language en

Core organization ontology

Release: 2010-05-28

Modified on: 2014-04-12
Latest version:
http://www.w3.org/ns/org#
Revision:
0.8
Contributors:
Shuji Kamitsuna
Antonio Maccioni✉
María Poveda Villalón✉
Elena Montiel Ponsoda✉
Giorgia Lodi✉
Dave Reynolds✉
Olga Ximena Giraldo✉
Dominique Guardiola✉
Guadalupe Aguado de Cea✉
See also:
http://www.w3.org/TR/vocab-org/
Download serialization:
JSON-LD RDF/XML N-Triples TTL
License:
http://www.opendatacommons.org/licenses/pddl/1.0/
Visualization:
Visualize with WebVowl
Cite as:
Core organization ontology. Revision: 0.8.
Provenance of this page
Ontology Specification Draft

Abstract

This is a placeholder text for the abstract. The abstract should contain a couple of sentences summarizing the ontology and its purpose.

Introduction back to ToC

This is a place holder text for the introduction. The introduction should briefly describe the ontology, its motivation, state of the art and goals.

Namespace declarations

Table 1: Namespaces used in the document
[Ontology NS Prefix]<http://www.w3.org/ns/org#>
dct<http://purl.org/dc/terms/>
foaf<http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/>
gr<http://purl.org/goodrelations/v1#>
owl<http://www.w3.org/2002/07/owl#>
owlTime<http://www.w3.org/2006/time#>
prov<http://www.w3.org/ns/prov#>
rdf<http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#>
rdfs<http://www.w3.org/2000/01/rdf-schema#>
skos<http://www.w3.org/2004/02/skos/core#>
vcard<http://www.w3.org/2006/vcard/ns#>
xml<http://www.w3.org/XML/1998/namespace>
xsd<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#>

Core organization ontology: Overview back to ToC

This ontology has the following classes and properties.

Classes

Object Properties

Data Properties

Annotation Properties

Named Individuals

Rules

Core organization ontology: Description back to ToC

Vocabulary for describing organizational structures, specializable to a broad variety of types of organization.

Cross-reference for Core organization ontology classes, object properties and data properties back to ToC

This section provides details for each class and property defined by Core organization ontology.

Classes

business entityc back to ToC or Class ToC

IRI: http://purl.org/goodrelations/v1#BusinessEntity

has super-classes
Formal Organization c

Change Eventc back to ToC or Class ToC

IRI: http://www.w3.org/ns/org#ChangeEvent

Represents an event which resulted in a major change to an organization such as a merger or complete restructuring. It is intended for situations where the resulting organization is sufficient distinct from the original organizations that it has a distinct identity and distinct URI. Extension vocabularies should define sub-classes of this to denote particular categories of event. The instant or interval at which the event occurred should be given by `prov:startAtTime` and `prov:endedAtTime`, a description should be given by `dct:description`.
Is defined by
http://www.w3.org/ns/org
has super-classes
activity c
is in domain of
original organization op, resulted in op
is in range of
changed by op, resulted from op
is disjoint with
Membership c, Organization c, Role c, Site c

Endeavourc back to ToC or Class ToC

IRI: http://www.w3.org/ns/org#OrganizationalCollaboration

A collaboration between two or more Organizations such as a project. It meets the criteria for being an Organization in that it has an identity and defining purpose independent of its particular members but is neither a formally recognized legal entity nor a sub-unit within some larger organization. Might typically have a shorter lifetime than the Organizations within it, but not necessarily. All members are `org:Organization`s rather than individuals and those Organizations can play particular roles within the venture. Alternative names: _Project_ _Venture_ _Endeavour_ _Consortium_ _Endeavour_
Is defined by
http://www.w3.org/ns/org
is equivalent to
Organization c and (has member op only Organization c)
has super-classes
Organization c

Formal Organizationc back to ToC or Class ToC

IRI: http://www.w3.org/ns/org#FormalOrganization

An Organization which is recognized in the world at large, in particular in legal jurisdictions, with associated rights and responsibilities. Examples include a Corporation, Charity, Government or Church. Note that this is a super class of `gr:BusinessEntity` and it is recommended to use the GoodRelations vocabulary to denote Business classifications such as DUNS or NAICS.
Is defined by
http://www.w3.org/ns/org
has super-classes
Organization c, organization c
has sub-classes
business entity c
is in domain of
has Unit op, registered Site op
is in range of
unit Of op

Membershipc back to ToC or Class ToC

IRI: http://www.w3.org/ns/org#Membership

Indicates the nature of an Agent's membership of an organization. Represents an n-ary relation between an Agent, an Organization and a Role. It is possible to directly indicate membership, independent of the specific Role, through use of the `org:memberOf` property.
Is defined by
http://www.w3.org/ns/org
is in domain of
member op, member During op, organization op
is in range of
membership op
is disjoint with
Change Event c, Organization c, Role c, Site c

Organizationc back to ToC or Class ToC

IRI: http://www.w3.org/ns/org#Organization

Represents a collection of people organized together into a community or other social, commercial or political structure. The group has some common purpose or reason for existence which goes beyond the set of people belonging to it and can act as an Agent. Organizations are often decomposable into hierarchical structures. It is recommended that SKOS lexical labels should be used to label the Organization. In particular `skos:prefLabel` for the primary (possibly legally recognized name), `skos:altLabel` for alternative names (trading names, colloquial names) and `skos:notation` to denote a code from a code list. Alternative names: _Collective_ _Body_ _Org_ _Group_
Is defined by
http://www.w3.org/ns/org
is equivalent to
organization c
has super-classes
agent c
has sub-classes
Endeavour c, Formal Organization c, OrganizationalUnit c
is in domain of
changed by op, classification op, has SubOrganization op, has member op, has site op, identifier dp, linked to op, post op, primary Site op, purpose, resulted from op, subOrganization of op, transitive sub-organization op
is in range of
has SubOrganization op, head of op, linked to op, member of op, organization op, original organization op, post in op, resulted in op, site Of op, subOrganization of op, transitive sub-organization op
has keys
identifier dp
is disjoint with
Change Event c, Membership c, Role c, Site c

OrganizationalUnitc back to ToC or Class ToC

IRI: http://www.w3.org/ns/org#OrganizationalUnit

An Organization such as a University Support Unit which is part of some larger FormalOrganization and only has full recognition within the context of that FormalOrganization, it is not a Legal Entity in its own right. Units can be large and complex containing other Units and even FormalOrganizations. Alternative names: _OU_ _Unit_ _Department_
Is defined by
http://www.w3.org/ns/org
has super-classes
Organization c
is in domain of
unit Of op
is in range of
has Unit op

Postc back to ToC or Class ToC

IRI: http://www.w3.org/ns/org#Post

A Post represents some position within an organization that exists independently of the person or persons filling it. Posts may be used to represent situations where a person is a member of an organization ex officio (for example the Secretary of State for Scotland is part of UK Cabinet by virtue of being Secretary of State for Scotland, not as an individual person). A post can be held by multiple people and hence can be treated as a organization in its own right.
Is defined by
http://www.w3.org/ns/org
is in domain of
held by op, post in op
is in range of
holds op, post op

Rolec back to ToC or Class ToC

IRI: http://www.w3.org/ns/org#Role

Denotes a role that a Person or other Agent can take in an organization. Instances of this class describe the abstract role; to denote a specific instance of a person playing that role in a specific organization use an instance of `org:Membership`. It is common for roles to be arranged in some taxonomic structure and we use SKOS to represent that. The normal SKOS lexical properties should be used when labelling the Role. Additional descriptive properties for the Role, such as a Salary band, may be added by extension vocabularies.
Is defined by
http://www.w3.org/ns/org
has super-classes
concept c
is in domain of
remuneration op, role (property)
is in range of
role op
has members
head ni
is disjoint with
Change Event c, Membership c, Organization c, Site c

Sitec back to ToC or Class ToC

IRI: http://www.w3.org/ns/org#Site

An office or other premise at which the organization is located. Many organizations are spread across multiple sites and many sites will host multiple locations. In most cases a Site will be a physical location. However, we don't exclude the possibility of non-physical sites such as a virtual office with an associated post box and phone reception service. Extensions may provide subclasses to denote particular types of site.
Is defined by
http://www.w3.org/ns/org
is in domain of
site Address op, site Of op
is in range of
based At op, has site op, primary Site op, registered Site op
is disjoint with
Change Event c, Membership c, Organization c, Role c

Object Properties

based Atop back to ToC or Object Property ToC

IRI: http://www.w3.org/ns/org#basedAt

Indicates the site at which a person is based. We do not restrict the possibility that a person is based at multiple sites.
Is defined by
http://www.w3.org/ns/org
has domain
person c
has range
Site c

changed byop back to ToC or Object Property ToC

IRI: http://www.w3.org/ns/org#changedBy

Indicates a change event which resulted in a change to this organization. Depending on the event the organization may or may not have continued to exist after the event. Inverse of `org:originalOrganization`.
Is defined by
http://www.w3.org/ns/org
has domain
Organization c
has range
Change Event c
is inverse of
original organization op

classificationop back to ToC or Object Property ToC

IRI: http://www.w3.org/ns/org#classification

Indicates a classification for this Organization within some classification scheme. Extension vocabularies may wish to specialize this property to have a range corresponding to a specific `skos:ConceptScheme`. This property is under discussion and may be revised or removed - in many cases organizations are best categorized by defining a sub-class hierarchy in an extension vocabulary.
Is defined by
http://www.w3.org/ns/org
has domain
Organization c
has range
concept c

has memberop back to ToC or Object Property ToC

IRI: http://www.w3.org/ns/org#hasMember

Indicates a person who is a member of the subject Organization. Inverse of `org:memberOf`, see that property for further clarification. Provided for compatibility with `foaf:member`.
Is defined by
http://www.w3.org/ns/org
has domain
Organization c
has range
agent c
is inverse of
member of op

has siteop back to ToC or Object Property ToC

IRI: http://www.w3.org/ns/org#hasSite

Indicates a site at which the Organization has some presence even if only indirect (e.g. virtual office or a professional service which is acting as the registered address for a company). Inverse of `org:siteOf`.
Is defined by
http://www.w3.org/ns/org
has sub-properties
primary Site op
has domain
Organization c
has range
Site c
is inverse of
site Of op

has SubOrganizationop back to ToC or Object Property ToC

IRI: http://www.w3.org/ns/org#hasSubOrganization

Represents hierarchical containment of Organizations or Organizational Units; indicates an organization which is a sub-part or child of this organization. Inverse of `org:subOrganizationOf`.
Is defined by
http://www.w3.org/ns/org
has sub-properties
has Unit op
has domain
Organization c
has range
Organization c
is inverse of
subOrganization of op

has Unitop back to ToC or Object Property ToC

IRI: http://www.w3.org/ns/org#hasUnit

Indicates a unit which is part of this Organization, e.g. a Department within a larger FormalOrganization. Inverse of `org:unitOf`.
Is defined by
http://www.w3.org/ns/org
has super-properties
has SubOrganization op
has domain
Formal Organization c
has range
OrganizationalUnit c
is inverse of
unit Of op

head ofop back to ToC or Object Property ToC

IRI: http://www.w3.org/ns/org#headOf

Indicates that a person is the leader or formal head of the Organization. This will normally mean that they are the root of the `org:reportsTo` (acyclic) graph, though an organization may have more than one head.
Is defined by
http://www.w3.org/ns/org
has super-properties
member of op
has domain
agent c
has range
Organization c

held byop back to ToC or Object Property ToC

IRI: http://www.w3.org/ns/org#heldBy

Indicates an Agent which holds a Post.
Is defined by
http://www.w3.org/ns/org
has domain
Post c
has range
agent c
is inverse of
holds op

holdsop back to ToC or Object Property ToC

IRI: http://www.w3.org/ns/org#holds

Indicates a Post held by some Agent.
Is defined by
http://www.w3.org/ns/org
has domain
agent c
has range
Post c
is inverse of
held by op

linked toop back to ToC or Object Property ToC

IRI: http://www.w3.org/ns/org#linkedTo

Indicates an arbitrary relationship between two organizations. Specializations of this can be used to, for example, denote funding or supply chain relationships.
Is defined by
http://www.w3.org/ns/org
has domain
Organization c
has range
Organization c

memberop back to ToC or Object Property ToC

IRI: http://www.w3.org/ns/org#member

Indicates the Person (or other Agent including Organization) involved in the Membership relationship. Inverse of `org:hasMembership`
Is defined by
http://www.w3.org/ns/org

has characteristics: functional

has domain
Membership c
has range
agent c
is inverse of
membership op

member Duringop back to ToC or Object Property ToC

IRI: http://www.w3.org/ns/org#memberDuring

Optional property to indicate the interval for which the membership is/was valid.
Is defined by
http://www.w3.org/ns/org
has domain
Membership c

member ofop back to ToC or Object Property ToC

IRI: http://www.w3.org/ns/org#memberOf

Indicates that a person is a member of the Organization with no indication of the nature of that membership or the role played. Note that the choice of property name is not meant to limit the property to only formal membership arrangements, it is also indended to cover related concepts such as affilliation or other involvement in the organization. Extensions can specialize this relationship to indicate particular roles within the organization or more nuanced relationships to the organization. Has an optional inverse, `org:hasmember`.
Is defined by
http://www.w3.org/ns/org
has sub-properties
head of op
has domain
agent c
has range
Organization c
is inverse of
has member op

membershipop back to ToC or Object Property ToC

IRI: http://www.w3.org/ns/org#hasMembership

Indicates a membership relationship that the Agent plays. Inverse of `org:member`.
Is defined by
http://www.w3.org/ns/org
has domain
agent c
has range
Membership c
is inverse of
member op

organizationop back to ToC or Object Property ToC

IRI: http://www.w3.org/ns/org#organization

Indicates Organization in which the Agent is a member.
Is defined by
http://www.w3.org/ns/org

has characteristics: functional

has domain
Membership c
has range
Organization c

original organizationop back to ToC or Object Property ToC

IRI: http://www.w3.org/ns/org#originalOrganization

Indicates one or more organizations that existed before the change event. Depending on the event they may or may not have continued to exist after the event. Inverse of `org:changedBy`.
Is defined by
http://www.w3.org/ns/org
has super-properties
used op
has domain
Change Event c
has range
Organization c
is inverse of
changed by op

postop back to ToC or Object Property ToC

IRI: http://www.w3.org/ns/org#hasPost

Indicates a Post which exists within the Organization.
Is defined by
http://www.w3.org/ns/org
has domain
Organization c
has range
Post c
is inverse of
post in op

post inop back to ToC or Object Property ToC

IRI: http://www.w3.org/ns/org#postIn

Indicates the Organization in which the Post exists.
Is defined by
http://www.w3.org/ns/org
has domain
Post c
has range
Organization c
is inverse of
post op

primary Siteop back to ToC or Object Property ToC

IRI: http://www.w3.org/ns/org#hasPrimarySite

Indicates a primary site for the Organization, this is the default means by which an Organization can be contacted and is not necessarily the formal headquarters.
Is defined by
http://www.w3.org/ns/org
has super-properties
has site op
has sub-properties
registered Site op
has domain
Organization c
has range
Site c

registered Siteop back to ToC or Object Property ToC

IRI: http://www.w3.org/ns/org#hasRegisteredSite

Indicates the legally registered site for the organization, in many legal jurisdictions there is a requirement that FormalOrganizations such as Companies or Charities have such a primary designed site.
Is defined by
http://www.w3.org/ns/org
has super-properties
primary Site op
has domain
Formal Organization c
has range
Site c

remunerationop back to ToC or Object Property ToC

IRI: http://www.w3.org/ns/org#remuneration

Indicates a salary or other reward associated with the role. Typically this will be denoted using an existing representation scheme such as `gr:PriceSpecification` but the range is left open to allow applications to specialize it (e.g. to remunerationInGBP).
Is defined by
http://www.w3.org/ns/org
has domain
Role c

reports toop back to ToC or Object Property ToC

IRI: http://www.w3.org/ns/org#reportsTo

Indicates a reporting relationship as might be depicted on an organizational chart. The precise semantics of the reporting relationship will vary by organization but is intended to encompass both direct supervisory relationships (e.g. carrying objective and salary setting authority) and more general reporting or accountability relationships (e.g. so called _dotted line_ reporting).
Is defined by
http://www.w3.org/ns/org
has domain
Post c or agent c
has range
Post c or agent c

resulted fromop back to ToC or Object Property ToC

IRI: http://www.w3.org/ns/org#resultedFrom

Indicates an event which resulted in this organization. Inverse of `org:resultingOrganization`.
Is defined by
http://www.w3.org/ns/org
has super-properties
was generated by op
has domain
Organization c
has range
Change Event c
is inverse of
resulted in op

resulted inop back to ToC or Object Property ToC

IRI: http://www.w3.org/ns/org#resultingOrganization

Indicates an organization which was created or changed as a result of the event. Inverse of `org:resultedFrom`.
Is defined by
http://www.w3.org/ns/org
has domain
Change Event c
has range
Organization c
is inverse of
resulted from op

roleop back to ToC or Object Property ToC

IRI: http://www.w3.org/ns/org#role

Indicates the Role that the Agent plays in a Membership relationship with an Organization.
Is defined by
http://www.w3.org/ns/org
has domain
Membership c or Post c
has range
Role c

site Addressop back to ToC or Object Property ToC

IRI: http://www.w3.org/ns/org#siteAddress

Indicates an address for the site in a suitable encoding. Use of vCard (using the http://www.w3.org/TR/vcard-rdf/ vocabulary) is encouraged but the range is left open to allow other encodings to be used. The address may include email, telephone, and geo-location information and is not restricted to a physical address.
Is defined by
http://www.w3.org/ns/org
has domain
Site c

site Ofop back to ToC or Object Property ToC

IRI: http://www.w3.org/ns/org#siteOf

Indicates an Organization which has some presence at the given site. This is the inverse of `org:hasSite`.
Is defined by
http://www.w3.org/ns/org
has domain
Site c
has range
Organization c
is inverse of
has site op

subOrganization ofop back to ToC or Object Property ToC

IRI: http://www.w3.org/ns/org#subOrganizationOf

Represents hierarchical containment of Organizations or OrganizationalUnits; indicates an Organization which contains this Organization. Inverse of `org:hasSubOrganization`.
Is defined by
http://www.w3.org/ns/org
has super-properties
transitive sub-organization op
has sub-properties
unit Of op
has domain
Organization c
has range
Organization c
is inverse of
has SubOrganization op

transitive sub-organizationop back to ToC or Object Property ToC

IRI: http://www.w3.org/ns/org#transitiveSubOrganizationOf

The transitive closure of subOrganizationOf, giving a representation of all organizations that contain this one. Note that technically this is a super property of the transitive closure so it could contain additional assertions but such usage is discouraged.
Is defined by
http://www.w3.org/ns/org

has characteristics: transitive

has sub-properties
subOrganization of op
has domain
Organization c
has range
Organization c

unit Ofop back to ToC or Object Property ToC

IRI: http://www.w3.org/ns/org#unitOf

Indicates an Organization of which this Unit is a part, e.g. a Department within a larger FormalOrganization. This is the inverse of `org:hasUnit`.
Is defined by
http://www.w3.org/ns/org
has super-properties
subOrganization of op
has domain
OrganizationalUnit c
has range
Formal Organization c
is inverse of
has Unit op

was derived fromop back to ToC or Object Property ToC

IRI: http://www.w3.org/ns/prov#wasDerivedFrom

has sub-property chains
resulted from op o original organization op

Data Properties

identifierdp back to ToC or Data Property ToC

IRI: http://www.w3.org/ns/org#identifier

Gives an identifier, such as a company registration number, that can be used to used to uniquely identify the organization. Many different national and international identier schemes are available. The org ontology is neutral to which schemes are used. The particular identifier scheme should be indicated by the datatype of the identifier value. Using datatypes to distinguish the notation scheme used is consistent with recommended best practice for `skos:notation` of which this property is a specialization.
Is defined by
http://www.w3.org/ns/org
has super-properties
notation dp
has domain
Organization c

locationdp back to ToC or Data Property ToC

IRI: http://www.w3.org/ns/org#location

Gives a location description for a person within the organization, for example a _Mail Stop_ for internal posting purposes.
Is defined by
http://www.w3.org/ns/org
has domain
person c
has range
string

Annotation Properties

contributorap back to ToC or Annotation Property ToC

IRI: http://purl.org/dc/terms/contributor

createdap back to ToC or Annotation Property ToC

IRI: http://purl.org/dc/terms/created

homepageap back to ToC or Annotation Property ToC

IRI: http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/homepage

licenseap back to ToC or Annotation Property ToC

IRI: http://purl.org/dc/terms/license

mboxap back to ToC or Annotation Property ToC

IRI: http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/mbox

modifiedap back to ToC or Annotation Property ToC

IRI: http://purl.org/dc/terms/modified

nameap back to ToC or Annotation Property ToC

IRI: http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/name

pref labelap back to ToC or Annotation Property ToC

IRI: http://www.w3.org/2004/02/skos/core#prefLabel

purposeap back to ToC or Annotation Property ToC

IRI: http://www.w3.org/ns/org#purpose

Indicates the purpose of this Organization. There can be many purposes at different levels of abstraction but the nature of an organization is to have a reason for existence and this property is a means to document that reason. An Organization may have multiple purposes. It is recommended that the purpose be denoted by a controlled term or code list, ideally a `skos:Concept`. However, the range is left open to allow for other types of descriptive schemes. It is expected that specializations or application profiles of this vocabulary will constrain the range of the purpose. Alternative names: _remit_ _responsibility_ (esp. if applied to OrganizationalUnits such as Government Departments).
Is defined by
http://www.w3.org/ns/org
has domain
Organization c

role (property)ap back to ToC or Annotation Property ToC

IRI: http://www.w3.org/ns/org#roleProperty

This is a metalevel property which is used to annotate an `org:Role` instance with a sub-property of `org:memberOf` that can be used to directly indicate the role for easy of query. The intended semantics is a Membership relation involving the Role implies the existence of a direct property relationship through an inference rule of the form: `{ [] org:member ?p; org:organization ?o; org:role [org:roleProperty ?r] } -> {?p ?r ?o}`.
Is defined by
http://www.w3.org/ns/org
has domain
Role c
has range
property

titleap back to ToC or Annotation Property ToC

IRI: http://purl.org/dc/terms/title

Named Individuals

Rules

Legend back to ToC

c: Classes
op: Object Properties
dp: Data Properties
ni: Named Individuals

References back to ToC

Add your references here. It is recommended to have them as a list.

Acknowledgments back to ToC

The authors would like to thank Silvio Peroni for developing LODE, a Live OWL Documentation Environment, which is used for representing the Cross Referencing Section of this document and Daniel Garijo for developing Widoco, the program used to create the template used in this documentation.