Queryable strategic context maps linked to exact term mappings

Context and Problem Statement

Term correspondence does not describe how communities collaborate. A SKOS mapping cannot say that one context influences another, a downstream context uses an anti-corruption layer, or a relationship exists only in a particular target-state plan. Conversely, a strategic relationship cannot establish that two terms mean the same thing. We need both views, joined precisely without conflating them.

Decision Drivers

Query collaboration patterns and exact semantic applicability with SPARQL.
Keep context ownership distinct from graph placement and identifier spelling.
Represent current and target projections without silently combining their facts.
Preserve explicit non-integration decisions under open-world semantics.
Generate diagrams and serialisations from one authoritative assertion set.

Considered Options

A qualified strategic relationship linked to individual SSSOM mapping records.
Represent context maps and strategic relationships as SSSOM mapping sets/mappings.
Link a relationship only to a whole mapping set.
Treat SKOS mappings or named graphs as the complete context map.

Decision Outcome

Adopt the qualified strategic layer. It adds context roles, map scope, relationship kind and side patterns while retaining SKOS/SSSOM for term correspondence. Neither layer entails the other. A relationship is not a domain entity, aggregate, transport contract, named graph, SSSOM mapping, RDF reifier or imported UFO relator.

The model below specifies local term names; adopting this record is not a claim that these terms are already minted in the OPDA candidate namespace.

Consequences

Good, because strategic and semantic questions can be answered without false joins.
Good, because explicit scope and identifier-system authority make review reproducible.
Bad, because applicability and explicit negative claims need deliberate curation.
Neutral, because a relationship with no term mapping, or a mapping with no strategic relationship, can be a legitimate review result.

Confirmation

OPDA implementation is pending. Delivery requires the model and mutation-tested validation below, deterministic scoped queries and pinned expected rows from a reviewed property-domain scenario. Source-project fixtures, counts, council reviews and green builds are not OPDA evidence. No actual context topology is adopted here.

Rules

R1: Two profiles and one exact link

The strategic profile relates authoritative context registry resources. Term alignment uses the five selected SKOS mapping predicates with ODR-0056 metadata and the ODR-0058 carrier.

applicableMapping links one named ContextRelationship directly to one individual sssom:Mapping, never to a mapping set. Set co-membership does not establish applicability. governsIdentifierSystem instead connects context authority to the identifier sources needed to validate that link. Neither SSSOM endpoint order nor SKOS taxonomic direction encodes upstream/downstream influence.

R2: Explicit projection and participant scope

Model term	Contract
`ContextMap`	Named active projection, a `prov:Collection`
`ContextRelationship`	Named strategic relationship, a `prov:Entity`
`prov:hadMember`	Exactly one incoming map membership per relationship
`mapState`	Exactly one controlled value: AS-IS or TO-BE
`internalContext`, `externalContext`	Every used endpoint appears in exactly one on its map
`excludedRelationshipKind`	Optional explicit, source-backed map-wide exclusion
`relationshipKind`	Exactly one admitted kind
`applicableMapping`	Zero or more exact individual mapping links

Contexts are named skos:Concept resources in the authoritative bounded-context scheme. Absence of external classification means unknown, not internal. Every topology query binds a map IRI and follows its memberships. A named graph may serve data but defines neither a context boundary nor a map membership.

An excluded-kind assertion requires a named RDF 1.2 reifier identifying that exact map/kind statement and at least one source-evidence IRI via prov:wasDerivedFrom. Generic map-level evidence is insufficient. Reject any member contradicting an excluded kind. Zero rows never imply “none”, and a map-wide exclusion is not the same decision as Separate Ways between a pair.

R3: Kind determines endpoint form

Kind	Form	Required endpoints
Partnership	Symmetric	Two distinct participants
Shared Kernel	Symmetric	Two distinct participants
Separate Ways	Symmetric non-integration	Two distinct participants
Customer/Supplier	Directed	One upstream and one distinct downstream
Upstream/Downstream	Directed	One upstream and one distinct downstream

Symmetric forms prohibit upstream/downstream fields; directed forms prohibit participant fields. Customer/Supplier additionally expresses downstream priorities influencing upstream planning. Multiple named relationships between the same pair are allowed when they express distinct strategic facts. Never identify or collapse relationships by endpoint equality alone.

R4: Side-pattern compatibility

Upstream may use zero to two patterns: Open Host Service and Published Language, including both together. Downstream may use zero or one: Anti-Corruption Layer or Conformist. The downstream alternatives are mutually exclusive, not mandatory.

Symmetric relationships prohibit all side patterns. In this selected local profile, Customer/Supplier with Conformist or Open Host Service is a violation; Customer/Supplier with Anti-Corruption Layer is permitted with a review warning. These are explicit profile rules, not universal claims about every DDD practice.

R5: Separate Ways is a positive decision

Separate Ways has neither direction, side pattern, applicable mapping nor missing- mapping coverage obligation. It must be explicitly asserted in its map. Missing relationships or mappings do not entail it.

R6: Exact, governed applicability

Each linked mapping must reify a retained permitted SKOS statement between IRIs, satisfy the mapping profile, and belong to a named sssom:MappingSet through sssom:mappings. Its source identifiers retain SSSOM meaning: vocabulary or identifier systems, not context labels or inferred lexical prefixes.

Identifier-system contract	Requirement
`IdentifierSystem`	Named and explicitly typed; one English label and definition; at most one governing context
`NamespaceBasedIdentifierSystem`	Explicit subtype as well as base type in the unreasoned validation graph
`vann:preferredNamespaceUri`	Exactly one explicit `xsd:anyURI` value on a namespace-based system
`governsIdentifierSystem`	Context to one or more systems whenever governance is asserted

Use safe RDFS domain skos:Concept and range IdentifierSystem for the governance property; SHACL narrows governors to exact bounded-context scheme members. Do not redeclare VANN, use OWL restrictions, parse authority from IRI spelling, or duplicate namespace text in scope notes. This is semantic authority for the bilateral bridge, not organisational governance, access control or source-production provenance.

For each applicability link, one endpoint must govern the subject source and the other the object source, in either assignment. The link means semantic applicability, not transport, execution, conversion, ownership transfer or deployment dependency.

An optional annotation on that exact applicability assertion may retain prov:wasDerivedFrom with an IRI value. It must identify an asserted applicability link and creates no blanket evidence-coverage obligation. It is not relationship- level provenance. Optional confidence is a finite xsd:double in 0–1; reject NaN and infinities.

R7: Reachability is a scoped review view

Construct an ephemeral graph containing only directed endpoint arcs from the chosen map, then evaluate reachability over that graph alone. A property path over a union dataset cannot enforce map membership at every hop and is forbidden for this query. Use distinct results and exclude the seed even when cycles exist. The result means candidate downstream influence, not demonstrated runtime impact.

Reciprocal directed pairs require review, not automatic rejection. Symmetric Partnership and Shared Kernel records must not appear as reciprocal directed pairs.

R8: Freeze a representative competency scenario

Before claiming delivery, commit a source-pinned property-domain fixture and exact expected results for these questions:

Which inbound, outbound and symmetric relationships touch a selected context?
Which contexts are reachable within one map, excluding the seed?
Which exact mappings apply, even when their SSSOM order opposes DDD direction?
Which external-upstream relationships use an Anti-Corruption Layer?
Which mappings are unused and which relationships have no mapping?
Which directed pairs are reciprocal, excluding symmetric kinds?
Which Separate Ways and source-evidenced map-wide exclusions are explicitly asserted?
What scoped violations and warnings occur?

The source’s business-specific fixture and row counts are deliberately not transplanted. The local fixture must include valid and invalid endpoint forms, multiple projections, exact applicability, governed source objects, contradictory exclusions, prohibited history and query-contamination examples.

R9: Executable query and validation contract

Bind map IRIs explicitly, return deterministic ordered projections and pin rows, term types, severities, message identifiers and unexpected-result counts. Reachability uses the two-stage construct/select contract. Applicability queries never join by mapping-set membership alone. Scope validation results to the selected map.

Mutation fixtures must expose cross-projection leakage, source-order assumptions, mapping-set leakage, incorrect external ACL filtering and mistaken Separate Ways coverage obligations. Assertion-bearing diagrams and exports are generated from the same data/query pipeline; explanatory illustrations are not an alternative truth.

R10: Active RDF only; files and Git retain history

Active AS-IS and TO-BE projections may coexist, but they are not a revision chain. Do not assert prov:wasDerivedFrom or prov:wasRevisionOf directly on a ContextRelationship. Do not replace them with predecessor, successor, supersession, currentness, carried/changed/adopted or cross-projection identity machinery.

Loading active files selects the graph assertions. Removing a relationship removes it from active RDF; Git preserves the past. Historical comparison belongs to files or Git revisions, not this SPARQL contract. Similar endpoints, labels, IRIs or shared mappings must not be used to infer identity across projections.

R11: Closed admission and one semantic owner

Allowlist the strategic classes, controlled individuals and object properties. Reject undeclared additions in assertions and ontology declarations alike, including declarations omitting rdfs:isDefinedBy. No new local datatype properties are introduced: reuse standard metadata terms. Reject whole-set support links and prohibited relationship history explicitly.

Map type, downstream influence mode and a direct exposed-aggregate property remain deferred pending evidence, ownership, precise values, a discriminating question and validation. A direct implementation-technology property is rejected. These records do not import excluded process, architecture, governance-ontology, capability, source-mapping or data-product categories. Referenced domain identities, vocabularies, classification, validation, provenance, temporal and sensitivity facts retain their respective owners; a strategic map must not restate them with competing meanings.

More Information

Context boundaries
Domain, subject area and context
Source-method record: ODR-0127, revision 67174057e6384b79d0b28b7736fe70a66e112895.

Amendments

2026-09-05 — OPDA adaptation. Preserves R1–R11 with the 30 August active-only and governed-identifier-system amendments. Exact applicability replaces set-level support. Relationship-level provenance/history stays removed without replacement; claim-specific evidence on exclusions and optional applicability annotations stays distinct. Replaces source topology, fixtures and implementation claims with local delivery obligations without inventing OPDA context agreements.