2008 International Symposium on Knowledge Acquisition and Modeling
Research on construction of the knowledge system
for software development
Feng Kang, Zhi-Ping Fan, Hong-Guo Yu, Yong Cui
School of Business Administration, Northeastern University
Shenyang 110004, China
KangF@yahoo.cn, zpfan@mail.neu.cn
Abstract
Knowledge management is the source for software
enterprises to gain the sustainable competitive advantage.
And knowledge system is a required work with strategic
significance. So the purpose of this study is to investigate a
knowledge system for software development. In this paper,
a knowledge system is constructed for software
development, which considers the demand of knowledge
during the course of software development. Firstly, the
concept and construction course of knowledge system are
described. Then, a matrix model based on software
development stages/roles is proposed, which is used to
construct the knowledge system. Based on the matrix
model, a two-dimensional knowledge system is constructed
for different stages/roles. A description model of
knowledge considering subject and object is also
developed.
Keywords—knowledge management; knowledge system;
software development; knowledge platform; matrix model
1. Introduction
When the knowledge economic time is coming,
knowledge becomes the important source for enterprises to
gain the competitive advantage [1]. Knowledge
management (KM) has been described for its possible role
in creating sustainable competitive advantages for
enterprises [2]. It can be seen as a powerful mean to
improve the core competitiveness of enterprises, and fully
realize the integration, development, sharing and value
added of knowledge resources in enterprise [3]. In order to
enhance their knowledge sharing and innovation, many
enterprises establish the knowledge platform or knowledge
management system. And the established knowledge
platforms for enterprises exactly provide relevant
personnel to seek and share knowledge. It is also
important for the environment of knowledge innovation
and knowledge application [4]. The goals and tasks of
knowledge platform are the following: obtaining
competitive advantages, service for the enterprises,
2008 IEEE International Conference on e-Business engineering (ICBE 2008)
978-0-7695-3488-6/08 $25.00 © 2008 IEEE
DOI 10.1109/KAM.2008.179
providing the environment and mechanism for knowledge
learning and knowledge service, establishing knowledge-
based interface and culture for learning-organization,
promoting organizational-learning and improving the
enterprises competitive ability. It has to be pointed out that,
in the constructing process of knowledge platform for
enterprises, and how to establish a knowledge system of
knowledge platform are necessary to be studied.
Establishment and improvement the enterprise
knowledge platform is to meet the knowledge demand of
knowledge system construction. It also will change the
knowledge from chaotic to orderly state, and will be
available to provide the appropriate knowledge to the
personnel or role which needed at the appropriate time, so
as to achieve the purpose of knowledge services. Then the
personnel or role may come into implement knowledge
interaction and innovation. At present, the researches on
knowledge system construction are very few. The
reference [5] investigates the construction of knowledge
system from the perspective of knowledge point,
knowledge chain and knowledge field.
This paper focuses on the construction of knowledge
system for software development enterprises, and provides
the construction process of knowledge system. It also
proposes a matrix model based on stages/roles of the
knowledge system from a new perspective. And based on
the matrix model, the description model is established for
different stages and different roles in software
development.
2. Construction Process and Matrix Model for
Knowledge System
2.1. Construction Process of Knowledge System
System is constitutive of a number of things by a whole
which related to mutual associate and constraints. And its
basic characteristic is interrelated of the various
components [6]. Knowledge system is such a system which
more complex. It is as a whole and component of the
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correlative and the relationship knowledge between the could be embodiment the essence of knowledge
organizations or individuals [7]. management.
In order to guide the construction work of knowledge Generally speaking, from the internal and external of
systems, we present the construction process of knowledge software development environment, the type of its roles
system as shown in Fig. 1. Based on the construction should include the internal roles and external roles. The
process of knowledge platform, it could be considered to internal role is the one whose main task is software
the core stage from beginning .In order to construct or development, including project managers and developers.
improve relevant knowledge systems, the analysis and The external role is the one out of software enterprise but
acquisition the knowledge, it should be carried through linked with internal role because of the interrelated
according to the different role. business, including investment decision-makers,
consultants or assessment experts and end-users. Table 1
shows the different roles and their main tasks [8]. Here,
corresponding to the knowledge platform, project managers
and developers are demanders and analysts for knowledge,
so we call them subject knowledge. As for investment
decision-makers and end-users are knowledge provider, so
we call them object knowledge [9].
Table 1 The Main Tasks Of Roles In Software Development
Roles Major Tasks
Be responsible for project planning, inspireation,
Project manager organizing and control the developer, as well as
coordinate resources
Developers Be responsible for developing a product
Investment Be responsible for defining the problems of
decision-maker investment and business
Consultants or Be responsible for consulting and assessing the
assessment software development and sometimes, coorperate
experts with technicians

End user Interact with software directly or use softwar

2.3 The matrix for knowledge system construction

Taking into account the two aspects of stages and roles

in software development, we present a matrix model to
construct the knowledge system as shown in Table 2. It can
be seen from Table 2 that the matrix model reflects the
different knowledge demands in different stages and roles
for software development. Therefore, the knowledge
system can be constructed based on this matrix model. At
the same time, the two aspects of stages and roles in
software development should be considered. Through such
Figure 1 The process of knowledge system construction an expression of knowledge systems which is intuitive and
easy filling, requirements of knowledge systems
2.2 The Stage Type and the classes of role in construction for software development can be easily meet.
software development Table 2 The Two Dimensional Matrix Model Based On
Software Development Stages And Roles
The life cycle of software is the whole period from
software generation to scrap. It is including problem Roles
definition, requirement analysis, software design, coding, Investment
Project Software End
debugging and testing, inspection, operation, maintenance, Stage
manager developer user
decision-
upgrades, and many other stages [10]. In this paper, the maker
referred software development stage is divided by the Requirement
analysis
process of software development. The stage is taking into
account the closed relationship of knowledge management Software design
and knowledge platform construction, and put the main Software
development
resources focusing on three stages: requirements analysis
one, software design one and software coding one, which

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3. The two-dimensional Knowledge System
Based on Software Development Stages/Roles
3.1 The knowledge system of requirements
analysis stage The knowledge system of software
requirements
analysis stage establishment is shown in Table 3, and
the subject knowledge is the initiative knowledge providers.
In general, it includes the technical employee of software
development. The project managers and the corresponding
consultants or is collaboration technical employee. The
object knowledge is refers to the knowledge passive side,
who need others to take initiatives mine and acquire
knowledge, and it is component the investments decision
makers and the end-users.
3.2 The knowledge system of software design stage
In general, software design process includes two stages:
the first stage is to generate concepts or originalities of
software design. Concepts or originalities are mainly
collectivity design and outline design generated according
to requires of customers or users, which serves as the basis
of the program realization. The second stage is to prepare
program design. In this stage, we use abstract data flow
diagram, function module design or algorithm diagram to
illustrate the concept or idea of program design, and use
object-oriented design methods to realize the simple design
of function interface. This stage is equivalent to the
detailed design, come in being a detailed design document.
According to the matrix model based on stages/roles
mentioned above, we establish the knowledge system of
software design stage shown in Table 4.

Table 3 The Knowledge System Of Different Roles In The

Software Requirement Analysis Stage
Roles
Knowledge subject Knowledge object
requirement
Stages
analyst
Project Investment
(Include End user
manager decision-maker
consultant and
assistor)
Knowledge of Knowledge of Knowledge
Knowledge of
project business process of business
strategy require
The stage of Requirement Analysis

consensus analysis description

Knowledge of Knowledge of Knowledge Knowledge of
project require analysis of commun- foreground
planning planning ication analysis
Project Knowledge knowledge
management of fields of require
experience communication Knowledge operation
Knowledge of of basic
Knowledge
commu- Knowledge of computer
of resources
nication and fields description
distribution
coordination
Knowledge of
Knowledge
require system Coordinate Knowledge of
of require
theory and knowledge risk control
description
practical

Requirements analysis is the most difficult and

important stage in software development process. It
involves a wide range of knowledge. In this stage, the most
important and valuable knowledge related to software
project can be generated, which is the important source to
achieve the function of software projects. From Table 3 we
can see that the knowledge system in the stage of
requirement analysis for software development is the
foundation of knowledge platform construction. In the
following, the knowledge description model for
subjective/object in requirements analysis stage is shown in
Figure2.
Figure 2 Knowledge supply role and requirement role model
to requirement analysis stage
From Table 4 we can see that the knowledge system for
the roles of project managers do not change in the part of
knowledge subject. Because the main works of project
managers is to coordinate all resources in this stage,
structure a good communication bridge for the staff of
requirement analysis and software design, and coordinate
the knowledge objects to satisfy these requirements for
requires of knowledge system. The knowledge system of
software designers/developers, investment decision-makers
and competitors are changed.

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 In the actual situation, we can construct the knowledge
platform according to the knowledge system shown in 3.3 The Knowledge syestem of software
Table 4 From the perspective of the knowledge subject and coding stage
object, we can integrate into the specific details, such as In general, the stage of software coding could be
corresponding knowledge source, knowledge application regarded as programs coding and coding testing stage.
and explicit knowledge, in order to further improve the Because the main work in these two stages is to form the
knowledge system construction in the stage of software following stage related to intuitive software products.
design. The description model of knowledge subject and Programs coding is to transform the software design into
object in the software design stage is shown Figure 3. the program accepted by computers. Namely, software
Table 4 Knowledge Supply Role And Requirement Role design can be expressed as a "source programming list"
Model To Software Designing Stage using a program design language. Fully understanding
Roles languages of software development, features of tools and
programming style can redound to choose the development
Knowledge Subject Knowledge Object
tools and to ensure the development quality of software
requirement
Stages analyst Investment
products, which construct a knowledge system possessed
Project Manager (Include End user Decision- by software development personnel. The purpose of
consultant and maker software testing is to find out more coding errors with
assistor) smaller cost. To achieve this purpose, the key work is to
Knowledge of Knowledge design an excellent test case including the test data and the
database of business expected output result. The key work to design an excellent
Knowledge of modeling description
test case is to understand the testing methods. Different test
The stage of software design

The audit
project consensus Knowledge of Knowledge
knowledge methods have different methods for designing test case.
object-oriented of commun-
for the stage
design ication These test methods and relevant experience are the main
of design
Knowledge of
Knowledge of knowledge content in software development stage. The
human-computer final harvest in this stage is the friendly software products.
project planning Basic
interface design
knowledge Table 5 shows the knowledge system in software
Knowledge of
Project
information
of Knowledge of development stage.
management computers resources
network and Table 5 Knowledge Supply Role And Requirement Role
experience distribution
system
Model To Software Coding Stage
Knowledge of The measure Knowledge
Knowledge of Roles
communication and knowledge of of require
risk control
coordination software design description Knowledge Subject Knowledge Object
Stages requirement analyst
Project Manager (Include consultant End user
and assistor)
Knowledge of
Knowledge of project Knowledge of
The stage of software development

optimizationand
consensus business description
search for database
The professional
Knowledge of project Knowledge of
knowledge of devel-
planning communication
opment platform
Project management Knowledge of
experience quick learning
Basic knowledge
Knowledge of Knowledge of of computers
communication and information network
coordination and system
Knowledge of require
Knowledge of team Knowledge of
system theory and
cooperative require description
practical

From Table 5, we can see that project managers’

knowledge system dose not change. In the technical level,
the knowledge system of software developers is to query
database knowledge, standardize coding and optimize
knowledge, develop the expertise knowledge of platform,
information networks and systems knowledge, and
teamwork knowledge. Coding standardization and
optimization knowledge are the experience of software
developers accumulated in a long-term. Experienced
Figure 3 Knowledge supply role and requirement role model
software developers could accomplish the content of design
to software design
scheme in a very short time, and form intuitive software

164
products. Such knowledge is the most important in the
knowledge system of knowledge platform construction.
And this kind of knowledge can accelerate the learning
speed and knowledge innovation of technical personnel by
the sharing channel.
The description model of knowledge subject/object for
software development stage is shown in Figure 4.
Figure 4 Knowledge supply role and requirement role model
to software coding
Based on the analysis mentioned above, the knowledge
system construction process of knowledge platform in
software development is to divide the stage of software
development process, and construct knowledge according
to different roles in each stage, in order to achieve the
purpose of improving the knowledge system. Although
some knowledge contents of analysis process is likely to be
changed in different software development projects, but the
basic content should be similar. The most important thing
is that these ideas and processes of knowledge system will
greatly ensure to improve the knowledge system, in order
to establish a good foundation for the knowledge platform.
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4. Conclusion
According to the knowledge system construction
problem for knowledge platform in software development,
this paper proposes a two-dimensional matrix model of
knowledge system based on different stages and roles in
software development process, and gives the corresponding
knowledge description model for knowledge subject and
object. In this paper, the construction mode of knowledge
system we proposed could satisfy the knowledge
requirement of various roles of software development
process, in order to lay a favorable foundation for
knowledge platform.
Acknowledgment
This work was partly supported by the National Science
Fund for Innovation research groups funded projects
(Project No. 70721001), and the Northeastern University
Integrated Automation of Process Industry Key
Laboratory-funded projects (Project No. JCLL-01-05),
Ministry of Education, China.
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