Ontology [Dido Solutions, Inc Wiki]

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====== Ontology ======

[[dido:99_annexes:annex-b-terms-and-definitions:start|Go up to Terms and Definitions]]

===== Discussion =====

An ontology identifies the concepts, relationships, distinctions, and constraints that a community recognises within a defined domain. An ontology makes selected semantic commitments explicit.

Ontology artifacts include informal domain models, controlled [[dido:99_annexes:annex-b-terms-and-definitions:c:conceptual_model|conceptual models]], logical models, and formal machine-processable artifacts. [[dido:99_annexes:annex-b-terms-and-definitions:o:ontology_language|Ontology languages]] express ontologies in formal languages. [[dido:99_annexes:annex-b-terms-and-definitions:o:owl|OWL]] expresses ontology content when OWL provides the selected ontology language.

A governed ontology preserves [[dido:99_annexes:annex-b-terms-and-definitions:t:traceability|traceability]] to the [[dido:99_annexes:annex-b-terms-and-definitions:c:conceptual_model|conceptual model]] and domain meaning that it represents. Traceability prevents a technical artifact from replacing the intended interpretation of the domain.

===== Definition =====

//structured specification of the concepts, relationships, distinctions, and constraints recognised within a defined domain//

===== Source =====

Generalised from Gruber's characterization of an ontology as a specification of a conceptualisation and specialized for use in the FX Demo Reference Architecture.

===== Note =====

An ontology captures selected semantic commitments for a domain. It does not capture all possible meanings associated with the domain. An ontology is not equivalent to [[dido:99_annexes:annex-b-terms-and-definitions:o:owl|OWL]]; OWL is one ontology language that expresses ontology content. A governed ontology remains traceable to the conceptual model or other authoritative semantic source that establishes the intended domain meaning.

===== Example =====

An FX transaction ontology defines concepts such as ''Trade'', ''Counterparty'', ''Currency Pair'', ''Notional Amount'', ''Trade Date'', ''Settlement Date'', and ''Settlement Obligation'', along with the relationships and constraints that distinguish them.

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