Semantics in Business Systems : The Savvy Manager's Guide

CHAPTER 1 Semantics: A Trillion-Dollar Cottage Industry 1(10) The Semantic Era of Information Systems 3(1) The Plan of this Book 4(1) A Brief History of Semantics 5(2) Putting Semantics in its Place 7(2) A Semantic Solution to a Semantic Problem 9(2) CHAPTER 2 Business Semantics 11(10) Widespread Abuse of Language 11(1) Naming Things Creates the Chance for Misunderstanding 12(2) The Semantics of the Past Are about Categorization 14(1) The Semantics of the Future Are about Commitment 15(5) Summary 20(1) CHAPTER 3 The Process Side of Business Systems 21(20) Semantics in Business Systems 21(1) A Business Systems Deals with Humans and Applications 22(7) Some Applications Are More Semantic than Others 29(4) The System Is Made Up of Processes 33(2) The Flexibility of the Process Is a Semantic Property 35(5) Summary on the Process Side of Business Systems 40(1) CHAPTER 4 Terms: Vocabulary, Taxonomy, and Ontology 41(24) The Range of Possible Terms and Meanings Is Vast 42(7) Definitions Are Not Enough 49(2) Taxonomies: Ordering a Vocabulary 51(5) Ontology: A Web of Meaning 56(1) How Categorization Informs Us 57(3) Dynamic Categorization 60(4) Summary 64(1) CHAPTER 5 Data and Object Modeling 65(22) Semantic Differences between a Database and a Document 65(4) Where Are the Semantics in a Database Application? 69(3) Clues to Understanding the Meaning in Programs 72(2) Multiple Accessors = Multiple Semantic Interpretations 74(2) How Was the Schema Defined? 76(4) Object Modeling: Data Models with Behavior 80(5) Summary 85(2) CHAPTER 6 Metadata 87(22) A Brief History of Metadata 87(6) Levels and Types of Metadata 93(1) Most Semantics Live in Metadata 94(2) Some Developments in the Use of Metadata-Driven Architectures 96(1) A Case Study on Metadata Application Design 97(9) Metadata-Driven Systems Are More Flexible 106(1) Summary 107(2) CHAPTER 7 Interpreting Meaning 109(20) Interpretation: Clues from How Humans Interpret Unstructured Information 109(5) Interpreting a Foreign Language 114(3) Why Interpret Documents? 117(3) Some Current Approaches to Document Interpretation 120(3) Natural Language Processing 123(2) Projects and Products that Embody Some Aspects of Interpretation 125(2) Summary 127(2) CHAPTER 8 Business Rules and Creating Meaning 129(28) Business Systems as Semantic Factories 129(5) How Applications Create Meaning 134(3) Interpretation versus Imposition of Meaning 137(2) How Business Rules Improve Systems Maintenance 139(6) Semantics and Business Rules 145(5) How Semantics and Business Rules Amplify Each Other 150(1) Constraint Rules 151(1) Generative Rules 152(1) Triggering the Execution of Rules 153(1) Business Rules and Scope 154(2) Summary 156(1) CHAPTER 9 Semantic Elicitation: Uncovering Meaning 157(26) Semantic Elicitation-Where to Look 157(3) Semantic Elicitation and the Development Process When to Analyze 160(4) Variations for Package Implementation 164(2) Variations for Iterative Development 166(1) Semantic Elicitation Techniques-How to Uncover the Meaning 167(1) Anthropology-Part 1: Organizing Semantic Modeling Meetings 167(2) Anthropology-Part 2: Conducting the Meeting 169(3) Archaeology-Part 1: Data Mining 172(3) Archaeology-Part 2: Metadata and Legacy Understanding 175(1) Anthropology-Part 3: Uncovering the Semantics in Work Flow 176(3) Semantic Scope 179(1) Summary 180(3) CHAPTER 10 Understanding and Communicating Meaning 183(22) Capturing the Semantics 183(6) Tools and Approaches for Cataloging the Semantics 189(6) Graphically Oriented Approaches 195(4) Unified Modeling Language 199(2) Formal Methods and Semantics 201(1) Conclusion 202(3) CHAPTER 11 Extensible Markup Language (XML) 205(18) What Is XML? 205(1) Where XML Came From 206(1) XML's Popularity 207(5) The Stability of XML 212(1) Syntax and Semantics 213(1) Schemas and Namespaces 214(3) XML's Many Dependents 217(3) Adding Behavior to XML 220(1) Summary 220(3) CHAPTER 12 Semantic-Based Enterprise Application Integration and Systems Integration 223(18) What Is Integration? 224(2) Integration Is Harder than It Looks 226(3) Strategies for Coping with Integration 229(3) Issues with Internal Integration 232(1) The Semantics of Integration between Enterprises 233(2) Why the Implementation Level Makes Things So Much Harder 235(1) Enterprise Message Model 236(1) Semantic Brokers 237(2) Summary 239(2) CHAPTER 13 Web Services 241(22) Web Services: Definition and Implications 241(5) Web Services Mechanics 246(4) Service-Oriented Architectures 250(2) Composite Applications 252(3) Finding a Service 255(1) Work Flow and Collaboration 256(2) Service Contract 258(22) Web Service Management 280 Voting 260(1) Conclusion 261(2) CHAPTER 14 The Semantic Web 263(18) Killer Apps for the Semantic Web 264(2) What Is the Semantic Web? 266(4) A Brief Example 270(1) Semantic Web Adoption 270(3) Everyone Doesn't Have to Agree to the Same 273(2) A More Elaborate Example 275(3) What Else Is Needed 278(1) Summary 279(2) CHAPTER 15 Getting Started 281 Build Skills 281(1) Experiment 282(1) Rethink Everything that Is in Flight 282(4) Concluding Thoughts 286 APPENDIX A Quick Reference 209(124) APPENDIX B Resources for Further Investigation 30l Glossary 333(44) Index 377