SBVR to OWL 2 Mappings - An Automatable and Structural-Rooted Aproach

La amplia aplicabilidad del mapeo de reglas de negocio en sentencias ontológicas ha sido recientemente reconocida. Algunas de las aplicaciones más importantes son: (1) la utilización de razonadores ontológicos para probar la consistencia de la información del dominio del negocio, (2) la generación de una ontología destinada a ser utilizada en la etapa de análisis del proceso de desarrollo de software, y (3) la posibilidad de encapsular la especificación declarativa del conocimiento del negocio en un sistema de información mediante la implementación de una ontología. El lenguaje denominado Semantics of Business Vocabulary and Business Rules (SBVR) brinda soporte a tal enfoque al proveer al experto del negocio una forma lingüistica de describir semánticamente los conceptos y especificar las reglas de negocio, en forma independiente al diseño del sistema de información. Aunque trabajos previos han presentado algunas propuestas, resta definir un enfoque exhaustivo y automatizable de tales mapeos. Este trabajo presenta un conjunto amplio y detallado de transformaciones que permiten la generación automatizable de una ontología implementada en OWL 2, partiendo de la especificación SBVR del dominio del negocio. Tales transformaciones están basadas en la especificación estructural de ambos estándars, y son descriptas mediante un caso de estudio. Se ha realizado un ejemplo real de validación, abordando la factibilidad de los mapeos mediante la evalución de la calidad de la ontología resultante.Wide applicability of mapping business rules expressions to ontology statements have already been recognized. Some of the most important applications are: (1) using of ontology reasoners to prove the consistency of business domain information, (2) generation of an ontology intended to be used in the analysis stage of a software development process, and (3) the possibility of encapsulate the declarative specication of business knowledge into information software systems by means of an implemented ontology. The Semantics of Business Vocabulary and Business Rules (SBVR) supports that approach by providing business people with a linguistic way to semantically describe business concepts and specify business rules in an independent way of any information system design. Previous work have presented some proposals but an exhaustive and automatable approach for them still is lacking. This work presents a broad and detailed set of transformations that allows the automatable generation of an OWL 2 ontology from the SBVR specications of a business domain. Such transformations are rooted on the structural specication of both standards and are depicted through a case study. A real case validation example was performed, approaching the feasibility of the mappings by the quality assessment of the developed ontology.Fil: Reynares, Emiliano. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Universidad Tecnologica Nacional. Facultad Regional Santa Fe. Centro de Investigacion y Desarrollo de Ingenieria en Sistemas de Informacion; ArgentinaFil: Caliusco, Maria Laura. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Universidad Tecnologica Nacional. Facultad Regional Santa Fe. Centro de Investigacion y Desarrollo de Ingenieria en Sistemas de Informacion; ArgentinaFil: Galli, Maria Rosa. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Santa Fe. Instituto de Desarrollo y Diseño (i); Argentin

Enterprise Intelligence based on Ontology Metadata

Organizations define business models as part of its strategic thinking from which build performance evaluation structures focused on the effectiveness and efficiency of their goals. Usually the business model is captured in various organization representations with little interoperability between them. On the other hand, the performance are evaluated using business intelligence systems. Despite the usage of metadata in business intelligence and organization representation model system, metadata are normally not reused for the purpose of ensuring business concepts alignment. This article consolidates a vision of organizational metadata from various forms of representation of the business model, but implemented as ontology to support an organizational intelligence

The Need to Adapt to New Financial Accounting Technologies Information in the Context of Global Economic Crisis

Today, accounting is a necessity and not a desire. Concerns for the improvement of accounting practices are necessary, especially in Romania, where these activities are strengthened with the progress of the Romanian economy integration into the structures of the European Union. This paper carried an objective analysis of how the web report is now being made by financial and accounting information, presents the disadvantages of this approach to reporting introduced, but the potential benefits that could be created by the rapid adoption of international standards for reporting financial information website, too. At the same time, the paper tries to create new opportunities as soon as possible regarding the adoption of intelligent technologies, which, coupled with language Web reporting financial information.economic crisis, web reporting, intelligent financial-accounting systems

A Mechanism-Based Explanation of the Institutionalization of Semantic Technologies in the Financial Industry

Part 3: Creating Value through ApplicationsInternational audienceThis paper explains how the financial industry is solving its data, risk management, and associated vocabulary problems using semantic technologies. The paper is the first to examine this phenomenon and to identify the social and institutional mechanisms being applied to socially construct a standard common vocabulary using ontology-based models. This standardized ontology-based common vocabulary will underpin the design of next generation of semantically-enabled information systems (IS) for the financial industry. The mechanisms that are helping institutionalize this common vocabulary are identified using a longitudinal case study, whose embedded units of analysis focus on central agents of change—the Enterprise Data Management Council and the Object Management Group. All this has important implications for society, as it is intended that semantically-enabled IS will, for example, provide stakeholders, such as regulators, with better transparency over systemic risks to national and international financial systems, thereby mitigating or avoiding future financial crises

Data DNA: The Next Generation of Statistical Metadata

Describes the components of a complete statistical metadata system and suggests ways to create and structure metadata for better access and understanding of data sets by diverse users

Exploring ‘People’ as the key element in enterprise architecture implementation: A Critical Realist Perspective

TOGAF (2009) describes the purpose of Enterprise Architecture (EA) is to optimise enterprisewide systems - the often-fragmented legacy of data processes (both manual and automated) - into an integrated environment that is responsive to change and supports the delivery of the business strategy (The Open Group Architecture Framework [TOGAF], 2009). However, for a number of reasons organisations still have difficulties establishing an effective EA (Raadt & Vliet, 2008; Gartner, 2009; and Janssen & Klievink, 2012, among others) and various reports suggest up to two thirds of implementations do not fulfil expectations (Roeleven, 2010). Being organisation wide with a strong governance element EA has significant social implications and social dependence, yet many implementations wrongly treat EA as solely a technical program. This thesis argues that the lack of focus on the ‘people’ element of EA could be the reason why many organisations still struggle with EA implementation. Recognising the importance of people in EA implementation requires acceptance of implementation as a social program, heavily influenced by the structural and cultural systems surrounding the architecture. In order to address the need for greater recognition of the role of people and the social aspects of EA implementation, this thesis adopts critical realism (CR) and its most recognised methodology, the morphogenetic approach (MA). Realism emphasises ontology and strongly argues that ontology, methodology and epistemology are closely linked – as Fleetwood (2005, p. 197) suggests, ontology matters: “The way we think the world is (ontology) influences: what we think can be known about it (epistemology); how we think it can be investigated (methodology and research techniques); the kinds of theories we think can be constructed about it; and the political and policy stances we are prepared to take”. In order to examine the social implications of technology implementation it makes sense to adopt a wellrecognized social theory like critical realism. This social realist approach proposes an analytical separation between structure, culture and agency (people) in order to examine their interactions over time. The MA suggests three important cycles – structural conditioning, social interaction and structural elaboration that provide a platform for examining possible change. Archer also importantly suggests that the emergent properties of collectivities and individuals differ. Such a model has clear value for examining the “people” acceptance of the new impositions and opportunities provided by the EA implementation. It acknowledges the sociocultural consequences of interactions between the structure and the culture to provide particular situational logics that direct, but do not determine the actions of people. The MA emphasises strongly the role of time in situation examination suggesting that structure and culture predate subsequent actions by involved agents. The thesis describes particular situational logics or mechanisms emanating from the interaction between structural and cultural systems that encourage particular behaviours in response to the EA program. These actions are then further examined in the sequence of MA cycles. Since mechanisms are only effective if people adopt them or not, another important element in this study is the part played by “reflexivity”. Reflexivity highlights the linkage between people concerns, projects and practices as people act in order to promote their concerns, and form projects to advance or to protect what they care about most. Reflexivity is an important mechanism for explaining how people’s ultimate concerns impact on their approach to the impositions of EA. An Australian university implementing EA (termed UX for anonymity) has been used as a case study in this research – this fortuitous timing allowed a careful and detailed examination of implementation over a 3-year period from initial rollout to ultimate acceptance. The study describes the challenging environment of university implementation where “academic freedom” is paramount and individual and group autonomies are threatened by EA – the study presents the important mechanisms and situational logics that direct people’s actions within the complex social context of a university. Semi-structured in-depth interviews were used as the primary method of data collection across UX stakeholders. A range of interviews were held throughout the study period with the university IT Governance Committee, the University Architecture Board, the CIO, and the Enterprise Business Group, as well as individual end-users such as teaching staff, researchers, students, and administrative staff of the faculties, schools and service centres. The MA provided a basic structure for unravelling the social complexity and helped guide the interview questions to identify the generative mechanisms hidden in the real domain, and to highlight the conditions that encourage individual and collective acceptance of EA practices. The reflexivity indicator developed by Archer –ICONI– is used throughout to explain how personal projects are formed and how they mediate the exercise of structural/cultural constraints and enablement within EA implementation. Passive participation in regular EA implementation meetings at UX was also important and useful to unearth possible perceived causal possibilities emanating from within the program itself and evident within the social context of implementation. Underpinned by a critical realist perspective, the thesis demonstrates that the MA is a powerful analytical tool to uncover the hidden mechanisms (the situational logics of structures and cultures) and social responses that enable success of EA implementation. The research examines the particular situational logics evident within the University under study and how these provide opportunities and constraints to the acceptance of EA over time. Equally important was reflexivity theory in attaining knowledge and understanding about what it is about people’s internal relations that makes EA implementation succeed. This thesis offers organisations a means to focus on the deeper issues of EA implementation programs by understanding the social complexity surrounding the architecture. The recognition of people as a key element in EA implementation provides a useful explanation of how the key stakeholders (and their power, influence and interests) may constrain and enable EA implementation. By including reflexivity as an important mechanism, organisations will be in a better position to understand the role of people and their interactions with preexisting structures and cultures operating over different time periods – reflexivity suggesting that “people” always have the possibility to do otherwise than expected, largely dependent on their personal history and their current personal projects and ultimate concerns