Using SOIQ (D) to formalize semantics within a semantic decision table

Abstract

As an extension to decision tables, Semantic Decision Tables (SDTs) are considered as a powerful tool of modeling processes in various domains. An important motivation of consuming SDTs is to easily validate a decision table during the Validation and Verification (V&V) processes. An SDT contains a set of formal agreements called commitments. They are grounded on a domain ontology and considered as a result from group decision making processes, which involve a community of business stakeholders. A commitment contains a set of constraints, such as uniqueness and mandatory, with which we can analyze a decision table. A vital analysis issue is to detect inconsistency, which can arise within one table or across tables. In this paper, we focus on the formalization of the semantics within one SDT using the Description Logic (D). By doing so, we can use existing reasoners to detect inconsistency and thus assist decision modelers (and evaluators) to validate a decision table. © 2012 Springer-Verlag.