Shilpa Sharma,Maya Ingle, Int. J. Comp. Tech. Appl.
, Vol 2 (1), 147-154 ISSN : 2229-6093
An Ontology Driven Information System
Shilpa Sharma
Sanghvi Inst. of Management & Science
Indore, India
shilpa_1819@yahoo.com
Abstract
In the era of coalescing application
landscapes a big potential for defining,
implementing, disseminating and using ontologies is
evolving. Whenever a software development project
is not just concerned with a specific application but is
part of a landscape of projects located in different
domains, an ontology-driven approach may be worth
considering and even be advantageous as compared
to a traditional approach. One principal goal of this
approach is to extend the idea of reuse from the
modelling to implementation level. Instead of
building systems right from the scratch or from the
ready-made components which are plugged together
such as hardware modules, ontologies are reusable
model components from which particular
implementations can be derived for any domain
specific application . In this paper, the conceptual
modeling is practiced as an Object Oriented Software
Engineering and is mapped with the ontology
approach to devise Ontology Driven Software
Engineering approach. The resultant life cycle
models various Ontology Driven Information Systems
from different domains such as Expert Systems,
Decision Support Systems and Process Control
Systems etc. Finally, some perspectives of an
Ontology Driven Software Engineering approach are
outlined.
1. Introduction
When the Object Oriented Software
Engineering (OOSE) grappled its importance in the
1990ies, the approach do not separate functions and
data but view them as an integrated whole. These
encompass certain aspects of behavior modeling
which are expressed by operation definitions [1]. At
the most general level, the object oriented life cycle
Maya Ingle
Indore Institute of Computer Application
Indore, India
maya_ingle@rediffmail.com
is comprised of three phases such as analysis, design
and construction/implementation. The object oriented
analysis can be characterized as iteration between
analyzing the behavior and information of the
system. The object oriented design appears to be an
outside-in method. It started from the outside and
refining each class and instance until it can be
implemented by components and the code. The
construction process lasts until the coding is
completed and the code units have been tested. The
implementation activity then implements each
specific object.
Ontology is well known as description of declaration.
It involved with vocabulary and also facilitate with
the constraints for use of data [2]. The ontology
development life cycle is intertwined with the life
cycles of software application development. While
building a new ontology, the analysis phase serves
for initiating overall ontology development process.
The ontology domain is conceptualized, the glossary
is (further) filled, enhanced, extended and cross-
references are determined in the design phase. During
the construction/implementation phase the ontology
is translated into a concrete ontology with the help of
programming language (e.g. DAML+OIL, OWL,
XML+RDF, DL, Prolog, Java classes) as per the
requirements [5][6].
In the area of ontology the concept have been
supplemented above which allow expressing the
similarity of concept in ontology with OOSE. Section
2 introduces different models, constructed at different
phases of OOSDLC. Ontology is formally specified
models of bodies of knowledge defining concepts
used to describe a domain and the relationship that
hold between them. The various activities of ODLC
are conferred in Section 3. Section 4 illustrates the
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development of ODIS by identifying the mapping
element between the OOSDLC and ODLC. In
Section 5, we present some case studies to elucidate
the phase wise ODIS development. Finally, we
conclude with the benefits of an Ontology Driven
Software Engineering (ODSE).
2. Object Oriented Software Development
Life Cycle (OOSDLC)
In the course of software development,
different models are being constructed at the different
stages. As shown in the Figure 1, models are
developed associated with the processes that produce
them. This modelling technique is beneficial because
transitions between the models are seamless and it is
easy to maintain the traceability.
 Requirement model:
It is confined at the functional requirements.
The requirement model comprised of a Use case
model and Object model. The use case model
consists of actors and use cases supported by an
intuitive domain object model and interface
descriptions. The actor models the interaction with
the system and a use case specifies a flow that a
specific actor invokes in the system. The object
model gives a conceptual, easy to understand picture
of the system. Thus, the requirement model
completely defines the functional requirements of the
system user’s perspective.
 Analysis model:
This model aims to give system a robust and
changeable object Structure. During this phase the
requirement model is structured into analysis model.
Three types of objects are used namely: Entity
objects, Interface objects and Control objects. The
use case functionalities which are directly dependent
on the system’s environments are placed in interface
objects. The functionalities dealing with the storage
and handling of information are placed in the entity
objects. Functionalities specific to one or a few use
cases and not naturally placed in any of the other
objects are placed in control objects.
 Design model:
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The model is intended to adopt and refine the object
structure to current implementation environment.
This model can be regarded as a formalization of
analysis model. The model defines the structure and
hierarchy, interfaces, rules for commitment [7]. The
concept of block is used as a design object. One
block implements one analysis object.
 Implementation model:
It helps to implement the system. The base
for the implementation is design model. Here we
have specified the interface of each block and have
described the behavior.
F igur e 1 : OOSD L C
3. Ontology Development Life Cycle
(ODLC)
The ontology development process refers to
the activities that have to be performed when
building ontologies [15]. These may be classified into
three categories presented in Figure 2.
 Ontology management activities
These activities include scheduling, control
and quality assurance. The scheduling activity
identifies the tasks to be performed, arrangement,
time and resources needed for completion. The
control activity identifies scheduled tasks are
completed in the intended slot to be performed.
Finally, the quality assurance activity assures that the
quality of each and every product or output is
satisfactory.
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 Ontology development activities
These are grouped into pre development,
development and post development activities. During
the pre development, an environment study identifies
the problem to be solved and the application where
the ontology will be integrated. During the
development, specification activity states about the
ontology being built, its intended uses and the end
users. The conceptualization activity structures the
domain knowledge. The formalization activity
transforms the conceptual model into formal or semi
computable model. The implementation activity
builds computable model in an ontology language.
During the post development, the maintenance
activity updates and corrects the ontology if needed.
The evaluation activity consists of managing
ontology changes.
 Ontology support activities
These are a series of activities that can be
performed during development activities without
which the ontology could not be built. Knowledge
acquisition, evaluation, integration, alignment,
documentation and configuration management are the
parts. The goal of knowledge acquisition activity is to
acquire knowledge from experts in a given domain.
The evaluation activity makes technical judgment of
ontology, of their associated environments, and of the
documentation. The integration activity is required
when building new ontology by reusing other
ontologies already available. Another Support
activity is merging, which consists of obtaining a new
ontology starting from several ontologies in the same
domain. The resulting ontology is able to unify
concepts, terminology, definitions, constraints etc.,
from all the source ontologies. The documentation
activity details, clearly and exhaustively, each and
every one of the completed stages and products
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generated. The configuration management activity
records all the versions of the documentation
[16].Figure 2: ODLC
4. Proposed Work
Software quality and productivity can be
improved by the use of object oriented concepts in
Software Engineering Environment (SEE). It can
automate several tasks of the software development
process, making easier to control it. But, in many
cases, developers are building systems in Domain
Specific Object Oriented Software Engineering
Environment (DSOOSEE). To build a system in
DSOOSEE, it is essential to define the explicit
conceptualization of the domain. Ontologies involve
the specification of concepts and relations that exist
in the domain, definitions, properties and constraints.
The ontological approach involves ontology
development (mapped with domain analysis).
Plotting of ontologies into object models (mapped
with designing infrastructure specification) and the
construction and implementation (mapped with
development of reusable component).
The mapping of OOSDLC and OOLC shows that the
constraints during the development of systems in a
DSOOSE are removed which resulted into a
knowledge reuse development environment. An IS
can be developed using phased development life
cycle as shown in Figure 3. These phases are
integrated to accomplish a concrete Ontology Driven
Information System (ODIS).
 Ontolysis
It concerns with the purpose identification
and requirements specification to clearly identify the
competence of the ontology, as the domain
conceptualization based on the ontology competence.
Also, the relevant concepts and relations should be
identified and organized. A model using a graphical
language, with a dictionary of terms, is used to
facilitate the communication with domain experts.
 Ontodesign
It consists of ontology formalization,
integration of existing ontologies and ontology
evaluation. The ontology formalization aims to
explicitly represent the conceptualization captured in
a formal language. It is then necessary to integrate
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the current ontology with existing ones, in order to  Ontocontation

seize established conceptualizations. The ontology
must be evaluated to check whether it satisfies the
specification requirements.
The ontology development must be documented, descriptions of the conceptualization, the formal
including purposes, motivating scenarios, textual ontology and the adopted design criteria.

OOSDLC Mapping Element ODLC ODIS Development

Requirements management
and traceability supported
with automated validation
and consistency checking

Purpose identification
Domain Ontology Ontolysis
Analysis Development =
Requirements specification

All component descriptions

provided with background
knowledge

Domain conceptualization
Designing Plotting
Infrastructure Ontologies = Ontodesign
Specification Formalization into Object
Models
Interoperability with other
domains or applications

Textual descriptions
Construction Development
and of Reusable = Ontocontation
Implementati Documentation of Component
on adopted design criteria

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Figure 3: Mapping of OOSDLC with ODLC

5. Case studies
The currently used Information Systems
such as Expert Systems (ES), Decision Support
Systems (DSS) and Process Control Systems (PCS)
etc. are lacking in well-defined software interface and
obsolete software design. Also, it limits the number
of queries that can be tracked at any given time, and
the dated architecture makes enhancements,
troubleshooting and maintenance more difficult.
Thus, there is a need to build Information system
based on a method which can accommodate the
procedures for improved efficiency, flexibility,
interoperability for potential cost savings and
reduction in staffing. We present some real time
examples of PCS, DSS and ES which are developed
using ODSE.
5.1 Case 1: Intelligent Air Traffic Control
System (IATC System)
IATC System provides the guidance to aircraft for
preventing collisions and manages safe and orderly
traffic flow. The aircraft activity set is comprised of
Preflight, Takeoff, Departure, En route, Descent,
Approach and finally Landing. These activities are
highly complex and dependent which must employ
standard verification and modeling technique to
coordinate, distribute and track aircraft as well as
weather information. In IATC System, air traffic
controllers are primarily responsible for maintaining
aircraft traffic. Thus, there is a need to build IATC
System that can handle increased air traffic
capacity/congestion to provide a safe, critical
interactive system. The desired ontology driven
IATC System development, to support the controller
is as shown in Table1.

Table 1: Example of Expert System

S. No. Phases of ODIS Ontology Driven IATC System development

development

1 Ontolysis  The formalized structural and behavioral system description

of aircraft activity set

 Defining both the static semantics (the rules for

2 Ontodesign
wellformedness) and the dynamic (run-time) semantics of
the ATC system. These semantic rules are fully defined and
consistent, and in conjunction with an action specification
language, can be used to specify the details of state-
transition actions and interaction

3 Ontocontation  Automatically generated implementation that is all the

activities of an aircraft such as Preflight, Takeoff,
Departure, En route, Descent, Approach and Landing are
executable.

5.2 Case 2: Disease Analysis System (DA
System)
DA system provides the assistance to patients for
analysing the disease on the basis of observed
symptoms. In DA system, mainly the patient centric
records and disease centric records are mandatory for
disease analysis. The mapping of the observed
symptoms and standard parameters will be helpful in
identifying the disease Therefore both the records are

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very significant and must be available to a prevalent dependable, decisive and unrestrained system. The
extent. Thus, there is a need to build DA System that desired ontology driven DA System development, to
can handle increased complexities to provide a support the patient is as shown in Table 2.
Table 2: Example of Decision Support System

S. No. Phases of ODIS Ontology Driven DA System development

development

 The formalized structural and behavioral system description

1 Ontolysis of patient and disease centric records

 Defining both the static semantics (the rules for

wellformedness) and the dynamic (run-time) semantics of
2 Ontodesign the DA System. These semantic rules are fully defined and
consistent, and in conjunction with the standard parameters
that can be used to identify the disease
 Automatically generated implementation of disease analysis
3 Ontocontation will be resulted to a suggestive treatment to a patient.

5.3 Case 3: Power Utility System (PU System)
PU System provides the direction to power plants for
power distribution and its supply mode. It also
manages power source details and power control. In
PU System, the power control unit is the key unit.
This unit is responsible for defining the total power
requirement, number of units procured and its mode
of supply. The desired ontology driven PU System
development, to support the power control is as
shown in Table3.

Table 3: Example of Process Control System

S. No. Phases of ODIS Ontology Driven PU System development

development

 The formalized structural and behavioral system description

1 Ontolysis of power distribution and its control

 Defining both the static semantics (the rules for

wellformedness) and the dynamic (run-time) semantics of
2 Ontodesign the PU System. These semantic rules are fully defined and
consistent, and in conjunction with the parameters such as
main grid, high tension line, low tension line etc., can be
used to specify the details of supply mode actions.
 Automatically generated implementation that is all the
3 Ontocontation activities of power utility set such as power source type,
supply mode and control are executable.

6. Result and Conclusion It is observed that every Information System

can be build using ontological approach, since the

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ontology profitably drives all aspects of an IS, there
by it can be “Ontology Driven Information Systems”.
Also, it enables the developer to reuse and share
application domain knowledge using a common
vocabulary across heterogeneous software
applications. Ontology facilitates the developer to
concentrate on structure or the domain and task.
Ontology and software development are intertwined
in manifold respects. Particularly, the connections in
the early and late phases such as System analysis
implies the investigation of existing ontologies and
the transfer of codified knowledge for the application
domain being considered. System design builds on
ontological definitions and commitments for the
current project. System implementations imply
feedback of the project results and experiences to the
ontology developers/maintainers and have to be
incorporated there in order to keep the ontology a
proactive component. Thus, we think that one key to
promoting the advantages of ontologies is in a higher
reuse of ontological knowledge across the Software
Engineering lifecycle.
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