Ontology for knowledge management in software maintenance

• The concept of ontologies has been widely reported but few works try to explain how to design an ontology.
• It is widely accepted the importance of maintenance of software but few ontological designs applying techniques to manage knowledge to get it.
• Is described a methodological process to structure an ontology that can be applied to manage knowledge in software maintenance.

The concept of ontologies has been widely reported in the literature, and has been described various ontological designs, but few works try to explain in practical terms how to design an ontology. On the other side, although it is widely accepted the importance of maintenance of software products, few ontological designs focus on applying techniques to manage knowledge to get it. This paper analyzes the ontologies proposed to address this need, in order to present information that can help to software development organizations in similar works. Besides, is described a methodological process to structure an ontology that can be applied to manage knowledge in software maintenance.