Connect separately governed meanings and representations
Use the Semantic Integration Engineering DPF when one receiving use must combine claims, identifiers, classifications, models or records whose meanings and authority remain governed by different sources. Start with the result your use lacks; adequate supplied inputs permit direct entry into a later Method.
| Your question | Open | What you can obtain |
|---|---|---|
| Exactly who will use the integrated answer, for what question, and what loss or uncertainty is tolerable? | SIE.1 - Bound the Receiving Use and Semantic Contract | A use contract naming the receiver, required answer claims, quality/currentness conditions, authority limits, representative tests, stops and reopen conditions. |
| What does each source actually mean and own at the edition, profile, grain and interval used here? | SIE.2 - Recover and Qualify Source Semantics and Authority | A source semantic inventory with usable premises and exact gaps, rather than a list of field names. |
| Can an existing model express the distinctions this use needs, or must we extend or construct one? | SIE.3 - Construct or Reuse a Semantic Model for a Named Use | Qualified reuse of an adequate model, a tested extension or new model for the missing distinctions, or the exact unresolved model need. Choose formalization for the use it must support. |
| Which concepts, data fields or claims in the sources can be matched for this use, and which differences must remain explicit? | SIE.4 - Judge Cross-Source Correspondences and Their Permitted Uses | Qualified, directional correspondences and explicit unsupported or incompatible rows. |
| Are two identifiers about the same thing at the grain and interval that can change the answer? | SIE.5 - Resolve Cross-Source Identity without Erasing Identifier Authority | A cross-source identity disposition that preserves schemes, issuers, evidence and authority boundaries. |
| Can source claims be used together without hiding conflict or turning one source into universal truth? | SIE.6 - Fuse Source-Qualified Claims without Erasing Conflict | A source-qualified composition, explicit conflict or non-comparability, with derivation and scope retained. Investigate identity only when it can change that result. |
| What must an executable extraction or transformation do, reject and trace? | SIE.7 - Specify Semantic Extraction and Transformation Mappings | A mapping specification with conditions, cardinalities, units/codes, loss, errors, trace and tests. |
| Should the result be virtual, materialized or hybrid? | SIE.8 - Choose Virtual, Materialized, or Hybrid Semantic Realization | A supported exclusion, a scoped unresolved choice, or a realization decision based on serious alternatives and their full resource burden. When a prohibition is sufficient to rule out an option, exclude that option without designing it. State the implementation and interface conditions of an option you select. |
| How will the receiver interpret the supplied answer and its limitations? | SIE.9 - Connect a Receiving Use through a Semantic Interface | An interface with currentness, provenance, error branches, access assumptions and a return path that the receiving use can interpret. |
| Is the integrated result usable for this question, or what failure or uncertainty limits it? | SIE.10 - Validate a Semantic Integration Result for Its Receiving Use | A sufficient bounded failure or uncertainty return, or positive validation covering every load-bearing premise of the claimed whole or subset, including receiving interpretation. Reuse matching evidence. |
| A source, model, identifier, mapping or interface changed: which uses need attention? | SIE.11 - Trace Semantic Change and Revalidate Affected Uses | A compatible direct repair or the affected uses’ revised results, with matching evidence retained and unknown reliance left unresolved. A wider no-impact claim needs coverage of the uses it includes. |
| How can independent users maintain shared semantic modules while retaining their authorities? | SIE.12 - Govern Modular Semantic Commons without Universal Authority | A sufficient local interface agreement, or an arrangement for independently maintained modules, meanings, contribution and release rights, changes and affected uses. A release notice alone does not establish consumer migration. |
The twelve Methods supply guidance for a bounded semantic-integration result and the model, change or shared-module work it actually needs. Stop with the sufficient result for your question. If a required source premise, authorization or receiving-use result is unavailable, name that gap and its responsible source or practice. An integration package does not itself supply the application’s decision or proof of field effectiveness.
Use Data Engineering for pipeline construction and operation, the relevant master or domain authority for authoritative values and survivorship, Systems Engineering for configuration and release decisions, and the receiving practice for its operational decision. The AP242/QIF case shows those boundaries around one query.
For example, a changed supplier promise describes future availability while an application still interprets it as stock on hand. SIE.11 starts from that changed meaning and the application’s reliance; a JSON schema that still passes does not settle the affected use. SIE.3 helps when the model cannot express the distinction. Use SIE.12 when independent users must maintain shared modules. If a single interface agreement answers the receiving user’s question, complete that agreement and stop.