Coherence Maintainance in Cooperative Information Systems: the Access Key Warehouse Approach

In this paper we present and discuss a novel architectural approach supporting the integration among legacy information systems of autonomous organizations. It is based on the use of a data warehouse in a new conceptual role. Namely, we propose to use it, during the design and implementation phases of a cooperative information system, as a tool supporting the coherence maintenance of the underlying databases and the efficient management of accesses to them. Our approach is rooted in the SICC project for cadastral data exchange among italian Municipalities, Ministry of Finance, Notaries, and Certified Land Surveyors. Research results reported here are an abstraction of solutions introduced in the SICC project and validated through the development of various inter-organization cooperative information systems, managed by the ``Coordinamento dei Progetti Intersettoriali'' of AIPA, the Italian Authority for Information Technology in Public Administration.