1. Introduction
2. System context and domain model
3. Architecture drivers
4. System decomposition
5. Quality concepts
6. Further notes

System context and domain model

System context

While the platform, at its core, is responsible for brokering data assets from providers to consumers, the DPC is a software component integrated into the platform to enable the participants to send data-related messages to each other. We refer to these messages generically as notifications. If a participant wants to request something from another participant, or inform another participant about something, the participant sends a notification.

Three entities interact with the DSC: the platform core, the data provider, and the data consumer (see figure below). Note that the platform core also gets information about grants from the DPC.

There are different types of notifications sent from participant to participant. For example:

• the data provider can request data access (notification of type “data access request”) from the data consumer;
• the data consumer can request data modification (type: “data modification request”) from the platform core;
• the data consumer can report a data-leak incident (type: “incident report”) to data providers;

The diagram below features the role “ecosystem participant” as a generalization for each participant. Furthermore, this diagram illustrates functions specific to each participant, reflecting different notification types.

The next diagram puts these elements into a larger context. Now, we see the platform core and the DPC as part of a Data Intermediation Platform, which is operated by a platform provider. The diagram also makes explicit the existence of a third-party data consumer, an organization that operates a data consumer system (used by a user).

This diagram includes two platform core functions: provide data asset and get data asset. These functions implement the asset brokering aspect of the data intermediation platform. It is worth noting that these functions do not belong to the scope of the DPC.

Domain model

The DPC domain model is organized into four parts: Participants, Grants, Notifications, and Logs.

Participants

• Participant: An ecosystem participant. A participant can be a data provider, a data consumer, or the platform operator.
• Data Provider: Especialization of the entity Participant that represents a data provider.
• Data Consumer: Especialization of the entity Participant that represents a data consumer.

Grants

• Data Type: A description of data items provided by the data provider and of potential interest to data consumers. The platform operator most likely defines which data types are intermediated by the platform; however, depending on the characteristics of the data ecosystem, the definition of the data types may be flexible.
• Data Usage Purpose: It contains information about what purpose data can be used for and may include privacy declarations. Depending on the characteristics of the data ecosystem, data usage purposes may be either predefined by the platform operator or by other participants, particularly the data consumer. For example, while in some ecosystems, the data usage purpose can be predetermined for each type of data being brokered via the platform, in some other ecosystems, the purpose might be tightly related to the particular use case implemented by the data consumer.
• Grant: A grant is an authorization provided by a data provider allowing a data consumer to use the data for a defined purpose. Grants may have different statuses.
• Grant Status: The status of a grant. For example, when requested, the grant can be “Pending;” if accepted, it can become “Granted;” if later revoked, “Revoked,” etc.

Notifications

• Notification: A message sent from one ecosystem participant to another. It may be purely informative or may require action from the receiver. A notification may result from another notification (e.g., a notification can be sent as a reply for a request notification). Therefore, notifications should keep track of their parent notification.
• Notification Type: The category of the notification (e.g., Information, Request).
• Request: A specific type of notification that requires action from the receiver. Example: “data access request”.
• Request Status: The current state of the request (e.g., Pending, Replied).
• Request Type: The category of the request (e.g., Grant, Information, Data deletion, Data modification, Incident report, Contact).

Logs

• Log: A record of events, actions, or transactions that occur within the DPC, typically used for monitoring and auditing purposes.
• Notification Log: A specific type of log that records all notifications sent and received within the DPC, including notification-specific details.
• Grant Log: A specific type of log that records all data grants given and received within DPC, including details such as the data subject, terms, and conditions.
• Log Type: The category of the log (e.g., Info, Warning, etc.).

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1. Introduction

3. Architecture drivers

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