Ontology as Information System Support for Supply Chain Management

Abstract

Information is essential to integrating business processes. An information organization framework formalized as a reference model is proposed. It captures the specifics (e.g., dynamics and uncertainty) and functional requirements (e.g., information standardization and problem-orientation) of a supply chain (SC), assumed as a managerial, dynamic, complex, and open system. An information modeling formalism is presented that captures different aspects of SC information system support (ISS) as follows: (1) system taxonomy, tackling the problem of information standardization and unified presentation, (2) problem taxonomy, aiming to capture SC operational specifics, such as problem classification and modeling, (3) ontology, for representing problem specific knowledge in a computational language, and (4) ontology-driven information system, accumulating the above components in a collaborative environment, where SC members work on common problems. A SC-ISS reference model is introduced covering components of the above groupings. An industrial case study is presented.