An ontological evaluation of NIAM's grammar for conceptual schema diagrams

This paper describes an evaluation of the grammar employed in Nijssen’s Information Analysis Method (NIAM) to generate conceptual schema diagrams. The evaluation is undertaken using the ontological model proposed by Bunge and Wand and Weber. It shows that the grammar used to generate NIAM conceptual schema diagrams is primarily deficient in two respects. First, semantic overload occurs in NIAM. Multiple ontological constructs are represented by a single grammatical construct in NIAM. Second, NIAM has semantic deficit. Some ontological constructs have no corresponding grammatical constructs in NIAM. On the basis of the evaluation undertaken, some propositions are made about how NIAM will be perceived and used in practice.