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Described in the Pathway to the Information Management Framework, the Integration Architecture is one of the three key technical components of the Information Management Framework (IMF), along with the Reference Data Library and the Foundation Data Model. It consists of the technology and protocols that will enable the managed sharing of data across the National Digital Twin (NDT). The IMF Integration Architecture (IA) team began designing and building the IA in April 2021. This blog gives an insight on its progress to date. Principles First, it is worth covering some of the key principles being used by the team to guide the design and build of the IA: Open Source: It is vital that the software and technology that drives the IA are not held in proprietary systems that raise barriers to entry and prevent community engagement and growth. The IA will be open source, allowing everyone to utilise the capability and drive it forward. Federated: The IA does not create a single monolithic twin. When Data Owners establish their NDT Node, the IA will allow them to publish details of data they want to share to a NDT data catalogue, and then other users can browse, select and subscribe to the data they need to build a twin that is relevant to their needs. This subscription is on a node-to-node basis, not via a central twin or data hub, and Owners can specify the access, use, or time constraints that they may wish to apply to that subscriber. Once subscribed, the IA takes care of authenticating users and updating and synchronising data between nodes. Data-driven access control: To build trust in the IA, Data Owners must be completely comfortable that they retain full control over who can access the data they share to the NDT. The IA will use an ABAC security model to allow owners to specify in fine-grained detail who can access their data, and permissions can be added or revoked very simply and transparently. This is implemented as data labels which accompany the data, providing instructions to receiving systems on how to protect the data. IMF Ontology Driven: NDT Information needs to be accessed seamlessly. The NDT needs a common language so that data can be shared consistently, and this language is being described in the IMF Ontology and Foundation Data Model being developed by another element of the IMF team. The IA team are working with them closely to create capabilities that will automate conversion of incoming data to the ontology and transact it across the architecture without requiring further “data wrangling” by users. Simple Integration: To minimise the risk of implementation failure or poor engagement due architectural incompatibility or high cost of implementation, the IA needs to be simple to integrate into client environments. The IA will use well understood architectural patterns and technologies (for example REST, GraphQL) to minimise local disruption when data owners create an NDT node, and ensure that once implemented the ongoing focus of owner activity is on where the value is – the data – rather than maintenance of the systems that support it. Cloud and On-Prem: An increasing number of organisations are moving operations to the cloud, but the IA team recognises that this may not be an option for everyone. Even when cloud strategies are adopted, the journey can be long and difficult, with hybridised options potentially being used in the medium to long term. The IA will support all these operating modes, ensuring the membership of the NDT does not negatively impact existing or emerging environment strategies. Open Standards: for similar drivers behind making the IA open-source, the IA team is committed to ensuring that data in the NDT IA are never locked-in or held in inaccessible proprietary formats. What has the IA team been up to this year? The IMF chose to adopt the existing open-source Telicent CORE platform to handle the ingest, transformation and publishing of data to the IMF ontology within NDT nodes, and the focus has been on beginning to build and prove some of the additional technical elements required to make the cross-node transactional and security elements of the IA function. Key focus areas were: Creation of a federation capability to allow Asset Owners to publish, share and consume data across nodes Adding ABAC security to allow Asset Owners to specify fine-grain access to data Building a ‘Model Railway’ to create an end-to-end test bed for the NDT Integration Architecture, and prove-out deployment in containers

The vision of a National Digital Twin as an ecosystem of connected digital twins enabling better social and economic outcomes across the built environment continues to gain wide support. But to make it a reality, we need people with the right skills to put it into play. “Collaborate on the rules and compete on the game” is a phrase we use to describe how we want connected digital twins to evolve. The sporting analogy carries over well into skills. We want the best teams to deliver on the National Digital Twin, not just a team of strikers or goalkeepers but diverse teams with a range of skillsets and capabilities. Diversity has to be at the heart of a skills strategy ensuring that the future workforce is more effective. The skills & competency framework sets out the skills that are needed to manage information and work with data in the future. These aren’t just what we might see as hardcore technical skills such as data modelling and analytics which are described as digital skills but also business skills like transformational leadership which recognises the benefits of getting information management right. The capability enhancement programme sets out pathways for individuals and organisations to get the right skills in place depending upon aspirations both at the personal level and the organisational level. Have a go at the self-assessment questionnaire to assess what training might be helpful to you and take a look at the training register to find a suitable course. The National Digital Twin is a long term journey and there is time to get the right skills in place to reach our destination.

Bringing CreDo to life With COP26 on the horizon, we are fully immersed in preparing to showcase the Climate Resilience Demonstrator - CReDo. We have appointed two partners to help us communicate the story in an engaging and inspiring way and demonstrate the huge potential of information sharing. Firstly, we are working with Crocodile Media to develop a short, dramatic film that will tell the story of a flooding event and how connected digital twins may provide a better response to climate disasters. The second partnership is with ESRI, a provider of online maps and 3D models of cities, who are developing an interactive demonstrator that will allow the public to test out various scenarios on a made-up city. The purpose of both will be to demonstrate how information sharing across organisational boundaries is a key enabler to improving resilience of infrastructure systems. We have organised an event “Increasing our climate resilience through connected digital twins” on the 2nd of Nov to watch the film, see the interactive tool in action and find out more about how connected digital twins can help to tackle climate change. We’re delighted that the project doesn’t end with COP26 – instead, the technical development of CReDo will continue until next year and will be delivered through a collaboration of research centres and industry partners; The Universities of Cambridge, Edinburgh, Exeter, Newcastle and Warwick will work alongside the Hartree Centre, DAFNI, Science and Technology Facilities Council, CMCL Innovations, the Joint Centre of Excellence in Environmental Intelligence, CPNI and Mott MacDonald. We are also delighted to be working in partnership with three major UK utility providers; Anglian Water, BT and UK Power Networks who are equally committed to making bold steps towards resilient infrastructure. Progress on IMF’s seven circles We have been moving forward with all seven circles of the Information Management Framework from top level ontologies, to integration architecture to information quality management. One document I particularly want to highlight is ‘Managing Shared Data’, an exciting piece of work being developed by @Matthew West, Technical Lead for the NDTp. He is bringing together the lessons we’ve learned over the past three years since publication of the Pathway toward an IMF report and providing clarity on what it means for organisations to manage information effectively, an essential enabler for connecting digital twin. It is in development and we’re hoping to release the final document by the end of the year. DT Hub There are three main activities to highlight for October: DT Hub website update. We’re keen to keep improving the useability and layout of the site so the new version of the DT Hub will include a public facing page, with all the resources to make it easier to access public documents. It also includes a page to host all information related to CReDo. DT Roadblocks workshop series. As the community progresses on their digital twin journeys, it is inevitable there will be a myriad of challenges. The great aspect of being part of a community is that there are others who have faced similar challenges and can share their learnings or provide insights in to how to overcome your particular hurdle. Our first workshop is aptly named, “Problems shared, problems halved”. If you would like to be part of a constructive discussion, do sign up to this series, running until the end of the year. Smart Infrastructure Index. We have just launched our latest SII survey to enable members to measure their digital maturity and benchmark progress against peers. When members complete and submit the survey, the SII will generate a personalised report including a score and targeted recommendations. The idea is that it enables users to identify areas for improvement and to support the prioritisation of future activities. The survey is open until mid-November and can be accessed here.

The Climate Resilience Demonstrator (CReDo) project from the National Digital Twin programme is holding a webinar to launch the project to a global audience in conjunction with the COP26 climate conference on 2nd November at 10:30-12. This webinar replaces the weekly Gemini Call, and the DT Hub community are encouraged to sign up, as well as inviting their wider networks to attend. The climate emergency is here now, and connected digital twins are an important part of achieving net zero and climate resilience. The CReDo team will present how the project meets this urgent need, and will premiere two exciting outputs – a short film and an interactive visualisation of how connected data across three infrastructure networks can provide better insights and lead to better resilience of the system-of-systems overall. Only if we come together to securely share data across sectors can we plan a smarter, greener, more resilient built environment. Book your spot today! Keep an eye on the DT Hub website for updates about the CReDo programme.

Matthew West, Technical Lead, National Digital Twin Programme, introduces a video on the 7 circles of Information Management and Process Model Information Requirements. Join Matthew and Al Cook, a member of the technical team of the NDTp and an expert in data integration activities and information security, as they take you through key elements of the Information Management Framework and detail a new approach to effective information management. A video is available to view below, with a live Q&A session from 10:00 to 10:30 on Thursday 15 July 2021. Access to quality and well-managed information in organisations is key to support decision making and optimise outcomes at all levels. Decisions based on poor quality information, or no information at all, can significantly increase the risk of mistakes or even disasters. Systematically implementing information management ensures the ability to deliver the right information to the right decision-makers, at the right time. It is a critical success factor for the National Digital Twin (NDT), an ecosystem of connected Digital Twins where high-quality data is shared securely, on a massive scale to improve decision making across the UK. The “7 circles of Information Management”: developing the Information Management Framework The Information Management Framework (IMF), a collection of open, technical and non-technical standards, guidance and common resources, is intended to enable better information management and information sharing at a national scale and provide the building blocks to be (re)used by those wishing to be part of the NDT. The scope of the IMF is broad and the “7 circles diagram” that I introduce in the video below is a pragmatic way to divide the Information Management space into areas of concern that can be addressed separately as well as supporting each other. It is intended to help identify areas and associated NDTp deliverables that are of particular relevance to you. The technical aspects of the IMF may come first to your mind. On top of “information transport” mechanisms, together with authorisation and security protocols, to ensure that information can be accessed seamlessly, the NDT needs a language, an inter-lingua, so that data can be shared consistently and used to support decisions without requiring any further “data wrangling”. To develop this common language (the NDT’s ontology) the team is pursuing a principled approach, deeply grounded in mathematics and science to ensure that it is as extensible and all-encompassing as possible. This is what the deepest circles of the 7 circles diagram are about. There is, however, much more to the Information Management Framework than the purely technical aspects, and as part of the highest circles of the 7 circles diagram, we are developing guidance on how to systematically improve information management so that producing data that meets the quality standards required to be part of the NDT becomes part of “business as usual”. A first step towards better information management: defining your information requirements This means that while the NDT’s ontology is being developed, steps can be taken to work towards better information management. Organisations need to reach a point of recognition that there is a need to address data quality in a way that enables improved decisions within their own business and with those they have data-based relationships with. And defining Information Requirements (the second circle in the stack) is a key starting point. Process Model based Information Requirements Too often, information requirements are incomplete or even absent in organisations, with the implication that if requirements are not identified and agreed there is no reason that they would be met. As part of the second circle of the “7 circles diagram”, the team has released a paper outlining the proposed approach to developing information requirements, based on the analysis of process models. This is a novel approach, ensuring the systematic identification of information needed (no more, no less) to support decisions and to identify where it is captured. I encourage you to watch Al Cook’s presentation in the second part of the video to find out more about this approach. The team and I hope to share more detailed guidance on information management in the near future, helping you to assess your organisation’s current information management maturity, prioritise areas for obvious improvements in decision-making and start addressing them, so that mistakes can be avoided and better outcomes achieved. And as we continue to further develop the Information Management Framework, we look forward to accompanying you through the discovery of other circles among the 7 circles of Information Management. This video contains an introduction to the 7 circles of Information Management presented by Matthew West followed by a presentation by Al Cook on a suggested approach to define information requirements. Al and Matthew look forward to answering your questions and talking about next steps in a live Q&A session on the DT Hub, on the 15/07 from 10:00 to 10:30.