DESIGN, BUILD AND EVALUATION OF AN ONTOLOGY-BASED KMS FOR SUPPORTING CMMI-DEV UNDERSTANDING: BENEFITS AND LIMITATIONS

Abstract

The design, build and evaluation of an ontology-based knowledge management system prototype tool — entitled CMMIoKMS — for supporting the consultation and understanding of CMMI for Development (CMMI-DEV) is reported. Ontology-based tools have been proposed for improving such complex cognitive tasks realized by Software Engineering practitioners involved in CMMI implementations. The design of the CMMI-oKMS prototype tool is based on four proprietary ontologies (of things, of systems, of business, and of CMMI models) and built with Protégé tool. The result from a pilot empirical test, is reported as being satisfactory — compared with the extant reported systems — on the metric of perceived value (with statistical significance) and over usefulness, compatibility, and test score constructs (with practical significance), while that no gain was found in ease of use. Hence, given the limited number of similar KMS tools reported in the current literature, this research contributes to our body of knowledge in Software Engineering by providing useful design, building and evaluation insights for improving these knowledge support systems.