Analyzing a Process Core Ontology and Its Usefulness for Different Domains

Abstract

A well-specified strategy should define and integrate consistently three capabilities: process, method, and common vocabulary specifications. The domain vocabularies of different strategies should be built on common reference terminologies. For example, a process ontology should be a common reference since it considers cross-cutting concerns for different domains. This work specifies and defines the main terms of ProcessCO (Process Core Ontology). This is an ontology placed at the core level in the context of a four-layered ontological architecture. A practical use of an upper-level ontology is to semantically enrich the lowest-level ontologies. For example, ThingFO (an ontology at the foundational level in that architecture) enriches ProcessCO. Since ProcessCO is at the core level, ontologies at the domain level benefit from reusing and extending its concepts. Therefore, ProcessCO can be seen as a reusable resource to semantically enrich domain ontologies. To illustrate its applicability, this work shows the semantic enrichment of two top-domain ontologies. By using ProcessCO (and other core ontologies) as a common terminological reference, the domain ontologies used in the different strategies are conceptually harmonized. Hence, strategies ensure terminological uniformity and consistency, thus facilitating the understanding of process and method specifications.