Representing objects and their interactions can
be quite challenging when an application requires many
complicated, interconnected objects that are restricted
in how they can be instantiated. In this paper, we present
our approach to conceptual modelling. We have used this
approach with success in a number of applications, the
largest of which is the PROSE family of configurators.
PROSE was first deployed in 1990 and has been used to configure
over 4 billion dollars worth of AT&T and Lucent telecommunications
equipment. We will discuss our approach to conceptual modelling,
which is based on knowledge representation, show how it
meets our representation and reasoning needs, and then
discuss the relative merits of the approach.2