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Semantically Enriched Obligation Management: An Approach for Improving the Handling of Obligations Represented in Contracts

  • Conference paper
Knowledge Discovery, Knowledge Engineering and Knowledge Management (IC3K 2012)

Part of the book series: Communications in Computer and Information Science ((CCIS,volume 415))

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Abstract

Contract Management becomes increasingly important for companies and public administrations alike. Obligations and liabilities are described in contract clauses that are often buried in documents of a hundred pages and more. Although commercial Contract Management Systems (CMS) are available, with a few exceptions relevant information has to be extracted manually which is time consuming and error prone. But even if information extraction is automated and contracts are managed using a CMS, dealing with obligations is still a challenge. Whereas the CMSs deal well with time triggered obligations like periodical payments by setting up corresponding workflows, they fail to trigger obligations based on events, as this knowledge is out of the systems’ scope. We introduce an approach to fill the gap as we relate information about the obligations managed in a CMS with background knowledge modelled in an ontology. The ontology is a formal representation of an enterprise architecture extended by top-level concepts. Motivating scenario for the approach is the contract management of a large company. For proof of concept a prototype has been developed.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute for Information Systems, University of Applied Sciences and Arts Northwestern Switzerland FHNW, Riggenbachstr. 16, Olten, Switzerland

    Barbara Thönssen & Jonas Lutz

  2. Dipartmento di Matematica e Informatica, University of Camerino, via Madonna delle Carceri 9, Camerino, MC, Italy

    Barbara Thönssen

Authors
  1. Barbara Thönssen
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  2. Jonas Lutz
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. IST - Technical University of Lisbon, Av.Rovisco Pais, 1, 1049-001, Lisbon, Portugal

    Ana Fred

  2. Delft University of Technology, Mekelweg 4, 2628, Delft, CD, The Netherlands

    Jan L. G. Dietz

  3. Informatics Research Centre, Henley Business School, University of Reading, RG6 6UD, UK

    Kecheng Liu

  4. INSTICC and IPS, Estefanilha, Setúbal, Portugal

    Joaquim Filipe

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Thönssen, B., Lutz, J. (2013). Semantically Enriched Obligation Management: An Approach for Improving the Handling of Obligations Represented in Contracts. In: Fred, A., Dietz, J.L.G., Liu, K., Filipe, J. (eds) Knowledge Discovery, Knowledge Engineering and Knowledge Management. IC3K 2012. Communications in Computer and Information Science, vol 415. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-54105-6_23

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-54105-6_23

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-54104-9

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-54105-6

  • eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)

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