An Ontological Approach to Support Domain Knowledge Learning in Information Systems Development

Abstract

This research focuses on providing integrated, structured, and user- independent domain knowledge for system analysts and designers. We take an ontological approach to representation of domain knowledge to support the process of obtaining domain knowledge in information system development. Domain knowledge learned by system analysts is their evolving perceptions of the application domain which is relatively stable and consistent. This research intends to capture the changing perceptions of application domain under the guidance of a consistent domain ontology. Another objective of this research is to link domain ontology with all design components to facilitate change management during ISD. A technique is proposed to apply ontology to modeling both the relative consistent reality of the world and the evolving understanding of an application domain, and to supporting change management during ISD process. We developed a prototype to demonstrate the technnique using a sample ontology for apparel manufacturing.