Patent ID: 7779050

Claim:
A method to model a domain, the method including: employing a processor to execute computer executable instructions stored on a computer readable storage medium to implement the following acts: modeling the domain with at least one domain model, wherein the domain is modeled using at least one of an XML Schema, a document type definition (DTD), an object produced for an object oriented language, or a relational table included in a relational database management system (RDBMS), and wherein the at least one domain model is a data schema comprised of a plurality of data objects that represent the domain, each data object is one of a simple type or complex type; generating support models for an ontological system to interact with and manipulate the at least one domain model, wherein at least one support model is a selector schema, the selector schema includes a selector object for each complex data object of the data schema and includes a criterion object for each simple data object, a criterion object defines selection criteria for an associated data object, a selector object is comprised of one or more criterion objects; triggering a step in a workflow, wherein the workflow includes at least one workflow object, the step corresponding to a workflow object, the at least one workflow object includes at least one selector object associated with the step, the ontological system employs the at least one selector object to trigger the step corresponding to the workflow object; and using the support models to describe domain model states.