Using Annotated Policy Documents as a User Interface for Process Management

Abstract

Natural language policy documents are frequently used as starting point for requirements capture, leading to computer systems that manage process management within organisations. Rather than modelling explicit workflow graphs of business processes, this paper proposes presentation of annotated versions of the natural language policy documents as a user interface indicating both the status of task progress and appropriate potential progress routes. A deontic adaptation of the event calculus is presented to monitor the normative state of policy compliance. A non-tree-based document annotation scheme is used to allow a natural language text to be linked with a logic program developed to represent its intentions. The approach is demonstrated by the encoding and presentation through a web application of a section of the United States Food and Drugs Administration regulations.