Towards Digitalization of business processes: Building a business

domain ontology for project management

NATALIA MAMEDOVA1

1Associate professor, Basic Department of digital economy, Higher School of Cyber Technologies,

Mathematics and Statistics

1Plekhanov Russian University of Economics

1RUSSIA

Abstract: The article presents an ontological model of the subject area. It was designed to improve the efficiency

of the software development process and reduce development costs. This ontological model is recommended to

be used in the formation of the company's software architecture. The article contains data on the process and

results of developing an ontological model of the selected subject area. The theoretical justification of the

application of the ontological approach is presented. The business domain of relations between IT directors during

the implementation of the digitalization project of the company's business process is defined as a subject area.

The sources of the metadata of the ontological model were the standards for the organization of collective activity

– ISO 21500:2012 and PRINCE2. The ontological model was developed in accordance with the basic

characteristics of the modeling process and the mathematical apparatus that established the relationship of

concepts and the order of inheritance of attributes. The project topics became layers of the ontological model, the

responsibility for the consistent implementation of which is borne by IT directors, as well as the functional tasks

and functional roles of IT management distributed among them. The order and direction of interaction of the IT

management in the project is shown by the relationships between the entities of the model. The chosen form of

visualization - semantic network - allows you to demonstrate the result of the development of an ontological

model and can be considered as a ready-made product to support the semantics of end-user requests in the

company.

Key-Words: ontology, ontological model, IT directors, digitalization project, semantic network, IT management

Received: July 24, 2021. Revised: June 19, 2022. Accepted: July 24, 2022. Published: September 16, 2022.

1 Introduction

The application of an ontological approach to the

modeling of business processes, automated

information systems is a widespread practice. It is

enough to point out such subject areas as corporate

knowledge management and management of the

architecture of the company's business processes [1,

2]. Any database and business process described in

any notation become part of the corporate knowledge

system [3]. And it, in turn, needs to create meta-keys

that provide ordering, linking and quick recall of

information. This task is performed by ontology, and

the method of its application is called the ontological

approach.

Ontology from a theoretical point of view is a

well-studied, practically codified field of knowledge

[4, 5]. From the standpoint of philosophy, the

construction of ontology is the process of

conceptualizing the essence of knowledge in the

subject area [6]. And in practice, there is no unity of

methodology for constructing ontological models [7].

Succinctly and meaningfully defining the concept of

ontology, we point out that ontology is a structure

describing the meaning of elements of a certain

system, with the help of which it is possible to form

relationships, classes of both the system itself and its

subsystems. In simple words, an ontology is

conveniently structured metadata that captures the

features and properties of entities that we want to

remember, save and have easy access to. Ontology

helps to structure the world around us, to describe a

specific subject area in the form of concepts, rules

and statements about these concepts.

By the subject business domain, we mean a stable

relationship between the names, concepts and objects

of the selected business area, independent of the

information system itself and the circle of its users.

By naming the subject area, we, on the one hand,

limit, and on the other hand, visualize the information

search space. Working with a domain-oriented data

warehouse, thanks to the introduced subject area,

allows you to perform queries in a finite time,

including unregulated ones.

It is difficult to overestimate the importance of

ontological models. They underpin all modern

management systems and support knowledge-based

applications. [8]. Knowledge transfer support

systems that combine structured data with business

domain ontologies are also based on them. [9]. If we

talk about extracting information from heterogeneous

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data resources, then ontology-based systems are able

to process such information and integrate it into

consistent knowledge bases. Then related

information from disparate sources, with the

exception of duplicate information, can be used to

query in an integrated and seamless manner [10].

Specialists who have the skills of designing and

developing information systems based on ontological

models are in demand specialists. Especially when it

comes to the development of intelligent information

systems [11, 12].

It is believed that in information systems and

related fields, the use of business domain ontology

contributes to the general understanding of the

subject area, but there is not enough empirical data to

support this statement. [13]. We support the position

that the use of the subject area at the group level has

an advantage. The ontological model is a metadata

model. In our opinion, this allows all participants in

the process of interaction to operate not so much a

single system of concepts as a single system of

meanings underlying such concepts and the

connections between them.

The necessary quality of verbal and nonverbal

interaction is provided, since ontology literally

unifies the language that specialists speak and

communicate with each other. This happens through

the unification of the semantic query, making it more

accurate and supporting the optimization of queries

based on the axiom [14]. Adaptation of the business

domain ontology for personalized search of

knowledge and recommendations is carried out on

the basis of adaptation models that consider the

previous behavior of users [15] and individual

cognitive styles for the organization of joint ontology

design [16]. As a result, adaptive ontology satisfies

the future requirements of users and increases the

value of knowledge. Separate efforts should be made

to ensure the integrity of the ontology of the subject

area, for example, by introducing a mechanism for

collecting knowledge based on pre-processing

requests [17]. In relation to a separate subject area,

the ontological model is limited to its description. At

the same time, it has a complete toolkit for reuse [18]

and updating of ontologies, which includes

enrichment and filling [19].

One of the ways to apply the ontological approach

is to develop an ontology for the formal

conceptualization of our understanding of various

areas of human activity [20]. We have set ourselves

the task of formalizing organizational ties between IT

directors in the process of their interaction. The field

of IT management relations in the process of

digitalization of business processes in the company

was chosen as the subject area. By formalizing

organizational ties, we meant building a relationship

model. And the best way to solve this problem is by

developing an ontological model. Thus, the purpose

of the study was to create an ontological model of the

subject area used to increase the efficiency of the

software development process and reduce

development costs.

As a natural limitation of the subject area, we

denote that it describes corporate knowledge

management systems classified as "local as

view"[14]. While network content management

systems [21], classified as "global as view", are not

represented in this study.

The key task for the reuse of knowledge about the

interaction of IT management in the project is to

extract existing examples of interaction in similar

functional areas. We have systematized the positive

practices of relations between IT directors within the

process space of standard corporate systems. The

developed ontology for the selected business domain

provides a formal representation of reference

processes in the field of standard corporate systems.

This determines the potential of implementing an

ontological model into a corporate system for

supporting knowledge-based applications.

The developed model captures and unifies all the

significant signs and properties of the relationship

between IT directors, which we want to raise to the

standard of interaction. By applying the ontological

model, we will be able to correlate the standard with

the practice of interaction of IT directors. The nature

of the ontological model is such that we will have

easy access to all the entities of interaction

relationships in order to make changes to the search

algorithm for the corporate knowledge base.

The task of building an ontological business

domain model to support the interaction of IT

directors is a non-trivial task. Its complexity is

determined, in particular, by the presence of many

intersubstitutable and intersubjective connections

between IT directors. In addition, the separate

functionality and individual goals of the interaction

participants should be considered. In solving the

problem of building an ontological model of the

chosen subject area to support the interaction of IT

directors, we will refer to the standards for forms of

collective activity - ISO 21500:2012 and PRINCE2.

By isolating the entities of interaction relations from

these standards and applying them to the practice of

interaction of IT directors in the digitalization of

business processes, we will develop an ontological

model, which is the purpose of the study. This

ontological model is recommended to be used in the

formation of the company's software architecture.

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2 Materials and methods

When launching and implementing a business

process digitalization project, it is important that

process participants and support units are provided

with complete and reliable information, data sets at

all stages of the project. The organization of

information support is a task that is not solved during

the implementation of the project, but should be

solved long before its initiation. This approach

ensures the viability and effectiveness of the project.

It should also be borne in mind that the duration of

business process digitalization projects is a very

variable category. Therefore, before initiating the

project, it is also necessary to solve the problem of

choosing a project management methodology.

We believe that it is impractical to use

cumbersome methodologies for its implementation,

in particular, PMBoK or ISO 21500:2012. Despite

their comprehensive and complete approach to

project management, they still become redundant,

causing the need for preliminary adaptation to the

field of application.

It is also unreasonable to give preference to

flexible methodologies (Agile, Scrum) when

implementing a project to digitalize a business

process. They are ideal for software development

projects, having advantages such as iterative releases,

embedded testing and validation of the working

product at all stages of development. However,

digital infrastructure projects are characterized by a

fixed volume and content of the project, and this

limits the possibilities of flexible methodologies and

devalues their application.

The golden mean between classical and flexible

methodologies, in our opinion, is PRojects IN

Controlled Environments 2 (PRINCE2). This

methodology has a full-fledged structure of processes

and documents, that is, it contains all the necessary

subject groups of processes for the implementation of

digitalization projects, namely, planning, change

management and quality management. Moving from

abstract levels to concrete filling of stages, substages

and connections (that is, from top to bottom), the

methodology focuses not on the result, but on the

process. At the same time, it does not contain a

description of specific details, does not pretend to

universality and detailing of specific cases of project

implementation. Unlike classical methodologies

(PMBoK or ISO 21500:2012), which are applicable

to projects of any subject area, PRINCE2 adapts to

the specifics of the organization and scales for

projects of various sizes and complexity. This

property allows you to reuse the accumulated

experience of project implementation. In addition,

PRINCE2 can be combined with industry

methodologies.

The recursive approach in PRINCE2 most clearly

characterizes the possibilities of the methodology we

have chosen for the implementation of business

process digitalization projects. On the one hand, we

use the PBS (Product Breakdown Structure) tool,

which splits the target product into non-overlapping

sub-products. Accordingly, we get the opportunity to

implement each of the sub-products according to a

simplified algorithm, which is close to flexible

methodologies. On the other hand, the nature of

recursion is such that each step of the project is

determined by the results of the previous step.

Accordingly, the stack of project steps sequentially

passes through all stages, and inclusion in the stack

of steps of the next stage of the project is possible

only after the completion of the previously

implemented one. This property is characteristic of

classical methodologies.

All of the above can be considered a justification

for the application of the PRINCE2 methodology for

the implementation of a project to digitalize the

company's business process. Next, let's imagine how

the PRINCE2 methodology, used among corporate

standards for forms of collective activity, can be

integrated into an ontological model. Our model is

represented by a triad:

      (1)

where C={ci} – a set of concepts (concepts)

forming an ontology , and, if    



, then  ,

where:

 󰇝   󰇞 – the set of attributes of

the concept i (n – the number of attributes describing

this concept);

   – the relation of direct inheritance.

The ratio R is given by the matrix I*I. At the same

time, dependent (child) concepts () inherit

attributes from the parent concept () and expand the

number of attributes with their own:

󰇛 󰇜     (2)

Recall that our subject area is the support of

interaction between IT directors in the

implementation of digitalization projects of business

processes. Modeling the subject area using an

ontological model involves determining the basic

characteristics of the modeling process. To them, we

attributed the following, respectively:

• the ontological model is universal in terms of

linguistic, symbolic or pictographic

representation of data;

• the ontological model supports the concept

of assigning attributes to entities;

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• the ontological model is built according to

the object-oriented concept of class

inheritance, this ensures the organization of

all entities into a logically related structure;

• the ontological model supports n:n

relationships (between two objects) and n:m

relationships (between an object and a set of

objects) using binding relationships; as a

result, we have a variety of semantics, we can

take into account role, time characteristics;

• the ontological model has an extensible

format while preserving the original data

model, that is, it allows you to expand the list

of entities without losing the quality of the

connecting relationships;

• the ontology data model corresponds to such

an architectural principle as the difference

between objects, object properties and

activities in project management. Thus, the

connection of the properties of the object

with its description will be ensured and the

possibility of the properties of the object to

have multiple versions or descriptions;

• the ontological model supports multiple

inheritance of concepts and does not contain

false inheritance relations linking the

concept with the ancestor of its parent

concept.

The ontological model has a hierarchical

structure. The analysis of the subject area of IT

management interaction in the implementation of

business process digitalization projects makes it

possible to divide the concept space into meta-

ontology and the actual ontology of the subject area.

Through meta-ontology, we obtain a generalization

regarding the source of the collected fragments of

knowledge and realize the intention to adhere to a

structure close to the ontological structure [22].

The set of concepts for the ontological model were

selected using the theory of social networks, and the

relationships between the concepts were identified by

the method of hierarchical clustering. Next, the

hierarchy of concepts of the subject area was

developed and the properties and relationships

between the concepts were determined.

Meta-ontology includes concepts that denote

categories in relation to the concepts of the subject

area. The structure of the meta-ontology determines

the structure of the subject area, therefore, an

algorithm for verifying the integrity of the system of

concepts of the subject area is based on it.

Visually, the ontological model is the result of

combining three levels, each of which contains

interrelated entities. The upper level includes meta-

ontology entities. This is followed by two levels of

entities of the business domain ontology. One of

them includes entities combined in accordance with

the functional task that the IT director performs in the

project. The second level combines entities according

to the principle of a functional role for each position

of the IT management.

Recall that according to a given architectural

principle, we distinguish objects in the data model,

properties of objects (properties), as well as types of

activities (activities). Accordingly, the upper level of

the ontological model, in accordance with the

specified architectural principle, includes the

activities of the IT management in the project. Then

the next two levels of business domain ontology

include objects of their interaction and properties of

objects. Each object in the data model corresponds to

properties such as the name of the concept, the

composition of the attributes of the concept and the

generic relations of the concept.

Recall that the establishment of an order for

determining the entities of the IT management

interaction relationships is our first step. This

concludes the methodological component of the

study – we have summed up the theoretical basis and

justified the application of standards of collective

activity to build a model of relations. We have also

identified the basic characteristics and the

mathematical basis according to which the

ontological model will be formed. The following is

an applied stage of the study, the meaning of which

is to establish a list and hierarchy of entities of IT

management interaction relationships. The hierarchy

is based on the patterns of interaction between IT

directors. By characterizing the patterns of

interaction, we will be able to identify the attributes

of entities in the ontological model being developed.

The following are the results of determining the

entities of the ontological model sequentially for all

its levels.

3 Results and discussion

Definition of Meta-ontology entities

We offer a description of the top level of the

ontological model being developed. Its entities

expressing the unique, but at the same time related

topics of the project are presented in the PRINCE2

methodology. These are 7 topics (aspects) of the

project that require constant attention from IT

directors (Fig. 1). Each of the entities in accordance

with the recursive approach is connected to itself and

maintains a binding relationship with other entities.

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Fig. 1 – 7 topics (aspects) of the PRINCE2

methodology project [23]

Let's present a semantic description of the entities

included in the ontological model to the extent that a

clear idea of their essence can be obtained, but

without the details contained in the PRINCE2

methodology.

The essence of the "Business Case" includes a list

of criteria for the viability of the project and tools for

monitoring the feasibility of the project at all stages

of its implementation. The criteria are based on data

on the economic justification of the project (benefits,

costs, risks, investments), which are necessary for

deciding on its launch and phased implementation.

The entity "Organization" includes data on the

functional distribution of the roles of IT management

in the project, the structure of responsibility and

responsibilities for each role. But it should be borne

in mind that the digitalization project is integrated

into the general outline of the company's business

processes and is only part of the overall scale of

activity. Therefore, the range of entity roles includes

data on all stakeholders (groups of people), both

those who can influence the project and those who

are affected by the project.

The essence of "Quality" contains a classification

of means of validation and verification of project

results (at any stage) to the expected needs,

requirements and specifications. It is assumed that

any created product must have a set of properties that

characterize its specified consumer qualities.

The "Plans" entity contains data on planning

levels, types of plans and properties of their

structures, as well as planning benchmarks. The

PRINCE2 methodology contains indications of the

following types of project implementation plans – the

project initiation stage plan, the project plan itself,

product creation stage plans, exception plans, team

plans.

The essence of "Risk" includes risk identifiers

indicating risk situations, risk assessment indices,

ranks and control indicators of project risks at all

stages of design (from the initiation of the project and

during its implementation). Risk analysis and

management at the time of its occurrence in

accordance with the PRINCE2 methodology is

considered as a factor in increasing the success of the

project.

The "Change" entity contains indicators for

managing potential (spontaneous) and planned

changes to the final product and its intermediate

stages. The management of any content changes

presupposes their preliminary determination and

evaluation based on previous experience. Approval

of changes takes place on the basis of a request for

change and is evaluated in terms of the impact on the

economic justification of the project (the essence of

the "Business Case").

The essence of "Progress" includes benchmarks

for monitoring results and forecasting project goals.

The data necessary for making further decisions

based on the results of monitoring are formed by

comparing the values of the actual indicators of the

project with the planned ones. All these actions are

carried out in accordance with the approved

monitoring and forecasting mechanisms.

Summarizing the list of entities corresponding to

the project topics in the PRINCE2 methodology, we

indicate that they constitute the upper level - meta-

ontology. Having described it, we can proceed to the

description of the ontology of the subject area itself.

Recall that it includes entities of two levels. One of

them includes entities combined in accordance with

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the functional task that the IT director performs in the

project. The second level combines entities according

to the principle of a functional role for each position

of the IT management.

Definition of the entities of the ontological model by

the type of functional task

For the subject area of IT management interaction,

the data model is primarily represented by

communication relationships. Taking this into

account, it was necessary to determine the

composition of entities describing the functional

tasks performed by IT management in the project

through communication between IT directors.

The PRINCE2 methodology provides such a tool

as a communications management strategy. The

document of the same name describes the meaning

and frequency of communications between project

participants. There is a clear limitation of

methodology here. It is obvious that only an

interaction management plan is not enough to

organize interaction between project participants.

Tools are needed that will ensure such processes as

the distribution of input, output data and

communication management. To solve this problem,

additional entities of IT management interaction

relationships were included in the ontological model.

To ensure continuity between classes of entities, the

standard for forms of collective activity – ISO

21500:2012 "Guidance on project management" was

used. Thus, in addition to the entity "Communication

Management Strategy", the entities "Communication

Plan", "Distributed information", "Communication

Management" with their corresponding child entities

were taken from the ISO 21500:2012 Standard into

the structure of the ontological model level (Table 1).

Table 1 - Composition of entities combined by

type of functional task

Entity

Child entity

Communication plan

Project plans

Description of roles and

responsibilities

Approved changes

Common information

Communication plan

Reports on the performance of work

Unplanned requests for information

Communications

management

Communication plan

Common information

Reliable and timely information

Corrective actions

Communications

management strategy

Standards, communication methods

Description of roles and

responsibilities

Storing communication records

Frequency of communications

Communication format

Reporting

The entities presented in Table 1 are inherited

from the corporate communications policy, project

initiation documentation (in terms of the project

management team structure, risk management

strategy, quality management strategy, change

management strategy). If necessary, the reporting of

communications is also formalized, for example,

meetings and informal discussions with stakeholders.

Since the ontological model is large enough, the

concept of inheritance of concepts provides an

effective way to organize all entities into a logically

connected structure.

Definition of entities of the ontological model by the

type of functional role

Having described the entities combined in

accordance with the functional task performed by the

IT management of the project, we proceed to the

description of the last level of the ontological model.

Recall that this level unites entities according to the

principle of the functional role of the IT director in

the project.

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In order to include a level with the positions of IT

directors in the ontological model, it was necessary

to make a description of their functional roles. To do

this, we have identified the features of each

functional role that determine the essence of the

interaction of IT management in the implementation

of business process digitalization projects. In the

classification, the names of IT management positions

adopted in the business environment and which have

already become traditional were used. Figure 2 shows

the functional roles of project participants with

reference to the positions held by IT directors in the

company – CEO, CDO, CDTO, CTO, CIO, CA.

Fig. 2 - Functional roles of IT management in project

implementation

Correlating the positions of CIOs with the

functional roles of project participants, we also gave

them a characteristic. The meaning of the verbal

description of each position of the IT management is

that structured metadata for the construction of the

second level brings all the significant features of the

functional role into the ontological model.

Below are the characteristics of all positions of the

IT management involved in the digitalization project

of the company's business process.

The Chief Information Officer (CIO) provides

leadership in the development, delivery and

implementation of technologies as auxiliary tools for

the implementation of business processes. In the

strategic aspect of its activities in the company, the

CIO is responsible for the implementation of the

Strategic Plan of Information Systems - ISSP [24]. Its

day-to-day activities include end-to-end processes of

designing IT architecture and providing information

and technologies to ensure the efficiency of business

processes.

Chief Architect (CA) is responsible for software

design and making key decisions on the organization

and change of IT architecture in the company. His

daily activities are focused on the technical

implementation of various projects. Traditionally, the

CA is subordinate to the CIO and performs functions

based on its technical or functional specialization.

Chief Digital Transformation Officer (CDTO)

also has a variant name – Chief Digital Officer

(CDO). CD TO coordinates the development and

implementation of the Digital Transformation

Strategy of the company's business processes [25].

Under his leadership, the digitalization of the existing

IT architecture and the architecture of business

processes is carried out. Realizing its expertise,

CDTO develops new solutions, changes business

models based on digital technologies, the

introduction of which will ensure an increase in the

efficiency of business processes. His subject area is

the introduction of digital technologies and the

adaptation of the company to changes in the digital

infrastructure.

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Chief Transformation Officer (CTO) provides

technical support for changes initiated by CDTO.

CTO's activities are aimed at ensuring flexible and

conflict-free integration of digital technologies into

the daily activities of the company's employees.

Interacting with CDTO, he monitors the processes of

acceptance of changes and is an adept of the concept

of continuous transformation. His area of

responsibility also includes the organization of

transformations of external business processes aimed

at the development of business infrastructure and

service quality.

Chief Data Officer (CDO) ensures the operation

of data management systems and controls the

interaction between data owners and product

managers in all areas of the company's activities.

Being responsible for the implementation of the Data

Management Strategy, the CDO implements a set of

tools for working with data [26]. The scope of its

activities includes operational issues on statistics of

data quality incidents, and strategic issues of

developing metrics for the effectiveness of data

management systems. The CDO implements most

aspects of its activities in cooperation with other IT

directors, while single-handedly managing projects

in the field of data management. The CDO, as a data

custodian, is the owner of business processes related

to compliance with requirements and industry

standards, and is also a partner of the CIO in the

implementation of any technical initiatives.

The types of functional roles of IT management in

the project shown in Figure 2 will be used in the

ontological model as second-order entities. In our

opinion, they fully reflect the project management

procedure and directly indicate the content and

results of the joint activities of IT directors.

To build an ontological model, the semantics of

the data on the entities included in it is important. For

this purpose, a special semantic level is formed,

which contains a description of the possible roles of

project participants and possible grounds for

interaction between them. All the presented

characteristics of IT management positions are fixed

in a specially created semantic layer and are an

integral part of the ontological model being

developed.

Description of the process of constructing an

ontological model of the subject area

Next, we will present a data model of the

ontological model being developed, which shows

how it is possible to combine entities of the meta-

ontology level and the ontology level of the subject

area. In the data model, the entities of the ontological

model are perceived as objects. This meets the

requirements of the methodology [27]. To build a

data model, we use the entities of the described

objects corresponding to the topics of the PRINCE2

methodology (Figure 1) and objects combined by the

type of functional task performed (Table 1), by the

type of functional role (Figure 2).

The data model considers the subject of

communications and the frequency of interaction

between CIOs involved in the project. A controlled

cyclic flow of information is the basis of their

interaction, that is, receiving feedback is a reaction to

the initiative of interaction expressed by one of the

parties.

Relationships between entities are shown in the

ontological model by means of connections, which,

as is known, is one of the advantages of the

ontological representation of data [6]. Connections

are formed according to a single scheme, connecting

two objects. The scheme is simple – links inherit

properties and attributes from parent objects.

Accordingly, all possible relationships between

entities of the ontological model are set using links.

Figure 3 shows how entities (by the type of functional

task in the project) are related to entities (by the type

of functional role of each IT director). The nature of

the interaction between entities is fixed in the

semantic layer, where all possible roles of project

participants are embedded.

To visualize the ontological model, we chose the

type of semantic network [28] for the following

reasons. Firstly, the semantic web is an effective

means of data visualization, allowing interactive

navigation methods to search for hidden or redundant

relationships between objects. Using a semantic

network, we use such an analysis method as VAD

(Visual Analysis Data). Accordingly, we operate not

with graphical primitives (as in the graphical

diagram), but with semantic constructions extracted

from the semantic layer, which contains descriptions

of personalities, functionality, events, relationships,

connections, and so on. Secondly, the semantic

network offers a rich choice of tools for managing its

content, starting from filtering and grouping data

about network instances and ending with the output

of data on an analytical slice in different layers and

the construction of complex chains of relationships

between objects.

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Figure 3 shows the final version of the

combination of layers on the ontological model.

Fig. 3. Visual representation of the ontological model

of the business domain in the form of a semantic

network

The project topics provided by the PRINCE2

methodology are presented in the form of the first

layer of the ontological model. A layer has also been

added containing the role of IT management in the

implementation of the business process digitalization

project. The content of the functional task performed

by each IT director according to ISO 21500:2012,

and the transfer of the result further along the chain

of interconnection for the implementation of the

project, is also represented by one of the layers of the

model. The relationships between the model objects

show the direction and nature of the relationship

between the project participants.

Further development of the developed ontological

model is associated with the development of an

information decision-making system. The domain of

knowledge represented by the business domain

ontology will be implemented into the information

architecture of the company's knowledge base as an

add-on of the project management information

system. This add-in will be responsible for

automating the process of interaction of IT

management in the project. The selected basic

characteristics of the ontological model will help to

avoid the problem of semantic heterogeneity arising

from differences between ontologies [20]. Thanks to

the ontology alignment process, it is planned to

ensure the compatibility of entities (including

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relationships and instances of objects). The ontology

machine model is proposed to be formalized by

means of a relational database (Fig. 4).

Fig. 4 - Structure of the business domain ontology

database

Each entity in a relational database is represented

by a table, and relationships between entities are

implemented through foreign keys [29]. This

approach gives a formal character to the intuitive

representation of the objects of the domain under

consideration and the connections between them,

which is the ontology of the domain.

The relational database includes a number of

interconnected tables, which greatly simplifies the

visualization of objects and relationships between

them in comparison with a conventional schema. The

Attributes table includes attributes of a set of

registered concepts classified by attribute type, the

sets of which make up the Attributes Types table. The

collection of ontology objects is distributed in tables

depending on the data type Values – text, logical,

real, integer, as well as the type of object reference.

The composition of the attributes of each concept in

the Fields table, as well as the identifiers and

descriptions of concepts in the Classes table form the

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core of the database structure. The Parents table

defines inheritance relationships between concepts.

Upon completion of modeling classes, attributes,

relationships, and hierarchy, it is necessary to fill the

ontology with instances.

Thus, we will prepare the basis for the application

of the Protégé 4.2 ontology editor, which requires a

frame model of knowledge representation. The

machine model of the concept of ontology includes

fields containing the name of the concept, the

composition of attributes and generic relations of the

concept. The attribute of the concept, in turn, is

characterized by a name, type and value.

The order of construction of a relational database

described by us, of course, does not provide data

manipulation functions, but uses the capabilities of a

relational database instead of an internal interface. In

the future, it will be necessary to determine how the

connection to the database is established. And the

extended task will have to determine how

authentication takes place and how to integrate data

from multiple databases at the same time.

The developed ontological model has been tested

in Domain Ontology Ranking System (DoORS)[30]

for two semiotic layers – semantic and social.

Satisfactory results were obtained in terms of the

quality of the definition of values and social content.

The machine model of ontology is focused on the

step-by-step formation and editing of the structure to

reflect possible future changes in the entities of the

ontological model and the relationships between

them.

3 Conclusions

The developed ontological model fulfills the task of

specifying the subject area by expressing the model

of relations between IT directors within the

framework of the initiated project on digitalization of

the company's business process. The scientific

contribution of the obtained result consists in solving,

using an ontological approach, the task of

formalizing organizational ties between IT directors

in the process of implementing a project to digitalize

the business process in the company.

As a result (the finished product in the form of a

semantic network), the ontological model provides

the user with a number of possibilities. Instead of a

declarative description of knowledge, the user gets

the advantage of categorizing and structuring the area

of knowledge. By developing this advantage and

applying the system of business domain concepts at

the conceptual, logical and graphical levels, the user

manages information flows and implements

information search and categorization functions.

If we talk about the direction of development of

the ontological model, then its application gives the

user the opportunity to identify patterns in associative

relationships and analyze the subject area from the

position of expertise. Thanks to the form of

visualization, such properties of the knowledge

system as connectivity and interpretability are

realized. The constructed semantic network also

allows the use of associative links for visual data

analysis in the process of solving optimization

problems for project management.

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