Knowledge-intensive processes: new ideas or "old wine in new - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Giuseppe De Giacomo

Knowledge-intensive processes: new ideas or "old wine in new bottles”?

Role of Knowledge Representation

• Capture at the conceptual level the domain of interest
• Abstract away form implementation/operational issues
• Build a formal model of the domain of interest that allows for formal reasoning
• Enabling, if possible, automated reasoning

Giuseppe De Giacomo

Knowledge-intensive processes: new ideas or "old wine in new bottles”?

Role of Knowledge Representation: DATA

• Capture at the conceptual level the domain of interest
• UML class diagrams/ER diagrams
• Abstract away form implementation/operational issues
• Abstract from operational data used in DBMS/Programs
• Build a formal model of the domain of interest that allows for formal reasoning
• Nowadays Description logics capture UML class diagrams/ER diagrams!
• Enabling, if possible, automated reasoning
• DL-lite!

Today, after 30+ years, we finally have tools that are mathematically well founded and really practical!!!

Giuseppe De Giacomo

Knowledge-intensive processes: new ideas or "old wine in new bottles”?

Role of Knowledge Representation: PROCESSES without DATA (or “propositional”)

• Capture at the conceptual level the domain of interest
• BPMN, UML Activity Diagrams, Petri Nets, Transition Systems (finite)
• Abstract away form implementation/operational issues
• Abstract version of the program/process. Maybe event too much. Data almost

fully abstracted away!

• Build a formal model of the domain of interest that allows for formal reasoning
• Petri Nets, Transition Systems are mathematical structures!
• Enabling, if possible, automated reasoning
• Model Checking!

Giuseppe De Giacomo

Knowledge-intensive processes: new ideas or "old wine in new bottles”?

Role of Knowledge Representation: PROCESSES + DATA

• Capture at the conceptual level the domain of interest
• BPMN, UML Activity Diagrams, (Infinitely) Colored Petri Nets,

(Infinite)Transition Systems - Data are not represented explicitly

• AI/KR: Dealing with data and process nontrivial: Frame Problem, Ramification

Problem, Qualification Problem – almost ignored in SE/BPM literature

• See [Borgida, Mylopoulos, Reiter: On the Frame Problem in Procedure
• Specifications. IEEE Trans. Software Eng. (1995)]
• AI/KR: Specify tasks a la PDDL?
• Abstract away form implementation/operational issues
• Yes
• Build a formal model of the domain of interest that allows for formal reasoning
• Yes
• Enabling, if possible, automated reasoning
• Needs more work! But, see EU ACSI results on verification!