A Case-Based Inquiry into the Decision Model and Notation (DMN) and the Knowledge Base (KB) Paradigm

Modelling decisions in organisations is a challenging task. Deciding which modelling language to use for the problem at hand is a fundamental question. We investigate the Decision Model and Notation (DMN) standard and the IDP knowledge base system (KBS) in their effectiveness to model and solve specific real-life case problems. This paper presents two cases that are solved with DMN and IDP: (1) Income taxation for foreign artists temporarily working in Belgium; and (2) Registration duties when purchasing real-estate in Belgium. DMN is used as a front-end method, assisting the business analyst in the analysis and modelling of the business domain and communication with the domain expert. It is complemented with the representation of the logic in IDP as back-end system, which allows more forms of inference.

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