Rules - how objects behave

Object types and properties support a static definition of objects and object classes. An advanced knowledge approach, however, is to describe, how objects or properties behave. Typically, the behavior of objects or properties is described as common behavior of objects of a given object type ("birds are able to fly" or "things are able to fall") or as common behavior of a property defined for an object type (salary must not exceed $ 5000).

A rule is a concept, that describes the common behavior for individual objects of a given object type or for individual properties. In principle, rules could also be described as individual concepts, i.e. as the specific behavior of an individual object or property. Practically, this happens, when defining a terminology model for a specific enterprise. Individual rules (e.g. reflected in an application for this enterprise) are, however, not described for individual instances, since the behavior of the enterprise is an internal behavior. Considering enterprises in a broader context, general rules for enterprise object might be defined. Hence, TM considers rules as general concepts, only.

Rules are used for different purposes, e.g. for defining constraints or operations for deriving information from other sources.