Defining the semantics of IT Service Management Models Using OWL and SWRL

Abstract

Service management is a set of specialized organizational capabilities that provide value to customers in the form of services. Many organizations are aware of the need to adopt best practices in order to create an effective IT Service Management (ITSM) for enabling Business and IT integration. However, the reuse and interchange of service models is still quite limited in the area of IT service support due to the problems in connecting with natural language. In this context, this paper presents the ITIL-based Service Management Model aimed at capturing ITSM best practices by means of a formal ontology-based business DSL (Domain-Specific Language). We show how this DSL can be formally represented adopting the Web Ontology Language (OWL) and the Semantic Web Rule Language (SWRL). This ontology will precisely define the semantics associated to IT service management models, enabling different tools to interchange them without ambiguities. These models will be defined just in terms of the business logic, without any architectural or platform-specific consideration. That is, according to the OMG's four-layered architecture, the proposed model could be placed at a CIM level.