Modeling the Dynamics of Transferable Obligations in Business Procedures

In this paper we present a first sketch of a formal framework for representing deontic deep structure models for business procedures. These models can be used in redesign of such procedures. The framework is based on a combination of deontic logic and action logic. To illustrate its usefullness we illustrate how transferable obligations, i.e. obligations that can be transferred from one agent to another, can be analysed in this framework. In particular, we analyse the difference between transfer of agency and transfer of liability of an obligation.