A relational table stores rows. An ontology stores things. In Discern every thing has a type from a small, fixed vocabulary, a stable identity that never changes even when its label does, and attributes that each carry a source and a time.
Types are locked, labels are not. An asset renamed from "Line 3" to "North line" keeps every order, access event and message that ever referred to it, because they point at the identity, not the name.
Five kinds of capability touch these objects, each defined by its relationship to the graph. An engine serves it. A connector proposes facts into it. A sensor proposes events. An actor proposes actions. A view only reads. Nothing but a person or a policy promotes.
Worked example · A work order is created
A scheduling system sends a work order. It becomes an Order object with a stable id, typed attributes for the requested date, the site and the crew size, and a link to the Asset it serves. The customer's identity is pseudonymised before anything leaves the appliance.
a worked example in generic terms; every operation renames the labels, the shapes do not change