BAs, Language And Lego

Management & Technology

BA L d LBAs, Language and LegoAn introduction to semantic analysis

Matthew HodgsonACT Regional-lead, Web and Information Managementg , gSMS Management & Technology

BA World Symposium, July 2008

Podcasts and Slideshare

www.slideshare.net/magia3e

BA tools for understanding processesg p

The problemp

Processes:• Embedded as part of corporate knowledge (not explicit)• Not documented, inaccurate or poorly designed

Users:• Don’t understand their business processes• Can’t articulate what they do or how they do it

Process outputs:• Typically highly varied in type and structure• Typically highly varied in style and consistencyyp y g y y y

Information: we all think differently …

We all write differently …y

Jeffrey Veen on analysing contenty y g

“a mind-numbingly detailed g yodyssey...

…this process…is a relatively straightforward process of clicking through … and clicking through … and recording what you find.”

Source: http://www.adaptivepath.com/ideas/essays/archives/000040.php

Analysing processes and content …y g p

Process overview – first take Medical restrictions text

F t t b ilt i W d d h d ft d (* *)• Free-text built in Word and hand-crafted (*grrr*)• Varied consistency within and between texts• Highly complex sentence structures – pseudo-legaleseHighly complex sentence structures pseudo legalese• Style reflects the author rather than

the meaning in the communication

Content needed for re-use• Content output was needed for reuse by others• Content output was needed for reuse by others• Multiple audiences• Multiple purposes for re-usep p p

Please improve existing process• Codification (after authoring) takes too long• Need to reduce timeframes!

The task: analyse, uncover process, develop system supportdevelop system support

Concept 1Concept 1

Concept 2Concept 3

Concept 5

Concept 4 Concept 5

p

determinerconjunctionverb adjective

all language has structuresemantics

all language has structure

Linguisticsga whole discipline devoted to theobject …a whole discipline devoted to the

study of language… subjectj

sentence str ct repreposition

sentence structure

noun

Linguistics and semanticsg

Semantics, the study of:• Meaning at the levels of words, phrases, sentences

and even whole textsand even whole texts• Relations between different linguistic units

M d lli f i i t f th l i • Modelling of meaning in terms of the logic

Has parallels with:• Computer science - semantics reflects the meaning • Computer science - semantics reflects the meaning

of programs or functions P h l f i d b d • Psychology - memory for meaning and remembered experience

“You’re joking!?”j g

The approachpp

Analyse semantics of contenty• There is a predicable structure

It’ ll j t L ™ b ildi bl k ( b • It’s all just Lego™ building blocks (nouns, verbs, adjectives, etc)

• Implied meaning can be made overt

New tools for BAs to play with!p y• Understand semantics, the structure of sentences,

and you can analyse categorise and codify English!and you can analyse, categorise and codify English!

Language as Lego™g g g

Building blocksg• Subject (S)

V b (V)• Verb (V)• Object (O)j ( )

Order of blocks• Differs depending on the languageDiffers depending on the language

Order from chaos

SVO languagesg g• English, French, Chinese, Bulgarian, SwahiliSOVSOV• Japanese, Turkish, Koreanp , ,VSO• Classical Arabic, Celtic and HawaiianVOSVOS• Fijian, Yoda’s amusing phrases

Subjects, verbs and objectsj , j

Sometimes, though, the SVO structure is hidden:• “The Lego is red” or• “Those Lego bricks are [some] red Lego bricks” ?

Uncovering the hidden structure helps to differentiate between the subject and the object and identify the whoand what

Lego trees…g

Semantic analysisy

Medical restrictions wording:g

R t i t d b fitRestricted benefitGastro-oesophageal reflux disease; Scleroderma oesophagus;

Authority requiredPeptic ulcer

Semantic analysis (cont.)y ( )

Actual sentence• Peptic ulcer

Implied sentencep• The prescription of medicine is restricted to the

initial treatment of patients with peptic ulcerinitial treatment of patients with peptic ulcer

Semantic structure of ‘peptic ulcer’ulcer

Semantic analysis (cont.)y ( )

Actual sentence• Gastro-oesophageal reflux disease; Scleroderma

oesophagus;oesophagus;

Implied sentenceThe prescription of medicine is restricted to the • The prescription of medicine is restricted to the initial treatment of patients with gastro-oesophageal reflux disease or scleroderma oesophagus

WHOTREATED?

ted

Obj

ect

Sub

ject

Ver

b

WHATCONDITION?

ACTIONREQUIRED

Con

ditio

n be

ing

treat

Pra

ctic

al a

spec

ts

ptor

s ro

up)

scrip

tors

seve

rity

treatment of patientsinitialIn

itial

or

cont

inui

ng70 year old formthe prescription of medicine is restricted to the

femalecontinuing

Patie

nt d

escr

i(p

opul

atio

n/g r

details of doctorrecord

signpeptic ulcerwith

Mea

sure

s/de

sof

Con

ditio

n s

(AD

J)

mother

pregnant

other ADJ

male daterecord

advanced psoriasis

tumorwith malignant

scleroderma oesphaguswith

with

completeAuthority

action sheet

includewhole body

area diagrams

treat for period of time

receiving dBMARD treatmentpreviously PBS-

subsidised

PBS dBMARD

treated immunologistclinical

with nausea and vomiting

with chronic pain

chemotherapycytotoxicnot receiving by

provide historypreivous

prescribe repeatsnumber

with seizurespartial

hormone dependent metastatic

cancerwith breast

contact Medicare

obtain Authority number

PBS

subs

idis

ed

receiving PBS-subsidised

dBMARD treatment

Lim

itatio

n of

Pres

crib

ing

to a

spe

cific

spec

ialis

t gro

up

receiving A 5HT3 antagonist

radiotherapyreceiving treated dermatologist

ADJ

NOUN

by

KEY

not previously

receiving treatment2 years

incomplete resolution

ADJ/PP

of

surgeryhaving

not toresponding anelgesicsADJ

NOUN

PREP

VERBnot to other

anti-epileptic drugs

p

no indication of

responding

unable take of topiramatesolid form

Exis

ting

treat

men

t de

scrip

tors

of

pop

ulat

ion

“Who Treated” semantic modelSex

Male

Female

All

Ethnicity [ETHNICITY]

Pregnant

Breastfeeding

[ADJECTIVE]

[NUMBER]Over

[DRUG]

[TREATMENT]

Diet

Surgery [TYPE]

[THERAPY]

Hours

Days

Weeks

Months

Years

Vocation Veteran

Entitlement [?]

[LIST]

[LIST]

Veteran

That meet a specific definition/criteria as set out in [LIST of references]

General schedule of Lipid-lowering Drugs

[NUMBER]Over

Under

Exactly

Between

At least

Diet

Exercise

Age

PBS subsidised

PBS non-subsidised

General schedule of Lipid lowering Drugs

and

Treatments

Within timeframe of

Over a period of

Treatment with

Treatment of

Initiation

Stabilisation

In conjunction with

Not in conjunction with

Starts new prepositional-phrase in the same text-block

Patient Group

[mg ...etc]

At a dose of

Weekly

Daily

Monthly

Fortnightly

Hourly?

Co-administered with

Treatment for

Initial

Continuing

Maintenance

Effective

Ineffective

Inappropriate

j

Following

Preceeding

Received

Has not received

Not responding

Responding

Failed to qualify for

Can not receive

Starts new prepositional-phrase in the same text-block

Starts new prepositional-phrase

in the same text-block

y

YearlyTrials

q y

Qualified for

Not indicated

Indicated

Has had

Has not had

Can have

Can not have

Diagnosis

Documented history

[CLINICIAN] Requiring special expertise in

Requiring no special expertise

[EXPERTISE]

[SEVERITY] [CONDITION]

Treated by

Diagnosis confirmed by

=

Evidence of

[DISORDER]

As measured by?

As evidenced byStarts new

prepositional-phrase in the same text-

block

[MEASURED AS]?

[DEFINED BY]

Disease progression

Disease regression

[PROCEDURE]

in

[DISORDER]

Symptoms?

Clinical findings

“Authority Action” semantic modelyInitial

Subsequent

Ongoing In writing

By telephone

Electronically

Remaining

To [AUTHORITY]

Medicare

...etc...

Therapy

Supply

In writing

By telephoneInitial

Subsequent

Ongoing

Treatment Electronically

Remaining

To [AUTHORITY]

Medicare

...etc...

Authority Action

Repeats[AMOUNT]

To complete

(allow) Maximum

(allow) Minimum

[TIME]

days

weeks

months

Therapy

Supply[AMOUNT] Initial

Subsequent

Ongoing

Treatment

Remaining

[TIMEFRAME]



months

Repeats[AMOUNT]

Followed by By telephone Within timeframe of [TIME]

Remaining

Followed by

In writing

By telephone Within timeframe of [TIME]

days

weeks

months

ElectronicallyStarts new prepositional-phrase


In writing

By telephone

Electronically

Initial

Subsequent

Ongoing

Remaining

Where approval To [AUTHORITY]

Medicare

...etc...

Repeats[AMOUNT]



Process overview

How did the ‘trees’ help?p

Inferred• How people think about and structure content

Described• Business processes that produce content

Identified process improvement• Where content quality is poor so it can be improved

Requirements elicitation• Critical components of the sentence for codificationp• Systems to help bring some structure to content authoring

How can I do this stuff too?! (a side‐step)

Theory is importanty p• An understanding of semantics - sentence trees

and grammarand grammar• Text books by authors like Fromkin and Rodman

can help through the tricky bits

Need good tools• Connexor• Big sheets of paper (and an electronic whiteboard)• Big sheets of paper (and an electronic whiteboard)• Visio (not PowerPoint!)

Demo

Connexor• www.connexor.eu/technology/machinese/demo/

Connexor

Connexor – machine taggergg

Connexor – machine syntaxy

Next steps – solutions architecturepHow could you build a system to reinforce the process?• Give people Lego™ to build sentences• Give people Lego™ to build sentences• Build a prototype to explore and demonstrate conceptual design

Communicate• Talk about ideas with business owners

E l ibiliti ith d• Explore possibilities with end-users• Build-in ‘no surprises’ into change management

Iterate• Iterate and refine concepts and design before it was built

Inform• Developers of intent and requirementsDevelopers of intent and requirements• The building of an ‘tool’ for codifying content (hooray for Axure!)

Context diagramg

Methodologygy

ISO13407: User-centred designg

Identify need for human-centred

design

Understand and specify thespecify the

context of use

Specify the user and

organisational requirements

Evaluate designs against

requirements

System satisfies specified user and

organisational requirements

Produce designProduce design solutions

ApproachppJesse James Garrett’s “Elements of User-experience”

Lego™ as the design conceptg g p

Prototyping a toolyp g

• An Axure demo

Summing upg p

Semantic analysis can …

Uncover:• Hidden business logic and processes

Help with:• Requirements for system support for processesq y pp p• Solutions design

Inform processes improvement:• Raise awareness of process inefficienciesp• Enhancing quality of information

Summing up (cont)g p ( )

Semantic analysis is good to use for …

Validating analysis:g y• An independent method of checking information process

and categories

FiManagement & Technology

Fin

Questions?


BAs, Language and Lego, g g g

An introduction to semantic analysis


Matthew HodgsonACT Regional-lead, Web and Information ManagementACT Regional lead, Web and Information Management

SMS Management & Technology

Blog: magia3e.wordpress.comg g pTwitter: magia3e

Slideshare: www.slideshare.net/magia3eSlideshare: www.slideshare.net/magia3e

Email: [email protected]: [email protected]: 0404 006695

BAs, Language And Lego

Business

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