EKG Principles¶
These principles are intended to provide guidelines for the development and deployment of an Enterprise Knowledge Graph (EKG).
The principles emphasize shared meaning and content reuse that are the cornerstone of operating in complex and interconnected environments.
An enterprise that complies with all ten principles has an Enterprise Knowledge Graph.
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1 - Identity
Any object in the EKG is identified with at least one universally unique, opaque, permanent, non-reassignable and web-resolvable identifier in the form of an International Resource Identifier (IRI) for the EKG---i.e. an Enterprise Knowledge Graph IRI (EKG/IRI) aka EKG Identifier.
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2 - Meaning
The meaning of every Data Point must be directly resolvable to a machine-readable definition in verifiable formal logic.
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3 - Distributed
Data Points for any object may be stored in many physical stores. Any access point provides connectivity to all EKG content regardless of where it resides.
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4 - Open World
Information can vary over time, come from many internal and external sources, and be based on different identifiers and models. These multiple versions of the truth (MVOT) need to be reconciled on access by context.
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5 - Self-describing
An EKG is composed of a set of self-describing datasets (SDDs) that provide information about lineage, provenance, pedigree, maturity, quality, licensing and governance.
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6 - Measurement
The quality and characteristics of the managed knowledge must be measurable and measured. Measurement criteria are used to designate fitness-for-defined-purpose and must be actionable.
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7 - Business Orientation
All information in the EKG, and associated artifacts, are linked to defined and prioritized use cases. Nothing in the EKG exists without a known business justification and purpose.
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8 - Control
Entitlement, privacy and business policies will be modeled in the EKG and automatically executed, enforced and audited at the Data Point level.
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9 - Ecosystem
An enterprise will use a heterogeneous set of technologies and data sources which will be incorporated into the EKG over time. All data entering the ecosystem are subject to service level agreements.
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10 - Standards
Data, ontologies, definitions and business rules should be compliant with open standards and transparent governance procedures as defined by recognized standards bodies.
| Principle | Summary | |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | Identity | Any given object is identified with at least one universally unique, opaque, permanent, and web-resolvable identifier. |
| 2. | Meaning | The meaning of every data point must be directly resolvable to a machine-readable mathematical definition. |
| 3. | Distributed | An EKG can incorporate any number of datasets of any number of data sources that can be hosted by any number of independent EKG Platforms. Any given access point provides connectivity to the EKG regardless of where it resides. |
| 4. | Open World | Information can vary over time, come from many internal and external sources, and be based on different identities and models. These “multiple versions of the truth” need to be reconciled on access by context. |
| 5. | Self-describing | An EKG is composed of a set of self-describing datasets that provide information about lineage, provenance, pedigree, maturity, quality, and governance. The EKG Platform has policy enforcement services that are driven by these self-describing datasets. |
| 6. | Measurement | The quality and characteristics of the managed knowledge must be measurable and measured. Measurement criteria are used to designate fitness-for-defined-purpose and must be actionable. |
| 7. | Business Orientation | All artifacts around and information in the EKG are linked to defined and prioritized use cases. Nothing in the EKG exists without a known business justification and purpose. |
| 8. | Control | Entitlement, privacy, and business policies will be modeled in the EKG and automatically executed, enforced, and audited at the data point level. |
| 9. | Ecosystem | An enterprise will use a heterogeneous set of technologies and data sources that will be incorporated into the EKG over time. All components of the ecosystem are subject to service level agreements. |
| 10. | Standards | Both the EKG Platform and knowledge content should be based on open standards. Where necessary, the EKG Foundation will work to expand those standards. |