The Evaluator's Application Suite (EAS) is architected as a distributed application, meaning that various elements are running on different systems. 

The BMO (Business Management Ontology) Server runs on a central server system, whereas EAS applications run on the user's local computer. Server and client applications communicate with each other via an Internet connection.

Information entities, such as Evaluation Specifications, are OWL-encoded. OWL, an acronym standing for "Web Ontology Language", is based on XML (Extensible Markup Language), which is a frequently used format for the sharing of data across different information systems, particularly systems connected via the Internet.

BMO Server 

The BMO Server hosts the central Evaluation Specification Repository and numerous other information entities that are required by client applications to work.

In terms of functionality, the BMO Server receives requests from EAS client applications and processes them. It also controls access to the central Evaluation Specification Repository.

Central Repository 

The Central Repository is home to Evaluation Specification Templates and Requirement Templates. As such, it forms the knowledge base which significantly enhances productivity in the evaluation process.

Evaluation Specification Templates are electronic documents that you can import into the Evaluation Specification editor for customization. In general, you need a license key in order to be able to import an Evaluation Specification Template.  You can purchase licenses through the online shop.

The Central Repository also contains a demo Evaluation Specification, which is intended for new users to get themselves familiar with the functionality that the EAS provides. No license key is required to import the demo Evaluation Specification Template.

Requirement Templates are grouped into subject-oriented packages. Some Requirement Templates Packages (RTPs) are freely available, while others require a license. You can import Requirement Templates into your Evaluation Specifications and customize them, if necessary. 

EAS Client Applications 

Each EAS Client Application needs to establish an Internet connection with the BMO Server in order to obtain information that it needs to perform its work.

At startup, once the connection is established, each EAS Client Application reads information from the BMO Server. This may take a couple of seconds, since information entities (e.g. Evaluation Specifications) may be quite large.

An EAS Client Application also opens a local file that contain your individual application settings. 

Finally, all information entities in the local worklist are processed. The respective files are opened and loaded into a cache for faster processing.

Application startup usually takes a couple of seconds, since an EAS Applications attempts to load as much data into memory as possible in order to speed up processing during the course of normal operation.

Information Entities

As previously mentioned, information entities are OWL-encoded and are stored as files on your computer or on a location reachable over the network. OWL is designed for use by applications that need to process the content of information instead of just presenting information to humans. It facilitates greater machine interpretability of Web content than that supported by XML and other languages by providing additional vocabulary along with a formal semantics. 

All EAS applications make extensive use of OWL. Although OWL documents can become quite large and their processing consumes more computer resources, OWL's advantages have led to the decision to use OWL rather than other data representations (e.g. relational database).