One of the requirements for a federated information system is interoperability, the ability of one computer system to access and use the resources of another system. This feature is particularly important in biomedical research systems, which need to coordinate a variety of disparate types of data. In order to meet this need, the National Cancer Institute Center for Bioinformatics (NCICB) has created the cancer Common Ontologic Representation Environment (caCORE), an interoperability infrastructure based on Model Driven Architecture. The caCORE infrastructure provides a mechanism to create interoperable biomedical information systems. Systems built using the caCORE paradigm address both aspects of interoperability: the ability to access data (syntactic interoperability) and understand the data once retrieved (semantic interoperability). This infrastructure consists of an integrated set of three major components: a controlled terminology service (Enterprise Vocabulary Services), a standards-based metadata repository (the cancer Data Standards Repository) and an information system with an Application Programming Interface (API) based on Domain Model Driven Architecture. This infrastructure is being leveraged to create a Semantic Service-Oriented Architecture (SSOA) for cancer research by the National Cancer Institute's cancer Biomedical Informatics Grid (caBIG).

The National Cancer Institute Enterprise Vocabulary Services (NCI EVS) uses a wide range of quality assurance (QA) techniques to maintain and extend NCI Thesaurus (NCIt). NCIt is a reference terminology and biomedical ontology used in a growing number of NCI and other systems that extend from translational and basic research through clinical care to public information and administrative activities. Both automated and manual QA techniques are employed throughout the editing and publication cycle, which includes inserting and editing NCIt in NCI Metathesaurus. NCI EVS conducts its own additional periodic and ongoing content QA. External reviews, and extensive evaluation by and interaction with EVS partners and other users, have also played an important part in the QA process. There have always been tensions and compromises between meeting the needs of dependent systems and providing consistent and well-structured content; external QA and feedback have been important in identifying and addressing such issues. Currently, NCI EVS is exploring new approaches to broaden external participation in the terminology development and QA process.

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