Author
Dorian Taylor
Version
0.3
Created
July 22, 2009
Updated
February 6, 2014
April 6, 2017
March 8, 2020
April 9, 2025
June 10, 2025
October 31, 2025
Namespace URI
https://vocab.methodandstructure.com/process-model#
Preferred Namespace Prefix
pm

This vocabulary encodes a model for expressing generic business processes. Its purpose is to provide a language and exchange format for software applications designed to facilitate project management. This vocabulary extends the IBIS vocabulary in the natural fashion that once we have framed an issue and decided to solve it, we must then specify a method, nominate a person responsible, and allocate time and material resources to carry out the solution.

Goal, Task, Target

In deliberate contravention to the received wisdom of management gurus and their airport books, as well as countless project management and to-do applications, this vocabulary separates the concept of a qualitative goal from the task of achieving it. It likewise separates these two concerns from the allocation of quantitative resources, such as time and money. Finally, it separates a concrete task from the abstract method by which it is completed.

By separating these concepts into distinct logical objects, we gain new capabilities:

  1. Budgets and deadlines become subordinate to the real availability of people, materials, equipment, and methods to achieve stated goals.
  2. We can record unintended consequences, both negative and positive, of carrying out tasks.
  3. The development of a method to carry out a given task is itself promoted to a first-order task.
  4. We can generate a library of methods, with statistics on people, time and costs, to inform future allocations of tasks and targets.

Classes

The classes in this vocabulary are refined as follows:

The central concepts, pm:Goal (which further refines to pm:Target) and pm:Task, extend the ibis:Issue and ibis:Position types, so that goals, tasks and targets can be mixed into, as well as graduated from, generic collaborative argumentation and decision-making sessions. Likewise, the pm:Action class extends prov:Activity and ev:Event so that actions and tasks can be mixed in with generic events on a timeline.

Goal

A pm:Goal extends an ibis:Issue by way of being explicitly desired by a foaf:Agent.

Subclass of:
ibis:Issue
Properties:
pm:achieved-by
pm:wanted-by

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Target

A pm:Target connects a qualitative pm:Goal to a specific pm:Task, and a concrete, quantitative allocation of resources.

Subclass of:
pm:Goal
Properties:
pm:anchors
pm:budget
pm:due
pm:initiates

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Action

A pm:Action specializes an ev:Event in that it is performed by (at least one) real, living foaf:Person.

Subclass of:
prov:Activity
ev:Event
Disjoint with:
ibis:State
Properties:
pm:context
pm:dependency
pm:performer
pm:outcome
pm:variant

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Method

A method specifies an abstract sequence of events.

Subclass of:
pm:Action
Disjoint with:
ibis:State
Properties:
pm:instance

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Task

A pm:Task specializes a pm:Action in that it has one or more pm:Goal, and connects a pm:Method of execution with a responsible foaf:Person who will carry it out.

Subclass of:
pm:Action
ibis:Position
Properties:
pm:achieves
pm:method
pm:responsible
pm:recipient
pm:status
pm:subtask

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Properties

The properties in this vocabulary are refined as follows:

Entity-Related

dependency

Any ibis:Entity (and thus pm:Goal, pm:Task) may depend on the resolution of an ibis:Issue the pm:Action depends on to be actionable.

Domain:
ibis:Entity
Range:
ibis:State
Sub-property of:
ibis:implies
Inverse of:
pm:dependency-of

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State-Related

contextualizes

An ibis:State lends context to a pm:Action.

Domain:
ibis:State
Range:
pm:Action
Inverse of:
pm:context

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dependency-of

The object ibis:Entity depends on the resolution of the subject ibis:State to be resolved, or otherwise proceed.

Domain:
ibis:State
Range:
ibis:Entity
Sub-property of:
ibis:implied-by
Inverse of:
pm:dependency

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process

When an ibis:State is the outcome of a pm:Action.

Domain:
ibis:State
Range:
pm:Action
Sub-property of:
prov:wasGeneratedBy
Inverse of:
pm:outcome

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Goal-Related

achieved-by

A pm:Goal is achieved by at least one candidate pm:Task.

Domain:
pm:Goal
Range:
pm:Task
Sub-property of:
skos:semanticRelation
Inverse of:
pm:achieves

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anchored-by

A pm:Goal is anchored to reality by a pm:Target.

Domain:
pm:Goal
Range:
pm:Target
Sub-property of:
ibis:generalizes
Inverse of:
pm:anchors

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expires

This serves as a hard expiry date for a given pm:Goal, such that after it elapses, any valuation ascribed to the goal goes to zero.

Domain:
pm:Goal
Range:
xsd:dateTime
Cardinality:
1
See also:
Timing test for methodology talk

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valuation

A pm:Goal can be ascribed a quantity that represents, in some unspecified unit, the marginal, potentially discounted value of achieving the goal.

Domain:
pm:Goal
Range:
xsd:decimal
Cardinality:
1
See also:
pm:ARQ
Timing test for methodology talk

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wanted-by

The identifying feature of a pm:Goal is that somebody wants it to happen.

Domain:
pm:Goal
Range:
foaf:Agent
Sub-property of:
ibis:endorsed-by
Inverse of:
pm:wants

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Target-Related

anchors

By anchoring a pm:Goal to a pm:Target, we give it a concrete budget and deadline.

Domain:
pm:Target
Range:
pm:Goal
Sub-property of:
ibis:specializes
Inverse of:
pm:anchored-by

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budget

Every pm:Target has to have a quantitative budget of resources assigned to it. It need not be denominated in currency (e.g. it could be person-hours).

Domain:
pm:Target
Range:
xsd:decimal
Sub-property of:
pm:valuation
Cardinality:
1
See also:
pm:ARQ
Timing test for methodology talk

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due

The due date of a pm:Target is a conventional deadline.

Domain:
pm:Target
Range:
xsd:dateTime
Sub-property of:
pm:expires
Cardinality:
1
See also:
Timing test for methodology talk

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initiates

A valid pm:Target must initiate exactly one pm:Task to carry it out.

Domain:
pm:Target
Range:
pm:Task
Sub-property of:
ibis:response
Inverse of:
pm:initiated-by
Cardinality:
1

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Action-Related

context

A pm:Action may have an ibis:State as a context.

Domain:
pm:Action
Range:
ibis:State
Sub-property of:
skos:semanticRelation
prov:used
ev:factor
Inverse of:
pm:contextualizes

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involves

A pm:Action may involve one or more foaf:Agent.

Domain:
pm:Action
Range:
foaf:Agent
Inverse of:
pm:involved-in

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method

A pm:Action can identify an associated pm:Method which will be used to complete it.

Domain:
pm:Action
Range:
pm:Method
Inverse of:
pm:instance

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outcome

Every pm:Action has an outcome, which is some kind of ibis:State.

Sub-property of:
prov:generated
ev:product
Domain:
pm:Action
Range:
ibis:State
Inverse of:
pm:outcome

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performer

A performer is a real, live (at the time of performance) person who performs a task.

Domain:
pm:Action
Range:
foaf:Person
Sub-property of:
pm:involves
prov:wasAttributedTo
ev:agent
Inverse of:
pm:performs

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variant

A variant is an alternate method of performing the same action.

Domain:
pm:Action
Range:
pm:Action
Sub-property of:
skos:related

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Method-Related

instance

A pm:Action is an instance of a pm:Method.

Domain:
pm:Method
Range:
pm:Action
Inverse of:
pm:method

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Task-Related

achieves

The purpose of a task is to achieve a goal. Every pm:Task specified in this vocabulary must also specify the pm:Goal they are intended to achieve.

Domain:
pm:Task
Range:
pm:Goal
Sub-property of:
skos:semanticRelation
pm:outcome
Inverse of:
pm:achieved-by

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initiated-by

This connects a selected pm:Task to the pm:Target that initiated it.

Domain:
pm:Task
Range:
pm:Target
Sub-property of:
ibis:responds-to
Inverse of:
pm:initiates

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recipient

A recipient of a task is a (real, live at the time of receipt) person who receives and approves its product or products.

Domain:
pm:Task
Range:
foaf:Person
Inverse of:
pm:responsible-for

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responsible

The person responsible for a task may not be the one performing it, but they are the one accountable for its completion.

Sub-property of:
ev:agent
Domain:
pm:Task
Range:
foaf:Person
Inverse of:
pm:responsible-for

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status

The status of a Task at any instant is a State.

Domain:
pm:Task
Range:
ibis:State

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subtask

This property narrows the domain and range of ev:sub_event to pm:Task.

Domain:
pm:Task
Range:
pm:Task
Sub-property of:
ibis:generalizes
ev:sub_event
Inverse of:
pm:supertask

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supertask

Domain:
pm:Task
Range:
pm:Task
Sub-property of:
ibis:specializes
Inverse of:
pm:subtask

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Agent-Related

involved-in

A foaf:Agent may be involved in a pm:Task

Domain:
pm:Task
Range:
foaf:Agent

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performs

Domain:
foaf:Person
Range:
pm:Action

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recipient-of

Domain:
foaf:Person
Range:
pm:Task
Inverse of:
pm:recipient

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responsible-for

Domain:
foaf:Person
Range:
pm:Task
Inverse of:
pm:responsible

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wants

A foaf:Agent may want a pm:Goal.

Domain:
foaf:Agent
Range:
pm:Goal
Sub-property of:
ibis:endorses
Inverse of:
pm:wanted-by

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Data Types

ARQ

This is a stand-in datatype for an abstract resource quantity. Its purpose is to differentiate from xsd:decimal, which is indistinguishable from other real numbers.

An abstract resource quantity can mean anything you want: dollars, practitioner-hours, something else entirely. Treat it as the base unit of account for resource planning decisions.

Subclass of:
xsd:decimal
See also:
Unidade real de valor (URV), a non-monetary reference currency introduced in the 1990s to curb hyperinflation in Brazil.

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Individuals

Currently, the only individuals defined by this vocabulary are those common, reusable States which can be used as values for pm:status. Most other statuses, such as whether a Task has a responsible person assigned or a valid Method, should be able to be derived from other data.

ABORTED

The task is aborted.

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COMPLETE

The task is complete.

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IN-PROGRESS

The task is in progress.

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STALLED

The task is stalled.

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References

This process model vocabulary connects and extends the following vocabularies: