Title: A software process ontology as a common vocabulary about software processes

Authors: Ricardo De Almeida Falbo, Gleidson Bertollo

Addresses: Computer Science Department, Federal University of Espirito Santo, Vitoria – ES, Brazil. ' Computer Science Department, Federal University of Espirito Santo, Vitoria – ES, Brazil

Abstract: Nowadays, several process quality models and standards, such as ISO/IEC 12207 and CMMI, are used to guide software organisations in their software process improvement efforts. Unfortunately, the vocabulary used by those models and by software organisations is diverse. This leads to misunderstanding and problems related to the joint use of different process quality models. In this paper, we present a software process ontology, which aims to establish a common vocabulary for software organisations to talk about software processes. A mapping between the concepts presented in the ontology and the concepts of some of these standards is also done in order to help software organisations to use those standards in their software process improvement efforts.

Keywords: software process ontology; process quality models; software processes; quality standards; common vocabulary; process improvement.

DOI: 10.1504/IJBPIM.2009.032281

International Journal of Business Process Integration and Management, 2009 Vol.4 No.4, pp.239 - 250

Published online: 28 Mar 2010 *

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