Ontological modeling rules for UML: An empirical assessment

The Unified Modeling Language (UML) is widely accepted as the de-facto standard for object-oriented information systems (IS) design and software modeling. Recent research has proposed to extend the use of UML to conceptual modeling of application domains. Conceptual models serve both as the basis for communication and domain understanding among analysts, and as the starting point for IS software design. Prior research has proposed a set of modeling rules to provide the analyst or modeler with guidelines for using UML for conceptual modeling. This paper provides an empirical assessment of the benefits derived from using these modeling rules. Using an experimental study involving 53 subjects, it examines the effects of different levels of modeling rule application on application domain understanding. The results show statistically significant differences in the level of domain understanding that was derived from the various models.