Digital Financial Reporting

Jo Stichbury, in his article WTF is a knowledge graph, does a great job of explaining what a knowledge graph is and why it is useful.  Here are the key points as I see them related to knowledge graphs:

• A knowledge graph is a graph rather than a table, or a tree. I pointed out the difference between tables, trees, and graphs in the document Computer Empathy (page 16). Basically, a graph is a powerful and flexible way to store knowledge.
• A knowledge graph is self-describing; basically there is logic that explains the meaning being conveyed within the knowledge graph.
• It is not simply about the knowledge graph itself but more about the combination of the knowledge graph and tools to work with the information within the knowledge graph. The object is to make use of the information in the knowledge graph.

If you want to understand more about knowledge graphs, see this paper Towards a Definition of Knowledge Graphs.

So why are knowledge graphs plus the tools for using information from a knowledge graph so important?  Using the right tools, a skilled craftsmen can easily produce works that are useful, elegant, and durable.

Today, many software developers and business professionals are using the wrong tools.  They tend to be stuck in the "data" world when we have really moved on to the "information" age.  Most business professionals have clumsy, ugly, barely functional software that does not remotely meet their needs when it comes to working with structured information such as XBRL.

There are many modern tools for building useful, elegant, and durable tools. For example, GRAKN.AI is an open source tool for building knowledge graphs and using information.  It is basically infrastructure.  It is only the foundation upon which products or solutions would be constructed.

Why is understanding knowledge graphs important to business professionals?  Because it helps them understand what to ask for in terms of tools.

Consider this definition of a knowledge based system which I have provided before:

A knowledge based system is a system that draws upon the knowledge of human experts that has been represented in machine-readable form and stored in a fact database and knowledge base. The system applies problem solving logic using a problem solving method to solve problems that normally would require human effort and thought to solve. The knowledge based system supplies an explanation and justification mechanism to support conclusions reached by the knowledge base system and presents that information to the user of the system.

A modern application for creating a financial report will be a knowledge based system which leverages technologies such as knowledge graphs to make them work elegantly and effectively.