An application of deontic logic to the analysis of information system constraints

In the eld of information systems the notion of constraint may be used for quite diierent kinds of statements. Here we apply deontic logic and doxastic logic to propose formal deenitions for the diierent interpretations of these statements. In our analysis we distinguish practical constraints and deontic constraints; the latter are either obligations about the world or obligations about the correctness of the representation of the world. We also show that to check whether obligations are violated, assumptions (that are also called \constraints") are accepted. These assumptions may also be about the world or about the correctness of its representation. Then, we deene what an information system has to know to detect the diierent kinds of obligation violations. This formal analysis is followed by a pragmatic analysis where we describe the origin of these statements come, and in which kinds of processes they are involved.