whilst the toolkit is aimed at organisations in infrastructure and the built environment there will be carry over into other sectors. And like you're doing, it's great to reach out to this community for suggestions as many are interested in education! Perhaps also raise it as a question to all participants on the Gemini Call - Community Calendar - DT Hub Community (digitaltwinhub.co.uk)

Hello Everyone! What approach do you all suggest one should take if the project/idea being worked on is an upcoming new domain and where DT seems to be a perfect match? My project idea is in education space and I think DT will make a huge difference and revolutionise the way education is delivered. I would like some guidance on how I should start with respect to DT. What should be my starting point? I am a software engineer, so I am comfortable with software development, tools and libraries. Thanks and kind regards, Ajeeth

As set out in the Pathway to the Information Management Framework, the Integration Architecture is one of the key technical components of the Information Management Framework. It consists of the protocols that will enable the managed sharing of data across the National Digital Twin. In the recently released Integration Architecture Pattern and Principles paper, the NDTp’s technical team set out key architectural principles and functional components for the creation of this critical technical component. The team defines a redeployable architectural pattern that allows the publication, protection, discovery, query and retrieval of data that conforms to the NDT’s ecosystem of Reference Data Libraries and the NDT’s Foundation Data Model. Download the Integration Architecture Pattern and Principles paper The Integration Architecture Pattern and Principles paper will take you through: A requirement overview: a series of use cases that the Integration Architecture needs to enable, including: routine operational use cases: where data from a diverse set of organisations can be shared and analysed for a single purpose (e.g to support legal and regulatory requirements) the ability to respond to an emergency: pulling together data from across different communities in a way that was not foreseen before the incident that caused the requirement ‘business as usual’ NDT maintenance use cases such as publishing a Digital Twin or adding a user to the NDT ecosystem. Architectural principles: key architectural principles that must be adhered to, regardless of the type of architecture that is implemented, including: Data quality: data quality needs to be measurable and published with the data itself Privacy of the published data: the Integration Architecture shall ensure that data is shared and used only according to the conditions under which it was published. Security: ensuring that all data and functions are secure from bad actors. Encryption will be a particularly key aspect of the security features in the Integration Architecture. Recommended integration architecture pattern: Three general architectural pattern options are explored in the paper (centralised, distributed, and federated). The benefits and concerns for each pattern are discussed with respect to the requirements. The recommended architectural pattern is a hybrid of these three approaches – centralising certain functions, whilst distributing and federating others. The recommended pattern is intended to allow datasets to be shared locally (i.e., within an NDT Node, see figure below), but will also allow for inter-node discovery, authorisation and data sharing to take place. NDT Nodes may be established by individual organisations, regulators and industry associations, or service providers and will be able to handle Digital Twins on behalf of their constituent organisations and provide a secure sharing boundary. In the recommended architecture: Datasets are published by the data owner (1), these are then made available to the organisations within the community of interest, in addition an event is issued to register publication with the Core (2). When queries are submitted (A), the dataset can then be discovered by organisations in other communities of interest (B) and retrieved where appropriate (C). The release, discovery and retrieval are carried out according to the authorisation service so that access is controlled as specified by the data owner. Detail of the functional components: The Core Services are likely to be quite thin, comprising mainly of: a master NDT Catalogue that holds the location of available NDT Datasets across the ecosystem the master FDM/RDL that will synchronise with the subset that is relevant for each NDT Node a publish/ subscribe model to propagate data changes to parties that have an interest and appropriate contract in place. The Core and each NDT Node shall interact through a microservice layer, with which they shall have to be compliant. Next steps The paper concludes with a list of 10 key tasks to develop further the Integration Architecture components. We will make sure to inform you on progress and in the meantime, we are looking forward to hearing your questions and comments on the paper!

Is anyone involved in this or contributing to it? https://joinup.ec.europa.eu/collection/elise-european-location-interoperability-solutions-e-government/about

Last May the National Digital Twin programme (NDTp) published our proposed Pathway to an Information Management Framework (IMF). The publication was accompanied by an open consultation to seek feedback on our proposed approach and to hear from across the community about how they thought the IMF should develop to support their use and adoption of it. The consultation ran until the end of August, alongside ongoing engagement with the programme’s technical stakeholders, we received a great deal of valuable feedback. The full summary of the IMF Pathway Consultation Responses is published today, written by Miranda Sharp, NDTp Commons Lead. Overall, the responses to the Pathway were positive and respondents welcomed the opportunity to give feedback and contribute to its improvement. This was hugely gratifying for everyone who has contributed to the work over the last 18 months. Some of the responses to the pathways document challenged the proposed approach and we are keen to keep learning from these differences of opinion and perspective. In the paper we have summarised the range of responses in the table below: Positive response themes Nuanced response themes and questions Critical response themes The work is welcome and progress towards it is considered consistent with the Gemini Principles. The plans to build on existing work are particularly welcome. Discussion of the technical challenge is valid but respondents called for human factors associated with change to be explored in parallel. A small number of respondents rejected the approach as too “top down”. There was broad agreement that the IMF should consist of a FDM, RDL and IA. Representatives from organisations often sought an indication for tangible next steps. Some respondents stated that more than a single Integration Architecture is required. The models and protocols described in the report were seen as comprehensive. There were specific asks for advice on data quality, security, legal provenance and the securing of benefits from investment. Several responses disputed the possibility and validity of a single FDM . More details about the responses can be found in the paper, but what we are hoping is to use this space in the IMF Community to discuss and work on the themes raised here in the IMF Community. Do you agree or disagree with these themes? Do you think any are missing? What work do you think could be done to address the questions and criticisms? Some work has already begun: The legal, commercial and regulatory elements of resilient and secure sharing of information. You can read about our first steps on this journey, Legal Roundtables held in November, here under the Digital Commons/ Legal. The need for a demonstrator and guidance for communicating the benefits of a National Digital Twin and how to begin readying organisations for the change. There was demand for use cases, case studies which is being addressed through the Gemini Programme and the DT Toolkit. Work has been undertaken this year, with funding from the Construction Innovation Hub (CIH) to create an FDM Seed for the CIH’s Platform Design Programme. We hope this will be the first demonstrator, of sorts, for the technical work that is being developed by the NDTp’s Technical Team. You can see the outputs of the Technical team here, and we will be releasing the next paper, Approach to develop the Foundation Data Model (FDM) here soon. We are planning further demonstrators that show the tangible benefits of the National Digital Twin, we hope to be able to share our plans with you in the near future. The Programme also strives to continue to build a body of evidence (‘Corpus’)), as per the Tasks set out in the Pathway, to build other demonstrators for the programme. Alongside this work the publication of the Response to IMF Pathway Consultation will contribute to the development of an updated Pathways document that will refocus efforts of the NDTp. We hope to share that will you in the coming months.

Today we are delighted to publish the Approach to Develop the Foundation Data Model for the Information Management Framework. This document follows up on the November publication of the Survey of Top-level Ontologies (TLO) and the Survey of Industry Data Models (IDM) and Reference Data Libraries (RDL). (You can find these publications under Gemini Commons/IMF technical Documents.) The pragmatic and technical requirements for the Foundation Data Model have now been developed and consideration has been given as to whether any existing Top-Level Ontologies could be used as a suitable start-point. The Approach takes you through these requirements, the assessment of the surveyed TLOs to the final decision. There are four Top-Level Ontologies that meet all the technical requirements: BORO, IDEAS, HQDM and ISO 15926-2. They are distinct from the other Top-Level Ontologies in being 4-dimensionalist. These allow us to see individual objects as four-dimensional, having both spatial and temporal parts. You can find the Approach to Develop the FDM for the IMF here

It certainly makes the case for automation. Imagine if your job was importing and structuring that data every day.

This table has been updated in the online version of the Survey of Top-Level Ontologies.

(8) Data wrangling - importing 300+ datasets a quarter - YouTube Is this making the case for bread and butter digital transformation?

Hi IMF Community, You may find this workshop interesting: "4-Dimensionalism in Large Scale Data Sharing and Integration" Full details and Registration can be found at: https://gateway.newton.ac.uk/event/tgmw80 . The workshop will feature six presentations on state-of-the–art research from experts on 4-Dimensionalism in large scale data sharing and integration followed by a chaired Presenter's Panel. Each presentation will cover aspects of 4-Dimensionalism from the basics to Top Level Ontologies and Co-Constructional Ontology with each answering the question posed by the previous presentation.

Noted. We've added this to our list to investigate in the New Year for extending the Top Level Ontologies, and/or Industry Data Models.

I attach an entry on the UN/CEFACT Core Components Technical Specification, not because I believe it would be a good choice as the single top level ontology, but because its key ideas have been found useful in bottom-up ontology development as described in ISO TR 25100:2012, and I'd like to make the ontology development community aware of that. OMG's MOF is mentioned in the text but not included as a survey item - does anyone know any particular reason? And given the inclusion of generic metamodels, was there any consideration on ISO/IEC 11179 and related standards? Ontology Assessment Criteria - CCTS.xlsx

@Matthew West Yes please, it was me that asked @Miranda Sharp the question. Thanks.

Do you mean "Where are they?" in terms of progress, or how do they meet? I'll answer both. The Pathway document https://digitaltwinhub.co.uk/gemini-commons/informatioon-management-framework/ sets out the work being done by the IMF team, including the TLO (Top Level Ontology) part of the FDM (Foundation Data Model). The Pathway Document was published in May, and the Technical Team (also known as the Rat Pack) has been working on what it sets out since then. So far, they have published a Survey of Top Level Ontologies, and a Survey of Industry Data Models as source material for their work developing a Foundation Data Model and Reference Data Library. https://digitaltwinhub.co.uk/gemini-commons/imf-technical-documents/ Work is also progressing in developing the Top Level Ontology for the Foundation Data Model. An early deliverable from this is due around Christmas for publication after Christmas. For those interested in keeping up to date with and contributing to /reviewing the work being done, early visibility of work is made to a Google Group: UK NDT FDM. Ask me if you wish to join the group. If that has not answered your question, please let me know.

Hello all I took a question after the Gemini call this morning. Apologies for my naivety in not knowing the answer myself, but where are people in the TLO? Miranda

We hope that you have had opportunity to look through the two survey documents published by the NDTp technical development team. A survey of Top-Level Ontologies A survey of Industry Data Models and Reference Data Libraries If you think there have been omissions, and you would like to submit others for assessment, Matthew and the team would be happy to receive them. Linked here is a proforma that we ask for you to complete. You can post your completed form to the files here in the network and we can pick it up from there. Ontology Assessment Criteria - Proforma We appreciate your interest and involvement to ensure the surveys are as complete as they can be.

The IMF Architects and IMF Developers Networks will be merging today into the IMF Community Network. Any members of the IMF Architects Community not currently in the IMF Developers will be invited to join that group. The newly merged group will be renamed 'IMF Community Network'. The merger is to ensure a single point for information and discussion and to rectify any confusion or boundary setting that was not helpful to the community.