The Object Management Group's (OMG) Model Driven Architecture (MDA) strategy envisages a world where models play a more direct role in software production, being amenable to manipulation and transformation by machine. Model Driven Engineering (MDE) is wider in scope than MDA. MDE combines process and analysis with architecture. This article sets out a framework for model driven engineering, which can be used as a point of reference for activity in this area. It proposes an organisation of the modelling 'space' and how to locate models in that space. It discusses different kinds of mappings between models. It explains why process and architecture are tightly connected. It discusses the importance and nature of tools. It identifies the need for defining families of languages and transformations, and for developing techniques for generating/configuring tools from such definitions. It concludes with a call to align metamodelling with formal language engineering techniques.

Model Driven Engineering

In recent years, the development of domain-specific modelling languages has gained remarkable attention. This is for good reasons: A domain-specific modelling language incorporates concepts that represent domain-level knowledge. Hence, systems analysts are not forced to reconstruct these concepts from scratch. At the same time, domain-specific modelling languages contribute to model integrity, because they include already constraints that would otherwise have to be added manually. Even though there has been a considerable amount of research on developing and using domain-­specific modelling languages, there is still lack of comprehensive methods to guide the design of these languages. With respect to the complexity and risk related to developing a domain-specific modelling language, this is a serious shortfall. This research report is aimed at a contribution to filling the gap. It presents the prolegomena of a method for developing domain-specific modelling languages, which is based on the experience gathered in several language specification projects. The method consists of two main parts: a meta modelling language and a process model. The MEMO meta modelling language (MEMO MML) is specified in a further report. Therefore, its description is restricted to a brief overview. Instead, the main focus of this report is on the process model, which describes essential steps to be accounted for during the development of a domain-specific modelling language. It includes heuristics to develop requirements and meta modelling guidelines that support frequent design decisions. The description of the method is complemented by examples which are mainly taken from the design of the MEMO Organisation Modelling Language.

https://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/58163/1/716089785.pdf

Outline of a method for designing domain-specific modelling languages

This paper motivates, describes, demonstrates in use, and evaluates the Open Models Laboratory (OMiLAB) - an open digital ecosystem designed to support conceptualization and operationalization of conceptual modeling methods. The OMiLAB ecosystem is motivated by a generalized understanding of "model value" and is targeted to research and education stakeholders fulfilling various roles in a modeling method's lifecycle - modelers, domain experts, methodologists, modeling software developers, knowledge workers, model-driven software engineers etc.
While much is reported on novel modeling methods and tools for various domains, only limited knowledge is available on the conceptualization of such methods by means of a full-fledged dedicated open ecosystem and a methodology that facilitates entry points for novices, as well as an open innovation space for experienced stakeholders. This gap is maintained by the lack of an open process and platform for (a) conducting research in the field of modeling method design, (b) developing agile modeling tools and model-driven digital products, and (c) experimentation with, and dissemination of such methods & related prototypes.
OMiLAB incorporates principles, practices, procedures, tools and services required to address the forecited issues, as it aims to be the operational deployment for a conceptualization and operationalization process built on several pillars: (a) a granularly defined "Modeling Method" concept whose building blocks can be customized for the domain of choice; (b) an "Agile Modeling Method Engineering" framework supporting quick prototyping of modeling tools; (c) a model-aware “Digital Product Design Lab”; and (d) dissemination channels for reaching a global community.
Demonstration and evaluation of the OMiLAB in research is hereby carried out by two selected application cases for domains- and case-specific requirements: the iStar case for requirements engineering, and the EnterKnow case for semantic business process management systems. These two cases show the broad spectrum of modeling methods realized within the OMiLAB, ranging from conventional conceptual modeling methods (iStar) toward the model-aware development and operationalization of Digital Products (EnterKnow). Besides these exemplary cases, OMiLAB has proven to effectively satisfy requirements raised by almost 50 modeling methods, supporting researchers in designing novel modeling methods, developing tools and disseminating outcomes. The educational impact of the OMiLAB is also measured in terms of international visibility and feedback from the NEMO Summer School series, whose attendants directly interact with both the physical and virtual environments of the OMiLAB.

An Open Platform for Modeling Method Conceptualization: The OMiLAB Digital Ecosystem

Currently there is a shift from product centered enterprises to product-service centered enterprises which rely on a network of customers, suppliers and partners called enterprise ecosystems. This trend also affects the underlying IT architecture which has to integrate and provide software components (e.g. services) as well as hardware components (e.g. sensors) leading to a digital enterprise ecosystem. This digital ecosystem is complex so that modeling approaches which aim on simplifying complexity are eligible for their design and management. In the paper at hand, we show that existing enterprise modeling approaches are inappropriate for modeling digital enterprise ecosystems comprehensively. By using a case-based analysis we sketch extension points for a digital enterprise ecosystem modeling method based on ArchiMate.

Modeling Digital Enterprise Ecosystems with ArchiMate: A Mobility Provision Case Study

Current research in fields such as Business Process Management, Enterprise Architecture Management, Knowledge Management and Software Engineering raises a wide diversity of requirements for Conceptual Modelling, typically satisfied by Design Science artefacts such as modelling methods. When employed in the context of an Agile Enterprise, an underlying requirement for Conceptual Modelling agility emerges - manifested not only on model contents level, but also on modelling method level. Depending on the questions that must be answered and the systems that must be supported with modelling means, the need for agility may stem from the degree of domain-specificity, from gradual understanding of modelling possibilities, from evolving model-driven systems etc. The hereby proposed Agile Modelling Method Engineering (AMME) approach thus becomes necessary to extend the traditional perspective of “modelling through standards”; consequently, the benefits of repeatability and wide adoption are traded for responsiveness to dynamic needs identified within an Agile Enterprise.

Conceptual Modelling Methods: The AMME Agile Engineering Approach

Regardless of the application domain, both the analysis of existing systems and the creation of new systems benefit extensively from having the system modeled from a conceptual point of view in order to capture its behavioral, structural or semantic characteristics, while abstracting away irrelevant details. Depending on which relevant details are assimilated in the modeling language, modeling tools may support different degrees of domain-specificity. The boundaries of what domain-specific means are as ambiguous as the definition of a domain—it may be a business sector, a paradigm, or a narrow application area. However, some patterns and invariants are recurring across domains and this has led to the emergence of commonly used modeling languages that incorporate such fundamental concepts. This chapter focuses on the metamodeling approach for the hybridization of BPMN, ER, EPC, UML and Petri Nets within a single modeling method identified as FCML, with a proof of concept named Bee-Up implemented in OMiLAB.

Fundamental Conceptual Modeling Languages in OMiLAB

The notion of "modeling method requirements" refers to a category typically neglected by RE taxonomies and frameworks - i.e., those requirements that motivate the realization of (conceptual) modeling methods and tools. They can be considered domain-specific, in the sense that all modeling methods provide a knowledge schema for some selected application domain (narrow or broad). Besides this inherent domain-specific nature, we are investigating how the characteristics of modeling methods inform the RE perspective, and how in turn RE can support the engineering of such artifacts. Thus, the work at hand aims to raise awareness about modeling method requirements in the RE community. The core contribution is the CoChaCo (Concept-Characteristic-Connector) method for the representation and management of such requirements, as well as for streamlining with subsequent engineering phases. CoChaCo is itself a modeling method - i.e., it achieves its goals through diagrammatic modeling means for which a supporting tool was prototyped and evolved. The proposal originates in required support for the initial phase of the Agile Modeling Method Engineering (AMME) methodology, which was successfully applied in developing a variety of project-specific modeling tools. From this accumulated experience, awareness of "modeling method requirements" emerged and informed the design decisions of CoChaCo.

A Metamodeling Approach to Support the Engineering of Modeling Method Requirements

This work presents the bee-up tool, which has been developed with teaching about conceptual models and modelling in mind and used as such for several semesters. It is an implementation which integrates several modelling languages that gained wide popularity and further extends them in one overarching meta-model. Among others the included modelling languages are the Business Process Model and Notation (bPMN), Event-driven Process Chains (ePC), Entity-Relationship models (eR), the Unified Modeling Language (uML) and petri Nets, giving bee-up its name. Besides allowing the creation of models, bee-up also provides functionality for gaining the value of models and means to extend the available functionality by the user.

/pdf/bee-up-a-teaching-tool-for-fundamental-conceptual-modelling-4ghbr2117e.pdf

bee-up – A teaching tool for fundamental conceptual modelling

Conceptual modelling is a technique that is essential for building enterprise information systems. The reason is not only because software systems have to be built, but also since domain-specific requirements coming from the application area should be represented adequately. For this reason, different modelling languages for data modelling, process modelling, and systems modelling are developed. In this case study, we deal with the fundamental conceptual modelling languages, like BPMN, EPC, ER, UML, and Petri Nets. Tool support through Bee-Up is also given (www.omilab.org). This case study focuses on the domain of beekeeping throughout different areas, like the production of honey, bees in general, and beekeepers (called Imker in German).

Patrik Burzynski

Papers

Fundamental Conceptual Modeling Languages in OMiLAB

A Metamodeling Approach to Support the Engineering of Modeling Method Requirements

bee-up – A teaching tool for fundamental conceptual modelling

Practice Conceptual Modelling with the Bee-Up Tool