Core Concepts

Purpose

The core ontology defines the minimum set of concepts required to describe the organization's data, operations, knowledge, and performance.

These concepts are intentionally broad and domain independent. Domain specific concepts should be introduced only when a real domain requires them. A domain concept may later be promoted to the core ontology if it proves to be broadly applicable across the organization.

Core Concepts

Concept	Definition
Organization	The organizational entity that owns, operates, or governs the activities, systems, products, processes, and knowledge represented in this model.
Person	An individual who has a relevant relationship with the organization, its activities, systems, products, processes, or knowledge.
Team	A group of people organized to perform a shared function, responsibility, or objective.
Department	An organizational unit responsible for a defined area of the organization's activities, functions, or responsibilities.
External Party	An entity outside the organization that has a relevant business, operational, contractual, or other relationship with the organization.
System	A technological or operational system that stores, processes, produces, consumes, or exchanges information.
Product	A tangible or intangible offering produced, maintained, or delivered by the organization for a defined purpose or audience.
Process	A defined sequence of activities performed to achieve a particular organizational outcome.
Dataset	A structured or semi structured collection of related data managed as a distinct data asset.
Document	A persistent information artifact that records, communicates, or preserves knowledge, decisions, procedures, evidence, or other organizational information.
Metric	A defined quantitative measurement used to describe or evaluate an entity, activity, condition, or outcome.
KPI	A metric designated as a key indicator of organizational, departmental, operational, or strategic performance.

Concept Boundaries

The following distinctions are important:

Organization vs Department vs Team

An Organization represents the organizational whole.

A Department represents a formal organizational unit with defined responsibilities.

A Team represents a group of people organized around a function, responsibility, project, or objective. A team may exist within a department, across departments, or independently of a formal department.

Person vs External Party

A Person represents an individual.

An External Party represents an entity outside the organization that has a relevant relationship with it. An external party may be an individual or an organization.

This distinction allows the model to represent relationships such as customers, suppliers, partners, regulators, contractors, and other external entities without prematurely creating separate core concepts for each.

System vs Dataset

A System is something that performs or supports information processing.

A Dataset is a collection of data managed within or produced by one or more systems.

A system may produce, consume, or contain multiple datasets.

Document vs Dataset

A Dataset primarily represents structured or semi structured data intended for systematic processing or analysis.

A Document represents an information artifact intended primarily to communicate, record, preserve, or provide contextual knowledge.

A document may contain structured information, and a dataset may contain information extracted from documents. They remain distinct concepts because their purposes and management characteristics differ.

Metric vs KPI

A Metric is any defined quantitative measurement.

A KPI is a metric that has been explicitly selected as important for evaluating performance against an organizational, departmental, operational, or strategic objective.

Therefore:

Metric
   │
   └── may be designated as
              ↓
             KPI

Not every metric is a KPI.

Ontology Scope

The following concepts are intentionally not yet part of the core ontology:

• Customer
• Supplier
• Service
• Project
• Campaign
• Event
• Contract
• Decision
• Policy
• Knowledge Asset
• Application
• Data Source
• Account
• Incident

These may become domain concepts or may later be promoted to the core ontology if their applicability across multiple domains is demonstrated.

Their absence does not prevent domains from using them. It simply means that they have not yet been established as foundational organizational concepts.

Promotion Principle

A domain concept should be considered for promotion into the core ontology when:

1. It occurs naturally across multiple domains.
2. Its meaning remains substantially consistent across those domains.
3. Multiple systems or organizational functions depend on the concept.
4. Treating it as a common concept reduces duplication or semantic ambiguity.
5. Its inclusion does not unnecessarily constrain domain specific modelling.

The core ontology should remain intentionally small and stable.

Version

Ontology Version: 0.1

Status: Draft

This ontology is expected to evolve as additional organizational domains are modelled. Changes should be recorded in CHANGELOG.md.