An ontology for information system development methodologies

Abstract

As more organisations are expanding in their operations, there has been a strong emphasis on investing in Information Systems (IS). To ensure successful deployment of IS, software developers are advised to apply Information Systems Development Methodologies (ISDMs). The ISDMs provide a systematic approach to development of IS and ensure efficient use of resources during the development process. The stakeholders conducting the software development usually face problems communicating Systems Development (SD) terminologies. The software developers inconsistently use the SD terminologies during software development. Recently a new concept called ontology has been gaining a lot of popularity in Artificial Intelligence (AI), Computational Lingnistics and Database theory. Ontology'S potential is being realized in its ability to capture knowledge into a knowledge-base that could be shared with people within a particular domain area. This study aims at helping the software developers in understanding the different types of terminologies applied when conducting software development. The main objective is to develop an ontology for Information Systems Development Methodologies. The ontology will be used to mediate the meaning ofterminologies of SD. In cases where the development of software is undertaken through outsourcing, the software developers located in different countries can use a similar ontology in order to minimise the misunderstanding in the application of systems development terminologies during the development process. To determine the terminologies to use in the development of the ontology, a qualitative research approach was used. The research is regarded qualitative, as the information gathered for this research will not be expressed in numbers. The research paradigm employed in this research in interpretive in nature. To gather the data, both primary and secondary data collection strategies were employed. Data was gathered through document review and it was coupled with interviews conducted on a software development practitioner and three academics. After the data was collected, it was analyzed using the agreed upon terminologies. The ontology was then developed using a software package called Protege. The study found that software developers still have a misunderstanding on the use of SD terminologies. By developing an ontology for Information Systems Development Methodologies, the software developers can use the ontology to mediate the meaning of the SD terminologies that would minimize the misunderstanding of systems development terminologies when conducting software development.