General

What domains has the OpenMI been developed for?

The OpenMI is entirely generic and as such there is nothing within it that makes it domain specific. However, the initiative for the OpenMI arose in the water domain and its main applications to date have been in that area, with some exploratory links to economic and agricultural models.

Does the OpenMI affect overall performance?

DHI Water, Environment and Health has conducted performance tests under a range of conditions and found little effect on run times. The reason for this is that the time spent on data exchange between components represents a very small part of the total run time for most models.

How can I be sure that the OpenMI will remain open and free to use?

It is the objective of the Association and the European Commission (its main source of funding), to achieve the widest possible use of the OpenMI. To reach this goal, we are committed to making available the OpenMI Standard, and at least one version of the OpenMI SDK with no licence or royalty fees.

Getting Involved

How can I contribute to the development of the OpenMI?

The OpenMI Association is always seeking fresh ideas and new sources of energy to improve and drive the OpenMI forward. Ways you can contribute are by:
1. Joining the OpenMI Association.
2. Taking an active part in its working groups. To learn more about these groups please see The Organisation.
3. Promoting awareness of the OpenMI by sending details of any case studies using the OpenMI to the OpenMI Association.
4. Standing for the Executive Committee.

What is the Association membership fee?

The fee for 2008 and 2009 is €100 per annum.

Training and Support

How do I obtain training on the OpenMI?

The OpenMI Association does not itself provide training, but facilitates its provision. For details of what is available see Training.
The Association does however host regular OpenMI workshops and sessions at relevant conferences, which although not formal training provide a good overview of what the OpenMI is and how to get started. For details of such workshops please see the Events Calendar.

How can I get support when developing OpenMI compliant components? Who could I hire? Can I call somebody? How quickly do I get replies to posts on sourceforge?

The OpenMI Association is building an OpenMI community whose members help each other. If you have a question, feel free to post it on the forum at Sourceforge. The Technical Committee monitors the site and picks up questions not responded to by others.

How, where and when can I propose improvements ?

The sourceforge website offers facilities to propose improvements.
If you have created new code which you would like to propose as improvement, please e-mail the Technical Committee.

Compliance

Is it possible to certify a component as being OpenMI compliant ?

At this time there is no official certification procedure for OpenMI compliancy and we rely on the honesty of the component provider. However the Association Technical Committee is preparing a compliance testing procedure so that in the future it will be possible for companies to provide a compliancy testing service. A draft procedure will be published when it is available.

Can I publicise my OpenMI compliant component on the OpenMI website and or the Sourceforge website ?

If you have developed an OpenMI compliant component, please complete the form which can be downloaded from Compliance.
Please e-mail this form to the Technical Committee.
A list of OpenMI compliant components is published on the OpenMI Association website, please see Compliant Software.

Technical

Can .Net components talk to Java components ?

From release1.4 onwards, there will be both .Net and Java versions of the OpenMI. From version 2.0 onwards, .Net and Java compliant components will be able to exchange data.

Can you use web-services within an OpenMI linked system ?

Yes, web-services can be used within the OpenMI. The way to do this is to create an OpenMI compliant component (a linkable component) that makes the data from the web-service available as OpenMI exchange items. Such a component can then be included in your OpenMI configuration and you can then use it to pull data from this component to other linkable components in your configuration. With this approach the web technology is not handled by OpenMI but inside your web-service linkable component.

How can OpenMI be of use when developing a Decision Support System (DSS)?

OpenMI is a standard for linking models, databases, on-line measuring instruments and pre- and post-processing applications. The OpenMI is therefore an excellent aid for modularity in the components of a DSS. It can also greatly reduce the time for building a DSS if OpenMI compliant components are used.

When will version 2.0 be released?

The alpha release of Version 2.0 of the OpenMI standard will be made in mid 2008, with the beta and final releases being made in early 2009.
There is no need to wait until version 2.0 is released to start using the OpenMI. The OpenMI Association Technical Committee will ensure that the upgrade process is as smooth as possible, and that any work done to reach 1.4 compliance is not wasted.

How does the version numbering work? When is the standard upgraded (release of new version)? When are there minor updates?

Version numbers refer to the OpenMI Standards and take the form of N.M e.g. 1.4. Each major upgrade is assigned the next value of N e.g. 1, 2, 3... Major upgrades will occur at one or two year intervals, so that there are periods of stability. Every effort will be made to maintain backward compatibility between major upgrades, but it is not guaranteed.
Minor upgrades and bug fixes will be assigned the next value of M. Such minor upgrades should be backwards compatible.
Supporting software such as the Software Development Kit and GUI will take the version number N of the standard to which they relate.

When will a Java version be officially released ?

A Java version was released with version 1.4. A Java version capable of exchanging data with a .Net version will be released with version 2.0.

Is the OpenMI suitable for operational use?

The OpenMI standard and the software provided by the OpenMI Association has all been produced by highly experienced professional developers, and rigorously tested. There are now a number of industrial case studies successfully using the OpenMI. Examples can be found at Openmi Around the World. There are also a growing number of OpenMI experts happy to give advice regarding operational use of the OpenMI listed on Find the Experts.