UML 2 Profiles for Ontology Charts and Diplans Issues on Metamodelling

Abstract

Organisational Semiotics (OS) uses Ontology Charts (OC) for requirements representation. This technique that shows affordances and their ontological dependencies constitutes the essential diagrammatic communication facility of this theory. On the other hand Diplans diagrams are in a similar way the main mean of expression of the Theory of Organized Activity (TOA). Diplans show us bodies and (human) actions and their relationships. Both theories belong to the socio-technical perspective of information systems development and were chosen as part of a unification work that includes both. Regarding UML, it is a de facto standard and it is seen as a powerful and widely accepted technique for modelling. To represent OC and Diplans with UML will most benefit the underlying theories by widening their audience and enabling to use the numerous available tools. This paper proposes two new UML 2 profiles for representing respectively, OCs and Diplans. Examples of application of both profiles are shown and an extended discussion on their creation is made. Our concern is to bring to discussion the different issues that came forward when metamodelling both solutions and, consequently, to assess the feasibility of UML for this purpose.