Ontologies

Edit an ontology

The workbench is where you shape an ontology’s content. It fills the ontology page below the toolbar, so there is nothing to open: select an item on the left and edit it in the middle.

In the app: Data Context › Ontologies › your ontology

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The three-pane workbench: navigator, the editor for a selected class, and the Context pane.

Before you start

You need write access to the organization. Members with read-only access, and everyone while the organization is in read-only mode, see the same workbench without any editing controls.

Note: This page uses the default labels: Class, Relationship, Attribute, Instance. If your organization uses a different naming convention, the buttons and headings use those words instead (for example Entity and Field). See Ontology settings.

The workbench layout

  • Navigator (left). A switch at the top selects classes, relationships, attributes, or instances. Classes show as an “is a kind of” tree; the others are flat lists. Use the search box to filter, and the button below it (Add Class, Add Relationship, and so on) to create one. Drag the edge between the navigator and the editor to make it wider; double-click the edge to reset it.
  • Editor (middle). Everything about the selected item. With nothing selected it shows the ontology’s own Annotations.
  • Context (right). Used by lists everything that references the selected item, Validation lists structural notes about the ontology, and Metrics counts classes, relationships, attributes, and instances.
  • Status bar (bottom). All changes saved and a badge that reads No structural issues or the number of notes.

Every item in the navigator is a real link. Each one has its own address, so you can bookmark it, share it, or open it in a new tab. See Link to an ontology entity.

Add a class

  1. Select the classes view in the navigator and click Add Class.
  2. Enter a Name, for example “Customer”.
  3. Check the Identifier (IRI). It fills in from the name; you can change it before you create the class.
  4. Optionally pick a Parent (is a kind of). Leave it at None (top-level) for a top-level concept.
  5. Click Create.

To create a class directly under another, right-click the parent in the tree and choose Add child class.

Edit a class

Select a class to see its sections:

  • Basics: the Label (display name) and Description. Edits save when you leave the field. The wand next to Description writes one for you; see Generate descriptions for an ontology.
  • Is a kind of: the class’s parents. Click Add parent to place it under another class, or the × on a parent to detach it. A class with no parent shows Top-level concept (a kind of Thing).
  • Relationships & attributes: everything that applies to this class. Rows marked incoming are relationships that point to this class; rows marked inherited come from a parent class. Click a row to open it. The Relationship and Attribute buttons in the section header add a new one that applies to this class.
  • Neighborhood: a small diagram of the class and its direct neighbors. View in Diagram opens the full diagram focused on this class.
  • Instances: named examples of this class. Add instance creates one.
  • Custom attributes: your organization’s governance attributes. See Apply attributes on ontology entities.
  • Annotations: extra labels, comments, and other annotation values. Use Add annotation, or the edit and remove icons on a row.
  • Advanced: equivalence, disjointness, and rules are not editable yet. The section says they are coming in a later release.

Add a relationship

A relationship connects one class to another.

  1. Click Add Relationship in the navigator, or Relationship in a class’s Relationships & attributes header.
  2. Enter a Name, for example “places order”.
  3. Pick Applies to (source class), the class the relationship starts from.
  4. Pick Points to (target class), the class it leads to.
  5. Click Create.

Leave source or target at Any to leave that end open.

Select a relationship to edit its Applies to, points to & inverse section. Use Set or Change to pick a class, and Clear to remove it. The inverse is the same relationship read the other way, for example placesOrder and placedBy.

How relationship names are stored

Relationship identifiers are always written in lowerCamelCase: hasOrder, picksOrderLine, worksAtStore. Kenseme enforces this when you create or rename a relationship, whatever you type. The dialog says so under the Name field: “Stored in camelCase, e.g. worksAtStore.”

What that means in practice:

  • The name wins. The identifier is built from the Name you type, not from the Identifier (IRI) box. Type “picked by associate” and the relationship is stored as …#pickedByAssociate.
  • The label starts out the same. The new relationship’s label is set to the same camelCase token, for example pickedByAssociate. You can change the label afterwards in Basics to any text you like; label edits are never reformatted.
  • Renames are converted too. If you rename a relationship’s identifier to Picked_By, it is stored as pickedBy.
  • The final identifier can differ from what you typed. Check the identifier shown under the relationship’s title after you create or rename it.

Relationships in files you import, or pulled from Microsoft Fabric, keep their original identifiers. Existing relationships are not changed.

Add an attribute

An attribute is a fact about a class.

  1. Click Add Attribute in the navigator, or Attribute in a class’s Relationships & attributes header.
  2. Enter a Name, for example “email address”.
  3. Pick the class it Applies to.
  4. Pick a Value Type: Text (the default), Whole number, Decimal, True / false, Date, Date & time, or Web address (URI).
  5. Click Create.

Select an attribute to change its class or value type in the Applies to & Value Type section.

Note: If another class already has an attribute with the same name, Kenseme keeps the identifiers unique by prefixing each with its class, for example Customer_Name and Supplier_Name. The labels stay as you typed them.

Add an instance

  1. Click Add Instance in the navigator, or Add instance on a class.
  2. Enter a Name, for example “Canada”.
  3. Optionally pick a Type (class), for example Country.
  4. Click Create.

Select an instance to assign more types under Is a (Add type), and to record relationship and attribute values for it with the Add buttons in its Relationships and Attributes sections.

Rename, find usages, and delete

Right-click any item in the navigator for Rename…, Find usages, and Delete…. The same Rename and Delete buttons sit next to the title of the selected item.

  • Change the display name by editing Label in Basics. This is the everyday rename.
  • Change the identifier with Rename. The Rename Identifier dialog shows the current identifier, how many statements reference it, and a New identifier (IRI) field. Every reference is updated.
  • Find usages lists everything that points at the item. The Used by block in the Context pane shows the same list.
  • Delete asks you to confirm and lists every place the item is used. Deleting removes the item and every statement that references it.

Warning: A delete can remove more than the item itself: restrictions, parent links, and values that referred to it go too, and so do the item’s bindings. Check Find usages first. You can undo a delete from Recent changes, except when the deleted item was bound: then the undo is refused and you have to re-create and re-bind the item.

Changes save as you go

There is no save button. Each edit is written as you make it, and the status bar reads All changes saved.

To review or reverse edits, open More › Recent changes. It lists recent changes from you, your colleagues, and the AI assistant, each with an Undo button. The most recent undo also offers Redo. Undo reverts one change at a time; if newer edits touched the same statements, those are kept and Kenseme tells you how many statements it skipped. To go back further, restore from an earlier version.

Edit the ontology’s details

The Edit button on the toolbar doesn’t open the workbench. It opens the Edit Ontology dialog for the ontology’s catalog details: Name, Description, Namespace, Owner, and Status (Draft, In Review, Published). The dialog also shows the Base / Default IRI, which can’t be changed yet. Click Save Changes.

Manage prefixes

More › Prefixes lists the short prefixes the ontology uses (such as xsd: or your own). Enter a prefix and its namespace under Add prefix to add one. Use the save and remove icons on a row to change or delete an existing prefix. Prefixes make identifiers shorter in exports.