tii 2008 - full version how semantics of business vocabulary & business rules (sbvr) adds...
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TII 2008 - Full Version
How “Semantics of Business Vocabulary & Business Rules (SBVR)
adds Knowledge Richness to ISO TC 37 Terminology Standards
Donald Chapin
Co-chair OMG Business Modeling & Integration Domain Task ForceOMG Liaison to ISO TC 37 and its Subcommittees
Co-chair OMG SBVR Revision Task ForceISO TC 37/SC 1/WG 5 Project Leader for SBVR
Business Semantics Ltd.
© Model Systems / Business Semantics How SBVR adds Knowledge Richness to ISO TC 37 Terminology Standards 2
Topics
• SBVR's scope and purpose
• The SBVR specification
• Knowledge richness features SBVR adds to ISO TC 37 terminology standards
• SBVR Touch Points with ISO TC 37 Standards
• Optional Topics– Applications of SBVR Already in Progress– Emergence of Tool Support of SBVR– SBVR Methods / Best Practice– SBVR Resources
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What SBVR Is and What You Can Do With It
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What SBVR Is• “Semantics of Business Vocabulary and Business Rules”
(SBVR)
• Effectively two specifications in one i.e. a semantic model for:
– terminological ontology (formal terminology, SBVR vocabulary) - as a cohesive set of interconnected concepts, not just a list of terms and definitions, and
– behavioural guidance (policy, rules, etc.) that govern the actions of subject of the terminological ontology (formal terminology).
• Developed by 17 organizations in 7 countries
• Adopted by OMG in September 2005
• Published as formal OMG specification January 2008. See:
http://www.omg.org/cgi-bin/doc?formal/08-01-02.pdf
• First specification under the Object Management Group’s new stream of Model-Driven Business specifications
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How SBVR Relates to Existing Language Resources
Business Glossary:– Noun Concepts, Definitions & Primary Terms
+ Taxonomy:– General/Specific + Whole/Part Hierarchical Relationships
+ Thesaurus:– Synonyms, Acronyms, Abbreviations, etc. + Multilingual– Instances of Concepts e.g. Business Events & Business Entities– Verb Concepts
• Business Facts• Relations among Concepts
+ Semantically Rich Vocabulary (terminological ontology):– Relations among Instances of Concepts– Definitional Rules– Definitions, Relationships & Rules specified in formal logic
+ Behavioural Business Rules:– Rules Governing Business Actions
Business Glossary:– Noun Concepts, Definitions & Primary Terms
+ Taxonomy:– General/Specific + Whole/Part Hierarchical Relationships
+ Thesaurus:– Synonyms, Acronyms, Abbreviations, etc. + Multilingual– Instances of Concepts e.g. Business Events & Business Entities– Verb Concepts
• Business Facts• Relations among Concepts
+ Semantically Rich Vocabulary (terminological ontology):– Relations among Instances of Concepts– Definitional Rules– Definitions, Relationships & Rules specified in formal logic
+ Behavioural Business Rules:– Rules Governing Business Actions
=Business Terminology + RulesBusiness Terminology + Rules
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SBVR is Intended for Use in the Context of Enterprises (Organizations) and/or Disciplines• It documents the shared concepts and representations in two kinds
of communities:
– Collaborative Community
• e.g. A department, cross-function programme team, a internal service
– Community of Practice
• e.g. project managers, operational excellence champions, departmental budget managers
• These communities can be:
– Internal to an organization
– Across parts of different organizations
• In organizations and disciplines, people know:
– Who they collaborate with
– Who they communicate with
– What their common interests are; what subject fields they are involved in
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Business Activities Benefiting from SBVR Vocabulary and/or Behavioural Guidance
• Business Integration and Performance Improvement
• Risk, Governance, and Compliance
• Globalization/Localization and Translation
• Communication and Documentation
• Document and Content Index Creation
• Training
• Business Language–centred Requirements for Information Systems
For more information see: http://www.brcommunity.com/a2007/b407.html
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IT Activities & Applications Benefiting from SBVR
• Document Browse and Search and Text Analytics
• Business Intelligence and Data Analytics
• Data Architecture, Management and Quality
• Message-Based Middleware Architecture
• Business Process Management Systems
• Advanced Intelligence Capabilities
• Rule-based Application Software Development, Generation and Configuration
• Software Localization
• Reverse Engineering Software to Business Requirements
For more information see: http://www.brcommunity.com/a2007/b407.html
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SBVR - a Synthesis of Four Disciplines1. TERMINOLOGY & VOCABULARY:
– The foundation for SBVR is ISO TC 37 (Terminology and Language & other Content Resources) terminology science standards ISO 704 and 1087
• About human communication using special purpose language in the context of natural language
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*
• Precise meanings for SBVR Vocabulary and Behavioural Guidance enables them to be transformed into IT system designs without losing or changing the business semantics.
* See ISO Technical Report TR 9007:1987, "Concepts and Terminology for the Conceptual Schema and the Information Base”, and “A Logical Analysis of Information Systems: Static Aspects of the Data Oriented Perspective” (http://www.orm.net/Halpin_PhD thesis.pdf)
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SBVR - a Synthesis of Four Disciplines
3. LINGUISTICS & 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 so that they would both:
• adequately formulate in logic to provide a formal interpretation of the most complicated definitions and logic statements expressed using selected natural language grammar features, and
• adequately connect these definitions and logic statements to the underlying SBVR vocabulary of concepts and representations via verb concepts (ISO TC 37 concept relations made formal by fact-oriented modeling)
– Provided the basis for a future rich multilingual natural language notation for SBVR
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SBVR - a Synthesis of Four Disciplines
4. BUSINESS PRACTICE of VOCABULARY & 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
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Benefits of Synthesizing from Established Disciplines
• World-Class expertise and best practices …
– No re-inventing the wheel
• More complete, pragmatic and theoretically sound than any one of the disciplines on its own
• Breakthrough synthesis
• Depth of experience in real-world application and practice
• Existing communities of usage
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SBVR Is a Dictionary – Except …Like lexicography – development of natural language dictionaries
– Rooted in Natural Language and Human Communication
– Different in these ways:• Concept-centric; not word centric (meanings in concept systems)
• Special Purpose language only
• Definitions built in terms of characteristics with built-in taxonomies
• Concept Relations as Entries
• Semantic Communities enable cross-discipline / cross-‘subject field’ capability with support for adopting concepts
• Speech community, subject field, and other concepts provide context to disambiguate multiple uses of the same signifier to designate concepts
• Statements, Verb Concept Designations, Definitions added to Designations to create Representations
• Natural language definitions and other statements can be understood in terms of formal logic
• Formal interpretation of characteristics and intensions can determine whether two definitions are of the same concept or different concepts
• Multi-dimensional, classification can be included (to ‘generic relation’)
• Roles and facets (perspectives, aspects) of general concepts treated explicitly and formally
• Defined reference schemes for general concepts to connect them with the names of the individual concepts associated with them
• Concept relations enriched with definitions, concept roles, and generic relations to create verb concepts (subject-verb-object plus, sometimes, preposition-object) that are interpretable in formal logic
• Characteristics can be expressed as definitional /structural rules
• Formal specification of behavioral guidance in terms of the terminology can be included
Terminology Characteristics
What SBVRadds to
ISO TC 37Standards
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SBVR Vocabulary Structure & Extensibility
• Structured Like Dictionaries
– Flat structures without levels, except for formal logic interpretation
• There is an analogy with a dictionary: the constructs used to define the organization of the dictionary and the structure of its entries (the dictionary’s metamodel) are themselves defined in the dictionary.
– Although the conceptual schema and fact instances are distinguished in an SBVR Body of Shared Meanings,
• they are all part of the same Body of Shared Meanings.
– All SBVR vocabulary entries can be in other Body of Shared Meanings and reused by adoption.
• Inherently extensible like a dictionary - without losing the formal basis
– SBVR Vocabularies given by this specification are themselves vocabularies that can be included in other business vocabularies.
– An extended SBVR vocabulary can be created by adopting from an SBVR vocabulary.
– New concepts immediately become the basis for other concepts
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The SBVR Specification
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SBVR Support for Linguistic Notations
• Supports Alternative Notations for Business Specifications– Textual or graphic symbols
– Outlines, tables, categories, hyperlinks, decision tables, etc.
• Puts real semantics and formal logics behind a subset of any natural language or formal logic based notation
• What would the SBVR model look like?– MOF/XMI compliant XML
– SBVR Structured English
– Graphical Model:• UML Profile for SBVR (see SBVR specification Annex H)
• ORM, CogNIAM
• Other?
– Proprietary language, e.g. RuleSpeak™
There is no normative or mandatory SBVR notation
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SBVR Structured English (SE) NotationSBVR Structured English uses styled fonts in MS Word.
term The ‘term’ font is used for a designation for a noun concept (other than an individual concept), e.g. renter, branch
Name The ‘name’ font is used for a designation of an individual concept — a name. Names tend to be proper nouns, e.g. Utrecht, Euro
Note: in MS Word, the ‘name’ style is double-underlined, but this format is not available in PowerPoint
verb The ‘verb’ font is used for designations for verb concepts — usually a verb, preposition or combination thereof. Such a designation is defined in the context of a form of expression, e.g. car is assigned to rental, rental has pick-up branch
keyword The ‘keyword’ font is used for linguistic symbols used to construct statements – the words that can be combined with other designations to form statements and definitions, e.g., ‘each’ and ‘it is obligatory that’.
Unstyled text is in black, with no underlining
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Sample Language of Business Definitions & Rules
Quantificationeach universal quantification
some existential quantification
at least n at-least-n quantification
Logical Operationsit is not the case that p logical negation
p and q conjunction
p or q disjunction
Modal Operationsit is obligatory that p obligation claim
it is prohibited that p obligation claim embedding a logical negation
it is necessary that p necessity claim
Other Keywords
the who
a, an is of
another what
a given that
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SBVR Terminology Dictionary: Structured English Examplecar movement Definition planned movement of some rental car
car movement specifies car group
car movement is from sending branch
car movement is to receiving branch
car movement is contracted Definition: The car movement is a contract with some renter
car transfer Definition: car movement that is not contracted Description A transfer is a logistical movement of a car by a EU-Rent driver
rental Definition: car movement that is contracted
optional extra Definition: Item that may be added to a rental at extra charge if the renter so chooses Example: One-way rental, fuel pre-payment, additional insurances, fittings (child
seats, satellite navigation system, ski rack) Source: CRISG [‘optional extra’]
Rental includes optional extra
scheduled pick-up date/time Concept Type: role Definition: date/time when the rented car of a rental is scheduled to be collected from
EU-Rent
rental requests car model Synonymous Form: car model is requested for rental Necessity: Each rental requests at most one car model.
Noun Concept Entry
Verb Concept Entry
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General concept vocabulary entry term
General Concept: implied if definition starts with signifier of general concept
Concept Type:Reference Scheme: for finding instancesSubject Field: disambiguating context for homonymsSynonym: may be more than oneDefinition: may be formal or informalDescription:Example:Note:Source: of adopted definitionDictionary Basis: of external supporting definitionNecessity: definitional constraintPossibility: definitional comment
See: (if the entry is a synonym for a preferred term)
See SBVR specification Annex C
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SBVR: Context, Content and Logical Formality
Business Community with sub-communities that may
use different natural languages and specialized
vocabularies
Community
Concepts, Facts & Rules(Unique, Discrete Meaning)
Business MeaningExpression of
Forms of Concepts, Facts & Rules in a Business Language
Business Expression
Semantic Formulations +
Formal Logic Grounding
Formal Logic
defines uses
formulated as
expressed as
underpins underpinsunderpins
Context
Formal Interpretation
ContentBusiness Vocabulary: Clause 8, 11Business Rules: Clause 12
Clause 10
Clause 9
Clause 11
Structure of Meaning
Forms ofConcepts, Facts & Rules
(different ways of saying the same thing)
Forms of Meaning
Expression in Languages
Clause numbers are those in the SBVR Specification
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Expression in Languages
Business Context: Community
Business Community with sub-communities that may
use different natural languages and specialized
vocabularies
Community
Concepts, Facts & Rules(Unique, Discrete Meaning)
Business MeaningExpression of
Forms of Concepts, Facts & Rules in a Business Language
Business Expression
Semantic Formulations +
Formal Logic Grounding
Formal Logic
defines uses
formulated as
expressed as
underpins underpinsunderpins
Forms ofConcepts, Facts & Rules
(different ways of saying the same thing)
Forms of Meaning
Context Clause 11
Meaning Expression
Clause numbers are those in the SBVR Specification
Representation
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Communication: Meaning vs. Representation
body ofmeaning
Meanings
Unexpressed:– Concepts
• Noun Concepts• Verb Concepts
– Propositions – Questions
interpretationbody ofmeaning
Meanings
Unexpressed:– Concepts
• Noun Concepts• Verb Concepts
– Propositions – Questions
representation
EXPRESSION
Expressions of Representations
In a language:– Terms– Names– Identifiers– Fact Type Forms– Definitions – Statements– Text– Non-verbal Designations
Become a Body of Shared Meanings via Definitions & Examples
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SBVR Meaning
object type(general concept)
concept
meaning
propositionquestion
individual concept
characteristic(unary fact type)
noun concept
fact type role
factfact type
(verb concept)
binary fact type
role
fact type with arity > 2
SBVR Specification, clause 8.1
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SBVR Representations (for Meanings)
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Reading Guide for SBVR1. An article, “SBVR: What is Now Possible and Why?” describing the essence of SBVR and its
business and IT uses that generate business value. (http://www.BRCommunity.com/a2008/b407.html)
2. Annex A: Overview of the Approach (http://www.omg.org/docs/formal/08-01-02.pdf)
3. “How SBVR adds Knowledge Richness to ISO TC 37 Terminology Standards” (see http://www.BusinessSemantics.com for full version of this presentation)
4. SBVR Tutorial (Metadata Open Forum 2009) (see http://metadataopenforum.org/download.php?4040ff5f920155ff556ba1c427c641a4)
5. Annex E: EU Rent Example case study – (http://www.omg.org/cgi-bin/doc?formal/08-01-02.pdf)(browse for a feel for an SBVR model rather than detailed understanding of entries).
6. Annex C: SBVR Structured English & Annex D: SBVR Structured English Patterns for reading SBVR Structured English in Annex E and Clauses 7-12.
7. Annex H: Use of UML Notation in a Business Context to Represent SBVR-Style Vocabularies for interpreting diagrams in Annex E and Clauses 7-12.
8. Clauses 8 & 11 SBVR Vocabulary (formal terminology, terminological ontology)
9. Clause 12: SBVR Guidance (Policy/Rules)
10. Clause 10: Providing Semantic and Logical Foundations for Business Vocabulary and Rules (especially Clause 10.2 which relates SBVR to ISO 24707 Common Logic and OWL)
11. Clause 9: Semantic Formulations (for specifying notations, especially restricted natural languages, for definitions and guidance statements for interpretation in formal logic).
12. Clause 13: SBVR’s Use of MOF and XMI (SBVR XMI & XSD Interchange Files)
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Semantic Communities enable cross-discipline / cross-‘subject field’ capability
with support for adopting concepts
Meanings Belong to Semantic Communities
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Semantic Communities Share MeaningsSemantic Community
Definition community whose unifying characteristic is a shared understanding (perception) of the things that they have to deal with
Necessity Each semantic community is united by exactly one body of shared meanings.
• A semantic community defines the scope of an SBVR Body of Shared Meanings:
• what concepts (both noun concepts and verb concepts) are to be included
• what business rules it needs to build on them
• Usually, the most important semantic community is the organization for which you are building the SBVR Body of Shared Meanings, e.g. EU-Rent
• You will often have to consider other semantic communities that do or could share some of the vocabulary,
• e.g. the car rental industry, national trade associations, EU-Rent customers
• When you define rules, you do it from the perspective of the owning semantic community
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Body of Shared Meanings
body of shared meanings
Definition set of concepts and elements of guidance for which there is a shared understanding in a given semantic community
Note EU-Rent’s ‘Car Rentals’ business has a body of shared meanings which contains the set of concepts of general and specific things of importance to Car Rentals.
Necessity Each body of shared meanings unites exactly one semantic community.
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Consensus Definition
What an organization in a given business typically does
Shared SBVR Vocabularies
Neutral Definition
What an organization needs to do to be in a given business
Enterprise Differentiation
What an organization does that distinguishes it from its competitors
All enterprises in the sector do this
All enterprises in the sector do
most of this
This is where an enterprise’s
competitive edge is
A shared interest group can provide partial business vocabulary
An enterprise will define its own business vocabulary
Collaboration in a Shared Interest Group
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Owned & Adopted Concepts
• Adoption is important:– Reduces work in maintaining business vocabulary
– Supports communication with organizations that have interests in common
– Creates consistency across vocabularies
• Vocabulary adoption is about adopting ‘symbols’ (signifiers associated with meanings)
• Concepts are adopted two ways:– By reference – via an adopted vocabulary, e.g. rental, rental car (from
‘Car Rental Industry Standard Glossary’)
– By name – Individual concept, e.g. Switzerland
• When an “owner” vocabulary is revised, – all the “users” of the vocabulary have to be considered –
• this is a good thing!
SBVR provides strong support for adoption
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Vocabulary Adoption• The EU-Rent English Vocabulary - built using SBVR contains:
– The symbols EU-Rent has assigned as term and fact symbols, and has assumed responsibility for maintaining; e.g.
bad experience: damage to car or moving traffic offence or unauthorized late return or car not returned to EU-Rent or …
barred driver: driver who has at least three bad experiences on rentals
– Adopted vocabularies:
Car Rental Industry Standard Glossary [fictitious]*
ISO Dictionary of International Symbols
adopted across all languages [does not exist yet]
Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary
default vocabulary for English* Note: the EU-Rent German speech community has adopted equivalent “Glossar für Autovermietunggeschäft” [also fictitious] – consistency issue to be managed
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Speech community, subject field, and other concepts provide context to disambiguate
multiple uses of the same signifier to designate concepts
Representations Belong to Speech Communities
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Speech Community Share Representations (Language & Terms)Speech Community
Definition subcommunity of a given semantic community whose unifying characteristic is the vocabulary and language that it uses
Example The EU-Rent UK Community shares the English-based vocabulary of symbols used in EU-Rent’s business. The symbols include English words for EU-Rent’s concepts plus symbols adopted from other languages
Dictionary Basis group of people sharing a characteristic vocabulary, and grammatical and pronunciation patterns for use in their normal intercommunication W3ID [‘speech community’]
Necessity Each speech community is of exactly one semantic community.
Necessity Each speech community uses exactly one language.
Necessity Each speech community owns exactly one set of representations.
Necessity Each speech community owns at least one vocabulary.
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The Set of Representations of a Speech Community
• The part of an SBVR model that includes all the representations of a speech community in the language of, and using the terms of, the speech community:
– A natural language, such as English, German, Dutch, or a constructed language such as the UML, plus
– Specialised terms such as that used by lawyers or engineers, and/or
– The preferred terms used by some group, department or function
• Includes these kinds of representations:
– terms and names for the noun concepts
– ‘readings’ for the verb concepts
– definitions for concepts
– descriptions, descriptive examples, notes and references for meanings
– statements for elements of guidance and facts
Definition set of representations that are owned by a given speech community
Necessity The set of representations owned by a speech community expresses exactly one body of shared meanings.
Necessity The set of representations owned by a speech community uses exactly one language.
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Vocabularies & Terminology Dictionariesvocabulary
Definition set of designations and fact type forms primarily drawn from a single language to express concepts within a body of shared meanings
Dictionary Basis sum or stock of words employed by a language, group, individual, or work, or in a field of knowledge [MWCD ‘vocabulary ‘]
Note Vocabularies are subsets of one (monolingual) or more (multilingual) sets of representations owned by the speech community
Necessity Each vocabulary is owned by exactly one speech community.
Necessity Each vocabulary is used to express exactly one body of shared meanings.
Necessity Each monolingual vocabulary is part of exactly one set of representations that are owned by a given speech community.
terminology dictionary
Definition collection of representations including at least one designation or definition of each of a set of concepts from one or more specific subject fields together with other representations of facts related to those concepts
Necessity Each terminology dictionary expresses exactly one body of shared meanings.
Necessity Each terminology dictionary presents at least one vocabulary.
Necessity Each terminology dictionary uses at least one set of representations that are owned by a speech community.
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Designation Disambiguation Contexts
• speech community
• subject field
…speech community… ¦ …subject field… ¦ …designation context… ¦ …designation…
designation context Concept Type: role Definition: concept that characterizes the domain of usage within which the expression of a representation has a unique meaning for a given speech community
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Statements, Fact Type Forms (Verb Concept
Designations), Definitions added to Designations to create Representations
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Shared Meanings
Shared Concepts
Meanings and Representations
Fact Types(Verb Concepts)
Noun Concepts
Shared Guidance
Business Rules
Representations
Signifiers, definitions and supporting details
Fact Type Forms
DefinitionsTerms & Appellations
Business Rule Statements
Shared by a semantic community Shared by a speech communityof the semantic community
Permissions and Possibilities
Other Guidance Statements
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SBVR Representations (for Meanings)
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Natural language definitions and other statements can be understood in terms of
formal logic
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Business Rule
It is obligatory that the drop-off date of a rental precedes the expiration date on the driver's license of the customer responsible for the rental.
It is obligatory that
precedes
the drop-off date of a rental
the expiration date on
the driver's license of
the customer responsible for
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Simple Quantification
It is necessary that each rental car has exactly one vehicle identification number.
Necessity Claim
Universal Quantification
Variable(rental car)
Exactly-One Quantification
Variable(vehicle identification number)
Atomic Formulation(rental car has vehicle identification number)
* Logic Variable, not program variableBinding
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Implication
If the drop-off location of a rental is not the return branch of the rental then it is obligatory that the rental incurs a location penalty charge.
Obligation Claim
Universal Quantification
Variable(rental)
Universal Quantification
Variable(location)
Atomic Formulation(rental has drop-off location)
Implication
Variable(location penalty charge)
Conjunction
Logical Negation
Atomic Formulation(rental has return branch)
Existential Quantification
Atomic Formulation(rental incurs location penalty charge)
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Aggregation
It is obligatory that the average of ages of rental cars owned by each local area is less than 5 years.
Obligation ClaimUniversal Quantification
Variable(duration)
Universal Quantification
Variable(multiset)
Atomic Formulation(multiset has average)
Conjunction
Atomic Formulation(local area owns rental car)
Universal Quantification
Atomic Formulation(duration is less than duration)
Variable(local area)
Conjunction
Individual Concept(5)
Atomic Formulation(number of years involves number)
Variable(duration) Atomic Formulation
(rental car has age)
Projection
Aggregation Formulation
Auxiliary Variable(rental car)
Conjunction
Existential QuantificationConjunctionVariable
(number of years)
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Proposition Nominalization
It is obligatory that each new customer is told by an agent that the New Customer Discount is available to the customer.
Variable(new customer)
Obligation ClaimUniversal Quantification
Variable(proposition)
Existential Quantification
Variable(agent)
Atomic Formulation(person tells person proposition)
Atomic Formulation(special offer is available to customer)
Existential Quantification
Proposition Nominalization
Conjunction
Individual Concept(New Customer Discount)
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Answer Nominalization
It is obligatory that each new customer is told by an agent what special offer is available to the customer.
Variable(new customer)
Obligation ClaimUniversal Quantification
Variable(fact)
Existential Quantification
Variable(agent)
Atomic Formulation(person tells person proposition)
Atomic Formulation(special offer is available to customer)
Existential Quantification
Variable(special offer)
Projection
Answer Nominalization
Conjunction
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Objectification
It is obligatory that each rental car is tested before the car is purchased.
Obligation ClaimUniversal Quantification
Variable(actuality)
Existential Quantification
Variable(actuality)
Atomic Formulation(vehicle is purchased)
Atomic Formulation(actuality occurs before actuality)
Existential Quantification
Variable(rental car) Objectification
Implication
Objectification
Atomic Formulation(vehicle is tested)
Conjunction
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Formal interpretation of characteristics and intensions can determine whether two definitions are of the same concept or
different concepts
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Characteristicscharacteristic (as adopted by SBVR from ISO 1087-1 & 704)
abstraction of a property of an object [thing] or of a set of objects
• Characteristics serves as qualifiers: – (concept whose designation is a) “word group that limits or modifies the meaning of
another (concept designated by a) word (as a noun) or word group (as a noun phrase)” [qualifier – Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary b.]; e.g.:
• “being red”
• “having length”
• “made of wood”
• “is female”
• “maintains cars”
– Designations of characteristics play the same role in grammar that adjectives play
– Characteristics narrow the meaning of more general concepts
• In SBVR characteristics are:
– defined as synonymous with unary fact types, and
– distinguished from unary verb concepts (“state of affairs” types) and unary fact types by using ‘thing’ as the noun concept that plays the role in the unary verb concept;
• e.g. thing being red; thing made of wood; thing is female; thing maintains cars
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Intensions & Semantic Equivalence of Concepts
• The set of essential characteristics for a concept is:
– the set of necessary and sufficient characteristics that determines the things that are in the extension of, are instances of, the concept
– is the combination of:
• the delimiting characteristics in the intensional definition of the concept,
• all the delimiting characteristics of each of the more general concepts to the top of the inheritance tree, and
• a characteristic for the ‘more general concept’ if it is not ‘thing’
• Two concepts are same or different based on whether or not they:
– do or do not have semantically equivalent sets of essential characteristics
• Concepts don’t change – they are just different concepts
– Connection of a term to a concept can change over time (usually gradually)
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Multidimensional classification
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categorization scheme Definition: scheme for partitioning things in the extension of a given general concept into the extensions of categories of that general concept categorization scheme is for general concept Definition: the general concept is divided into category(s) by the categorization scheme categorization scheme contains category Definition: the category is included in the categorization scheme as one of the categories divided into by the scheme segmentation Definition: categorization scheme whose contained categories are complete (total) and disjoint with respect to the general concept that has the categorization scheme Synonym: partitioning
Categorization Schemes (Dimensions)
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Roles and facets (perspectives, aspects) of general concepts treated explicitly and formally
© Model Systems / Business Semantics How SBVR adds Knowledge Richness to ISO TC 37 Terminology Standards 55
Noun Concepts – Examples• Fundamental:
– car (adopted)
• Category of some more general concept:
– rental car is a category of car, with delimiting characteristics (unary verb concepts):
• is owned (by a EU-Rent local area)
• is rented (is used for rental by EU-Rent)
• Role in verb concept:
– rental car has roles rented car and replacement car in ‘rented car is replaced by replacement car during rental’
• Facet (aspect):
– customer [Car Rentals]: customer who rents cars
– customer [Vehicle Sales]: customer who buys a rental car at the end of its rental life
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Defined reference schemes for general concepts to connect them
with the names of the individual concepts associated with them
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Reference Scheme
• Needed for all general concepts whose instances need to be identified by the business
• Example:
rental carDefinition: car that is owned by EU-Rent and is used for
rentalsReference Scheme: VIN
car modelDefinition: Type of car supplied by a manufacturer with a
standard specification that includes body style, engine size, and fuel type(s).
Note: EU-Rent bases its model names on those assigned by the car manufacturers, but sometimes has to extend them to distinguish models, for example with/without air conditioning.
Reference Scheme: manufacturer code, model id
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Concept relations enriched with definitions, concept roles, & generic relations to
create verb concepts (subject-verb-object plus, sometimes, preposition-object)
that are interpretable in formal logic
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Verb Concepts – Examples
• Verb concepts
– Unary (characteristic): rental is open
• 1 placeholder, filled by ‘rental’
– Binary: rental car is assigned to rental
• two placeholders, filled by ‘rental car’ and ‘rental’
– N-ary: replacement car replaces rented car during rental
• three placeholders representing roles, filled by ‘rental car’, ‘rental car’ and ‘rental’
• Can objectify a verb concept and use it as a noun concept:
– ‘replacement car replaces rented car during rental’ can be objectified as ‘car exchange’ plus:
• car exchange provides replacement car
• car exchange replaces rental car
• car exchange occurs during rental
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Definitions in SBVR Structured English
object type(general concept)
concept
meaning
propositionquestion
individual concept
characteristic(unary fact type)
noun concept
fact type role
factfact type
(verb concept)
binary fact type
role
fact type with arity > 2
Main focus for this section
© Model Systems / Business Semantics How SBVR adds Knowledge Richness to ISO TC 37 Terminology Standards 61
Multiple Verb Concept Forms for One Verb Concept (Discrete Meaning)• One Verb Concept (e.g. Associative Verb Concept)
– E.g. Open tickets have expiry dates
can be put together in many forms:– Sentential Forms
open ticket expires on date (semantics in verb)
open ticket has expiry date (semantics in role name)
– Noun Formsopen ticket expiring on date
open ticket having expiry date
– Multiple orderings • Sentential Form
open ticket expires on date (active)
date is expiration of open ticket (passive)
• Noun Form
expiry date of open ticket
open ticket having expiry date
© Model Systems / Business Semantics How SBVR adds Knowledge Richness to ISO TC 37 Terminology Standards 62
Verb concept vocabulary entry
fact type form
Synonymous Form: may be more than oneimplied for simple passive forms
Definition: may be formal or informalNecessity: definitional constraintPossibility: definitional comment
Note:
Example:May require role definitions
role name
Concept Type: roleDefinition: <preferred term of
concept that plays the role> that …See SBVR specification Annex C
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Characteristics can be expressed as definitional /structural rules
© Model Systems / Business Semantics How SBVR adds Knowledge Richness to ISO TC 37 Terminology Standards 64
Propositional Content + Performative• Propositional Content:
– a mental picture of a possible state of the world that is expressed in some communication (for example, expressible by arranging certain words: car at location)
– is INDEPENDENT of how you use it!• Statement: aircraft at airport – The aircraft is at the airport .
• Command: aircraft at airport – Let the aircraft be at the airport !
• Question: aircraft at airport – Is the aircraft at the airport ?
• Stipulation: aircraft at airport – The aircraft must be at the airport .
• Example SBVR Propositional Content:– customer wants class of travel
• SBVR supports these kinds of Performatives– Assertion (Statement)
• (It is taken to be true that) customer wants class of travel NOTE: The ‘it is taken to be true that’ is implied from the formal logic grounding of SBVR
– Stipulation (Rule)• It is obligatory that customer wants class of travel if the customer makes a reservation
– Question• What class of travel the customer wants ? … from within the rule:
– An agent must ask each new customer what class of travel the customer wants.
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Definitional Business Rules• Is (surprisingly) small part of the OMG’s SBVR Specification – about 13%
• Reuses Business Vocabulary features of SBVR – the bulk of the specification
• Definitional (Structural) Business Rules (use alethic logic operators)– Specify what the organization takes things to be– Cannot be broken (are “true by definition”)
• “It is necessary that …”– e.g. local area is in exactly one operating country
• “It is possible that …” (and its negation, “It is impossible that …”)
– Optional – not required to create SBVR Vocabularies (aka terminologies)– About what the concepts mean:
• Characteristics of noun concepts
• Constraints on verb concepts
• Operative (Behavioural) Business Rules (use deontic logic operators)
– Govern what the organization does – what actions it takes• “It is obligatory that …”
– e.g. Each rental car that is assigned to a rental must be at the pick-up branch of the rental.
• “It is permitted that …” (and its negation, “It is forbidden that …”)
– Intended for people:• Actionable, but not necessarily automatable
• Can be broken; i.e. violated by people, so need an enforcement regime
• Each definitional business rule is another form of the same meaning as that of a characteristic
• Every definitional business rule must be demonstrably implied by (a logical consequence
of) the definitions of the concepts in its body of shared meanings
• Characteristics are required for intensional definitions;
• Definitional business rules are optional in SBVR (They are not part of SBVR as an ontology)
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Examples of Characteristics = Definitional Business Rules
• Characteristic, e.g. rental organization unit maintains cars
• In intensional definition:service depot
Definition: rental organization unit that maintains cars
• As Necessity:service depot
General Concept: rental organization unit
Necessity: Each service depot maintains cars
• As Definitional Rule:service depot
General Concept: rental organization unit
It is necessary that each service depot maintains cars
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Formal specification of behavioral guidance
in terms of the terminology
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Operative Business Rules• Is (surprisingly) small part of the OMG’s SBVR Specification – about 13%
• Reuses Business Vocabulary features of SBVR – the bulk of the specification
• Definitional (Structural) Business Rules (use alethic logic operators)– Specify what the organization takes things to be– Cannot be broken (are “true by definition”)
• “It is necessary that …”– e.g. local area is in exactly one operating country
• “It is possible that …” (and its negation, “It is impossible that …”)
– Optional – not required to create SBVR Vocabularies (aka terminologies)– About what the concepts mean:
• Characteristics of noun concepts
• Constraints on verb concepts
• Operative (Behavioural) Business Rules (use deontic logic operators)
– Govern what the organization does – what actions it takes• “It is obligatory that …”
– e.g. Each rental car that is assigned to an assigned rental is at the pick-up branch of the rental.
• “It is permitted that …” (and its negation, “It is forbidden that …”)
– Intended for people:• Actionable, but not necessarily automatable
• Can be broken; i.e. violated by people, so need an enforcement regime
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Verb Concepts (Fact Types)
Associate Concepts todefine Verb Concepts
Semantic Formulations – Foundation Constructs
SBVR realizes the ‘Business Rules Mantra’:
Noun Concepts
Define Noun Concepts
Vo
cab
ula
ry Develop Vocabularies and Rules Sets to represent them(starting with terms for the concepts)
… to describe the business language of the activities of organizations
“Rules are built on Facts. Facts are built on Terms.”
… in a way that is easily understandable by business people
Base Business Definitions & Rules
on Verb Concepts
Definitions &Rules
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Defining a Business Rule Underlying verb concept (in SBVR’s Vocabulary for Business Rules):
element of guidance is based on verb concept
We know that (also in SBVR’s Vocabulary for Business Rules):
element of guidance introduces an obligation or necessity
business rule is a category of element of guidance
So, in the SBVR Business Vocabulary+Rules for a specific business (e.g. EU-Rent)
• Start with a verb concept, e.g.
rental is guaranteed by credit card
• Apply an obligation or necessity to it, e.g.
it is obligatory that each rental is guaranteed by a credit card.
• Then,add qualifications, quantifications and conditions, if necessary e.g.
it is obligatory that each rental is guaranteed by a credit card that is held by the renter who is responsible for the rental
.
© Model Systems / Business Semantics How SBVR adds Knowledge Richness to ISO TC 37 Terminology Standards 71
Enforcement• Operative business rules can be broken, and need to be
enforced. This requires a regime:
– To detect violations
– To take remedial action, if required
– To impose penalties, if required
• Enforcement action is outside SBVR’s scope. It will be resolved in integration with other OMG business modelling specifications
• SBVR does include enforcement level – how strictly the rule will be enforced. This is quite independent of what the enforcement action is. Examples are:
– Strictly enforced: no escape from the consequences
– Pre-authorized exceptions permitted
– Consequences if exceptions are not logged and justified
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Enforcement Level
• Applicable only to behavioural business rules, which can be violated by people in the business
• The enforcement level is independent of the rule
• Enforcement levels in EU-Rent (in the SBVR specification)::
strict: if the rule is violated, the sanction or other consequences always ensue.
deferred: strictly enforced, but enforcement may be delayed — e.g., waiting for resource with required skills.
pre-authorized: enforced, but exceptions allowed, with prior approval for actors with before-the-fact override authorization.
post-justified: if not approved after the fact, the sanction or other consequences will ensue.
override: comment must be provided when the violation occurs.
guideline: suggested, but not enforced.
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Guidance statement vocabulary entry
Guidance StatementName: Often used as a reference scheme
for elements of guidanceGuidance Type: operative business rule, structural
business rule, advice of permission, possibility, optionality or contingency
Enforcement Level: Used only for behavioural business rules
Description:Source:Synonymous Statement:Note:Example:
See SBVR specification Annex C
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SBVR Touch Pointswith ISO TC 37 Standards
OMG, ISO, W3C and OASIS
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Touch Points with ISO TC 37/SC 1• Terminology with added Knowledge Richness features
– SC 1/WG 3 • ISO 704 Terminology work — Principles and methods
– Foundation for SBVR
• ISO 1087-1 Terminology work — Vocabulary — Part 1: Theory and application
– Foundation for SBVR
– SC 1/WG 2 • ISO 860 Terminology work – Harmonization of concepts and terms
– Terminology harmonization and content/semantic integration
– SC 1/WG 5 • TR 24156 Guidelines for applying concept modelling in terminology
• SBVR Annex H Use of UML Notation in a Business Context to Represent SBVR-Style Vocabularies (informative)
– SBVR multidimensional classification
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Touch Points with ISO TC 37/SC 2
• … none
© Model Systems / Business Semantics How SBVR adds Knowledge Richness to ISO TC 37 Terminology Standards 77
Touch Points with ISO TC 37/SC 3
• Terminology with added Knowledge Richness features– SC 3/WG 2
• ISO 1087-2 Terminology work — Vocabulary — Part 2: Computer applications– Supplements SBVR
– SC 3/WG 3 • ISO/DIS 12620 Terminology and other language and content resources — Specification
of data categories and management of a Data Category Registry for language resources
– Supplements SBVR
• ISO/DIS 30042 Term-Base eXchange (TBX) format specification– SBVR terminology interchange format (SBVR Clause 13 + Clause 15 accompanying files)
– SC 3/WG 4• ISO/CD 26162 Computer applications in terminology — Design, implementation and
maintenance of Terminology Management Systems– SBVR terminology interchange format (SBVR Clause 13 + Clause 15 accompanying files)
• ISO 16642:2003 Computer applications in terminology -- Terminological markup framework
– SBVR terminology interchange format (SBVR Clause 13 + Clause 15 accompanying files)
– SC 3/TAG• Preliminary Work Item (PWI) 22274 Localization aspects for object data modelling
– SBVR Annex H Use of UML Notation in a Business Context to Represent SBVR-Style Vocabularies (informative)
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Touch Points with ISO TC 37/SC 4
• Language Analysis/Annotation
– SC 4/WG 2
• NP 24617-2 Semantic Annotation Framework – Part 2: Dialogue acts
– SBVR performative + proposition structure
– SC 4/TDG 6• Multilingual ontology data categories
– SBVR as a terminological ontology
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Further Development of SBVR
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Where might SBVR be Going in the Future?
• First SBVR RTF (March 2009)
– primary objective: finish mapping to ISO Common Logic and OWL
• ISO TC 37 adoption process for SBVR (has begun)
• Other harmonization / transform definition activities to be undertaken:
– Terminology Science vs. Information Science (modeling, metadata and data)
– TC 37 terminology standards + SBVR to ISO 11179 Metadata Registry standard
– ISO TC 215 WG 3 – Healthcare Semantics
• Generic Vocabularies
– Date & Time (in progress), Weights & Measures, Geographic, Math
• Vertical Industry Vocabularies by OMG Domain Task Forces
• Standard Notation(s) for SBVR RFP (being discussed)
• Terminology Content Availability in Online Databases & Registries (possibilities only)
– ISO Standards as Databases – Terminology online and free
– Euro Term Bank
– Terminology/Vocabulary Services for Vocabulary Adoption
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SBVR: Context, Content and Logical Formality
Business Community with sub-communities that may
use different natural languages and specialized
vocabularies
Community
Concepts, Facts & Rules(Unique, Discrete Meaning)
Business MeaningExpression of
Forms of Concepts, Facts & Rules in a Business Language
Business Expression
Semantic Formulations +
Formal Logic Grounding
Formal Logic
defines uses
formulated as
expressed as
underpins underpinsunderpins
Context
Formal Interpretation
ContentBusiness Vocabulary: Clause 8, 11Business Rules: Clause 12
Clause 10
Clause 9
Clause 11
Structure of Meaning
Forms ofConcepts, Facts & Rules
(different ways of saying the same thing)
Forms of Meaning
Expression in Languages
Clause numbers are those in the SBVR Specification – see SBVR
Resources slide at end
External to SBVR:• linguistics, • ISO TC 37/SC 4 “Linguistic Representation” standards, and • defacto industry standards
Linguistic Annotation Frameworks
New SBVR Notation
OMG RFP
© Model Systems / Business Semantics How SBVR adds Knowledge Richness to ISO TC 37 Terminology Standards 82
Principles in Linguistic Annotation Frameworks were Design Targets for SBVR Semantic Formulations
• “Linguistic Annotation Framework” (i.e. natural language grammar structure metamodel) Resources– The discipline of Linguistics
• MIT book on linguistic engines– http://books.google.co.uk/books?
id=_cv4i6heNmwC&dq=linguistic+analysis+engine&source=gbs_summary_s&cad=0
– ISO TC 37/SC 4 “Linguistic Representation” standards– http://www.tc37sc4.org/what_.php
– Defacto industry standard - Xerox PARC Lab linguistic technology • LinguistX engine from Business Objects
– http://www.businessobjects.com/product/catalog/linguistx/
• Xelda from TEMIS– http://www.temis.com/index.php?id=124&selt=1
– Other Commercial Linguistic Engines• IBM LanguageWare Linguistic Engine
– http://www-306.ibm.com/software/globalization/topics/languageware/index.jsp
– Open Source Linguistic Engines• NooJ Linguistic Development Environment
– http://195.220.182.190/site/pages/nooj.html; http://acl.ldc.upenn.edu/H/H05/H05-2006.pdf
• SIL Linguistic Freeware– http://www.sil.org/computing/catalog/
– Additional References to Lingusitic Engines• Linguistic Annotation (http://www.ldc.upenn.edu/annotation/)
• LIRICS: Linguistic Infrastructure for Interoperable Resources and Systems (http://lirics.loria.fr/)
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SBVR Notation to be Standardized• A draft OMG Request for Proposal for SBVR Notations will be considered at the
OMG’s June Technical Meeting
• Focus will be on mapping to standard metamodels for cross-natural Linguistic Annotation Frameworks (i.e. natural language grammar structure metamodels -- see slide 14 for examples)
– NOT a new artificial language – a selected subset of natural language grammar structures & associated words
• RFP may require:
– A mapping of SBVR Semantic Formulations to one for more Linguistic Annotation Frameworks
– How to specify, based on cross-natural language Linguistic Annotation Framework, the subset for a given natural language that will constitute the SBVR natural language notation for that language
• The specified subset of one or more natural language that is the standard SBVR notation for that language
– In particular, a standard English language SBVR notation
– How to specify an SBVR notation that is not a natural language in a ways that demonstrates compliance with SBVR semantics
• One or more standard SBVR graphic notations
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OMG SBVR-related activity
• Business Motivation Model:
– Accepted September 2005 for consideration as existing standard to be adopted
– Accepted December 2007 for publication as an OMG Specification
• Completion of related OMG specifications: BPDM, OSM, PRR:
• Alignment across OMG business-oriented specs:
– Interfaces
– Common vocabulary
– Business Architecture emerges
• Transforms to MDA CIM and PIM
• Submission of RFP responses using SVBR? (Has been done in one submission for OSM)
• Interest from Regulatory Compliance DSIG
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Reusing “Business Vocabulary”
• Take SBVR specification, excluding “Business Vocabulary for Business Rules”
• Use it to define vocabularies for other aspects of business modelling, e.g.
– “Business Vocabulary for Business Process”
– “Business Vocabulary for Organization Structure” (already done in on OMS RFP submission)
These are examples of SBVR’s self-extensibility
• Then will have consistency for vocabulary definition – and for MOF/XMI-compliant interchange
• When creating a business model for a specific business, use the same vocabulary for all aspects
© Model Systems / Business Semantics How SBVR adds Knowledge Richness to ISO TC 37 Terminology Standards 86
World Wide Web Consortium
• See rules as a major part of Semantic Web and Web services
• Has established Rule Interchange Format (RIF) Working Group
– http://www.w3.org/2005/rules/wg
– Chartered in November 2005 for 2 years; extended by 6 months
– Version 1 publication scheduled for June 2008
– SBVR is one of the major inputs: ongoing liaison with OMG (also for ODM and PRR)
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Applications of SBVR Already in Progress
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Business Uses of SBVR Already in Progress
• Risk, Governance, and Compliance
• Globalization/Localization and Translation
• Communication and Documentation
– SBVR Document Authoring Word Add-in specifications negotiated with natural language process vendor
• Document and Content Index Creation
– Proof of concept generation of document (back of the book) indexes from an SBVR Vocabulary in a multinational pharmaceutical company
• Training
– Use to structure the knowledge taught in IT training programme of Loyalis (The Netherlands) in a way that is integrated across courses
• Business Language–centered Requirements for Information Systems
– Product Discount Management project for a multinational pharmaceutical company – saved the company £100 million to date
– Commercial use: PNA Group CogNIAM Studio; Rule Arts “RuleXpress”
© Model Systems / Business Semantics How SBVR adds Knowledge Richness to ISO TC 37 Terminology Standards 89
IT Uses of SBVR Already in Progress• Document Browse and Search and Text Analytics
– Proof of concept Document Browse and Search based on document (back of the book) indexes generated from an SBVR Vocabulary at multinational pharmaceutical company
• Business Intelligence and Data Analytics– A Blue Cross / Blue Shield company
• Data Architecture, Management and Quality– PNA Group CogNIAM Studio
• Message-Based Middleware Architecture– Initial discussions on using SBVR to add semantics to ISO 20022 “Universal Financial Industry Message
Scheme” via using SBVR to support ISO 11179
• Advanced Intelligence Capabilities– EU Framework 7 project in final stages of negotiation
• Rule-based Application Software Development, Generation and Configuration– Rules engine vendor creating an SBVR front end to their rules-based application development tool
• Software Localization
• Reverse Engineering Software to Business Requirements– Business Vocabulary / Rules Specialist software assistance from reverse engineering from software to
SBVR business ontologies and rules (Unisys, KDM Analytics, and others)
• Software Assurance– Software Assurance policies in SBVR. Software faults defined in SBVR for outsource contracts (US
Department of Defense, KDM Analytics)
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Emergence of Tool Support of SBVR
© Model Systems / Business Semantics How SBVR adds Knowledge Richness to ISO TC 37 Terminology Standards 91
Emerging SBVR Tools
• DANTERMcentret “i-Term Suite” -- available now for sale (http://www.i-term.dk/)
– Strong support for ISO 704 and 1087-1 on top of which the vocabulary part of SBVR is built; includes:
• Subject field
• Full coverage for noun concepts
• Partial coverage for verb concepts (concept relations)
• Multilingual capability
– Special feature – ability to graphically show more general concepts and delimiting characteristics, the components of intensional definitions.
• PNA Group CogNIAM Studio -- available now for sale (www.pna-generics.nl)
Strong support for fact modeling and definitional business rules, plus some transforms to application generation
• Rule Arts “RuleXpress” -- available now for sale (http://www.rulearts.com/)
Strong support for business rule analysis and statement, as well as the vocabularies needed to support rule statements
© Model Systems / Business Semantics How SBVR adds Knowledge Richness to ISO TC 37 Terminology Standards 92
Emerging SBVR Tools
• Neumont University” “NORMA” -- open source tool available now (https://sourceforge.net/projects/orm)
Strong support for fact modeling and definitional business rules
• MDT-SBVR Eclipse Project -- open source tool, first release available June 2009 (http://wiki.eclipse.org/MDT-SBVR)
Open source component of the Model Development Tools (MDT) subproject to provide a metamodel implementation and sample tools based on the SBVR specification
© Model Systems / Business Semantics How SBVR adds Knowledge Richness to ISO TC 37 Terminology Standards 93
Emerging SBVR Tools
• KnowGravity “KnowEnterprise™/Business” -- available now for evaluation, subject to negotiation with KnowGravity (http://www.knowgravity.com/pdf-e/KnowEnterprise-BU%20E.pdf)
… Built on the Artisan UML platform. Supports SBVR but not Structured English. Has integrated repository for BMM, SBVR, BPMN, UML and SYSML.
• Business Semantics Ltd “SmartGlossary™” -- available now, only as part of a consulting engagement (www.BusinessSemantics.com)
Strong support for semantic communities, speech communities (multilingual) & expression disambiguation context with simple forms/tables user interface
• Unisys “Rules Modeler” Microsoft -- commercial tool under development (probable ship - end 2009)
– the demonstration software supporting OMG’s adoption of SBVR
– software and technology bought by Microsoft in March 2008. Several teams members employed by Microsoft
– most likely incorporated into a “Textual Modeling Language” (codenamed “D”) which is a declarative programming language utilizing a LISP enabled editor (http://blogs.zdnet.com/microsoft/?p=1159)
– part of the OLSO set of technical investments of Microsoft’s Connected Systems Division (http://www.microsoft.com/soa/products/oslo.aspx)
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SBVR Methods / Best Practice
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SBVR Methods / Best Practice• Vocabulary/Terminology Content
– ISO 704 Concept System Design (How to create definitions)
– Pavel Terminology Tutorial (http://www.termiumplus.gc.ca/didacticiel_tutorial/english/lesson1/index_e.html)
– Object Role Model (ORM) Methodology (includes structural rules)
• Halpin, Terry A. Information Modeling and Relational Databases. San Francisco: Morgan Kaufmann, 2001.
– SBVR Case Study (SBVR Annex E)
– Various SBVR tutorials
• Policy & Rules Content
– SBVR Structured English (SBVR Annex C & D)
– Informal SBVR UML Profile (SBVR Annex H)
– RuleSpeak™ Notation (SBVR Annex F) and Methodology (commercial)
– ORM Notation (SBVR Annex I) and Methodology (see book above)
– CogNIAM Notation and Methodology (see Annex L)
– Various rule discovery and documentation methodologies
NOTE: Vocabulary/Terminology & Rules Management out of scope for SBVR
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SBVR Resources
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Reading Guide for SBVR1. An article, “SBVR: What is Now Possible and Why?” describing the essence of SBVR and its
business and IT uses that generate business value. (http://www.BRCommunity.com/a2008/b407.html)
2. Annex A: Overview of the Approach (http://www.omg.org/docs/formal/08-01-02.pdf)
3. “How SBVR adds Knowledge Richness to ISO TC 37 Terminology Standards” (see http://www.BusinessSemantics.com for full version of this presentation)
4. SBVR Tutorial (Metadata Open Forum 2009) (see http://metadataopenforum.org/download.php?4040ff5f920155ff556ba1c427c641a4)
5. Annex E: EU Rent Example case study – (http://www.omg.org/cgi-bin/doc?formal/08-01-02.pdf)(browse for a feel for an SBVR model rather than detailed understanding of entries).
6. Annex C: SBVR Structured English & Annex D: SBVR Structured English Patterns for reading SBVR Structured English in Annex E and Clauses 7-12.
7. Annex H: Use of UML Notation in a Business Context to Represent SBVR-Style Vocabularies for interpreting diagrams in Annex E and Clauses 7-12.
8. Clauses 8 & 11 SBVR Vocabulary (formal terminology, terminological ontology)
9. Clause 12: SBVR Guidance (Policy/Rules)
10. Clause 10: Providing Semantic and Logical Foundations for Business Vocabulary and Rules (especially Clause 10.2 which relates SBVR to ISO 24707 Common Logic and OWL)
11. Clause 9: Semantic Formulations (for specifying notations, especially restricted natural languages, for definitions and guidance statements for interpretation in formal logic).
12. Clause 13: SBVR’s Use of MOF and XMI (SBVR XMI & XSD Interchange Files)
© Model Systems / Business Semantics How SBVR adds Knowledge Richness to ISO TC 37 Terminology Standards 98
References1. “Comparison of Many Aspects of Terminology, Semantic Metadata, Data
Models & Data” Chartwww.BusinessSemantics.com/Resources/terminology_comparison.pdf
2. OMG’s “The MDA Foundation Model” http://www.omg.org/cgi-bin/doc?ormsc/07-06-03.pdf
3. “MDA Foundational Model applied to both the Organization and Business Application Software” Diagram v1-0
http://www.omg.org/docs/bmi/08-03-19.pdf
4. “Business Architecture as the Application of the MDA Foundation Model to ‘Organizations’”
Presentation to Open Group Business Architecture Working Group, Glasgow, April 23, 2008
http://www.omg.org/docs/bmi/08-05-02.pdf
5. The Deep Structure of Business Processes, Jan L.G. Dietz http://www.demo.nl/option,com_docman/task,doc_download/gid,1/Itemid,81/
6. “Approximate Traceability from Terminology/SBVR to Data Models” Chart www.BusinessSemantics.com/Resources/terminology_traceability.pdf
© Model Systems / Business Semantics How SBVR adds Knowledge Richness to ISO TC 37 Terminology Standards 99
SBVR Resources
• “Semantics of Business Vocabulary & Business Rules” Specification
– http://www.omg.org/cgi-bin/doc?formal/08-01-02.pdf
• “Semantics of Business Vocabulary & Business Rules” Tutorial
– http://www.BusinessSemantics.com/SBVR_Tutorial.pdf
• “Semantics of Business Vocabulary & Business Rules” Overview (Annex A)
– http://www.omg.org/cgi-bin/doc?formal/08-01-02.pdf
• “Semantics of Business Vocabulary & Business Rules” EU Rent Example (Annex E)
– http://www.omg.org/cgi-bin/doc?formal/08-01-02.pdf
• SBVR Foundation
– www.sbvrfoundation.eu
TII 2008 - Full Version
Thank you!