From Enterprise Concepts to Formal Concepts : A University Case Study

A business enterprise is more than its buildings, equipment or financial statements. Enterprise Architecture frameworks thus include a metamodel that attempts to bring together all the enterprise concepts including the visible entities into a unified conceptual structure. Using a case study based upon the institution of the authors, the effectiveness of this conceptual structure is explored in two fold. Firstly, a simple example using familiar concepts such as the physical location of the authors’ institution. Secondly, a more detailed example that includes the key enterprise concepts that currently exist within that institution. The metamodel is stated in Conceptual Graphs then mapped from these graphs’ triples into transitive Formal Concept binaries using the CGFCA software. Misalignments within the enterprise concepts discovered from the derived formal concepts are highlighted in both case examples, hence pointing towards the wider applicability of this approach