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“Semantics of Business Vocabulary and Business Rules” SBVR Tutorial Open Forum 2008

Donald Chapin Business Semantics Ltd United Kingdom Co-Chair, OMG SBVR Revision Task Force Donald.Chapin@BusinessSemantics.com. “Semantics of Business Vocabulary and Business Rules” SBVR Tutorial Open Forum 2008. John Hall Model Systems United Kingdom

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“Semantics of Business Vocabulary and Business Rules” SBVR Tutorial Open Forum 2008

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  1. Donald Chapin Business Semantics Ltd United Kingdom Co-Chair, OMG SBVR Revision Task Force Donald.Chapin@BusinessSemantics.com “Semantics of Business Vocabulary and Business Rules” SBVR TutorialOpen Forum 2008 John Hall Model Systems United Kingdom Co-Chair, OMG Regulatory Compliance SIG john.hall@modelsys.com Sjir Nijssen PNA Group The Netherlands Member OMG SBVR Revision Task Forcesjir.nijssen@pna-group.nl Baba Piprani SICOM Canada ISO IEC/ JTC1 SC32 WG2 Metadata and WG3 Database Languages babap@attglobal.net

  2. Your presenter…Baba Piprani, SICOM Canada • Senior IT Consultant with over 30 yrs standardization experience…Computer Languages, SQL, Conceptual Schema, Data Modelliing, IRDS, Metadata Registry, MOF… • Developed award winning implementations of standards-based Data Quality Firewalls with advanced generation architecture data warehouses and Web based applications using SBVR, ORM, NIAM, Master Data Management, Metadata Repositories/Registries using SQL DBMSs… • Clients: Canadian Government departments Transport, Foreign Affairs, Defence, Superintendent of Financial Systems, Public Works…including private sector • Working with Donald Chapin, John Hall and Sjir Nijssen in the progression and advancement of SBVR Open Forum 2008: SBVR Tutorial

  3. TOPICS • SBVR: What It Is and What it Does • SBVR NOTATIONS: What would an SBVR Vocabulary look like? • Key SBVR Specification Concepts • Business Context: Communities • Terminology: Noun Concepts & Verb Concepts • Guidance: Business Rules • Formal Logic Foundation • Semantic Formulations • Generic Vocabularies & Integration by Vocabulary Adoption • Business Benefits of Using SBVR • Appendices Open Forum 2008: SBVR Tutorial

  4. What SBVR Is / What SBVR Does

  5. What SBVR Is • “Semantics of Business Vocabulary and Business Rules” (SBVR) • Effectively two specifications in one i.e. a semantic model for: • business vocabulary (formal terminology) - as a cohesive set of interconnected concepts, not just a list of terms and definitions, and • business behavioral guidance (policy, rules, etc.) that govern the business actions of their organization. • Developed by 17 organizations in 7 countries • Adopted by OMG in September 2005 • Published as formal OMG specification January 2008 • Available for review at 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 Open Forum 2008: SBVR Tutorial

  6. What SBVR Is How SBVR Relates to Existing Language Resources Business Terminology + Rules = 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}) +Ontology (Relations among Instances of Concepts) (Definitional Rules) (Definitions, Relationships & Rules specified in formal logic) +Business Rules (Rules Governing Business Actions) Open Forum 2008: SBVR Tutorial

  7. SBVR is a Synthesis from Four Disciplines • 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 • 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 modeling* • Precise meanings for SBVR Vocabulary and Behavioral Guidance enables them to be transformed into IT system designs without losing or changing the business semantics. * 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_PhDthesis.pdf) Open Forum 2008: SBVR Tutorial

  8. SBVR is a Synthesis from Four Disciplines • LINGUISTICS & LINGUISTIC ANNOTATION OF NATURAL LANGUAGE GRAMMAR • Target natural language grammar structures(external to SBVR) were providedby: • linguistics, • ISO TC 37/SC 4 “Linguistic Representation” standards, and • defacto industry standards as input to the design of SBVR semantic formulations so that they would both: • adequately formulate in logic with a formal interpretation the most complicated definitions and logic statements expressed using selected natural language grammar features, and • adequately connect these definitions and logic statementsto the underlying SBVR vocabulary of concepts and representationsvia 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 • 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 Open Forum 2008: SBVR Tutorial

  9. Benefits of Synthesizing from Four 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 • Unmatched depth of experience in real-world application and practice • Existing communities of usage Open Forum 2008: SBVR Tutorial

  10. 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 • Speech community, subject field, and other concepts provide context for a unique meaning for each term • Formal definitions understood in terms of characteristics with built-in taxonomies • Defined reference schemes for identifying individual things that are instances of noun concepts • Formal treatment of roles and aspects (perspectives) • Verb concepts (subject-verb-object plus, sometimes, preposition-object) as entries • Entries interpretable in formal logic • Able to support formal and natural language specification of behavioral guidance. Open Forum 2008: SBVR Tutorial

  11. 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 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 Open Forum 2008: SBVR Tutorial

  12. What SBVR Does Best • Documents the way a community of people conceptualize the things they work with • NOT optimized for reasoning engines; optimized for people • Completely separates meaning from representation in its core structure • Multilingual capability built into core structure • Provides broader (complete?), but less precise, support for reasoning • FOPL and Henkin Semantics Higher Order Logic • Formally structured • Subset of natural language statements understood formally • Logic & rules • Definitions • Provides the business semantics for Semantic Metadata (e.g. ISO/IEC 11179) Open Forum 2008: SBVR Tutorial

  13. What SBVR Does Best • Enables domain experts to document their own definitions and rules • Leverages existing terminologies based on ISO terminology standards • Existing vocabulary/terminology adoption built in • Enables the bridge from: • the language actually used by people to operate the organization, to: • the software system and how it thinks and expresses itself to its users in their terms • Enables IT to document meaning of existing data and information in terms of language actually used by the people who operate the organization Open Forum 2008: SBVR Tutorial

  14. SBVR is Used to Document … • the business language i.e. terminology (concepts and terms) • shared among people in internal / cross-organization communities • for thinking and communicating about what they have to deal with to conduct their: Primary Purpose • business activities in business natural language ontologies Special Purpose– still documents concepts & terms in minds of community members • requirements definition activities in requirements definition natural language ontologies • class-of-platform independent modelingactivities in class-of-platform independent modelingnatural language ontologies • class-of-platform specific modelingmodeling activities in class-of-platform specific modelingnatural language ontologies • vendor platform specific modeling activities in vendor platform specific modeling natural language ontologies Open Forum 2008: SBVR Tutorial

  15. SBVR Notations: What Would an SBVR Vocabulary Look Like?

  16. 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 Open Forum 2008: SBVR Tutorial

  17. SBVR Notation Example:SBVR Structured English (fragment) current contact details Concept Type:role Definition:contact detailsof rentalthathave been confirmed byrenterof rental rental Definition:contractthatis withrenterandspecifies use of a car ofcar groupandis forrental periodandis forrental movement 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 actual return date/ time Concept Type:role Definition:date/timewhenrented carofrentalis returned toEU-Rent rentalrequestscar model Synonymous Form:car modelis requested forrental Necessity:Eachrentalrequestsat most onecar model. Possibility:Thecar modelrequested forarentalchanges beforetheactual pick-up date/timeof therental. Necessity:Nocar modelrequested forarentalchanges aftertheactual pick-up date/timeof therental Open Forum 2008: SBVR Tutorial

  18. SBVR Notation Example:SBVR Model in RuleSpeak™ (fragment) • Arentalmaybe openonly if anestimated rental charge is provisionally charged to thecredit cardof therenterof therental. • Therental chargeof arentalis alwayscalculated inthebusiness currencyof therental. • Therental chargeof arentalmustbe converted tothe currencyof a price conversionrequested bytherenterof therental. • Note: RuleSpeak does not recommend the “If …then…” syntax for operative business rules. • Principles of the Business Rule Approach, pp. 114, 126, 255 256, 288, 297. • Acash rentalalways honors itslowest rental price. Open Forum 2008: SBVR Tutorial

  19. SBVR Notation Example:XML (fragment) –Standard SBVR Interchange Format <is-obligation-claim obligation-claim=”oc”/> <modal-formulation-embeds-logical-formulation modal-formulation=”oc” logical-formulation=”n”/> <logical-negation-has-negand logical-negation=”n” negand=”eq1”/> <is-existential-quantification existential-quantification=”eq1”/> <quantification-introduces-variable quantification=”eq1” variable=”v2”/> <variable-has-type variable=”v1” type=”bdt”/> <quantification-scopes-over-logical-formulation quantification=”eq1” logical-formulation=”eq2”/> <is-existential-quantification existential-quantification=”eq2”/> <quantification-introduces-variable quantification=”eq2” variable=”v2”/> <variable-has-type variable=”v2” type=”rt”/> <quantification-scopes-over-logical-formulation quantification=”eq2” logical-formulation=”af”/> <is-atomic-formulation atomic-formulation=”af”/> <atomic-formulation-is-based-on-fact-type atomic-formulation=”af” fact-type=”ft”/> <atomic-formulation-has-role-binding atomic-formulation=”af” role-binding=”rb1”/> <role-binding-is-of-fact-type-role role-binding=”rb1” fact-type-role=”ftr1”/> <atomic-formulation-has-role-binding atomic-formulation=”af” role-binding=”rb2”/> <role-binding-is-of-fact-type-role role-binding=”rb2” fact-type-role=”ftr2”/> <esbr:thing xmi:id=”oc”/> <esbr:thing xmi:id=”n”/> <esbr:thing xmi:id=”eq1”/> <esbr:thing xmi:id=”v1”/> <esbr:thing xmi:id=”bdt”/> <esbr:thing xmi:id=”eq2”/> <esbr:thing xmi:id=”v2”/> <esbr:thing xmi:id=”rt”/> <esbr:thing xmi:id=”af”/> <esbr:thing xmi:id=”ft”/> <esbr:thing xmi:id=”rb1”/> <esbr:thing xmi:id=”rb2”/> <esbr:thing xmi:id=”ftr1”/> <esbr:thing xmi:id=”ftr2”/> Open Forum 2008: SBVR Tutorial

  20. SBVR Model in UML (fragment) This diagram is UML notation with SBVR semantics (like a UML Profile)and shows some EU Rent vocabulary from SBVR Annex E. with two different interpretations.See SBVR Clause 13 and Annex H. Open Forum 2008: SBVR Tutorial

  21. SBVR Model in ORM (fragment) Open Forum 2008: SBVR Tutorial

  22. SBVR Model in CogNAIM (fragment) Open Forum 2008: SBVR Tutorial

  23. Key SBVR Specification Content

  24. Community Business Community with sub-communities that may use different natural languages and specialized vocabularies Business Meaning Concepts, Facts & Rules (Unique, Discrete Meaning) Forms of Meaning Forms of Concepts, Facts & Rules (different ways of saying the same thing) Business Expression Expression of Forms of Concepts, Facts & Rules in a Business Language Formal Logic Semantic Formulations + Formal Logic Grounding SBVR: Context, Content and Logical Formality Context Clause 11 uses defines Expression in Languages Business Vocabulary: Clause 8, 11 Business Rules: Clause 12 Content formulated as expressed as underpins underpins underpins Structure of Meaning Clause 9 Formal Interpretation Clause 10 Clause numbers are those in the SBVR Specification – see slide 4 Open Forum 2008: SBVR Tutorial

  25. Business Meaning Concepts, Facts & Rules (Unique, Discrete Meaning) Forms of Meaning Forms of Concepts, Facts & Rules (different ways of saying the same thing) Business Expression Expression of Forms of Concepts, Facts & Rules in a Business Language Formal Logic Semantic Formulations + Formal Logic Grounding Business Context: Community Community Context Clause 11 Business Community with sub-communities that may use different natural languages and specialized vocabularies uses defines formulated as expressed as underpins underpins underpins Open Forum 2008: SBVR Tutorial

  26. Semantic Communities Share Meanings Semantic Community Definitioncommunitywhose unifying characteristic is a shared understanding (perception) of the things that they have to deal with NecessityEachsemantic communityownsexactly onebody 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-Fly. • You will often have to consider other semantic communities that do or could share some of the vocabulary, e.g. the airline industry, national trade associations, EU-Fly customers • When you define rules, you do it from the perspective of the owning semantic community • Two kinds of Semantic Communities in business: • 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 • Two scopes for Semantic Communities: • Internal to an organization • Among parts of different organizations Open Forum 2008: SBVR Tutorial

  27. Body of Shared Meanings body of shared meanings setof concepts and elements of guidance for which there is a shared understanding in a givensemantic community The EURent Car Rental Business has a body of shared meanings which contains the set of concepts of general and specific things of importance to the EURent car rental business Open Forum 2008: SBVR Tutorial

  28. Speech Community Share Terms & Language Speech Community Definitionsubcommunityofa givensemantic community whose unifying characteristic is the vocabulary and languagethat it uses ExampleTheEU-Fly UK Communityshares the English-based vocabulary of symbols used in EU-Fly’s business. The symbols include English words for EU-Fly’s concepts plus symbols adopted from other languages Dictionarygroup of people sharing a characteristic vocabulary, and grammatical and pronunciation patterns for use in their normal intercommunication [W3ID ‘speech community’] NecessityEachspeech communityis subcommunity ofexactly onesemantic community. NecessityEachspeech communityownsexactly oneterminology. Basis Open Forum 2008: SBVR Tutorial

  29. Set of Representations of Speech Community all the representations that belong to a given speech community • is a multilingual management unit • expresses only one Body of Shared Meanings • is a part of an SBVR model for one shared language, which may be: • A natural language, such as English, German, Dutch • Specialised terminology such as that used by lawyers or engineers • The preferred terms used by some group, department or function • A constructed language such as the UML ( or SBVR Structured English) • A speech community representation set (not a defined term, but 3 elements are) 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 Open Forum 2008: SBVR Tutorial

  30. Community Business Community with sub-communities that may use different natural languages and specialized vocabularies Forms of Meaning Forms of Concepts, Facts & Rules (different ways of saying the same thing) Business Expression Expression of Forms of Concepts, Facts & Rules in a Business Language Formal Logic Semantic Formulations + Formal Logic Grounding Business Vocabulary: Business Meaning of Concepts Noun Concepts uses defines Content Business Vocabulary: Clause 8, 11 Business Meaning formulated as expressed as Concepts, Facts & Rules (Unique, Discrete Meaning) underpins underpins underpins Open Forum 2008: SBVR Tutorial

  31. Noun Concepts EU-Fly Definitiontheairlinethat is part of The EU Travel and Leisure Group EU-win Definition EU-Fly’s loyalty programme EU-winner Reference Scheme EU-win membership number Definition person whois a member ofEU-win NecessityEachEU-winner travels on at least onequalifying flight within three months after becoming a member ofEU-Win flight Source an act of flying; a journey made through the air or in space, especially a timetabled journey made by an airline [ODE 1] timetable Definition a schedule of flight departure times from and arrival times at airports Dictionary Basis a chart showing the departure and arrival times of trains, buses, or aircraft [ODE] flight [timetable] Reference Scheme flight number Definition entry in an airline timetable defining a route to be flown, departure and arrival times, and the days of the week on which corresponding flights(operations) will be flown operations Definition the operation of an airline Dictionary Basis the action of functioning or the fact of being active or in effect [ODE, operation] flight[operations] Reference Scheme flight number and departure date Definition flightthat is operated byan airline Open Forum 2008: SBVR Tutorial

  32. Noun Concepts – Examples • Noun concepts – four kinds: • Fundamental: airport (adopted) • Category of ‘airport’: EU-Fly airport, with delimiting characteristics (unary verb concepts): • airportthat is used (by EU-Fly) • Role of ‘EU-Fly airport’: • EU-Fly airportis destination offlight • Facet (aspect) of ‘EU-Fly airport’: • [Operations]: location that EU-Fly flies to and from • [Finance]: facility that has to be contracted and paid for Open Forum 2008: SBVR Tutorial

  33. Forms of Noun Concept Definition • Intensional (based on ISO 1087): • More general concept • Delimiting characteristics to define category within more general concept • E.g. elite tier frequent flier: frequent flierwhoflew at least25000qualifying milesin the preceding year and flew on at least4qualifying flights in the preceding year • Extensional (based on ISO 1087): • List of concepts (not necessarily individual concepts) • E.g. European operating country:EU member stateorNorwayorSwitzerland • Individual concept (based on ISO 1087): • Is named • May not need any additional definition • E.g. Switzerland, US Dollar, Boeing Corporation • Adopted definition • Reference to source • E.g. rule: Oxford Dictionary of English (ODE), ‘rule’ [1] “one of a set of explicit or understood regulations or principles governing conduct or procedure within a particular area of activity; a law or principle that operates within a particular sphere of knowledge, describing or prescribing what is possible or allowable” Open Forum 2008: SBVR Tutorial

  34. Synonyms and Homonyms • Required for local ease of use • Especially important when dealing with closely-involved semantic communities, e.g. • After merger/acquisition • Working with outsourcers and value chain partners • Noun concepts are referenced by preferred terms • Business can require that ‘official’ communications use preferred terms • In practice, is impossible to enforce preferred terms for all business discourse • Synonyms reference preferred terms • Homonyms need a disambiguating context, e.g. • flight[timetable]: occupies a “slot” in the schedule • flight[operations]: actual flight that transports passengers Open Forum 2008: SBVR Tutorial

  35. Noun Concepts(Discrete Meaning) --(represented by Terms, Names & Definitions) • Two kinds of noun concepts are: • ‘general concept’, and • individual concept • The ‘general cocnept’ that denotes the set of airports EU-Fly flies to and from: • DEFINITION: • airportthat is used [by EU-Fly] • TERM: • EU-Fly airport • airport • The ‘individual concept’ that denotes one airport EU-Fly flies to an from: • DEFINITION: • Zürich’s airport • NAME: • Kloten Airport • Zürich Flughafn Open Forum 2008: SBVR Tutorial

  36. Verb Concepts airline owns flight (timetable) flight [timetable] hasflight number Synonymous Form flight number is for flight (timetable) flight[operations] is based onflight [timetable] DefinitionTheflight [operations] is planned to have the route and arrival and departure times oftheflight [timetable]andto occur on a date that matches a ‘day flown’ of theflight [timetable] Necessity Each flight [operations] is based onexactly oneflight [timetable] aircraft type is assigned to flight[timetable] aircraft is assigned to flight[operations] Note The aircraft assigned to a flight would normally be of the type assigned to the flight’s flight schedule entry, but this does not always happen. code share partner shares flight [timetable] airline markets flight[timetable] NecessityIf theairlinedoesnotowntheflight[timetable]then theairlineisacode share partner of theflight[timetable]. NecessityTheairlinemarketstheflight [timetable] usingtheflight numberfortheflight [timetable] that is owned bytheairline. Open Forum 2008: SBVR Tutorial

  37. Verb Concepts • AKA “fact types” • Represented by “Fact Symbols” (verb phrases) • Verbs are taken to have no meaning except in verb concepts (“managerrunscompany”, “horserunsrace”) – definitions are for entire verb concepts, not for verbs in isolation • Trade off simple synonyms against simplicity of verb concepts, • e.g. if currency in which trip is charged is used in lots of verb concepts, consider defining “currencyoftrip” as a synonym for “currencyof operating countryof departure airportoffirst legoftrip” Open Forum 2008: SBVR Tutorial

  38. Verb Concepts – Examples • Verb concepts • Unary (characteristic): flight is full • 1 placeholder, filled by ‘flight’ • Binary: aircraft is assigned to flight • two placeholders, filled by ‘aircraft’ and ‘flight’ • N-ary: reassigned flight replaces missed flightafterlate arrival • three placeholders representing roles, filled by ‘flight’, ‘flight’and ‘late arrival’ • Can objectify a verb concept and use it as a noun concept Open Forum 2008: SBVR Tutorial

  39. Community Business Community with sub-communities that may use different natural languages and specialized vocabularies Business Meaning Concepts, Facts & Rules (Unique, Discrete Meaning) Forms of Meaning Forms of Concepts, Facts & Rules (different ways of saying the same thing) Business Expression Expression of Forms of Concepts, Facts & Rules in a Business Language Formal Logic Semantic Formulations + Formal Logic Grounding Business Vocabulary: Forms of Meaning Verb Concepts Different Ways of Saying the Same Thing uses defines Content Business Vocabulary: Clause 8, 11 formulated as expressed as underpins underpins underpins Open Forum 2008: SBVR Tutorial

  40. 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 Forms open 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 Open Forum 2008: SBVR Tutorial

  41. Community Business Community with sub-communities that may use different natural languages and specialized vocabularies Forms of Meaning Forms of Concepts, Facts & Rules (different ways of saying the same thing) Business Expression Expression of Forms of Concepts, Facts & Rules in a Business Language Formal Logic Semantic Formulations + Formal Logic Grounding Business Rules: Business Meaning of Rules uses defines Content Business Rules: Clause 12 Business Meaning formulated as expressed as Concepts, Facts & Rules (Unique, Discrete Meaning) underpins underpins underpins Open Forum 2008: SBVR Tutorial

  42. 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 areais inexactly oneoperating 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 carthatis assigned toarentalmustbe atthepick-up branchoftherental. • “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 Open Forum 2008: SBVR Tutorial

  43. 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 Open Forum 2008: SBVR Tutorial

  44. Definitions & Rules Base Business Definitions & Rules on Verb Concepts Develop Vocabularies and Rules Sets to represent them (starting with terms for the concepts) Verb Concepts (Fact Types) Vocabulary Associate Concepts to define Verb Concepts Noun Concepts Define NounConcepts What does SBVR do? SBVR realizes the ‘Business Rules Mantra’: “Rules are built on Facts.Facts are built on Terms.” … to describe the business language of the activities of organizations … in a way that is easily understandable by business people Open Forum 2008: SBVR Tutorial

  45. Defining a Business Rule Underlying verb concept (in SBVR’s Vocabulary for Business Rules): element of guidanceis based onverb concept We know that (also in SBVR’s Vocabulary for Business Rules): element of guidanceintroducesanobligationornecessity business ruleis a category ofelement of guidance So, in the SBVR Business Vocabulary+Rules for a specific business (e.g. EU-Fly) • Start with a verb concept, e.g. passengerchecks in forflight[operations] • Apply an obligation or necessity to it, e.g. it is obligatory thatpassengerchecks in forflight(operations) . • Add qualifications, quantifications and conditions, if necessary e.g. it is obligatory that eachpassengerwhois booked on aflight[operations]andwho has hold baggagechecks in forflight[operations]at least60minutesbeforedeparture timeoftheflight[operations] . Open Forum 2008: SBVR Tutorial

  46. Community Business Community with sub-communities that may use different natural languages and specialized vocabularies Business Meaning Concepts, Facts & Rules (Unique, Discrete Meaning) Forms of Meaning Forms of Concepts, Facts & Rules (different ways of saying the same thing) Business Expression Expression of Forms of Concepts, Facts & Rules in a Business Language Formal Logic Semantic Formulations + Formal Logic Grounding Meaning Structured and Interpreted within a Formal Logic Theory uses defines formulated as expressed as underpins underpins underpins Structure of Meaning Clause 9 Formal Interpretation Clause 10 Open Forum 2008: SBVR Tutorial

  47. Formal Logic Basis of SBVR • Underpins Body of Shared Meanings and Semantic Formulation • Required: • To ensure formal basis for automated processing in repositories and for interchange • For alignment with other OMG specifications • Based on Object Role Modeling (ORM) language & methodology • originally focused on conceptual modeling for the database domain • used in practice for business rule modeling • See http://www.orm.net/ for more on ORM • Grounding the logic subset in ISO 24707 Common Logic • mandated by OMG Architecture Board • Mapping to OWL will also be provided • Collaborative effort on grounding includes OMG Ontology PSIG members, Pat Hayes (co-author of CL), other OMG members with logic, ontology background are assisting with mapping Open Forum 2008: SBVR Tutorial

  48. Formal Logic Underpinning • Typed predicate logic (with identity, and numeric quantifiers) • Mixfix predicates • Natural reference schemes using definite descriptions • Functions mapped internally to predicates • Arithmetic • Set and bag comprehension (grounded in ur-elements) • Basic use of modal logic • Alethic:  It is necessary that;  It is possible that • It is impossible that:~  ~ • Deontic: O It is obligatory that; P It is permissible that • It is forbidden that:~P O~ • Basic first order formalization • Restricted higher order formalization (Henkin semantics) • e.g. categorization types (avoids problems with power types) • Hooks for interrogatives using  and bag-comprehension Open Forum 2008: SBVR Tutorial

  49. 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: • customerwantsclass of travel • SBVR supports these kinds of Performatives • Assertion (Statement) • (It is taken to be true that)customer wantsclass 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 thatcustomerwantsclass of travelif thecustomermakesareservation • Question • Whatclass of travelthecustomerwants ? … from within the rule: • Anagentmustaskeachnew customerwhatclass of travelthecustomerwants. Open Forum 2008: SBVR Tutorial

  50. Modality SBVR needs two kinds of modality in order to create business rules: • Alethic, for Definitional Business Rules with two operators: • “It is necessary that …” • “It is possible that …” (and its negation, “It is impossible that …”) They are used in the sense of ‘logically necessary’ and ‘logically possible/impossible’ Alethic operators, when added as performatives to verb concepts, define “Definitional” Business Rules. Definitional business rules are always true -- by definition. • Deontic, for Operative Business Rules with two operators: • “It is obligatory that …” • “It is permitted that …” (and its negation, “It is prohibited that …”) Deontic operators, when added as performatives to verb concepts, define “Operative” Business Rules, Operative business rules govern the activity of the organization. These operators are the only elements of modal logic included in SBVR Full (and possibly controversial) modal logics are not necessary Open Forum 2008: SBVR Tutorial

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