Automatic Validation of Knowledge-intensive Process Models through Alloy

Abstract

Knowledge-intensive Processes (KiP) are poorly structured, dynamic and highly complex. The Knowledge Intensive Process Ontology (KiPO) constitutes a semantically rich conceptualization (encompassing a set of logical rules) about the domain of KiP that may serve as a basis to understand, identify and manage KiP effectively. However, applying KiPO in real scenarios requires its instantiation, validation and simulation in an application level, which are complex tasks for users that typically are not experts in non-trivial issues on conceptual modeling. This work proposes a rule-based strategy to validate or simulate KiP models. The proposed strategy transforms the KiPO rules into the existing specifications in the Alloy logic-based language, using the Alloy Analyzer model analyzer. The main contribution of this research is to show the applicability of the Alloy tool to this context in a case study with four different scenarios. A process modeler can directly benefit from these results.