Using Natural Language and SBVR to Author Unambiguous Business Governance Documents Donald Chapin John Hall Business Semantics Ltd Model Systems Flat 21, Dovedale Cottages 17 Melcombe Court 240a Battersea Park Road Dorset Square London SW 11 4LN London NW1 5EP United Kingdom United Kingdom
[email protected] [email protected] term and use it consistently within a document for Abstract each distinct audience. An organization (a semantic community) has The Object Management Group standard “Se- speech communities (audience that shares terms) mantics of Business Vocabulary and Business that each use a given natural language and, typi- Rules” (SBVR) was designed to enable natural cally, at least three speech communities that use language sentences to be written so they can the same natural language, each with a distinct vo- be read unambiguously by business people, cabulary with its own preferred terms for the same and interpreted unambiguously in formal logic by computers. This paper discusses the key concepts: factors that need to be present in addition to • Employees: jargon, abbreviations, transac- SBVR to realize this SBVR design goal. tion codes, form numbers, etc. But much of the vocabulary would be in understandable 1 Introduction business language. It would usually be the most comprehensive vocabulary, providing Ambiguity in business communication, especially default terms for the others. in business governance documents, introduces • Legal, for contracts, product and service avoidable business risks. Sometimes these busi- specifications, compliance reporting, etc. ness risks are very costly, even catastrophic, to the The vocabulary would be formal, include organization involved. standard legal and industry terminology, and The key challenge is to remove ambiguity in be strictly policed.