The Requirements of Using Provenance in e-Science Experiments

In e-Science experiments, it is vital to record the experimental process for later use such as in interpreting results, verifying that the correct process took place or tracing where data came from. The process that led to some data is called the provenance of that data, and a provenance architecture is the software architecture for a system that will provide the necessary functionality to record, store and use process documentation to determine the provenance of data items. However, there has been little principled analysis of what is actually required of a provenance architecture, so it is impossible to determine the functionality they would ideally support. In this paper, we present use cases for a provenance architecture from current experiments in biology, chemistry, physics and computer science, and analyse the use cases to determine the technical requirements of a generic, technology and applicationindependent architecture. We propose an architecture that meets these requirement...

• Type: Journal
• Year: 2007
• Where: GRID
• Authors: Simon Miles, Paul T. Groth, Miguel Branco, Luc Moreau
• Keywords: Correct Process, Distributed And Parallel Computing, GRID 2007, Little Principled Analysis, Provenance Architecture