the present invention provides a global information architecture to create an object - oriented , software - based modeling environment for the modeling of various data sources and allowing queries and transactions across those sources . the modeling environment is described in itself . introspection is achieved since the model is described in the model , and early validation that the infrastructure is correct is established in that the infrastructure must execute against itself . object traversal is done via vectors that describe how an object can be reached from other objects . objects are linked by describing what type of object is to be reached and on the basis of what possible attribute values of that object . gia allows different users to have different views of these data sources depending upon their worldspace . a user &# 39 ; s view of the data source is controlled by his worldspace , which are the attributes he has that makes him unique . these attributes can include his username , roles , language , locale , and organization . these worldspace views can also impact the behavior of the data sources . gia allows for object to object event driven behavior and provides a configuration centric versus coding centric methodology for integrating those various data sources .