Schema engineering for enterprise knowledge graphs: A reflecting survey and case study

Knowledge graphs for the support of knowledge-intensive tasks and processes, or as a backbone of an organizational digitalization strategy are intensively discussed in recent scientific literature. What is largely missing, are aspects of the organizational management and even the major change of intermediary roles between business domain experts and IT specialists. Based on a literature review this paper introduces a comprehensive definition together with an abstract model of a knowledge graph in companies, a so-called Enterprise Knowledge Graph (EKG). Considering one of its core elements, the development of an EKG schema, i.e. the formal knowledge structure of the business domains to model, was analyzed in detail and reflected in the course of a case study. The new role of a knowledge engineer and its responsibilities as well as necessary competencies were outlined and discussed from real world perspective. The findings of the paper constitute an initial building block of a comprehensive framework for the implementation and the assessment of the maturity of knowledge graphs in organizations.