Documents/TIMTC

Taskoriented Information Modelling (TIM) Proposal

Strategic_Plan

Publication: 2012-05-02

Source: http://item-consortium.boonzai.com/document/document/599/draftcharterTIM.pdf

The aim of this proposal is to standardize such a formal language using Taskoriented Information Modelling (TIM) as a starting point. TIM has been used for 10 years to produce task models in various fields (machine, process and software modelling). It proves easy to learn, its expressions translate straightforwardly into natural language, and its syntax is defined by a short set of XML-compliant rules and patterns.

TIM builds on an incremental ontology, where a reduced set of categories [objects, operations and facets] generate descriptions [states, properties] and actions. These, in turn, populate the categories describing tasks (preconditions, input, output and side-effects). Tasks are organized in a hierarchy. Tasks exhibit types (standard, alternative, critical, conditional, optional, cyclic, generic), which may constrain their position in the hierarchy (critical tasks are always first-level tasks, alternative and optional ones are always sub-tasks), or their structure (generic tasks are always split into alternative or optional sub-tasks), or their content (only last-level tasks are enhanced with a list of actions, termed "procedure"). Conditional tasks host preconditions, critical tasks a "trigger", cyclic tasks a cycle-stop condition. Some type-combinations are allowed (conditional + optional, for example), while other ones are not (for instance, conditional + critical). The formal language expressing this ontology is a predicate-argument type syntax. Every entity in the model has a numerical identifier allowing reuse. A reduced set of symbols (O: object, S: state, P: property, A: action, T: task) combined with the relative position of an element in the model (which is a frame-based structure), define which descriptions act as the Input, the Output, the Side-effect, etc.

Submitter:

Name:Owen Ambur

Email:Owen.Ambur@verizon.net

Organization:

Name:OASIS Task-oriented Information Modelling (TIM) Technical Committee

Acronym:TIMTC

Description:
The TC will develop a formal language standard for task-oriented modeling using TIM as a starting point along with any other inputs provided. The TC will review and comment on the actual state of the categories, syntax and scope of the TIM meta-model. The TC will examine the completeness of the language with regard to the situations intended to be specified, as well as the well-formedness of the generic expressions allowed by the rules and the patterns they implement. By "situations", we here mean working contexts where prescribed goals should be obtained by ways of a deterministic workflow, which is typical when using devices or software, or when designing the thread of processes.

Stakeholder(s):

  • Daniel Gueysset: Proposer of the TC, dgueysset@proximit.fr (Proximit)

  • Guillaume Tessier: Proposer of the TC, gtessier@timgroup.fr (TimGroup)

  • Tanguy Wettengel: TC Convener, tanguy@teamtim.com (University of Limoges)

  • OASIS

  • Knowledge Management Practitioners: Knowledge Management practitioners engaged in work-analysis and design

  • Software Architects: Software architects defining functional specifications and interfaces.

  • Hardware Designers: Hardware designers defining functional specifications and interfaces.

  • Process Analysts

  • Process Analysts Designers

  • Task Analysts: Anyone performing what is currently termed “Task analysis” or “Task modelling”.

  • Task Modellers

  • Ergonomists

Content
Visions
Missions
Values
1: Deliverables