Patent Document ID: 20100070450
Application ID: 12447980
Patent Flag: 0

Claim One:
1. In a collection of enterprises which uses a data communication systems network comprising a plurality of data communication systems, a method of building a data integration environment, the method comprising the steps of: (a) establishing a predetermined set of rules about data based upon a data framework, a set of hierarchical classification (or ontology) rules and attribute rules for each system of the network; (b) replicating at least one set of rules representative of one of the systems and transferring said replicated set of rules to one or more other said systems of the network; (c) merging the rules about the data associated with the systems in accordance with a predetermined negotiation procedure based upon processing capability of the systems, enabling a common rules set to be negotiated between the integration environment and the systems; (d) loading the merged rules into the integration environment rule base and selectively populating the datastore implementing the data integration environment with rules data from one or more of the systems; and (e) effecting data exchange between one or more of said systems and the integration environment in accordance with the newly-established rule set.