A Conceptual Modelling Pattern for Roles

A pattern identifies a problem and provides the specification of a generic solution to that problem. Conceptual modelling patterns are aimed at representing a specific structure of knowledge that appears in different domains. Roles are meant to capture dynamic and temporal aspects of realworld objects. This paper identifies common semantics of different role models found in the literature. Moreover, it presents a conceptual modelling pattern for the role concept that includes both the static and dynamic aspects of roles. In particular, we adapt the pattern to the UML. The use of this pattern eases the definition of roles in conceptual schemas. We also discuss the advantages of our approach over previous ones.