How to create ontology

Terminology

In Grafieks, a business entity is called a node. Each node represents a business concept such as Customer, Shipment or Invoice. A connection between two nodes is called a relationship.

Before you begin

Ontology works best when you know:

• The business concepts (entities) you want to model, such as customers, orders or shipments.
• Which data source holds the data for each concept.
• How those concepts relate to each other, for example Customer places Order.

Step 1: Create a new ontology

1. From the main menu, click Ontology.
2. Click the New Ontology button. The New ontology window opens, where you can start from a template or begin with a blank canvas.

Choose one of the two options below.

Option A: Use a template (recommended)

Using a template is the easiest way to get started, because it gives you a ready-made set of nodes and relationships that you can then adapt.

1. Browse the template list, or use Search templates to find one.
2. Use the category filters to narrow the list: All, Supply Chain, Sales, Finance, Customer, Organization and Custom.
3. Click a template to see a preview of its nodes and relationships. Each template also shows how many concepts (nodes) and relationships it contains.
4. Review the You’ll fill in section below the preview. It lists what you need to supply, such as a data source for a particular node.
5. Click Use template.

Templates include industry and business-function examples such as Banking & Financial Services, Retail & E-commerce, Supply Chain, Healthcare, Insurance and SaaS / Subscription Business.

Option B: Start with a blank canvas

1. In the template list, select Blank canvas (start with an empty graph).
2. Enter a name and a description for your ontology.
3. Confirm to open the empty canvas.

Step 2: Add nodes

On the ontology canvas, nodes are the building blocks of your model.

1. Click the + New Node button in the top toolbar.
2. Enter a name for the node, for example Shipment.
3. Enter a description that explains what the node represents and how it should be used.

If you started from a template, the canvas already contains nodes. You can edit them or add more with + New Node.

Step 3: Link a data source to a node

Each node should be connected to the data that represents it.

1. Click the node on the canvas. The Node panel opens on the right-hand side.
2. Review or edit the node’s name, type and description. Use the Properties section to add key, value and type properties if needed.
3. In the Datasource section, link the data source that supplies the data for this node.

What to write in the description: A detailed description helps people and AI understand the node. For a data-backed node, it is useful to explain what the node represents, what one row means, the key columns, and the kinds of questions it helps answer.

Linking from the description: In the description box, type @ to link a data source, another ontology or a document directly. Use Refine to pick a specific field, node or relationship.

Step 4: Create relationships between nodes

Relationships describe how nodes connect, for example Shipment passes through Hub/Warehouse.

1. Add a second node using + New Node, and complete its name, description and data source (Steps 2 and 3).
2. Drag a connection from one node to the other to create a relationship.
3. Click the relationship label on the canvas. The Relationship panel opens on the right-hand side.
4. Name the relationship with a short action, such as Has, Assigned to or Operated by, and add a description if helpful.

The panel shows the direction of the relationship (for example, Shipment → Delivery Exception). To remove a relationship, click Delete Relationship in the panel.

Repeat Steps 2 to 4 until the ontology reflects the business process you want to model.

Step 5: Add links to nodes and relationships

Both the Node panel and the Relationship panel have a Links section. Use Add link to connect the node or relationship to:

• A data source
• Another ontology
• A document

To learn how to attach , uploading documents, see .

Step 6: Publish your ontology

While you edit, the toolbar shows an Unpublished changes indicator.

Button	What it does
Back	Returns to the previous screen.
+ New Node	Adds a new node to the canvas.
Beautify	Tidies the layout of the canvas.
Documents	Opens the documents associated with the ontology.
History	Shows the history of changes.
Publish	Publishes your changes.
Cancel	Exits without publishing.

When you are happy with the ontology, click Publish.

Tips

• Start from a template and adapt it. It is faster than building from scratch.
• Model concepts first, then link data sources.
• Write clear descriptions. They help teammates and AI understand each node.
• Use short, action-based relationship names such as places, includes and billed through.
• Use Beautify if the canvas becomes crowded.