Using ontology to support development of software architectures

A. Akerman J. Tyree In this paper we propose an approach to software development that focuses on architecture decisions and involves the use of ontology. In this approach the architecture is captured by an instance of an ontology. The ontology has four major components: architecture assets, architecture decisions, stakeholder concerns, and an architecture roadmap. We illustrate our approach through a case study involving a realtime credit-approval system and the use of Protégé, an open-source ontology development tool.