A Container Line Industry Domain DRAFT

We shall sketch a domain description of the (or at least a) container line industry with containers, container vessels, container stowage, container terminal ports with quays, container vehicles, quay cranes, stacks, stack cranes, transfer areas, etc., and with nets of sea lanes, container lines, bills of materials, logistics, etc. A domain description, according to [1], is a precise informal, say English narrative of the domain, the universe of discourse, as it is, with no reference to what the domain stake holders might wish it to be, let alone requirements to improvement of business processes and supporting IT systems. A proper domain description has its informal narrative be supplemented by a comprehensive terminology (an ontology) and a (mathematical) formalisation (allegedly) of the narrative. A completed domain description can serve as a basis for business process re-engineering (BPR), or as a basis for developing any number of requirements for computing (and communication) systems to support one or another container line process. A container line domain description can also serve as a basis for the research & development of a container line theory. A container line domain description can finally serve in two additional ways: as a basis for the development of systematic and comprehensive educational material for container line staff and as a basis for the international standardisation of container line industry process interfaces. The process of developing a reasonably complete domain description can help spot undesirable or inadequate business processes. The current description is a draft sketch. It is carried out according to the abstraction and modelling principles and techniques for systems as covered in my book: [2, 3, 1]. The presentation is self-contained. That is: the formalisation (in the formal specification language RSL [4] [of the RAISE (Rigorous Approach to Industrial Software Engineering) [5]]) is explained as it is used: along the way, in clearly framed footnotes and larger formalisations are extensively annotated. The aim is to ensure highest possible trust in the alleged correspondence of the narrative and “its” formalisation. Prof. Emeritus formerly: Computer Science and Engineering, Informatics and Mathematical Modelling, Technical University of Denmark Home address: Fredsvej 11, DK-2840 Holte, Denmark