1Business Models – REA Ontology Resources Events Agents The REA Ontology

2Business Models – REA Ontology Example of Exchange 1 Subscription SubscriberPublisher PaymentDelivery Magazine

3Business Models – REA Ontology Example of Exchange 2 Order CustomerCompany PaymentShipment Product

4Business Models – REA Ontology Example of Exchange 3 Order line CustomerCompany PaymentShipment Product Order Resources Events Agents REAREA

5Business Models – REA Ontology REA - Intuition Agent Resource Events exchanging resources

6Business Models – REA Ontology Economic Resource  An economic resource is something of value that is under the control of an agent and that can be transferred from one agent to another  Examples: cash, goods, labour service

7Business Models – REA Ontology Economic Event  An economic event is the transfer of control of an economic resource from one agent to another agent  Examples: cash-payment, shipment

8Business Models – REA Ontology Economic Agent  An economic agent is someone who is able to participate in economic events  Examples: manufacturer, distributor, carrier, consumer

9Business Models – REA Ontology Duality Order line CustomerCompany PaymentShipment Product Order Resources Events Agents Duality

10Business Models – REA Ontology Duality  Duality is a relationship between economic events expressing that in order to obtain an economic resource, an agent must give up another economic resource  “ One good turn deserves another ”

11Business Models – REA Ontology Duality Payment Cash Company resource from to Customer Shipment Product Customer resource from to Company duality

12Business Models – REA Ontology Basic REA Ontology Economic Event duality Economic Resource Economic Agent custody

13Business Models – REA Ontology Basic REA Ontology Economic Resource Economic Event Economic Agent duality Customer CompanyProduct Cash Shipment Payment

14Business Models – REA Ontology Commitments and Contracts Order line CustomerCompany PaymentShipment Product Order Resources Events Agents Duality Contract Commitment

15Business Models – REA Ontology Commitment  An obligation to perform an economic event in the future  Example: order lines

16Business Models – REA Ontology Contract  A contract is a container for a collection of commitments  Example: purchase order with several line items

17Business Models – REA Ontology REA Ontology Economic Resource Economic Event Economic Agent duality custody Economic Contract Economic Commitment fulfils Economic Resource Type reserves

18Business Models – REA Ontology Operational Level and Knowledge Level Knowledge Level Operational Level Information structures that characterise and prescribe the structure and behaviour of objects at the operational level Concrete objects that can be born, change and die

19Business Models – REA Ontology Operational Level and Knowledge Level Knowledge Level Operational Level Meal Recipe Car Car model Book copy Book

20Business Models – REA Ontology REA Ontology - Summary

21Business Models – REA Ontology REA Ontology - Links   Home page of William McCarthy:

22Business Models – REA Ontology Credits Disclaimer and Copyright Notice: Permission is granted without fee for personal or educational (non-profit) use. In other cases contact with INTEROP Project Coordinator for use conditions. Some of the figures presented in this tutorial are freely inspired by others reported in referenced works/sources. For such figures copyright and all rights therein are maintained by the original authors or by other copyright holders. It is understood that all persons copying these figures will adhere to the terms and constraints invoked by each copyright Developed by KTH for INTEROP Project Introduction to REA Published: December, 4 th 2006 Authors: Paul Johannesson Stockholm University and Royal Institute of Technology Sweden