<s>
An	O
information	B-Application
model	I-Application
in	O
software	B-General_Concept
engineering	I-General_Concept
is	O
a	O
representation	O
of	O
concepts	O
and	O
the	O
relationships	O
,	O
constraints	O
,	O
rules	O
,	O
and	O
operations	O
to	O
specify	O
data	O
semantics	O
for	O
a	O
chosen	O
domain	O
of	O
discourse	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
term	O
information	B-Application
model	I-Application
in	O
general	O
is	O
used	O
for	O
models	O
of	O
individual	O
things	O
,	O
such	O
as	O
facilities	O
,	O
buildings	O
,	O
process	O
plants	O
,	O
etc	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
those	O
cases	O
,	O
the	O
concept	O
is	O
specialised	O
to	O
facility	B-Application
information	I-Application
model	I-Application
,	O
building	B-Architecture
information	I-Architecture
model	I-Architecture
,	O
plant	O
information	B-Application
model	I-Application
,	O
etc	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Such	O
an	O
information	B-Application
model	I-Application
is	O
an	O
integration	O
of	O
a	O
model	O
of	O
the	O
facility	O
with	O
the	O
data	O
and	O
documents	O
about	O
the	O
facility	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Within	O
the	O
field	O
of	O
software	B-General_Concept
engineering	I-General_Concept
and	O
data	B-Application
modeling	I-Application
,	O
an	O
information	B-Application
model	I-Application
is	O
usually	O
an	O
abstract	O
,	O
formal	O
representation	O
of	O
entity	O
types	O
that	O
may	O
include	O
their	O
properties	O
,	O
relationships	O
and	O
the	O
operations	O
that	O
can	O
be	O
performed	O
on	O
them	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
An	O
information	B-Application
model	I-Application
provides	O
formalism	O
to	O
the	O
description	O
of	O
a	O
problem	O
domain	O
without	O
constraining	O
how	O
that	O
description	O
is	O
mapped	O
to	O
an	O
actual	O
implementation	O
in	O
software	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
There	O
may	O
be	O
many	O
mappings	O
of	O
the	O
information	B-Application
model	I-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
Such	O
mappings	O
are	O
called	O
data	B-Application
models	I-Application
,	O
irrespective	O
of	O
whether	O
they	O
are	O
object	B-Application
models	I-Application
(	O
e.g.	O
</s>
<s>
using	O
UML	B-Language
)	O
,	O
entity	B-Architecture
relationship	I-Architecture
models	I-Architecture
or	O
XML	B-Language
schemas	I-Language
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
1976	O
,	O
an	O
entity-relationship	B-Architecture
(	O
ER	O
)	O
graphic	O
notation	O
was	O
introduced	O
by	O
Peter	O
Chen	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Since	O
then	O
,	O
languages	B-Language
for	I-Language
information	I-Language
models	I-Language
have	O
continued	O
to	O
evolve	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Some	O
examples	O
are	O
the	O
Integrated	O
Definition	O
Language	O
1	O
Extended	O
(	O
IDEF1X	B-Application
)	O
,	O
the	O
EXPRESS	B-Application
language	O
and	O
the	O
Unified	B-Language
Modeling	I-Language
Language	I-Language
(	O
UML	B-Language
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
FOM	O
tools	O
can	O
be	O
used	O
to	O
generate	O
an	O
ER	B-Architecture
model	I-Architecture
which	O
means	O
that	O
the	O
modeler	O
can	O
avoid	O
the	O
time-consuming	O
and	O
error	O
prone	O
practice	O
of	O
manual	O
normalization	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Object-Role	B-Application
Modeling	I-Application
language	O
(	O
ORM	B-Application
)	O
and	O
Fully	B-Application
Communication	I-Application
Oriented	I-Application
Information	I-Application
Modeling	I-Application
(	O
FCO-IM	B-Application
)	O
are	O
both	O
research	O
results	O
,	O
based	O
upon	O
earlier	O
research	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
the	O
1980s	O
there	O
were	O
several	O
approaches	O
to	O
extend	O
Chen	O
’s	O
Entity	B-Architecture
Relationship	I-Architecture
Model	I-Architecture
.	O
</s>
<s>
IDEF	O
includes	O
three	O
different	O
modeling	O
methods	O
:	O
IDEF0	O
,	O
IDEF1	B-Application
,	O
and	O
IDEF2	O
for	O
producing	O
a	O
functional	O
model	O
,	O
an	O
information	B-Application
model	I-Application
,	O
and	O
a	O
dynamic	O
model	O
respectively	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
IDEF1X	B-Application
is	O
an	O
extended	O
version	O
of	O
IDEF1	B-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
EXPRESS	B-Application
was	O
created	O
as	O
ISO	B-Application
10303-11	I-Application
for	O
formally	O
specifying	O
information	O
requirements	O
of	O
product	O
data	B-Application
model	I-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
addition	O
,	O
a	O
graphical	O
subset	O
of	O
EXPRESS	B-Application
called	O
EXPRESS-G	O
is	O
available	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
EXPRESS	B-Application
is	O
based	O
on	O
programming	O
languages	O
and	O
the	O
O-O	O
paradigm	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
A	O
number	O
of	O
languages	O
have	O
contributed	O
to	O
EXPRESS	B-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
EXPRESS	B-Application
consists	O
of	O
language	O
elements	O
that	O
allow	O
an	O
unambiguous	O
object	O
definition	O
and	O
specification	O
of	O
constraints	O
on	O
the	O
objects	O
defined	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
UML	B-Language
is	O
a	O
modeling	B-Language
language	I-Language
for	O
specifying	O
,	O
visualizing	O
,	O
constructing	O
,	O
and	O
documenting	O
the	O
artifacts	O
,	O
rather	O
than	O
processes	O
,	O
of	O
software	O
systems	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
UML	B-Language
was	O
approved	O
by	O
the	O
Object	B-Architecture
Management	I-Architecture
Group	I-Architecture
(	O
OMG	O
)	O
as	O
a	O
standard	O
in	O
1997	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
UML	B-Language
contains	O
notations	O
and	O
rules	O
and	O
is	O
designed	O
to	O
represent	O
data	O
requirements	O
in	O
terms	O
of	O
O-O	O
diagrams	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
UML	B-Language
organizes	O
a	O
model	O
in	O
a	O
number	O
of	O
views	O
that	O
present	O
different	O
aspects	O
of	O
a	O
system	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
IDEF1X	B-Application
,	O
EXPRESS	B-Application
,	O
and	O
UML	B-Language
all	O
can	O
be	O
used	O
to	O
create	O
a	O
conceptual	B-Application
model	I-Application
and	O
,	O
according	O
to	O
Lee	O
(	O
1999	O
)	O
,	O
each	O
has	O
its	O
own	O
characteristics	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
practice	O
,	O
it	O
may	O
require	O
more	O
than	O
one	O
language	O
to	O
develop	O
all	O
information	B-Application
models	I-Application
when	O
an	O
application	O
is	O
complex	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Information	B-Application
models	I-Application
can	O
also	O
be	O
expressed	O
in	O
formalized	O
natural	O
languages	O
,	O
such	O
as	O
Gellish	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
is	O
an	O
information	O
representation	O
language	O
or	O
modeling	B-Language
language	I-Language
that	O
is	O
defined	O
in	O
the	O
Gellish	O
smart	O
Dictionary-Taxonomy	O
,	O
which	O
has	O
the	O
form	O
of	O
a	O
Taxonomy/Ontology	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
A	O
Gellish	O
Database	O
is	O
not	O
only	O
suitable	O
to	O
store	O
information	B-Application
models	I-Application
,	O
but	O
also	O
knowledge	O
models	O
,	O
requirements	O
models	O
and	O
dictionaries	O
,	O
taxonomies	O
and	O
ontologies	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Information	B-Application
models	I-Application
in	O
Gellish	O
English	O
use	O
Gellish	O
Formal	O
English	O
expressions	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
For	O
example	O
,	O
a	O
geographic	O
information	B-Application
model	I-Application
might	O
consist	O
of	O
a	O
number	O
of	O
Gellish	O
Formal	O
English	O
expressions	O
,	O
such	O
as	O
:	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
Gellish	O
English	O
Dictionary-Taxonomy	O
enables	O
the	O
creation	O
of	O
semantically	O
rich	O
information	B-Application
models	I-Application
,	O
because	O
the	O
dictionary	O
contains	O
definitions	O
of	O
more	O
than	O
40000	O
concepts	O
,	O
including	O
more	O
than	O
600	O
standard	O
relation	O
types	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Thus	O
,	O
an	O
information	B-Application
model	I-Application
in	O
Gellish	O
consists	O
of	O
a	O
collection	O
of	O
Gellish	O
expressions	O
that	O
use	O
those	O
phrases	O
and	O
dictionary	O
concepts	O
to	O
express	B-Application
facts	O
or	O
make	O
statements	O
,	O
queries	O
and	O
answers	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
Distributed	O
Management	O
Task	O
Force	O
(	O
DMTF	O
)	O
provides	O
a	O
standard	O
set	O
of	O
information	B-Application
models	I-Application
for	O
various	O
enterprise	O
domains	O
under	O
the	O
general	O
title	O
of	O
the	O
Common	O
Information	B-Application
Model	I-Application
(	O
CIM	O
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Specific	O
information	B-Application
models	I-Application
are	O
derived	O
from	O
CIM	O
for	O
particular	O
management	O
domains	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
models	O
interact	O
with	O
the	O
information	B-Application
model	I-Application
(	O
the	O
Shared	O
Information/Data	O
Model	O
,	O
or	O
SID	O
)	O
,	O
via	O
a	O
process	O
model	O
(	O
the	O
Business	O
Process	O
Framework	O
(	O
eTOM	O
)	O
,	O
or	O
eTOM	O
)	O
and	O
a	O
life	O
cycle	O
model	O
.	O
</s>
