action specification

IRI: https://spec.industrialontologies.org/ontology/construct/ActionSpecification

Defined In: https://spec.industrialontologies.org/ontology/core/Core/

SubClass Of: information content entity

Class Hierarchy

owl:Thing › bfo:entity › bfo:continuant › bfo:generically dependent continuant › information content entity › action specification

Direct subclasses:

Definition

information content entity that prescribes what participants shall do in a process

Explanatory Notes

  1. An action specification is typically a part of some plan specification.

  2. All actions change the universe in some fashion. That is, they have outcomes, whether desired ones or not. Since desired outcomes are reasons for the existence of an action specification, we might argue that all action specifications are, in fact, plan specifications, with desired outcomes as objectives. However, our intent here is to capture instances of action specifications wherein objectives or desired outcomes are not explicitly stated and to delinate ‘plan specifications’ as cases where the objectives and the corresponding actions are explicitly stated. This is why the class is asserted directly under the information content entity.

  3. Although not formalized at this stage, an action specification may prescribe a kind of process in more detail by prescribing the sequence of actions one or more participants are to do or by prescribing the actions persons bearing various roles are to do in bringing about the process. The latter would be relevant in situations where a particular participant bears two (or even more roles) in a process. An example of the latter would be a particular shop floor worker bearing and realizing both the role of the operator and that of the inspector as prescribed by some action specification and as realized in today’s occurrences of some punch-press process.

  4. Action specification can be used together with plan specification to create a hierarchy of work instruction composition.

Examples

  • pour the contents of flask 1 into flask 2; to loosen a screw with a screwdriver, grab the screw driver with your hand, insert the tip into the head of the screw, apply forward pressure into the screwdriver, and rotate the screwdriver counterclockwise.

Synonyms

  • actionable work instruction

Adapted From

  • Information Artifact Ontology, http://purl.obolibrary.org/obo/IAO_0000030 and also the Common Core Ontology, http://www.ontologyrepository.com/CommonCoreOntologies/Mid/InformationEntityOntology (term Action Regulation)

Primitive Class

This class is declared primitive and it does not have necessary and sufficient condiftions defined.

Primitive Rationale

See the rationale provided under information content entity for informational entity types.

Formal Axioms

First-Order Logic Axioms 

InformationContentEntity(x) ∧ ∃p(Process(p) ∧ prescribes(x,p)) → ActionSpecification(x)

Semi-Formal Natural Language Axioms

if x is an ‘information content entity’ that ‘prescribes’ some ‘process’ then x is an ‘action specification’

Description Logic

constr:ActionSpecification ⊑ constr:InformationContentEntity

constr:InformationContentEntity ⊓ ∃ constr:prescribes .bfo:process ⊑ constr:ActionSpecification

SubClassOf: constr:InformationContentEntity

constr:InformationContentEntity and constr:prescribes some bfo:process SubClassOf: constr:ActionSpecification