Representing and reasoning about quality using enterprise models

grantor: University of TorontoThere are few enterprise models that (1) explicitly describe the generic concepts of enterprise quality; (2) are constructed using formally defined terminology such that the model can be interpreted precisely; (3) are constructed using generic and re-useable terminology, and (4) prescribe improvements to enterprise quality by automating the task of evaluating ISO 9000 compliance of enterprises. These characteristics are very important in order to represent and reason about quality. Therefore, the following thesis is stated: There exist generic, formal, and re-useable representations of quality that describe concepts that underlie most quality applications, such that an enterprise model can be constructed from these representations; and ISO 9000 compliance of enterprises can be prescribed by reasoning about quality using this enterprise model. To support the thesis, generic quality concepts are represented as formally-defined terminology and axioms in the Ontologies for Quality Modelling. Then, the ISO 9000 Micro-Theory is constructed by building upon these representations. The micro-theory and the ontologies are encapsulated into the ISO 9000 Quality Advisor, a software tool for evaluating ISO 9000 compliance of organizations. The design, analysis, and prototypical implementations of Ontologies for Quality Modelling, ISO 9000 Micro-Theory, and the ISO 9000 Quality Advisor provide strong support of the thesis. It is concluded then that the ontologies, micro-theory, and advisor, collectively, comprise a unique model--with substantial practical application potential--that is formal re-useable, and describes and prescribes enterprise quality.Ph.D