Commons Parties and Situations Ontology
type: Ontology
abstract: This ontology defines the high-level concepts of parties and the roles they play in various situations.
contributor: Dean Allemang, Working Ontologist
contributor: Elisa Kendall, Thematix Partners LLC
license: https://opensource.org/licenses/MIT
imports: AnnotationVocabulary
imports: Collections
imports: ContextualDesignators
imports: DatesAndTimes
imports: Designators
imports: RolesAndCompositions
version IRI: PartiesAndSituations
note: This ontology was originally designed for use in the Financial Industry Business Ontology (FIBO) for representing complex relationships between parties, such as employment, ownership and control. It has since been extended based on usage in other projects, such as the Pistoia Alliance Identification of Medicinal Products (IDMP) ontology project.
copyright: Copyright (c) 2020-2023 EDM Council, Inc.
copyright: Copyright (c) 2020-2023 Thematix Partners LLC
copyright: Copyright (c) 2020-2023 Working Ontologist LLC
copyright: Copyright (c) 2022-2023 Pistoia Alliance, Inc.
copyright: Copyright (c) 2023 Object Management Group, Inc.
usage note: Note that inference with respect to property chains, which this ontology makes extensive use of, requires a knowledge graph solution that understands these chains, or requires running a reasoner outside of the graph database and asserting the inferences in order to make use of them.

actor
type: Class
subclass of: party role
definition: primary performer in a relationship between parties, i.e., the party that does something, causes something to happen, or otherwise plays an agentive role in the relationship
example: Examples include owner, controlling party, beneficiary, guarantor, partner in a partnership, shareholder, etc.
adapted from: ISO 14813-1:2015(en), Intelligent transport systems - Reference model architecture(s) for the ITS sector - Part 1: ITS service domains, service groups and services, clause 3.1
adapted from: ISO 23234:2021(en), Buildings and civil engineering works - Security - Planning of security measures in the built environment, clause 3.4
adapted from: ISO/TR 21965:2019(en), Information and documentation - Records management in enterprise architecture, clause 3.2.1
explanatory note: The concept of actor here is in a more linguistic sense, from core semantic theories reflecting actor/undergoer/null roles of an argument in an expression.

agent
type: Class
subclass of: Restriction
  on property: hasName
  on class: ContextualName
  min qualified cardinality: 0
disjoint with: Role
definition: something autonomous that can adapt to and interact with its environment
note: Agents can be human beings, organizations, software agents, robots and living things other than plants. They are defined as having the following three important properties: autonomy, interactive behavior, and adaptability. (1) Autonomy - an agent is capable of acting without direct external intervention. This includes software or other agents that have some degree of control over their internal state and can act based on their own experiences. They can also possess their own set of internal responsibilities and capabilities that enable them to act without any external choreography. This definition excludes agents that act on on behalf of (or as a proxy for) some person or thing (see AgentRole). (2) Interactive behavior - they are capable of exchanging communicating with other things in their environment. This includes, in the case of software agents, messages that can support requests for services and other kinds of resources, as well as event detection and notification. They can be synchronous or asynchronous in nature. The interaction can also be conversational in nature, such as negotiating contracts, marketplace-style bidding, or simply making a query. (3) Adaptability - an agent is capable of responding to other agents and/or its environment. Agents can react to communications and events and then respond appropriately. Software agents can be designed to make difficult decisions and even modify their behavior based on their experiences. In other words, they can learn and evolve.
note: Note that this does not necessarily imply that an agent is free to act as it sees fit, without constraint. Rather, an agent in the sense meant here is something which may or may not be subject to controls and constraints but is self-actualizing in its behavior in response to any such constraints.
direct source: http://www.omg.org/techprocess/meetings/schedule/AMP.html

agent role
type: Class
subclass of: Role
subclass of: Restriction
  on property: isPlayedBy
  on class: agent
  min qualified cardinality: 0
definition: role played by any agent

party
type: Class
subclass of: agent
definition: person or organization

party role
type: Class
subclass of: agent role
subclass of: Restriction
  on property: hasApplicablePeriod
  on class: DatePeriod
  min qualified cardinality: 0
subclass of: Restriction
  on property: isPlayedBy
  on class: party
  min qualified cardinality: 0
definition: role played by an organization or individual that may be time bound
example: Examples include organization member, employee, issuer, owner, partner in a partnership, shareholder, and so forth.
note: Note that there may be cases where the identity of the party playing the role is not known, as well as cases where in some situation, such as ownership, there may be more than one party playing the role of owner.
scope note: The concept of a party role is used in contexts in which one would call someone a 'party to something', such as party to a contract or to a transaction, a supplier, buyer, customer, student, employee, and so forth. More specific roles such as those that are performed in the context of some activity or process are actors in that situation.
adapted from: ISO 14813-1:2015(en), Intelligent transport systems - Reference model architecture(s) for the ITS sector - Part 1: ITS service domains, service groups and services, clause 3.1
adapted from: ISO 23234:2021(en), Buildings and civil engineering works - Security - Planning of security measures in the built environment, clause 3.4

situation
type: Class
subclass of: Restriction
  on property: holds during
  on class: DatePeriod
  min qualified cardinality: 0
subclass of: Restriction
  on property: has object role
  on class: Role
  min qualified cardinality: 0
subclass of: Restriction
  on property: has subject role
  some values from: Role
definition: setting, state of being, or relationship that is relatively stable for some period of time
example: Examples include ownership, control, possession, affiliation, beneficial ownership, employment, and other similar situations.
note: From a usage perspective, situations are essentially reified relations, sometimes called mediating relationships.

software agent
type: Class
subclass of: agent
source: ISO/IEC TR 29119-11:2020(en), Software and systems engineering - Software testing - Part 11: Guidelines on the testing of AI-based systems, clause 3.1.73
disjoint with: party
definition: digital entity that perceives its environment and takes actions that maximize its chance of successfully achieving its goals

undergoer
type: Class
subclass of: Role
definition: something that plays the role of the object or recipient in a situation, i.e., the thing (or party) that the situation impacts, affects, or that otherwise plays a passive recipient / patient or thematic role
example: Examples include something that is owned or controlled.

acts in
type: ObjectProperty
sub property of: is subject role in
domain: actor
range: situation
inverse of: has actor
definition: indicates a situation in which the actor plays a primary role

acts on
type: ObjectProperty
property chain axiom: acts in
property chain axiom: has undergoer
definition: relates an actor in a given situation to the undergoer that they affect under the circumstances

directly affects
type: ObjectProperty
inverse of: experiences with
property chain axiom: acts in
property chain axiom: has undergoer
property chain axiom: isPlayedBy
definition: relates an actor in a given situation to the thing (or party) that they impact under the circumstances

experiences
type: ObjectProperty
property chain axiom: playsRole
property chain axiom: undergoes
definition: relates something to a situation that affects them in some way

experiences directly
type: ObjectProperty
property chain axiom: playsRole
property chain axiom: undergoes
property chain axiom: has actor
property chain axiom: isPlayedBy
definition: relates something directly to a party that drives a situation involving it

experiences with
type: ObjectProperty
property chain axiom: playsRole
property chain axiom: undergoes
property chain axiom: has actor
definition: relates something to an actor that drives a situation involving it

has active party
type: ObjectProperty
inverse of: plays active party in
property chain axiom: has actor
property chain axiom: isPlayedBy
definition: relates a situation to the person or organization acting in a primary (agentive) role

has active role
type: ObjectProperty
inverse of: plays active role in
property chain axiom: has subject role
property chain axiom: isPlayedBy
definition: relates a situation to something that is acting in a primary (agentive) role

has actor
type: ObjectProperty
sub property of: has party role
sub property of: has subject role
domain: situation
range: actor
definition: identifies the primary party acting in a specific role with respect to a given situation

has object role
type: ObjectProperty
sub property of: hasRole
domain: Class
  union of: Composition
  union of: situation
range: Role
definition: identifies a person or thing that is affected by, or is a secondary argument in a specific role with respect to a given relation or situation

has party
type: ObjectProperty
range: party
definition: identifies a party associated with an agreement, contract, policy, regulation, situation, or other arrangement

has party role
type: ObjectProperty
sub property of: hasRole
range: party role
definition: identifies a specific role played by some person or organization as related to a situation, agreement, contract, policy, regulation, activity or other relationship

has related party role
type: ObjectProperty
sub property of: hasRole
domain: party role
range: party role
definition: relates a party acting in a specific role directly to another party acting in the same or another role
usage note: This property is intended as an abstract property, whose subproperties may or may not be symmetric, but could be inverses of one another.

has subject role
type: ObjectProperty
sub property of: hasRole
domain: situation
range: Role
definition: identifies the person or thing that is being discussed, described, dealt with, or is the main topic in a specific role with respect to a given situation

has undergoer
type: ObjectProperty
sub property of: has object role
domain: situation
range: undergoer
definition: identifies an experiencer / passive or other object role in a given situation

holds during
type: ObjectProperty
sub property of: hasApplicablePeriod
range: DatePeriod
definition: indicates a date period during which something is true

is a party to
type: ObjectProperty
domain: party
inverse of: has party
definition: identifies an agreement, contract, policy, regulation, situation, or other arrangement that a party is associated with

is affected by
type: ObjectProperty
property chain axiom: undergoes
property chain axiom: has actor
definition: relates an undergoer in a given situation to the actor that has an impact on them under the circumstances

is directly affected by
type: ObjectProperty
property chain axiom: undergoes
property chain axiom: has actor
property chain axiom: isPlayedBy
definition: relates an undergoer in a given situation to the person or organization that has an impact on them under the circumstances

is experienced by
type: ObjectProperty
inverse of: experiences
property chain axiom: has undergoer
property chain axiom: isPlayedBy
definition: relates a situation to something that is directly involved in or affected by it

is object role in
type: ObjectProperty
sub property of: isRoleIn
domain: Role
range: Class
  union of: Composition
  union of: situation
inverse of: has object role
definition: indicates a situation in which the role is secondary, such as an experiencer or passive participant

is realized in
type: ObjectProperty
inverse of: realizes
property chain axiom: has object role
property chain axiom: isPlayedBy
definition: relates a situation or constituency to something that is affected by, or is a secondary argument to in a specific role with respect to a given relation or situation

is subject role in
type: ObjectProperty
sub property of: isRoleIn
domain: Role
range: situation
inverse of: has subject role
definition: indicates a situation in which the role is the primary topic

plays active party in
type: ObjectProperty
property chain axiom: playsRole
property chain axiom: acts in
definition: relates a person or organization to a situation that they are directly involved in

plays active role in
type: ObjectProperty
property chain axiom: playsRole
property chain axiom: is subject role in
definition: relates something to a situation that it is directly involved in

plays active role that affects
type: ObjectProperty
inverse of: is directly affected by
property chain axiom: playsRole
property chain axiom: acts in
property chain axiom: has undergoer
definition: relates a person or organization to an undergoer they have an impact on under the circumstances

plays active role that directly affects
type: ObjectProperty
inverse of: experiences directly
property chain axiom: playsRole
property chain axiom: acts in
property chain axiom: has undergoer
property chain axiom: isPlayedBy
definition: relates a person or organization to something they have a direct impact on under the circumstances

realizes
type: ObjectProperty
property chain axiom: playsRole
property chain axiom: is object role in
definition: relates something to a situation or constituency in which the role they play is secondary, such as an experiencer or passive participant

undergoes
type: ObjectProperty
sub property of: is object role in
domain: undergoer
range: situation
inverse of: has undergoer
definition: indicates a situation that the undergoer experiences