OMG Document: mars/22-12-21

Responses due: 23 March 2023

1. Introduction

1.1. The Object Management Group (OMG)

The Object Management Group (OMG) is a software consortium with an international membership of vendors, developers, and end users. Established in 1989, its mission is to help computer users solve enterprise integration problems by supplying open, vendor-neutral portability, interoperability and reusability specifications based on Model Driven Architecture (MDA). MDA defines an approach to IT system specification that separates the specification of system functionality from the specification of the implementation of that functionality on a specific technology platform, and provides a set of guidelines for structuring specifications expressed as models. OMG has published many widely-used specifications such as Unified Modelling Language [UML], Business Process Model & Notation [BPMN], Meta-Object Facility [MOF], XML Metadata Interchange [XMI], Data Distribution Service [DDS] and CORBA [CORBA], to name but a few significant ones.

1.2 Blockchain PSIG

Our mission is to gain a better understanding of developers/industries knowledge of Smart Contracts and how they could be better used and implemented within the blockchain architecture.

Goals:

Gain an understanding of Smart Contracts usage
A pattern language/design patterns for Smart Contracts
Current thinking/opinions on Smart Contracts
Current Usage of Smart Contracts
Current problems of Smart Contracts
Where Smart Contracts should go

The responses to this RFI will help us meet our objectives in gaining a deeper understanding of and determining design patterns for Smart Contracts, extending beyond just what a single language like Solidity has defined. These responses will also help identify current thoughts/opinions, usage, and problems of current day Smart Contracts and where the community thinks Smart Contracts need to go in the future.

1.3 RFI Objectives

The intent of an OMG Request for Information (RFI) is to gather information for the purpose of guiding a subgroup in its efforts to provide solutions to industry problems. The RFI process is used by a subgroup to canvass a targeted industry segment for one or more of the following purposes:

Acquiring general or specific information about industry requirements.
Soliciting assistance in identifying potential technology sources.
Soliciting input to validate a subgroup’s roadmap.

Generally speaking, the RFI process determines which Request For Proposals (RFPs) will be issued (and, based on negative feedback, which won't) or influences the way a particular RFP is constructed.

2 Information Being Requested

2.1 Summary of this RFI

The RFI is intended to gauge the current understanding, usage and possible roll of Smart Contracts by individuals and organizations within the Blockchain environment. It is also intended to help guide future work within the OMG regarding standardization requirements for Smart Contracts.

2.2 Detail

Responses will help the OMG Blockchain PSIG define pattern language/design patterns for Blockchain Smart Contracts. A pattern language, as described by Wikipedia, is an organized and coherent set of patterns, each of which describes a problem and the core of a solution that can be used in many ways within a specific field of expertise.

2.3 Questions

This RFI is presented in the form of a survey organized into related groups. Two of these groups focus on your background: technical or non-technical. Definitions for the terms used in these questions are provided in appendix A. Please use these definitions when answering any given question. If you have a different definition for a particular term (different than the one provided in Appendix A) that you believe we should consider, please provide it along with supporting rationale.

3 Instructions for Responding to this RFI

3.1 Who May Respond

Responses from anyone in industry, government or academia with practical knowledge of Blockchain Smart Contracts are welcome.

When and if OMG issues a subsequent Request for Proposals (RFP) in this area, OMG members at the appropriate membership level will be eligible to respond with detailed specifications. OMG is an open membership organization. Any company, university or organization is welcome to join and participate. For information, consult https://www.omg.org/membership.

3.2 How to Respond

Respondents to this RFI are encouraged to respond to this RFI by answering and submitting their responses directly using this online survey (https://forms.gle/E27REbR7BVuek9779). They may also respond by email via an electronic copy of this survey sent in machine-readable format to rfiresponses@omg.org. Acceptable formats are ODF (ISO/IEC 26300), PDF (ISO 32000), ISO Latin-1 (ISO/IEC 8859-1) or MS Word .doc files. Please consult OMG before submitting documents in other machine-readable formats. One confirming paper copy of all documents should also be sent to the OMG postal address below on the front cover of this document.

Please clearly mark your response with the name and OMG document number of the RFI to which you are responding.

Responses to this RFI must be received at OMG no later than 5:00 PM US Eastern Time (typically 22:00 GMT) 23 March 2023.

Other communication regarding this RFI should be sent to the contacts listed in paragraph 3.7.

3.3 RFI Response Contact

Companies responding to this RFI shall designate a single contact within that company for receipt of all subsequent information regarding this RFI and the forthcoming series of RFPs. The name of this contact will be made available to all OMG members.

3.4 Distribution of RFI Responses

Copies of all documentation submitted in response to this RFI will be available to all OMG members for review purposes.

3.5 Copyrighted Material

According to OMG Policies and Procedures, proprietary and confidential material shall not be included in any response to the OMG. Any material received is treated as a public document. If copyrighted material is sent in response to this RFI then a statement waiving that copyright for use by the OMG is required and a limited waiver of copyright that allows OMG members to make up to twenty-five (25) copies for review purposes is required. Consult Appendix B for a template for this copyright waiver.

3.6 Reimbursement

The OMG will not reimburse submitters for any costs in conjunction with their responses to this RFI.

3.7 Questions Regarding this RFI

Any technical questions regarding this RFI should be sent to:

Ian Stavros, Jackrabbit Consulting, ianstavros@gmail.com

Questions regarding the response process should be forwarded to the address at the top of this document.

4 Response Review Process and Schedule

4.1 Review Process

OMG RFIs are issued with the intent to survey industry to obtain information that provides guidance, which will be used in the preparation of RFPs. The OMG membership, specifically the Blockchain PSIG, will review responses to this RFI. Based on those responses, the Blockchain PSIG will augment its roadmap and prepare one or more RFPs.

4.2 Clarification

To fully comprehend the information contained within a response to this RFI, the reviewing group may seek further clarification on that response. This clarification may be requested in the form of brief verbal communication by telephone; written communication; electronic communication; or a presentation of the response to a meeting of the Blockchain PSIG.

4.3 RFI Response Presentations and Demonstrations

RFI Respondents may be invited to present their response to the Blockchain PSIG. The purpose of this presentation would be to seek clarification of information contained within the response (as noted above); to further explore issues raised; or to further meet the goals of the RFI.

In addition, a technology demonstration to the Blockchain PSIG may prove useful to support the RFI response. If desired, please coordinate with the Contact cited in paragraph 3.8.

4.4 Schedule

The schedule for responding to this RFI is as follows. Please note that early responses are encouraged.

RFI issued: 9 December 2022

RFI responses due: 23 March 2023

Review of RFI responses: 8 June 2023

Appendix A: References and Glossary Specific to this RFI

[CORBA] Common Object Request Broker Architecture (CORBA), https://www.omg.org/spec/CORBA

[MDA] MDA Guide, Version 1.0.1, https://doc.omg.org/omg/2003-06-01

[MOF] Meta-Object Facility (MOF), https://www.omg.org/spec/MOF

[UML] Unified Modeling Language (UML), https://www.omg.org/spec/UML

[XMI] XML Metadata Interchange (XMI), https://www.omg.org/spec/XMI

[DIDO RA] Distributed Immutable Data Object Reference Architecture, https://www.omgwiki.org/dido/doku.php?id=dido:public:ra