Applying Ontology-Based Models for Supporting Integrated Software Development and IT Service Management Processes

Ontologies have been applied in previous research in an attempt to improve software engineering (SE) tools with computational semantics. In addition, ontology models have been applied to model and build supporting tools for IT service management (ITSM) processes, including the formal modeling of service-level agreements. Both the areas of concern share a common upper layer of concepts, as certain software development activities in some cases start from ITSM design needs or tasks. This suggests that existing ontologies in both domains can be integrated, thus resulting in enhanced semantic-aware process support tools, which crosscut the two concern areas. This paper reviews existing ontology-based models in the SE and ITSM domains and describes the main elements of a mapping that enables their integration. Several concrete cases in which that integration results in adding value to the processes are reported. A case study that adopts the approach is also described.