An ontology-driven software development framework

The software development process has been curtailed by the lack of a methodology that can captureand maintain the softer, humanist characteristics of organizational systems into the software product.This is attributed to the absence of a software model that can capture and maintain thesecharacteristics at analysis through to design and implementation phases of the development life cycle.Using grounded theory method, the authors investigated issues that limit the usability of softwaresystems in organizations. These were tracked back to the developmental stages of software productsand were attributed to the human aspects of organizational systems that are not captured. On the otherend, ontologies are explored and positioned as artefacts that can be used to capture the softer, humanaspects of organizational systems.This paper therefore presents a framework that positions ontologies at the centre of the softwaredevelopment process. This ontology artefact takes the role of the software model that bridges thecommunication gap between the software development phases as well as among stakeholders in thedevelopment process. At the same time, it allows soft issues such as culture, social context, semanticsand pragmatics to be maintained in the software products that run organizational informationsystems.