Business Concept Models
EBR User Guide # 3
This user guide provides a definition of business concept models within the context of analysing and
documenting business rules, how we use them at ACC for analysing business terms and rules, and
provides an overview of how to construct them.
What is a business concept model?
Business concept models organise our business vocabulary so we can communicate in a consistent and
accurate way. Concept models start with a collection of business terms and definitions, showing the
relationships between them.
Figure 1 A generic sales or service business concept model
Why are we using business concept models at ACC?
With business concept models we can:
• Ensure the use of more consistent business terminology across ACC.
• Display the relationships between business terms in the context of a business domain.
• Communicate precise meanings and subtle distinctions with our business stakeholders.
• Identify if there is any ambiguity or duplication of items in a concept.
• Simplify the business rules being documented and assist in the quality assurance of the rules.
• Uncover implicit facts, including business rules, that might have been obscured in the
relationships between concepts.
• Provide a visual structure and clarity for analysis, communication, and building a shared
understanding across broad stakeholder groups.
Creating business concept models
Step 1: identifying noun concepts
The noun concepts in a business concept model represent the actors (people or agencies) and concrete
objects in a business domain. Many of the noun concepts are likely to be business terms in themselves
or will be synonyms or specific instantiations or aspects of business terms. In the ACC domain “ACC”,
“claim”, “client”, “injury”, “provider”, or “ACC45” would be examples of noun concepts. In the Figure 1
example above the noun concepts are “customer”, “account”, “payment”, “order”, courier”, and so on.
Step 2: identify the verb concepts linking noun concepts
At its core, a business concept model is about fundamental connections between noun concepts (or
business terms), stripped of qualification. The relationship between business terms is referred to as a
“verb concept”.
A concept model represents barebones knowledge; it only shows the relationship between business
terms as opposed to any definitions and constraints – as these are recorded in the business rules. A
concept model never assumes any business rules.
Graphically, a verb concept could be represented as follows:
Figure 2 The verb concept "is lodged with" connecting two noun concepts in the ACC context
As our understanding of a busines context deepens, additional verb concepts can be added to show
different relationships between the same business terms or noun concepts. In Figure 2 above, a “claim”
can be “lodged with” “ACC. But conversely, as shown in Figure 3 below “ACC” can (or possibly must,
given certain criteria) “register” a claim.
Figure 3 The verb concept "registers" shows an additional connection between noun concepts in the ACC context
Step 3: organise the noun concepts and verb concepts in a graphical concept model
As you identify your business terms and get familiar with verb concepts (the relationships between those
business terms), you can start to represent them graphically. There is no right or wrong platform for
developing your initial concept model, some suggested tools include:
• Whiteboard or chart-paper and post-it notes
o Noun concepts on post-it notes
o Verb concepts can be drawn linking noun concepts
o Fast for setting up and constructing a model in a face-to-face workshop, and easy for
participants in a workshop to collaborate on
o Moving and grouping concepts can become messy, especially as the model becomes
more complex
o The model output will need to be preserved (usually photographed) and documented
electronically at a later time
• Microsoft Visio
o A stencil is available from the EBR resources sharepoint which contains the standard
shapes and connectors recommended (see Templates and Tools on the Documenting
Business Rules page for instructions on importing this stencil)
o Moving and repositioning the elements is supported
o Models can be shared as exported PDFs or via M365 Visio Viewer for stakeholders who
do not have Visio
• Trisotech Knowledge Entity Manager
o Does not currently have the full set of recommended shapes and connectors, but can be
powerful for connecting concepts between multiple models, including published business
terms, rules, and process models at ACC
o Builds a useful library of facts about the connected concepts
o Models can be shared across ACC using Trisotech Kommunicator
Step 4: use the correct notation for your business concept model.
The standard elements listed below are all available in the concept model shapes stencil linked from the
EBR resources sharepoint linked above. For a whiteboard or KEM model you can adapt the standards to
suit.
Simple Notation
Shape
Shape Name
Definition
Example
Noun concept
A business term that
has a particular
meaning for ACC and
is used and
recognised in
business
communications.
Verb concept
A word that
represents the verbal
relationship between
two noun concepts.
Category
A class of noun
concepts.
Use categories to
save space in your
concept model; i.e.
the parent category
can be used to
summarise the
children categories as
long as the category
structure is shown in a
foot note.
Property
A quality or trait
belonging to a noun
concept.
Objectification
A noun concept
formed from a verb
concept. Use
objectification when a
verb is used as a
business term in a
business rule and you
need to represent that
in your concept model
to link to other
concepts.
Instance
A real-world
representation of a
noun concept.
Whole part
structure
A collection of one or
more verb concepts
that together describe
how a thing of one
class of things (the
whole) is composed of
things of two or more
other classes of things
(the parts)
Role
A part played by a
business actor; a
function performed by
someone or something
in a particular situation,
process, or operation
Hints
The following hints will help you create great business concept models:
• Create and update the concept model collaboratively with SMEs from the business
simultaneously with analysing and assessing the business rules.
• Test the noun and verb concepts with the stakeholders to make sure they make sense, and to
ensure you use the business terms consistently in your business rules.
• Avoid creating the concept model last as representing the relationships graphically in a concept
model helps to identify inconsistencies and resolve ambiguities. It’s easier to spot and correct
these as you go instead of leaving it until after decisions have been taken or rule statements
codified, when it could take much longer to rework or fix.
• If the concept model gets too big and complex, consider splitting into a high-level concept model
with multiple supporting detailed concept models.
• Remember – a verb concept is the active relationship between the business terms; it’s the
“doing word”.
Unary fact
Provides a simple “yes”
or “no” answer to some
basic operational
business question
