Breathing Life into the Enterprise Data Model

An Enterprise Business Vocabulary and Rules, based in SVBR, fits the bill

Steve Allworth

Why do we build an Enterprise Data Model?

To have a communication medium between business and ITTo achieve a single agreed definition and structure of data across the enterpriseTo minimise redundancy and optimise re-useetc…..etc…..

To have a representation of the business as a set of inter-related business concepts that are agreed across the enterprise. The concepts must be readily translated into IT implementations

In short..

The traditional solution

Selected members of the enterprise

Specify a large, normalised E-R or UML Class Model

To provide the design for Specific

Databases

Modern Reality is Different

Unstructured Data

OLTP DatabasesOLAP DatabasesDimensional DatabasesColumnar Databases

XML

XSD

OWL

Multiple “Semantic

Communities”

Multiple Target

Database Designs

Multiple Non Relational

Target Data Structures

And the elephant in the room

Doesn’t allow for multiple communities

Overuses normalisation – forces a structural answer focused on DB design

Imposes the chosen entity structure on ‘non technical’ use of the model ie data governance teams

Unfortunately the Traditional EDM:-

Does not capture the full subtlety of the meaning of business concepts

Inadequate for today’s technical requirements (target data areas)

Remember Layers of Model Abstraction?

Conceptual

Logical

Physical

Adds Meaning

Adds structure

Adds implementation realities

The ProblemWhen we have only one form of logical model it’s OK to use a logical model as our Enterprise Model

Conceptual

Logical

Physical

But today, we have many forms of logical model

ODBDWH

WEB

WEB

EDM

So we need to use a model at the Conceptual Level as our Enterprise Model

EDM

A Conceptual Model ?What’s that? It’s a Semantic

Model in the form of a Glossary

or

Taxonomy

or

Ontology

SBVR

Semantics for

Business

Vocabulary and

Rules

The team who brought you UML,

BPMN, …

Provides us with a standard for such a model

Where did it come from?

The SBVR is a synthesis of four disciplines:

1. terminology and vocabulary: the foundation for SBVR is ISO TC 37 (Terminology and Language and other Content Resources) and terminology standards ISO 704 and 1087

2. fact-oriented modeling with interpretation in formal logic: the precision of formal logic was added to ISO 1087-1 concepts, designations, and concept relations by fact-oriented modelling, which delivers precise meanings for SBVR Vocabulary and Behavioural Guidance that enables them to be transformed into IT system designs without losing or changing the business semantics;

3. linguistics and linguistic annotation of natural language grammar: target natural language grammar structures (external to SBVR) were provided by linguistics, ISO TC 37/SC 4 “Linguistic Representation” standards, and de-facto industry standards as input to the design of SBVR semantic formulations, which provided the basis for a future rich multilingual natural language notation for SBVR;

4. business practice of vocabulary and business rules: practical applicability of SBVR in organizations was provided by hundreds of collective man-years experience in business consultancy applying vocabulary and business rule approaches to the needs of organizations.

SBVR – Key Ideas

ACME WIDGETS

The Engineers

The Salesmen

The Accountants

Engineering Vocabulary

Sales Vocabulary

GAAP Vocabulary

ISO Widget Vocabulary

ACME Vocabulary

Included

Semantic Community

Speech CommunityVocabularies

Communities

Concepts

Facts

RulesConcepts, Facts and Rules

ConceptRelated Concept

SupertypeConcept

Categorisation Scheme

Related Concept

BroaderConcept

Rules

Glossaries, Taxonomies & Ontologies

Expression Representation Meaning Extension

Representation & Meaning

A not-too-deep dive

Basic ElementsCommunities & Vocabularies

We are focusing on the ‘Vocabulary’ area

1. The branch of linguistics and logic concerned with meaning.2. The meaning of a word, phrase, sentence, or text

SBVR

Wikipedia

SEMANTICS FOR BUSINESS VOCABULARY & RULES

OK, So its about meaning

There is more, but not today (Question, Proposition)

What is meant by a word, sign, statement, or description; what someone intends to express or what someone understands

Meaning

Unit of knowledge created by a unique combination of characteristics Concept

Concept

RULE

based on

NOUN CONCEPT NOUN CONCEPTFACT TYPE

RULE

CUSTOMER CARCUSTOMER RENTS CAR

CUSTOMER CAN ONLY RENT ONE CAR

FACT TYPE

links (VERB CONCEPT)

NOUN CONCEPT

CONCEPTConcept

Noun Concepts

NOUN CONCEPT

INDIVIDUAL CONCEPT

Concept Instance

GENERAL CONCEPT

Type of Concept Concept in a Fact

FACT TYPE ROLE

MAZDA JPQ 777 Car Rental Car

Verb Concepts

VERB CONCEPT

(FACT TYPE)

CHARACTERISTIC BINARY FACT TYPE

is registered

RentsCustomer Rental Car

Rents

Car is registered

Car Is registered Customer CarRents Rental Car

Fact Type Role

General Concept

CAR

RentsCustomer Rental Car

Fact Type

General Concept Fact Type RoleRanges Over

Have same characteristicsGeneral Concept can have extra characteristic which says it fills the fact type role

Fact Type Role

Concepts

Concept

Noun Concept Verb Concept (Fact Type)

specialises generalises

is in

Fact Type RoleObject Type (General Concept

Roleranges over

Individual Concept CharacteristicBinary Fact

Type

Is registered

Person CarRents Rental Car

Concepts

Customer

MAZDA JPQ 777

Is a

Person Car

MAZDA JPQ 777

Rents

ISO/EIC 1325:2003 Topic Map

Person CarRents

RDF Triple

How does it help us model

CONCEPTCONCEPT

CONCEPT

CONCEPTCONCEPT

CONCEPTCONCEPT

CONCEPT

CONCEPTCONCEPT

CONCEPT

CONCEPT

CONCEPT CONCEPTCONCEPT

CONCEPT

CONCEPTCONCEPT

CONCEPT

CONCEPT

CONCEPT

CONCEPT

CONCEPT

CONCEPT

CONCEPT

CONCEPT

CONCEPT

CONCEPT

CONCEPT

CONCEPT

CONCEPT

The birth of an Entity

Name

Definition

Attributes

Candidate Keys

Primary Key

Foreign Keys

CONCEPT

CONCEPT

CONCEPT

CONCEPT

CONCEPT

CONCEPT

CONCEPT

CONCEPTCONCEPT

CONCEPT

CONCEPT

CONCEPT

CONCEPTCONCEPT

CONCEPT

CONCEPT

CONCEPT

From the unformed soup of concepts

Through the magic of normalisation

SBVR & E-RSBVR abstracts E-R + also makes the modelling more precise

2. It provides the context within which the entity is valid

Name

Definition

Attributes

Primary Key(s)

Relationships (& FK)

1. It provides the semantic layer for defining the elements of an entity

• Expression: things used to communicate (e.g., sounds, text, diagrams, gestures), but apart from their meaning — one expression can have many meanings

• Representation: the connection between expression and a meaning. Each representation ties one expression to one meaning

• Meaning: what is meant by a word (a concept) or by a statement (a proposition) – how we think about things

• Extension: the things to which meanings refer, which can be anything

Meaning and Representation

Expression Representation Meaning Extensionhas represents refers to

Expression Representation Meaning Extensionhas represents refers to

Meaning and Representation

Concept

Designation

Definition

The actual drivers of motor vehicles

Concept ‘driver’. How we think of drivers, what characterizes them

Designation of the concept ‘driver’ by the term “driver”

Definition of the concept ‘driver’ as “operator of a motor vehicle”

The character sequence “driver”

The character sequence “operator of a motor vehicle”

Also

Descriptive Example

Note

Reference

Designations

Definition which describes the intension of a concept by stating the superordinate concept and the delimiting characteristics

Description of a concept by enumerating all of its subordinate concepts under one criterion of subdivision

Term Name Non Verbal Designation

Designation

For General Concepts For Individual Concepts

DefinitionsConcept

Definition

Intensional Definition Extensional DefinitionOwned Definition

Speech Community

Adopted Definition

Reference

Characteristic

Namespace

Vocabulary Namespace

Attributive Namespace

is inis in

Is for

Namespaces

Expression Representation Meaninghas represents

Concept

DesignationFact Type Form

Concept has an AttributeConcept described by an Attribute

Attribute of Concept

Reference Schemes - Keys

Reference Scheme Concept

Fact Type Role Characteristic

is for

usesuses

Car Model has Name Tyre position is frontTyre position is right

Subtyping

Concept

Categorisation Scheme Categorisation Type

Characteristic

Segmentation

SpecialisesGeneralises

Incorporates

General Concept

Simple Subtyping

Concept

Concept

Concept

ConceptConcept

Concept

Concept

Concept

Multi Faceted Subtyping

Concept

Discriminator

Discriminator

Concept

Concept

Concept

Concept

Concept

DiscriminatorConcept

Concept

DiscriminatorConcept

Concept

Classification Modelling

Fundamental Hierarchy

Relationship Hierarchy

Value

SCHEMEValue

SCHEMEValue

SCHEME

Value

SCHEMEValue

Value

Value

Value

Value

Value

Value SCHEMEValue

Value

SBVR insists that the characteristics that discriminate are explicit

For Example “IP is spouse of IP”Fact Type: IP is married to IP

Fact Type Role : Spouse

Value

ROLEFT Role

SCHEMEValue

TYPE

Value

SCHEMEValue

FT Role

Value

Value

Value

Value

Relationship Subtypes are fact types. Fact Type Roles appear in the Fundamental Hierarchy

Value SCHEMEFact Type

Fact Type

Expression Representation Meaninghas represents

Concept

Designation

Representing a Fact Type

“COMPANY appoints OFFICER”

Placeholder

Is in

Fact TypeFact Type Form

Sentential Form Noun Form

Country Code

Country Code identifies Country

COMPANY appoints OFFICER

Fact: Company appoints Officer

Rule: EU Rent must appoint at least 3 Officers

Expression

Representation

Meaning

There’s a bit more to it

Even more

But that’s for another day!

Phew, that’s deep enough, lets move to another subject!

Context - Communities & Vocabularies

• Semantic communities group people striving for a shared understanding of a domain

• Speech communities create vocabularies to express the understanding of the domain in a certain language

• Vocabularies contain entries that are used to express the meaning

Semantic Community

Language

Meaning

Body of Shared Meanings

uses

is expressed in

is used to expressunites

Speech Communityhas

Vocabularyowns

incorporates

Speech Community & Vocabulary

Speech Community

Vocabulary

Sharing Vocabularies

ACME Bank

consists of

FinanceBusiness Unit

FinanceBusiness Concepts

• Credit• Stock• Cash• …

owned by

RiskBusiness Unit

RiskBusinessConcepts

• Exposure• Mortgage• Collateral• …

owned by

uses

ACME Common

AssetBusinessConcepts

• Asset• Building• Equipment• …

ProductBusiness Concepts

• Loan• Swap• Revolving

Limit• …

PartyBusinessConcepts

• Party• Organization• Address• …

Local and Global

Financial Services Industry

consists of

Regulator X

ReportingBusinessConcepts

• Risk• Revenue• Capital

Value• …

ISO

ISO 20022 Business Concepts

• Payment• Counterparty• Transfer• …

uses

ACME Bank

consists of

FinanceBusiness Unit

FinanceBusiness Concepts

• Credit• Stock• Cash• …

owned by

RiskBusiness Unit

RiskBusinessConcepts

• Exposure• Mortgage• Collateral• …

owned by

uses

ACME Common

AssetBusinessConcepts

• Asset• Building• Equipment• …

ProductBusiness Concepts

• Loan• Swap• Revolving

Limit• …

PartyBusinessConcepts

• Party• Organization• Address• …

In an Ideal World

Vocabularies can reflect specific business rules applying to a speech community

So we have a semantic basis for defining an ER or any other structure

SBVR Semantic Model

E-R XML

Conceptual

Logical

Physical

Semantic Model

The Business Basis for Data Governance

NextGen

Taxonomy

OWL

SBVR & the EDM

Unstructured Data

OLTP DatabasesOLAP DatabasesDimensional DatabasesColumnar Databases

XML

XSD

OWL

EDM now a Conceptual Model

Describing Concepts, Facts (& Rules)

Collaborative Modelling

Shift of Emphasis Technical Metadata

Business Metadata

http://dcm.nehta.org.au/ckm/

National E-Health Transition AuthorityClinical Knowledge Manager

Example

Knowledge Capture & DisseminationRegulation Risk and ComplianceComplex AnalyticsData Governance……

Why?

Suggested reading order:

1. Chapter 11 – Business Vocabulary for describing Business Vocabularies

2. Chapter 12 – Business Vocabulary for describing Business Rules

3. Chapter 8 – Meaning and Representation Vocabulary

4. Annex E – EU-Rent example

The SBVR Specification

www.omg.org/spec/SBVR/1.0/

Tooling

Tools focusing on Business Rules

http://sbeaver.sourceforge.net/about/tools.php

Open Source

http://rulexpress.editme.com/

http://sourceforge.net/projects/orm

http://www.businesssemantics.com/BusienssSemanticsLtd/products.htm

Commercial

Tooling

Gartner: “Cool Vendor in

Enterprise Information Management”

Questions ?

WWW.OZEMANTICS.COM.AU