Vocabularies, ontologies, and rules for enterprise and business process modeling and management

摘要

Vocabularies, ontologies, and business rules are key components of a model-driven approach to enterprise computing in a networked economy. Enterprise vocabularies, ontologies, and business rules do not exist in isolation but serve to support business processes. While many have recognized the importance of vocabularies, ontologies, and business rules in business process modeling and management, there are many open research challenges to be addressed. These challenges can be approached from different perspectives. Fundamental research explores theoretical foundations for enterprise and business process modeling by applying techniques developed in disciplines such as formal ontology, cognitive science, linguistics, and logics. It also covers ontological evaluation of enterprise systems and their interoperability, and ontological analysis and (re)design of business process modeling languages and methods. Applied research looks into enhancing business rule engines and business process management systems by ontologies. Business process modeling research aims to define how process modeling and execution languages, such as Business Process Modeling Notation and Business Process Execution Language, relate to business ontologies and rules. Enterprise integration and collaboration research address ontology-based service description technologies for inter-enterprise collaboration.