Automatically translating a list of business processes into an expert-system knowledgebase

Abstract

A method and associated systems for automatically generating an ontology and a set of axioms from a business-process model that represents the operations of a business. This ontology and set of axioms may be used to create the knowledgebase of an artificially intelligent expert system that emulates the business operations. A processor parses a representation of business processes stored in the business-process model, deriving a set of axioms and a set of entity classes from the parsed data. The processor uses these axioms and classes to identify concept nodes and process nodes, which it organizes into the ontology of the knowledgebase. The processor further identifies information derived from the parsed data to create a set of triple data items, each of which represents the information represented by one or more of the derived axioms. These triples are stored in the knowledgebase a triple store data structure.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method for translating a list of business processes into a knowledgebase of an expert system, the method comprising:
 a processor of a computer system receiving the list of business processes,
 wherein a first process of the list of business processes comprises a first input of a set of inputs, a first output of a set of outputs, and a first function of a set of functions, 
 wherein the first function performs an operation upon the first input to produce the first output, and 
 wherein the first process is associated with a first domain of a set of domains; 
   the processor generating the knowledgebase as a function of information comprised by the list of business processes and as a further function of a set of associations between each business process of the list of business processes and each domain of the set of domains,
 wherein the knowledgebase comprises a set of rules and a set of concept classes, 
 wherein a first rule of the set of rules comprises a first subject, a first object, and a first predicate, and 
 wherein the set of concept classes comprises a set of subject classes, a set of object classes, and a set of predicate classes; 
   the processor associating the first subject with a first subject class of the set of subject classes as a function of the association of the first process with the first domain;   the processor associating the first object with a first object class of the set of object classes as a function of the association of the first process with the first domain; and   the processor associating the first predicate with a first predicate class of the set of predicate classes as a function of the association of the first process with the first domain.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the first subject class identifies a first category associated with the first input. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the first object class identifies a second category associated with the first output. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the first predicate class identifies a third category associated with the first function. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the first predicate identifies a process that is analogous to the operation performed by the first function. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the generating the knowledgebase further comprises organizing the set of concept classes into a hierarchical data structure that is analogous to an internal organization of the list of business processes. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising providing at least one support service for at least one of creating, integrating, hosting, maintaining, and deploying computer-readable program code in the computer system, wherein the computer-readable program code in combination with the computer system is configured to implement the selecting, receiving, adding, retrieving, creating, receiving, generating, associating the first subject, associating the first object, and associating the first predicate. 
     
     
         8 . A computer program product, comprising a computer-readable hardware storage device having a computer-readable program code stored therein, said program code configured to be executed by a processor of a computer system to implement a method for translating a list of business processes into a knowledgebase of an expert system, the method comprising:
 the processor receiving the list of business processes,
 wherein a first process of the list of business processes comprises a first input of a set of inputs, a first output of a set of outputs, and a first function of a set of functions, 
 wherein the first function performs an operation upon the first input to produce the first output, and 
 wherein the first process is associated with a first domain of a set of domains; 
   the processor generating the knowledgebase as a function of information comprised by the list of business processes and as a further function of a set of associations between each business process of the list of business processes and each domain of the set of domains,
 wherein the knowledgebase comprises a set of rules and a set of concept classes, 
 wherein a first rule of the set of rules comprises a first subject, a first object, and a first predicate, and 
 wherein the set of concept classes comprises a set of subject classes, a set of object classes, and a set of predicate classes; 
   the processor associating the first subject with a first subject class of the set of subject classes as a function of the association of the first process with the first domain;   the processor associating the first object with a first object class of the set of object classes as a function of the association of the first process with the first domain; and   the processor associating the first predicate with a first predicate class of the set of predicate classes as a function of the association of the first process with the first domain.   
     
     
         9 . The computer program product of  claim 8 , wherein the first subject class identifies a first category associated with the first input. 
     
     
         10 . The computer program product of  claim 8 , wherein the first object class identifies a second category associated with the first output. 
     
     
         11 . The computer program product of  claim 8 , wherein the first predicate class identifies a third category associated with the first function. 
     
     
         12 . The computer program product of  claim 8 , wherein the first predicate identifies a process that is analogous to the operation performed by the first function. 
     
     
         13 . The computer program product of  claim 8 , wherein the generating the knowledgebase further comprises organizing the set of concept classes into a hierarchical data structure that is analogous to an internal organization of the list of business processes. 
     
     
         14 . A computer system comprising a processor, a memory coupled to said processor, and a computer-readable hardware storage device coupled to said processor, said storage device containing program code configured to be run by said processor via the memory to implement a method for translating a list of business processes into a knowledgebase of an expert system, the method comprising:
 the processor receiving the list of business processes,
 wherein a first process of the list of business processes comprises a first input of a set of inputs, a first output of a set of outputs, and a first function of a set of functions, 
 wherein the first function performs an operation upon the first input to produce the first output, and 
 wherein the first process is associated with a first domain of a set of domains; 
   the processor generating the knowledgebase as a function of information comprised by the list of business processes and as a further function of a set of associations between each business process of the list of business processes and each domain of the set of domains,
 wherein the knowledgebase comprises a set of rules and a set of concept classes, 
 wherein a first rule of the set of rules comprises a first subject, a first object, and a first predicate, and 
 wherein the set of concept classes comprises a set of subject classes, a set of object classes, and a set of predicate classes; 
   the processor associating the first subject with a first subject class of the set of subject classes as a function of the association of the first process with the first domain;   the processor associating the first object with a first object class of the set of object classes as a function of the association of the first process with the first domain; and   the processor associating the first predicate with a first predicate class of the set of predicate classes as a function of the association of the first process with the first domain.   
     
     
         15 . The computer system of  claim 14 , wherein the first subject class identifies a first category associated with the first input. 
     
     
         16 . The computer system of  claim 14 , wherein the first object class identifies a second category associated with the first output. 
     
     
         17 . The computer system of  claim 14 , wherein the first predicate class identifies a third category associated with the first function. 
     
     
         18 . The computer system of  claim 14 , wherein the first predicate identifies a process that is analogous to the operation performed by the first function. 
     
     
         19 . The computer system of  claim 14 , wherein the generating the knowledgebase further comprises organizing the set of concept classes into a hierarchical data structure that is analogous to an internal organization of the list of business processes.