Presented at XML Holland 2010 a talk on involving Business Users in the review and validation proces of knowledge intensive services like decisionmaking, permits, dynamic process support etc.

1. Involvement of Business Users throughout
the Knowledge lifecycle
XML Holland 2010, Amsterdam
Ronald Heller – Product Architect

2. Agenda
• What is Be Informed?
• The three main challenges
• Task Oriented Editors
• The knowledge lifecycle
• Real life project @ IND
• Project description & Meta model
• Review & validation: “Toverstaf”
• Wrap up & Questions

3. What is Be Informed?

4. What is Be Informed ?
• a platform for primary processes:
• governments, insurance, pension funds and other administrative service providers.
• one platform for all products and services:
• “common process, common system”, “multilaw solution”
• a complete platform:
• from information and advise to
application and decisions;
• tailor-made case treatment;
• both automatic decisions and
decision support.
• flexible, agile and compliant
• it is all about the model;
• policy management including
support for policy making.
• quick results (within months)
INTEGRATIE MECHANISMEN
Standard
cases
DIGITAL
FRONT
OFFICE
Specific
Cases
STRAIGHT
THROUGH
PROCESS
CASE
MANAGEMENT
DECISION SUPPORT
BIInterface
XHTML
Portal
Integration
Infrastructure
User
(customer,
employee)
BI Interfaces
WebServices
(SOAP)
Messages
(JMS)
Batch-int.
(CSV)
Others
(PDF, SMTP, …)
Integration
Infrastructure
ESB
Business
Process
Manager
B-2-B
Gateway
Scan/OCR
CMS, local
registrations &
external (basis)
registrations
BI Interfaces
WebDav
SQL/JDBC
WebServices
(SOAP)
ESB
Local copy
based upon
triggers
Logging/
reports
DWH &
reporting
DWH
Integration
ETL
ODS
Citizen Centric Government

5. Citizen Centric Government Framework
Standard Internet Infrastructure
Application Server Content Management RDBMS ESB Search
Different perspectives
Platform for knowledge intensive businesses processes
(Knowledge Infrastructure)
Record Apply Manage
Validate Communicate Governance
Analyze Account for Learn
Product Suite
Architecture
Service oriented Event driven Rules oriented Model driven
Solutions
Vertical
e-Gov
e-Collection
& fines
Vertical
e-Gov
e-Permits
Vertical
e-Gov
Point of Single
Contact
Vertical
e-Gov
e-Benefits
e-Gov
Add-ons
Specific
components
Interfaces
Metamodel
Reference
processes
Life events

6. Examples of large knowledge infrastructures
Inform Advise Request
• Navigation
• Index
• Search
• e-Forms
 Ask only relevant
questions,
 Pre-fill data,
 Knowledge
Instruments
• Classification
• Calculation
• Decision
• Case Files
 Consultation
 Collaboration
Receive Consider Decide Communicate
• Inbox
• Case Lists
• Case Files
 Collaboration
 Process Support
 Shared Case Files
• Operational
decisions
 Traceable decisions
• Documents
 View, exchange
• Assemble
artifacts
 Re-usable text
blocks
 Rule based
 Archive
• Customer & Partner Portals
 Notification
 Status update
 Collaboration
Registrations
Service interfaces

7. Examples of large knowledge infrastructures
Inform Advise Request
• Navigation
• Index
• Search
• e-Forms
 Ask only relevant
questions,
 Pre-fill data,
 Knowledge
Instruments
• Classification
• Calculation
• Decision
• Case Files
 Consultation
 Collaboration
Receive Consider Decide Communicate
• Inbox
• Case Lists
• Case Files
 Collaboration
 Process Support
 Shared Case Files
• Operational
decisions
 Traceable decisions
• Documents
 View, exchange
• Assemble
artifacts
 Re-usable text
blocks
 Rule based
 Archive
• Customer & Partner Portals
 Notification
 Status update
 Collaboration
Registrations
Service interfaces

8. • An infrastructure for managing and running business processes:
• manage knowledge (laws, regulations) separate from applications and processes;
• fully automated decisions and decision support;
• context driven information, advise and applications;
• sharing semantics throughout networks of organizations;
• Knowledge is recorded in an ontology which is enriched with business rules:
• ontology, rules, content, context
Inform
Decide
A model driven platform for running the entire business
All functions use the same ontology:
• search;
• decisions;
• processes;
• applications;
• electronic forms;
• files;
• services;
• ...
1/29/2015

9. The three main challenges

13. DataProcessKnowFunctionApplication
Business
What do we do different ?
Separate
Standardize
GovernIT
Aimed at getting to grips with real world complexity and dynamics

14. Model – Run - Improve
!
Ownership &
Initiative
!
Approval &
Acceptance
!
Analyse &
improve

15. Process, Function, Knowledge and data Services en events

16. Decision services
• KaaS: Knowledge as a Service offers:
• Standard services
(validation services)
• But also services with an user interface
• Not only automated decisicions but also
decision support
• Complete trace of the decision taken
(data and rules)
• The same service can also be used in a
(remote) portlet or a knowledge base.
• The references to the source (laws and
regulations) is kept.

17. Some screenshots of the application

18. Task oriented Editors

19. Business User
Friendly Representation

20. Business User
Friendly Representation

21. Business User
Friendly Representation

22. Business User
Friendly Representation

23. Business User
Friendly Representation

24. But we need even more…
Task oriented editors help a lot but we need more
• Business users tend to be technology averse, which is unfortunate because:
• Their involved is crucial in the whole management, aka the knowledge lifecycle
• They are the true owners of the companies knowledge
• Because of this technology threshold they have difficulties talking to knowledge
engineers and vice versa
• So you need
• A manner of publishing the implemented knowledge to a larger crowd (non studio
users)
• A tool for reviewing knowledge models without the need for the studio
• A manner of publishing in a non technical manner (no ontology, modeling visible)
• A manner of letting them test / try the developed services
• Multiple points of view on the knowledge

25. Some titles of the same kind of solution:
• Documentation by Self Documenting Models
• Knowledge catalogus
• “Toverstaf”
• “Meneer de Uil Kennisbank”
• Validation & Review Knowledgebase
• “gewoon een setje slimme ontsluitingassen hoor”

26. Demonstrating the “Toverstaf @ IND”

27. Separating 'the know and the flow'
SIEBELORACLE ESB
SOAP SOAP
Common
message
model
The Know The Flow
This is the foundation of the solution, and because of this concept
the IND received the NAF architecture award in 2009!

28. Toepassingseisen (1 - Bedrijfsproces)
0. Verkennen / oriënteren
1. Toeleiden
2. Kom ik in aanmerking voor…
3. Aanvraagformulier
1. Bepaal Product
2. Samenstellen product
3. Levering & registratie
Dynamisch
behandelplan
Ontvangen
Beslissen
Uitreiken
Informatie
verzamelen
Toetsen
HandhavenKDW
1. Toets op volledigheid & aanvullen
2. Toewijzen (risicoclassificatie)
3. Beoordelen (inhoudelijk)
4. Beslissen (“stempel”)
“Behandelen”
1. Classificeer gebeurtenis
2. Bepaal activiteit(en)
1. Ontvangen en registreren

29. Toepassingseisen (2 – Kennisservices)
1
Kennisbank
7
(intelligent) formulier (op
maat)
3
Kwalificatielijst
9
Bepaal Fabricaten
Beschikken
13
Dynamisch behandelplan/
kwalificatieplan
12
Bepaal behandelprofiel
Handhaven.
11
8
Beslissen
Bepaal Verwijderbaarheid
15
14
Bepaal Verblijfstitel
2
Klantvraag ondersteuning
4
Bepaal hoogte leges
5
Bepaal kwalificatie
6
Bepaal formeel verzoek
10

30. Toepassingseisen (3 – Gebruikersgroepen)
Gebruikersgroepen
Vreemdeling /
referent
Convenanthouder
Behandelaar
Senior behandelaar
Kennisanalist/
kenniseigenaar
1
2
3
4
5

31. Dutch Immigrations: Knowledge architecture and primary process in sync
EnforceHand Out
Decide
Information
gathering
Assess
Receive
Customer
Service Index
42 3
10
9
11
Decission
Formal
request
Kwalification
6 7
8
Dynamic
treatmentplan
“Treat”
1
5
13
Treatment
profileDocumentationFees
Permits
Compound
product
Title
determination
Business
services/
Activitiess
14+15
12
Intention
Procedure
Enforcement
profile

32. Dynamic proces
application
DBP

33. Some numbers
• Project has been running over 2 years now
• Fulltime 10-15 knowledge engineers working on translating law & legislation
into executable models.
• >50.000 concepts
• So how do we keep all this manageable?
• One good solid metamodel (basically the knowledge architecture)
• Iterative approach
• Architects – team leads – knowledge engineers
• Work pair-wise, peer reviewing etc.
• Think in components! Not only solution wise, but also within the knowledge
architecture
• Patterns & validations
• Deciding on Modeling Guidelines & Quality Criteria
• …

34. Patterns: Quality Criteria

35. Patterns: Modelling Guidelines

36. Patterns: different types
• Metamodel & Business patterns
• Advisory
• Decisionmaking & permits
• Healthcare
• ..
• Patterns in Acquiring Knowlegde
from legal sources
• different archetypes of law and how
these are transformed in models with
the help of patterns
• The profiling & Advise pattern
• Demonstrated for life events
• Misc. Implementation patterns
• Project specific implementation
patterns
• Overall good practices
Published paper:
Acquiring And Modeling Legal Knowledge
Using Patterns
P. Kordelaar, F. Van Teeseling, E. Hoogland
EKAW 2010, Lisbon
Published paper:
Business Patterns in Ontology design
F. Van Teeseling, R. Heller
BIS 2009, Posnan
Published paper:
Knowledge Applications for Life Events
F. Van Teeseling, R. Heller
ESWC 2009, Crete

37. Business users?
• Patterns are great for knowledge
engineers but also for:
• Exporting to other formats
• Exporting to other structures
• Creating other views based on the
same models
• Knowledge base for review and
validation: Toverstaf
4 februari 2008 37
Published paper:
Involving Business Users in Formal Modeling
using Natural Language Pattern Sentences
J. Van Grondelle, R. Heller, E van Haandel, T. Verburg
EKAW2010, Lisbon

38. IND: Toverstaf

39. Toverstaf
• Self documenting models
• Extra Ontsluitingsassen opgenomen
• Test & validate the instruments that are also used within the primary
process
• The same, no not copies, exactly the same
• Smart Exports for filtering/sorting
Using:
-The standard instruments
-Small changes to cocoon sitemap
-Smart XSLT scripts for filtering en
-serializing to Word/ Excell

40. DEMONSTRATION

41. Bedankt voor uw aandacht!