Vocabularies, Ontologies and Rules for The Enterprise and Business Process Modeling and Management...

Vocabularies, Ontologies and Rules for The Enterprise and Business Process Modeling

and Management

Giancarlo Guizzardi

(guizzardi@acm.org )

http://nemo.inf.ufes.brComputer Science Department

Federal University of

Espírito Santo (UFES),

Brazil

Workshop on Ontologies in Conceptual Modeling

Valencia, SpainJuly, 2010

We need representations of certain portions of reality in order to understand (learn), communicate and reason (problem-solving) about this portion of reality.

The need for Representations

ModelDomain

Abstractioninterpreted as

represented by

ModelingLanguage

Domain Conceptualization

interpreted as

represented by

used to compose

instance ofused to

compose

DomainOntology

Metamodel

Language

Domain Conceptualization

Admissible state of affairs according to a conceptualization C

{x Person(x), x Father(x)} (MM1)

Admissible state of affairs according to a conceptualization C

State of affairs represented by the valid models of metamodel MM1 of language L1

{x Person(x), x Father(x)} (MM1)

{x Person(x), x Father(x), x Father(x) Man(x), x Person(x) Man(x) Woman(x), x Man(x) Woman(x),…}

(MM2)

Admissible state of affairs according to a conceptualization C

State of affairs represented by the valid models of metamodel MM1 of language L1

State of affairs represented by the valid models of metamodel MM2 of language L2

{x Person(x), x Father(x)} (MM1)

{x Person(x), x Father(x), x Father(x) Man(x), x Person(x) Man(x) Woman(x), x Man(x) Woman(x),…}

(MM2)

{x Person(x), x Father(x), x Father(x) Man(x), x Person(x) Man(x) Woman(x), x Man(x) Woman(x), x

Person(x) □Person(x), x LivingPerson(x) LivingPerson(x)…} (MM3)

Admissible state of affairs according to a conceptualization C

State of affairs represented by the valid models of metamodel MM1 of language L1

State of affairs represented by the valid models of metamodel MM2 of language L2

State of affairs represented by the valid models of metamodel MM3 of language L3

Admissible state of affairs according to a conceptualization C

State of affairs represented by the valid models of metamodel MM1 of language L1

State of affairs represented by the valid models of metamodel MM2 of language L2

State of affairs represented by the valid models of metamodel MM3 of language L3

Ontology of the domain according to the conceptualization C

ModelDomain

Abstractioninterpreted as

represented by

ModelingLanguage

Domain Conceptualization

interpreted as

represented by

used to compose

instance ofused to

compose

Genealogy Ontology

Genealogy Domaininterpreted as

represented by

General Ontology

Representation Language

?interpreted as

represented by

used to compose

instance ofused to

compose

Formal Ontology

• To uncover and analyze the general categories and principles that describe reality is the very business of philosophical Formal Ontology

• Formal Ontology (Husserl): a discipline that deals with formal ontological structures (e.g. theory of parts, theory of wholes, types and instantiation, identity, dependence, unity) which apply to all material domains in reality.

Foundational Ontology

• We name a foundational ontology the product of the discipline of formal ontology in philosophy

• A foundational ontology is a formal framework of generic (i.e. domain independent) real-world concepts that can be used to talk about material domains.

Conceptual Modeling Language

Foundational Ontology

interpreted as

represented by

The alternative to philosophy is not “non-philosophy” but bad philosophy! A scientific field can either develop and make explicit its foundations or remain oblivious to its inevitable and often ad hoc ontological commitments.

UML

CognitiveFoundational

Ontology (UFO) interpreted as

represented by

OBJECT TYPES

ObjectType

Sortal Type

RoleKind

Mixin Type

Rigid Sortal Type Anti-Rigid Sortal Type

Phase RoleMixin

Anti-Rigid MixinType

Type

Distinctions Among Object Types

{Person} {Customer}{Student, Employee}

{Teenager, Living Person}

«kind»SocialBeing

«kind»Group

Organization

TheBeatles

instance of

«kind»SocialBeing

StaffOrganization

{John,Paul,George,Ringo}TheBeatles

instance of instance of

«constitution»

«kind»Group

«kind»Person

«role»Customer

Subtyping with Rigid and Anti-Rigid Types

1. x Person(x) □Person(x)

2. x Student(x) Student(x)

3. □(Person(x) Student(x))

4. Person(John)

5. Student(John)

6. □Person(John)

7. □Student(John)

8. □Student(John) Student(John)

Person

Student

Educational Institution

«role»Student

*

Educational Institution

«role»Student

1..*

«role»Customer

Person Organization

«role»Customer

Person Organization

«roleMixin»Customer

«roleMixin»Customer

«role»PersonalCustomer

«role»CorporateCustomer

«roleMixin»Customer

«role»PersonalCustomer

Person Organization

«role»CorporateCustomer

«roleMixin»Customer

«role»PrivateCustomer

«role»CorporateCustomer

«kind»Person

Organization

«kind»Social Being

«roleMixin»Participant

«role»IndividualParticipant

«role»CollectiveParticipant

«kind»Person

SIG

«kind»Social Being

Roles with Disjoint Admissible Types

«roleMixin»A

«role»B

F

D E

«role»C

1..*

1..*

The Pattern in ORM

by Terry Halpin

PART-WHOLE RELATIONS

John

part-of

John’s Heart

Person

John

John’s Brain

part-of

John

part-of

John’s Heart

□((Person,x) □((x) (!Heart,y)(y < x)))

John

John’s Brain

part-of

□((Person,x)(!Brain,y) □((x) (y < x)))

John

part-of

John’s Heart

□((Person,x) □((x) (!Heart,y)(y < x)))

Essentiality and Inseparability

• Essentiality does not imply inseparability:– Think about a Collected Works publication of some

authors. It is defined by that specific extensional collection of papers, but the papers could exist prior to and outlive the collection

• Inseparability does not imply Essentiality :– A whole in this table is an inseparable part of it, but

not an essential part of the table

part-of

part-of

John

part-of

part-of

part-of

John

part-of

John’s Brain

part-of

part-of

TOOL SUPPORT

Type

isAbstract:Boolean = false

Classifier

DirectedRelationship

Generalization

specific

1

generalization

*

general1

/general

*

isCovering:Boolean = falseisDisjoint:Boolean = true

GeneralizationSet **

Relationship

name:String[0..1]

NamedElement

Element

/relatedElement

1..*

/target1..*

/source

1..*

Class

Object Class

Anti Rigid Sortal Class

Mixin ClassSortal Class

{disjoint, complete}

Rigid Sortal Class

RolePhaseSubKindSubstance Sortal

{disjoint, complete} {disjoint, complete}

{disjoint, complete}

Non Rigid Mixin Class

{disjoint, complete}

Rigid Mixin Class

Category

{disjoint, complete}

Anti Rigid Mixin Class Semi Rigid Mixin

RoleMixin Mixin

QuantityisExtensional:Boolean

CollectiveKind

{disjoint, complete}

Tool Support

The underlying algorithm merely has to check structural properties of the diagram and not the content of involved nodes

ATL Transformation

Alloy Analyzer + OntoUML visual PluginAlloy Analyzer + OntoUML visual Plugin

Simulation and Visualization

A Software Engineering view…

Conceptual Modeling

Implementation1Implementation2 Implementation3

A Software Engineering view…

Conceptual Modeling

Implementation1Implementation2 Implementation3

DESIGN

…transported to Ontological Engineering

Ontology as a Conceptual Model

Ontology as Implementation1

(SHOIN/OWL-DL, DLRUS)

Ontology as Implementation2

(CASL)

Ontology asImplementation3

(Alloy, F-Logic…)

…transported to Ontological Engineering

Ontology as a Conceptual Model

Ontology as Implementation1

(SHOIN/OWL-DL, DLRUS)

Ontology as Implementation2

(CASL)

Ontology asImplementation3

(Alloy, F-Logic…)

DESIGN

Unified Foundational Ontology (UFO)

UFO-A (STRUCTURAL ASPECTS)(Objects, their types, their parts/wholes,

the roles they play, their intrinsic and relational properties

Property value spaces…)

UFO-B (DYNAMIC ASPECTS)(Events and their parts,

Relations between events,Object participation in events,

Temporal properties of entities, Time…)

UFO-C (SOCIAL ASPECTS)(Agents, Intentional States, Goals, Actions,

Norms, Social Commitments/Claims, Social Dependency Relations…)

Ontology-Based Analysis and (Re) Engineering based on UFO-B and UFO-C

We have analyzed, (re) engineered, integrated other reference models and tools. Examples include:ITIL, RM-ODPARIS EPC , Goal and Organizational ModelsTROPOS/i*, AORML

References1. GUIZZARDI, G.

The Problem of Transitivity of Part-Whole Relations in Conceptual Modeling Revisited, 21st International Conference on Advanced Information Systems Engineering (CAISE’09), Amsterdam, The Netherlands, 2009.

2. Guizzardi, G. Modal Aspects of Object Types and Part-Whole Relations and the de re/de dicto distinction, 19th International Conference on Advanced Information Systems Engineering (CAISE’07), Trondheim, 2007, Lecture Notes in Computer Science 4495, Springer-Verlag.

3. Guizzardi, G.; Wagner, G.; Guarino, N.; van Sinderen, M. “An Ontologically Well-Founded Profile for UML Conceptual Models”, 16th International Conference on Advances in Information Systems Engineering (CAiSE), Latvia, 2004. Springer-Verlag , Berlin, Lecture Notes in Computer Science 3084, ISBN 3-540-22151-4.

4. Guizzardi, G., On Ontology, ontologies, Conceptualizations, Modeling Languages, and (Meta)Models, Frontiers in Artificial Intelligence and Applications, Databases and Information Systems IV, Olegas Vasilecas, Johan Edler, Albertas Caplinskas (Editors), ISBN 978-1-58603-640-8, IOS Press, Amsterdam, 2007.

5. GUIZZARDI, G.; LOPES, M.; BAIÃO, F.; FALBO, R. On the importance of truly ontological representation languages, International Journal of Information Systems Modeling and Design (IJISMD), Information Resources Management Association (IRMA), IGI Publishing, Hershey-New York, USA, Volume 1, Issue 2, April-June 2010, ISSN: 1947-8186.

6. SANTOS, Jr., P; ALMEIDA, J.P.A.; GUIZZARDI, G., An Ontology-Based Semantic Foundation for ARIS EPCs, 25th ACM Symposium On Applied Computing (ACM SAC 2010), Sierre, Switerland, 2010.

References7. CARDOSO, E.C., SANTOS JUNIOR, P.S., ALMEIDA, J.P.A., GUIZZARDI, R.S.S., GUIZZARDI, G.

Semantic Integration of Goal and Business Process Modeling, IFIP International Conference on Research and Practical Issues of Enterprise Information Systems (CONFENIS), Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil, 2010.

8. SANTOS, Jr., P; ALMEIDA, J.P.A.; GUIZZARDI, G., An Ontology-Based Semantic Foundation for Organizational Structure Modeling in the ARIS Method, IEEE 5th Joint International Workshop on Vocabularies, Ontologies and Rules for The Enterprise (VORTE) – Metamodels, Ontologies and Semantic Technologies (MOST), together with 15th International Enterprise Computing Conference (EDOC 2010), Vitória, Brazil, 2010.

9. ALMEIDA, J.P.A.; CARDOSO, E., GUIZZARDI, G., On the Goal Domain in the RM-ODP Enterprise Language: An Initial Appraisal based on a Foundational Ontology, IEEE 6th International Workshop on ODP for Enterprise Computing (WODPEC 2010), together with 15th International Enterprise Computing Conference (EDOC 2010), Vitória, Brazil, 2010.

10. ALMEIDA, J. P. A. ; GUIZZARDI, G. ; SANTOS JR., P. S. Applying and Extending a Semantic Foundation for Role-Related Concepts in Enterprise Modelling. International Journal of Enterprise Information Systems (IJEIS), IGI-Global, 2009.

11. GONCALVES, B. N.; ZAMBORLINI, V. ; GUIZZARDI, G. An Ontological Analysis of the Electrocardiogram. ELECTRONIC JOURNAL OF COMMUNICATION, INFORMATION AND INNOVATION IN HEALTH, 2009.

References12. BENEVIDES, A.B.; GUIZZARDI, G.

A Model-Based Tool for Conceptual Modeling and Domain Ontology Engineering in OntoUML, 11th International Conference on Enterprise Information Systems (ICEIS), Milan, 2009. Lecture Notes in Business Information Processing, Springer-Verlag.

13. Benevides, A.B.; Guizzardi, G.; Braga, B.F.B.; Almeida, J.P.A.;, Assessing Modal Aspects of OntoUML Conceptual Models in Alloy, International Workshop on Evolving Theories of Conceptual Modeling (ETheCoM 2009), at the 28th International Conference on Conceptual Modeling (ER 2009), Gramado, Brazil.

AcknowledgementsNicola GuarinoGerd Wagner

Renata S.S. GuizzardiJoão Paulo Almeida

Ricardo FalboBernardo Nunes

Alessander Botti BenevidesBernardo Braga

Paulo Sergio Santos Jr.Evellin Cardoso

Veruska Zamborlini

Acknowledgements

This research is funded by the Brazilian ResearchFunding Agencies FAPES (grant number 45444080/09) and

CNPq (grants number 481906/2009-6)

http://nemo.inf.ufes.br/gguizzardi@inf.ufes.br