Specifying Conceptual Models Using Restricted Natural Language

Specifying Conceptual Models Using Restricted Natural Language Bayzid Ashik Hossain Department of Computing Sydney, NSW Australia bayzid-ashik.hossain@mq.edu.au Rolf Schwitter Department of Computing Sydney, NSW Australia rolf.schwitter@mq.edu.au Abstract The key activity to design an infor- mation system is conceptual modelling which brings out and describes the general knowledge that is required to build a sys- tem. In this paper we propose a novel ap- proach to conceptual modelling where the domain experts will be able to specify and construct a model using a restricted form of natural language. A restricted natural language is a subset of a natural language that has well-defined computational prop- erties and therefore can be translated un- ambiguously into a formal notation. We will argue that a restricted natural lan- guage is suitable for writing precise and consistent specifications that lead to exe- cutable conceptual models. Using a re- stricted natural language will allow the domain experts to describe a scenario in the terminology of the application domain without the need to formally encode this scenario. The resulting textual specifica- tion can then be automatically translated into the language of the desired conceptual modelling framework. 1 Introduction It is well-known that the quality of an information system application depends on its design. To guar- antee accurateness, adaptability, productivity and clarity, information systems are best specified at the conceptual level using a language with names for individuals, concepts and relations that are easily understandable by domain experts (Bernus et al., 2013). Conceptual modelling is the most important part of requirements engineering and is the first phase towards designing an information system (Oliv´e, 2007). The conceptual design pro- cedure generally includes data, process and be- havioral perceptions, and the actual database man- agement system (DBMS) that is used to imple- ment the design of the information system (Bernus et al., 2013). The DBMS could be based on any of the available data models. Designing a database means constructing a formal model of the desired application domain which is often called the uni- verse of discourse (UOD). Conceptual modelling involves different parties who sit together and de- fine the UOD. The process of conceptual mod- elling starts with the collection of necessary infor- mation from the domain experts by the knowledge engineers. The knowledge engineers then use tra- ditional modelling techniques to design the system based on the collected information. To design the database, a clear understanding of the application domain and an unambiguous in- formation representation scheme is necessary. Ob- ject role modelling (ORM) (Halpin, 2009) makes the database design process simple by using nat- ural language for verbalization, as well as dia- grams which can be populated with suitable ex- amples and by adding the information in terms of simple facts. On the other hand, entity relation- ship modelling (ERM) (Richard, 1990; Frantiska, 2018) does this by considering the UOD in terms of entities, attributes and relationships. Object- oriented modelling techniques such as the unified modelling language (UML) (O´ Regan, 2017) pro- vide a wide variety of functionality …

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