Certification Ontology
Ali Hasanzadeh, Arizona State University
IOF Supply Chain Working Group
Industrial Ontology Foundry
Copyright (c) 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025, 2026 Open Applications Group
attesting agent
AttestingAgent(x) ↔ (Agent(x) ∧ ∃r (AttestingAgentRole(r) ∧ hasRole(x, r)))
agent that has an attesting agent role
x is an ‘attesting agent,’ if and only if x is an ‘agent’ and x ‘has role’ some ‘attesting agent role’
attesting agent role
AttestingAgentRole(x) ↔ (AgentRole(x) ∧ ∃ y,a,o (Agent(y) ∧ roleOf(x, y) ∧ CertifyingBody(o) ∧ actsOnBehalfOfAtSomeTime(y, o) ∧ AttestingProcess(a) ∧ participatesInAtSomeTime(y, a) ∧ realizes(a, x))
agent role held by an agent acting on behalf of some certifying body when it participates in an attesting process
x is an ‘attesting agent role,’ if and only if x is an ‘agent role’ and x is ‘role of’ some ‘agent’ y and y ‘acts on behalf of at some time’ some ‘certifying body’ and y ‘participates in at some time’ some ‘attesting process’ a and a ‘realizes’ x
attesting process
Verification of whether the attributes satisfy the requirements is performed by measuring those attributes in a measurement process.
AttestingProcess(x) ↔ (PlannedProcess(x) ∧ ∃p (PlanSpecification(p) ∧ prescribedBy(x, p)) ∧ ∃m,z,a,e,r (MeasurementProcess(m) ∧ hasProperOccurrentPart(x, m) ∧ MeasurementInformationContentEntity(z) ∧ hasSpecifiedOutput(m, z) ∧ (Quality(a) ∨ Capability(a) ∨ ProcessCharacteristic(a)) ∧ describes(z, a) ∧ Entity(e) ∧ (((Quality(a) ∨ Capability(a)) → inheresIn(a, e)) ∧ (ProcessCharacteristic(a) → hasProcessCharacteristic(e, a))) ∧ (((Quality(a) ∨ Capability(a)) → hasParticipantAtSomeTime(x, e)) ∧ (ProcessCharacteristic(a) → hasProperOccurrentPart(x, e))) ∧ RequirementSpecification(r) ∧ satisfiesRequirement(z, r) ∧ properContinuantPartOf(r, p)))
planned process to determine the value of one or more qualities, capabilities, and/or process characteristics of an entity of interest in order to verify that they satisfy some requirement specification prescribed by some standard
x is an attesting process if and only if x is a ‘planned process’ that is ‘prescribed by’ some ‘plan specification’ p, and x ‘has proper occurrent part’ some ‘measurement process’ that ‘has specified output’ some ‘measurement information content entity’ z that ‘describes’ some ‘quality,’ ‘capability,’ or ‘process characteristic’ that ‘inheres in’ or ‘has process characteristic’ one or more ‘entity’ e, where x ‘has participant at some time' or 'has proper occurrent part’ e, and z ‘satisfies requirement’ some ‘requirement specification’ that is ‘proper continuant part of at all times’ p
certificate
Certificate(x) ↔ (InformationContentEntity(x) ∧ ∃p,e,a,r (CertificateGrantingProcess(p) ∧ isSpecifiedOutputOf(x, p) ∧ Entity(e) ∧ RequirementSpecification(r) ∧ (Quality(a) ∨ Capability(a) ∨ ProcessCharacteristic(a)) ∧ ((Quality(a) → hasQuality(e, a)) ∧ (Capability(a) → hasDisposition(e, a)) ∧ (ProcessCharacteristic(a) → hasProcessCharacteristic(e, a))) ∧ certifies(x, e) ∧ SatisfiesRequirement(a, r)))
information content entity that can serve as proof that one or more attesting processes took place to verify that one or more entities satisfy certain requirement specifications
x is a ‘certificate,’ if and only if x is an ‘information content entity’ and x ‘is specified output’ of some ‘certificate granting process’ and x ‘certifies’ some ‘entity’ that ‘has quality,’ ‘has disposition,’ or ‘has process characteristic’ some ‘quality,’ ‘capability,’ or ‘process characteristic’ a and a ‘satisfies requirement’ some ‘requirement specification’
certificate granting process
CertificateGrantingProcess(x) ↔ (PlannedProcess(x) ∧ ∃ p,c,e,a (PlanSpecification(p) ∧ prescribedBy(x, p) ∧ Certificate(c) ∧ hasSpecifiedOutput(x, c) ∧ Entity(e) ∧ certifies(c, e) ∧ AttestingProcess(a) ∧ precededBy(x, a) ∧ attestsTo(a, c)))
planned process of granting a certificate for an entity of interest, preceded by the attestation of that entity
x is a ‘certificate granting process’ if and only if x is a ‘planned process’ that is ‘prescribed by’ some ‘plan specification,’ and x ‘has specified output’ some ‘certificate’ c and c ‘certifies’ some ‘entity’ e and x is ‘preceded by’ some ‘attesting process’ a and a ‘attests to’ c
certifying body
CertifyingBody(x) ↔ (Organization(x) ∧ ∃r (CertifyingBodyRole(r) ∧ hasRole(x, r)))
organization that has a certifying body role
x is a ‘certifying body,’ if and only if x is an ‘organization’ that ‘has role’ some ‘certifying body role’
certifying body role
CertifyingBodyRole(x) ↔ (Role(x) ∧ ∃ o,c (Organization(o) ∧ hasRole(o, x) ∧ CertificateGrantingProcess(c) ∧ participatesIn(o, c) ∧ realizes(c, x)))
role held by an organization that participates in some certificate granting process
x is a ‘certifying body role’ if and only if x is a ‘role,’ and x is the ‘role of’ an ‘organization’ o when o ‘participates in’ some ‘certificate granting process’ c and c ‘realizes’ x
attests to
relationship from an attesting process to a certificate
certificate granted by
relationship from a certificate to a certifying body that holds when the certifying body issues the certificate as a specified output of some certificate granting process
certifies
relationship from a certificate to an entity that holds when the certificate has been granted by a certifying body that has participated in a certificate granting process
has certificate
relationship from an entity to a certificate that holds when the certificate has been granted by a certifying body that has participated in a certificate granting process