Groups, labels and interfaces

Groups

A group gathers objects to structure the ontology. It becomes useful as soon as the model grows: the side list and the diagram stay readable.

Example:

Group	Objects
PRODUCT	BRAND, MODEL, PLATFORM
ENGINEERING	ASSEMBLY, PART
PROCUREMENT	CONTRACT, SUPPLIER

Click Show group to display the groups on the diagram and see at a glance which objects they gather.

Labels

Available from the Basic mode.

A label is an annotation you put on objects or relations, whatever their group. It helps the AI assistant follow an end-to-end path through the data, across several levels of the model.

Example: the procurement chain label put on the whole purchasing chain

Name: procurement chain
Description: Everything needed to follow a part from its purchase to its supplier:
the contract that sets its price and volume, and the supplier who negotiated it.

Applied to: PART -[purchased_via]-> CONTRACT -[negotiated_with]-> SUPPLIER

Interfaces

Available in Expert mode only.

An interface gathers attributes shared by several objects, as in object-oriented programming. It helps spot similarities between objects and handle them the same way.

Objects linked to an interface must have the same attributes as the interface: they can then override them through the interface.

Example: the ORGANIZATION interface, linked to BRAND and SUPPLIER

Name: ORGANIZATION
Description: A company involved in the product chain, either as a brand
that sells vehicles or as a supplier that sells parts.
Attributes: name (STRING), country (STRING)
Implemented by: BRAND, SUPPLIER