A mereology-based ontology for services science: Example of an e-health service modelling

Abstract

This paper presents an ontological approach to formalize the concept of service upstream of the innovative process of telecommunication operators. These operators try to propose innovative solutions to meet their customers' expectations and to ensure their market position. We pursue the discussion of the SSME community and propose to conceive the service as a dynamic phenomenon: the "Service System". Traditional ontologies seem inadequate to represent it, so we introduce a new primitive (dynamic entities) based on the Mereology and the General Process Theory. A semi-formal method has been created through the import of key documents, the extraction of candidate-terms, the generation of an actions network (Galois lattice) and the construction of a mereological ontology. This method and its supporting tool OntoStoria 2 are currently tested within the process of opportunities research of a French telecom operator in order to promote the collaboration, sharing of knowledge and creativity of its innovators network. © 2010 Springer-Verlag.