BIB-VERSION:: CS-TR-v2.0
          ID:: STAN//CS-TR-00-1635
       ENTRY:: August 31, 2000
ORGANIZATION:: Stanford University, Department of Computer Science
       TITLE:: Change Management and Synchronization of Local and Shared
               Versions of a Controlled Vocabulary
        TYPE:: Thesis
        TYPE:: Technical Report
      AUTHOR:: Oliver, Diane E.
        DATE:: August 2000
       PAGES:: 322
    ABSTRACT:: To share clinical data and to build interoperating computer
               systems that permit data entry, data retrieval, and data
               analysis, users and systems at multiple sites must share a
               common controlled clinical vocabulary (or ontology). However,
               local sites that adopt a shared vocabulary have local needs,
               and local-vocabulary maintainers make changes to the local
               version of that vocabulary. If the local site is motivated to
               conform to the shared vocabulary, then the burden lies with
               the local site to manage its own changes and to incorporate
               changes from the shared version at periodic intervals. I call
               this process synchronization. In this dissertation, I present
               an approach to change management and synchronization of local
               and shared versions of a controlled vocabulary. I describe
               the CONCORDIA model, which comprises a structural model, a
               change model, and a log model to which the shared and local
               vocabularies conform. I demonstrate use of this model in the
               implementation of a synchronization-support tool that
               supports carefully controlled divergence. I evaluated my
               model and methods by performing synchronization on a small
               test set of medical concepts in the subdomain of rickettsial
               diseases. The CONCORDIA model served as an effective approach
               for representation and communication of vocabulary change.
       NOTES:: [Adminitrivia V1/Prg/20000831]
         END:: STAN//CS-TR-00-1635