Ontology & Semantic Knowledge Graphs Strategic Positioning | TotalEnergies x Forvis Mazars

Voice of Peers

What do external peers reveal about semantic standards, vocabulary alignment, and ontology adoption?

Objective: Gather industry trends and case studies from peers to reinforce internal positioning.

×

Contents

Voice of Peers

1.Context

2.Executive summary

3.Lars Berthinussen

4.Pierre Kiener

5.Arkopaul Sarkar

6.Implications for TotalEnergies

7.Conclusion

Context

Ontology & Semantic Knowledge Graphs Strategic Positioning

TotalEnergies and OneTech already have a solid semantic foundation through TSF and SousLeSens (SLS). The strategic issue is adoption: leadership needs to see why governed meaning matters, where it creates measurable value, and how it fits the OneTech landscape across platforms, operations, data products, and AI.

The work builds on a first mission conducted from November 2025 to January 2026, the Cross-FPSO Semantic Preparation and Ontology Vetting Program, where Forvis Mazars assembled the team with NCOR, the National Center for Ontological Research. That mission validated TSF's alignment with BFO (Basic Formal Ontology, ISO/IEC 21838-2:2021) through a formal audit of the TE Business Objects ontology, and delivered a machine learning prototype that matched 23,000 Pazflor functional locations to Dalia equivalents to bootstrap cross-FPSO job card transfer for life extension planning. This second mission turns that validated technical foundation into a positioning narrative for TSF and SousLeSens within OneTech.

5 coordinated workstreams and 5 client-facing decks.
12 internal stakeholder interview profiles and 3 Voice of Peers interview profiles.
9 benchmarked tool profiles across semantic control, platform, graph, catalog, and AI layers.
25 strategic intelligence organization profiles backed by 26 evidence notes.
Management assets include the Executive Deck, one-pager, FAQ, use-case showcase, decision framework, RFI/RFP support, benchmark matrix, and evidence registers.

This deck is the external credibility layer. Use it to show that the direction is not isolated: industrial peers and standards communities are moving toward machine-readable standards, shared vocabulary, and governed meaning for data and AI.

Executive summary

Peer evidence confirms that shared semantics helps industrial organizations coordinate standards, vocabulary, models, and AI.

What external validation should management retain?

Standards

Machine-readable standards

Oil and gas standards are moving toward queryable, versioned semantic assets rather than static PDF interpretation.

Vocabulary

Shared language

Manufacturing peers see vocabulary alignment as a prerequisite for trustworthy data, AI, and cross-domain decisions.

Ontology

BFO / IOF alignment

Industrial ontology work provides a credible foundation for model interoperability and reusable engineering knowledge.

Implications

TotalEnergies is directionally aligned with external peer signals. The adoption challenge is to turn TSF and SousLeSens from expert assets into operational services.

Peer profile

Lars Berthinussen

Managing Director, PCA / POSC Caesar Association

Signal

External standards ecosystems are moving toward machine-readable, living standards. PDF standards alone are too slow and costly for industrial interoperability.

Main processes

Evolves ISO 15926 heritage and CFIHOS+ ontology extensions.
Supports DISC collaboration across oil and gas actors.
Acts as maintenance agency for IDO / SDO standards.
Promotes faster decentralized content governance.

Case summary

Publish semantic standards as queryable services.
Use IRI version control and machine-readable content.
Democratize extension while preserving governance.
Align semantic pipelines with ISO workflows.

Implications

TSF should remain compatible with external standards while giving TotalEnergies faster internal reuse.

Peer profile

Pierre Kiener

Senior Expert, Elastomer R&D, Michelin

Signal

Shared vocabulary is both a leadership and technical issue. Data lakes and LLMs increase the need for alignment across domains.

Main processes

Advises R&D and industrialization processes.
Supports knowledge transfer across expert networks.
Advocates ontology to reconcile vocabulary misalignment.
Bridges data and LLM teams around industrial knowledge.

Case summary

Provide enterprise reference vocabulary to all users.
Secure leadership sponsorship for shared vocabulary.
Connect semantic investment to reduced hallucination and alignment cost.
Mandate shared vocabulary before data proliferation.

Implications

Peer feedback confirms that executive sponsorship is required to make semantic alignment stick.

Peer profile

Arkopaul Sarkar

Guest Researcher, NIST / Co-chair IOF Core Ontology

Signal

BFO / IOF alignment gives TotalEnergies an internationally credible foundation for semantic interoperability across engineering models and supply chains.

Main processes

Works on semantic interoperability for supply chain traceability.
Co-chairs IOF Core Ontology based on BFO.
Led Airbus Semantic Hub model-interoperability work.
Contributes to ontology interoperability initiatives.

Case summary

Make top-level ontologies usable for industry.
Improve tooling for engineers.
Let legacy systems and semantic approaches coexist during adoption.
Apply semantic interoperability beyond data to model integration.

Implications

External validation supports TSF direction; adoption will depend on practical tooling and coexistence with current systems.

Implications for TotalEnergies

Peer evidence supports the TSF direction and clarifies the adoption challenge.

What should the Voice of Peers add to the communication kit?

Evidence 1

Standards must become usable

Semantic standards should be exposed as living, queryable assets that platforms and teams can consume.

Evidence 2

Vocabulary is strategic

Shared vocabulary enables data, AI, and process alignment across functions and systems.

Evidence 3

Ontology needs adoption design

Industrial credibility is high, but tools and operating models must make ontology usable for non-specialists.

Communication position

Use Voice of Peers interviews to show that TotalEnergies is aligned with a broader market direction: governed, reusable, machine-readable meaning consumed by platforms and AI.

Conclusion

Three peer experts from three industries reached the same verdict: executive sponsorship is the deciding variable.

Three peer interviews from distinct vantage points produced consistent signals. Lars Berthinussen confirmed that the industry is moving from static PDF standards to living, queryable semantic assets and that machine-readable standards are now a shared infrastructure concern. Pierre Kiener confirmed that vocabulary misalignment is both a leadership and a technical problem, and that executive sponsorship is the deciding factor for adoption at scale. Arkopaul Sarkar confirmed that BFO and IOF alignment gives TotalEnergies an internationally credible foundation for semantic interoperability, and that practical tooling and coexistence with legacy systems are the remaining challenges.

Across all three perspectives, the direction is the same. Governed, reusable, machine-readable meaning is becoming a prerequisite for trustworthy data, reliable AI, and cross-domain decisions. TotalEnergies is directionally aligned with this position. The adoption challenge is not technical; it is packaging, operating model design, and executive commitment.

Peer evidence validates the TSF direction from standards, manufacturing R&D, and industrial ontology research perspectives simultaneously.
Executive sponsorship determines whether vocabulary alignment sticks at enterprise scale.
Standards compatibility with ISO 15926, BFO, and IOF gives TotalEnergies credibility in cross-industry conversations.
Legacy coexistence is a design requirement, not an obstacle: adoption improves when semantic and existing systems work together.

The communication kit should use these peer signals to show TotalEnergies leadership that the semantic investment is aligned with the direction the most knowledge-intensive industrial organizations have already taken.