What is connectCenter?
connectCenter is an open-source application for developing and maintaining Core Component Specification (CCS) libraries and for producing contextual data-exchange profiles and their schemas.
Many data-interoperability standards have been held back by inadequate tooling. One of them is the Core Component Technical Specification (CCTS) from the United Nations Centre for Trade Facilitation and Electronic Business (UN/CEFACT), which has a corresponding ISO specification: ISO 15000-5, Core Component Specification (CCS) (hereafter just CCS).
connectCenter grew out of a collaboration between the Open Applications Group (OAGi) and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), part of the United States Department of Commerce. NIST built a proof-of-concept application for CCS-based library development and contextual profile development; OAGi contributed a CCS-compliant library, design input, and real-world testing. The result is connectCenter1 — now in production use across industries such as agriculture, aerospace, payroll, and ERP, and available as an open-source project.
What you can do with connectCenter
Specify context
Clearly specified context is a prerequisite to effective data-model implementations. Key context categories include geopolitical, process, and industry. connectCenter supports unlimited context categories, unlimited possible values for each category, and unlimited business-context definitions (sets of context category/value pairs).
Select a core component
Once you have specified a context, select a core component (message). For example, perhaps you specify a context of an order-to-cash process for crop-nutrition products in New Zealand. You then choose purchase order as the first message.
Profile the core component
Many information-model libraries are large — some so large that they may intimidate potential or actual implementers. connectCenter makes it easy to select only the components necessary to meet the data-exchange needs of the applicable message interaction in the specified context. The result is a Business Information Entity (BIE).
Produce XML Schema
XML Schemas specify the structures and data types of each type of XML message. connectCenter generates XML schemas from profiled core components.
Produce JSON Schema
For lighter-weight, "chatty" system interactions, JSON is often preferred. connectCenter generates JSON schemas from profiled core components; class generators exist for many languages to consume them.
Produce an OpenAPI Specification
Message formats are only part of interoperability; delivering and retrieving messages is the other part. connectCenter generates OAS 3.0-compliant API specifications that include the schema object, giving developers the details they need to invoke or expose the services behind an API.
Using this guide
It is recommended that you read the user guide along with a running connectCenter instance. Follow the instructions while interacting with the tool.
Documentation conventions
The pages in this guide use the following typographic conventions:
| Structural Format | Meaning |
|---|---|
| "Text in Double Quotes" | Double-quoted text is used for button labels, labels, table column names on a page, names of web pages, labels of tree nodes, and example text for a form field. |
| Italicized Text | Italicized text is used for form field labels or to emphasize some keywords. |
Where to go next
- New to the concepts? Start with Key Concepts to learn the CCS vocabulary (Core Components, BIEs, releases, namespaces).
- Want to run it? See Installation with Docker.
- Want to understand how it's built? See the Architecture Overview.
- Ready to use it? Jump into the User Guide.