Semantic-based Modeling for Information Systems

The research project "Semantic-based Modeling for Information Systems" aims at developing and implementing a conceptual modeling framework to allow for the management of human and machine processable semantics in the development cycle of information systems (IS). Conceptual modeling techniques are today a widely used and intuitive approach to manage complexity and facilitate the design and implementation of IS. Although these modeling techniques provide a formal syntax and notation that is accessible to machine processing, the semantics contained in such models are to a large part not accessible by machines. These semantics, which are directed towards human understanding, represent however a considerable amount of an organization`s knowledge that includes valuable information for the support of decisions in the design, development, and execution of information systems. With the increasing number of models in an organization, it is thus of high interest to make this knowledge accessible to human users and machines in a way that can be supported by information technology. Despite some approaches of making the semantics contained in conceptual models machine processable for selected parts in IS development, no holistic and method-independent framework for all levels of the IS development cycle is currently available. Furthermore, several aspects in regard to the practical use of such approaches have so far not been discussed. This includes in particular the handling of time related issues such as the monitoring and handling of changes, the method-independent integration of support tools and services, and the influence of domain requirements on such a generic approach. Therefore we propose the development and implementation of a modeling framework that will be based on a meta modeling approach. We will follow a seven step model that combines both the theoretical elaboration of specific meta models, mechanisms and algorithms as well as their practical implementation. Based on this framework it will be possible to evaluate the influence of domain requirements on the generic approach by using the domain of healthcare-related management.