The MORK Bridge: Industry Models and the LATTICE Reference

Version 0.2, draft for review. Specifies how Open CBAA works with the vocabularies and data the market brings today (flat code lists, simple taxonomies, spreadsheet rows, bordereaux) and, where a deployment wants it, with LATTICE’s applied insurance reference implementation (the reference peril vocabulary, term parameters and the asset exposure ontology), with MORK mappings between the two. Nothing here is implemented yet.

Citations of design-spec and of codes AP, DP, D and I refer to Open CBAA’s design specification and LATTICE integration specification. Where this sketch and the applied insurance reference epic or its ADRs (A-98 to A-102) differ, they take precedence.


1. Two Worlds

  Industry as it stands LATTICE reference
perils whatever the contract’s drafter supplies: a market cause-of-loss code list, a carrier’s or MGA’s own list, a simple two-level taxonomy, or a view the LMA may publish a cause hierarchy with kind and part links, characteristics, collections, overlaps, thresholds
contract terms SoUA table rows, schedule fields, free text term parameters and term relations, optionally compiled into capacity behaviour
exposure bordereau rows, statements of values, open exposure data files the asset exposure ontology
who owns the meaning the drafter and the market LATTICE, as a reference that anyone may adopt

Open CBAA must operate in the first world, because that is where agreements are written, and must be able to use the second, because that is where the richer checks live. Neither may be forced on a deployment. The bridge is how the two meet without either rewriting the other.

Principles

# Principle
B1 The operative vocabulary is the contract’s. The scheme a wording’s values are drawn from is authoritative for that wording. A reference vocabulary is a lens, never an override
B2 Capability follows structure. A check runs at the level of detail the operative scheme supports, and no further. A flat list supports membership only. A taxonomy supports hierarchical match. Characteristics, collections and thresholds exist only where the scheme or a crosswalk supplies them
B3 Never guess. A check that needs structure the operative scheme lacks returns Undetermined with a reason naming the missing capability (exe:NoHierarchy under ADR-A100, exe:MissingCandidate for absent characteristics), which becomes a referral (design-spec §6.3)
B4 Mapping is data. Every bridge between worlds is reviewed data: a crosswalk of SKOS triples for vocabularies, a MORK mapping graph compiled to RML for recurring data formats. Never code
B5 Exactness sets authority. A value reached through an exact correspondence may decide. One reached through a broader, narrower or close correspondence may only advise (Surface source fidelity and derivation authority)
B6 Consumers declare what they trust. Each check states which graph roles and which mapping fidelities it accepts (ADR-A13)

2. Where a Peril Scheme Comes From

Open CBAA authors no peril scheme. The scheme bound to rsk:PerilContract for an agreement is resolved by LATTICE Vocabulary’s scoped bindings, most specific first:

Precedence Binding scope Typical source
1 the agreement the drafter’s own list, for this agreement only
2 the drafting organisation and the market an MGA’s, carrier’s or broker’s house list
3 the market, with a regime where needed a market edition, including one the LMA may publish, and the code list the CBAA SoUA tables reference
4 none (voc:boundScheme) LATTICE’s reference edition, the fallback when nothing more specific is bound

LATTICE’s precedence rule (a binding whose scopes are a strict superset wins, and a tie is a governance error) gives this order without Open CBAA logic. Each agreement version records the binding its values were resolved under (voc:resolvedUnder), so a later change of list does not change what an accepted agreement meant.

A published LMA view is welcome and fits at precedence 3. If it is richer than the reference, it serves directly. If it is flat, the bridge maps it to the reference as it would any other list.

3. What a Check Can Do

3.1 Kinds of peril scheme

Kind of scheme Structure it has Examples
flat list codes and labels, no skos:broader the market cause-of-loss list behind the SoUA “Perils List”
taxonomy a skos:broader hierarchy a house list grouped into families
crosswalked list either of the above, plus a reviewed crosswalk to the reference (§4) a house list mapped once, at onboarding
reference-structured kind and part links, characteristics, collections, overlaps, thresholds the reference edition, a market edition built as an override of it

A crosswalk does not give a list the reference’s structure. A code mapped exactly is lifted to the reference concept when data is ingested (§6), and is then decided against the reference. A code mapped inexactly may advise, never decide (B5). A list may be 90% exactly mapped and 10% not, and each code is treated by its own mapping.

3.2 What each check can do

CBAA check flat list taxonomy crosswalked list reference-structured
segment included and excluded perils (SoUA U1, U2) exact set membership hierarchical match with exclusions as its own structure, and as the reference for exactly mapped codes full
open grant with exclusions (“all perils excluding flood and earthquake”) membership in the list minus exclusions hierarchical as above full
standard exclusions present and unchanged (U4) code set comparison hierarchical comparison comparison with the reference standard set through the crosswalk full
cyber inclusion, exclusion and write-back (U5) membership of the listed cyber code hierarchical cause, agency and mechanism through the crosswalk full (peril vocabulary §6.8)
overlap needing a classification statement (surge and flood) not detectable not detectable detectable for exactly mapped codes full
materiality of a change to perils (M3) set difference subsumption between old and new scopes as its own structure, plus collections full, with design-time classes
accumulation by peril grouping (U9, GWP limits) groupings declared by the drafter by family reference model groupings full
natural catastrophe obligation (U8) a drafter-declared set family “natural hazard” if the taxonomy has one reference natural hazard family full
threshold-defined peril against event data no no exact mappings only full

No check needs a rule of its own to degrade. A hierarchical match written for the reference and evaluated against a flat list leaves every code it does not name Undetermined with exe:NoHierarchy (ADR-A100). A condition on a characteristic finds no value on a flat list’s code and is Undetermined with exe:MissingCandidate. A cell that says “no” is one of these. A referral carries the diagnostic, so an underwriter sees why the system could not decide.

4. Bridging Peril Schemes

4.1 From a drafter’s list to the reference

A crosswalk is authored once per list edition, when a drafter’s organisation is onboarded, and reused for every agreement and bordereau that uses the list. A person reviews every mapping. A model may propose them, in which case the proposals wait in MORK’s review queue (ADR-A13) and only accepted ones enter the crosswalk.

flowchart LR
    SRC["Drafter's list<br/>codes, labels, definitions"] -->|"author, or a model proposes"| PROP["Proposed mappings<br/>(MORK review queue, when proposed)"]
    PROP -->|"a person reviews"| ART["Crosswalk<br/>SKOS triples, characteristic values<br/>fnd:DerivedArtefact"]
    ART -->|"lookup at ingestion"| ING["Risk and loss records<br/>drafter code and reference concept"]
Source code shape Crosswalk content
one code, one reference concept skos:exactMatch or skos:closeMatch
a code broader or narrower than any concept skos:broadMatch or skos:narrowMatch
a code naming several axes (“accident railway crossing”, “arson by a third person”) a cause match plus characteristic values on the code (prl:typicalAgency, prl:typicalMechanism) and, where present, a consequence or harm subject
a code with no cause (“delay”, “no details”, “liability for buildings”) characteristic or consequence values only. No cause match, so cause checks leave it Undetermined
a group code membership of a prl:ModelGrouping

4.2 From the reference to a drafter’s list

The reverse direction serves a deployment that authors in the reference but must report or bind in a market’s codes. A reference concept lowers to the market code it maps exactly. Where only broader codes exist, the lowering is inexact and flagged, and where no code exists, the value is reported with the nearest broader code and a note. Lowering never invents codes.

4.3 Between two market lists

Two lists are bridged through the reference rather than to each other: each maps once to the reference, and the list-to-list correspondence is derived by composition. Composition of an exact and an inexact mapping is inexact (B5).

5. Bridging Contract Terms

Open CBAA’s statement parameters and LATTICE’s term parameters describe the same rows at different depth (term parameters §6).

Direction What happens Fidelity
lift: bound authority grant → LATTICE terms each SoUA row parameter becomes a term parameter on a coverage-grant term. Scope limits become limit parameters with their basis, claims basis a claims basis parameter, GWP limits an aggregate parameter with its window, perils the term’s scope exact, row by row. The lifted terms are derived artefacts citing the bound statement
lower: LATTICE terms → SoUA rows term parameters with a SoUA row counterpart lower to it exact where a row exists. Parameters with no row (reinstatement, collateral, occurrence grouping) cannot lower, and are reported as “not expressible in a SoUA table”
from a spreadsheet SoUA the base table’s rows and their embedded variables map to statement parameters MORK templates per row type. Human review of each first mapping, then reuse

Lifting is how an Open CBAA deployment uses LATTICE’s compiled capacity behaviour (accumulators by peril, scenario runs) without Open CBAA owning term parameters or capacity. The lift is a mapping, not a copy: re-running it on an amended agreement regenerates the terms.

6. Bridging Exposure

Source Target Construct
bordereau risk rows rsk:Risk and asset exposure exposure units MORK data mappings compiled to RML, one mapping graph per reporting format version
statements of values, open exposure data files asset exposure locations, assets, valuations, assessments same, with reference data mappings for construction, occupancy and peril codes
asset exposure data → bordereau reporting items lowering for reporting exact where the data item exists, flagged otherwise

Peril codes in exposure data go through the same peril crosswalk as contract perils, so a risk’s exposed perils and a segment’s covered perils are compared in one scheme.

7. Governance

Concern Rule
where mappings live a crosswalk is a reviewed graph in insurance/peril/crosswalk/ or in a deployment. Proposals, when a model makes them, live in MORK’s Mapping graph role (ADR-A13) until reviewed
review every crosswalk mapping is reviewed by a person. For recurring data formats (§5, §6), template instantiations above the confidence threshold may be accepted without individual review, and are sampled
versioning a crosswalk is versioned with both its source list edition and the reference edition. Either changing makes the crosswalk stale, which its read set shows
provenance the crosswalk is a fnd:DerivedArtefact with its evidence and reviewer. A crosswalk from model proposals also cites the MORK proposals it accepted
disagreement when the drafter’s definition and the reference concept differ, the mapping is inexact (close or broad), never exact. The contract’s definition stands (B1)
machine proposals extraction and proposal follow design-spec §3.7: a proposal is not meaning until reviewed

8. What LATTICE Provides

No bridge module exists. Each piece lives where its concern already lives:

Piece Home
hierarchical match over a list without a hierarchy, and exe:NoHierarchy Eligibility and its compilers (ADR-A100)
some-value and every-value readings for checks across several values Eligibility and its compilers (ADR-A103)
crosswalks as reviewed SKOS graphs with Foundation provenance, and published crosswalks insurance/peril/crosswalk/ (ADR-A100)
loss cause links carrying peril, mechanism and agency together insurance/exposure/ (aeo:LossCause)
proposals awaiting review, and ingestion of recurring formats compiled to RML MORK

9. Open Questions

# Question
MB-Q1 Should an agreement-scoped peril binding be created for every agreement, or only when the drafter supplies a list other than their organisation’s?
MB-Q2 What confidence threshold, and what sampling rate, for accepting template mappings of recurring data formats without individual review?
MB-Q3 Answered (ADR-A100 decision 10): a reviewed crosswalk of a widely used list may be published beside the reference edition where the list owner’s terms allow, so a deployment using the list starts aligned