2015-06-12 Meeting notes
- Dennis Wisnosky
Date
Attendees
Proceedings: 20150612 FIBO-FND FCT Technical Meeting.docx
20150612 FIBO-FND FCT Technical Meeting
State in SEP is anything where we can say "being x". Achievement is instantaneous. Accomplishment is not instantaneous, and is also not homogeneous
Events (sorted): categorizes the 4 sub classes of Event (SEP). There are just 2 dimensions which distinguish these 4 things.
Telic: means having some goal (see e.g. teleological) to reach a particular state, or the outcome is a particular state. Walking is not telic it has no outcome or goal it is just something you are doing.
Questions? The distinction between telic and atelic, in the business world it is questionable whether you would have things that are not goal seeking. So is atelic relevant to the FIBO use cases?
DWiz: Webster says that achievement and accomplishment are synonyms.
If one has a duration, then they both have a duration, or not. They mean the same thing.
Anthony Coates: Dennis, it's typical for jargon like this to define dictionary terms more strictly than the dictionary does.
DWiz: To confuse people or why? it is not necessary even if it is typical.
We often talk of activities we want to do X, without necessarily invoking a goal. Binary event falls more in the semelfactive quarant something happens but may not be directed. A change in a market rate would be semelfactive
12:58 PM: What does Semelfactive mean? These were identified in later research into this area, and drops out for the existence of this quadrant. So semelfactive anything which has no duration and is atelic.
Maxwell Gillmore: semelfactive: expressing action as single in its occurrence without repetition or continuation : instantaneous, momentary
BPMN has its own vocabulary which differs from the definitions given in Stanford. There are definitions for Business Process, which are already enshrined in the tools.
(we also probably won't use words like semelfactive in whatever we publish here we are trying to get to grips with what are the concepts that the philosophical literature has come up with).
DWiz: In the last 5 years or more, BPMN etc. has homed in on specific concepts, such as capability, e.g. higher, further, faster.
Classification of the concepts is key as per the axes in Events (Sorted) pdf. Also for example random versus intentional occurrences.
DWiz: Right! The pattern is good! Goal.pdf. There are some oddities in this which are to be sorted out. The key point is the desired result (the identity of a state)
This slide uses legacy FIBO, which is partially based on the OMG Business Motivation Model. Shared interest when more than one party wants to achieve the desired state. The label here relates to the durative, non homogenous thing, like Walking. Suppose you have a goal like maintain productivity, or increase revenue this does not seem to have an end state. Is this an Accomplishment or an achievement? No. This kind of thing, which we would also call Goal in English, would be a different concept and have different axioms. So "Maintain profitability" is not a goal in the sense defined here. You can define measurables e.g. comparing profitability by measuring at a point in time. That makes it a measurable state. But this might be a side effect of that specific example. What about things that are continuously measured?
Isn't that just increasing the number of discrete points at which you are measuring
Something? A series of measures can be considered as a measure. There would be some sort of aggregation of measures, e.g. over 5 years I increase productivity on average 10%. Then you can monitor this. Accomplishment has an inner structure. can have sub accomplishments which fulfill a different state than the main accomplishment of which they are a part. In contract an achievement is punctual it takes place at a point in time, e.g. Mike reached the top of the mountain. Can formulate achievements for clearly defined states that are measured e.g. increase revenue by a given amount on a given day / period.
Ian: These concepts or their labels are not consistent with the way that the word Goal is used in requirements engineering. Ian's examples would be considered typical goals.
DWiz: Ian is on the right track!
Dynamic invariants (predicates over pairs of states) are not currently covered in this model. The OMG BMM has "ends" which are states. Method.pdf. Method vs State method should try to accomplish some state. Compare with the difference between plan and executed plan (see Process note in 22 May notes). Whether the state which the method follows is the same as the state which is in the description.
Banking Models.pdf shows how these concepts are used in BIAN. The BIAN slide uses the term Process in the descriptive sense not the prescriptive. This term labeled Process here, seems to correspond to the legacy FIBO "Production" archetype. There is an implementation of a defined "process" resulting in actual things. This concept is descriptive. Plan here is closer to Process in the prescriptive sense. Has an internal structure.
FIBO activity seems to be Accomplishment in the Stanford sense. It's telic and has inner structure. Capability has been added.
BFO once had a document with this, and they subsequently descoped it. We have not been able to find a consensus for Capability. Seems to be a bit hand waving at the moment. Could it be the qualification to do something, or the ability to do something?
DWiz: The US DoD has very specific definition of Capability in the document about CARP in the DoDAF. Capability, Activity, Resource, Performer model:
“DoDAF Capability- The ability to achieve a Desired Effect under specified [performance] standards and conditions through combinations of ways and means [activities and resources] to perform a set of activities”
Milestone should be a Goal? Milestone looks like the Standford "Achievement". So we can use the Stanford definition with the label of Milestone.
DWiz: Milestones are accomplishments = achievements on the way to some numbers of goals that deliver a capability. I should say, that together deliver a capability.
The source for these concepts, which we have been referring to as Stanfors, is mainly sourced fro Vendler (1967). DOLCE seems to also reference Vendler, with the Event and State 2 sub classes of Perdurant, and the 4 in Vendler classified under those. It might be that DOLCE means Process in the sense of method or plan. Hasse,
ChristofR: also check for "lexical aspect"
Action items
- Mike Bennett
1. Come up with more generally acceptable terminology to label the 4 sub classes of perdurant. Mike will add the interposing DOLCE classes and compare with the 4 cell table we saw today. This would be a polyhierarchy of telic / atlic and instantaneous v non instantaneous. For non instantaneous things, there is also the distinction between homogeneous and heterogeneous. Accomplishment and Activitiy (in SEP) are non instantaneous (durative). Activity (SEP) is homogeneous
Error rendering macro 'jira' : Unable to locate Jira server for this macro. It may be due to Application Link configuration..2. Put together the hierarchy of concepts based on these distinctions, with portmanteau words.
Dennis Wisnosky “DoDAF Capability- The ability to achieve a Desired Effect under specified [performance] standards and conditions through combinations of ways and means [activities and resources] to perform a set of activities”
- Mike Bennett Revise the invite site to point to the one associated with all other FCT meetings .