Collaborative building of an ontology of key performance indicators

Abstract

In the present paper we propose a logic model for the representation of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) that supports the construction of a valid reference model (or KPI ontology) by enabling the integration of definitions proposed by different engineers in a minimal and consistent system. In detail, the contribution of the paper is as follows: (i) we combine the descriptive semantics of KPIs with a logical representation of the formula used to calculate a KPI, allowing to make the algebraic relationships among indicators explicit; (ii) we discuss how this representation enables reasoning over KPI formulas to check equivalence of KPIs and overall consistency of the set of indicators, and present an empirical study on the efficiency of the reasoning; (iii) we present a prototype implementing the approach to collaboratively manage a shared ontology of KPI definitions.