Ontology-Driven Information System for Supply Chain Management

Information system design for a supply chain with its complex organizational dynamics and operational uncertainty is a challenging task. The problem assumes greater significance due to the necessity of integrating largely distributed and diverse information system implementations. A framework to address these issues is proposed. Its implementation is a semantic application that is deployed on the Web and managed by agents. This chapter describes the usefulness of separating domain knowledge from information system solutions and developing models in the form of ontologies. An ontology-driven information system for supply chain management incorporating various forms of modeling in decision-making is described. Ontology is proposed as a separate component in information system architecture that effectively complements its three other constituents, viz., interface, management, and gathering. We demonstrate how ontology development is becoming a critical aspect of the information system design. The object-oriented system development life cycle is utilized for this purpose. The role of ontology in information system’s two temporal dimensions is demonstrated. At development time, ontology replaces the information system analysis completely and the design stage partly. At run time, ontology separates the domain knowledge from other components and delivers it to them upon request, thus ensuring the compatibility of information support with organizational dynamics, and its adaptability to the rapidly changing environment.

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