A product line architecture for workflow management systems with component-based development
29 Oct 2003-pp 112-119
TL;DR: This paper presents a component-based product line architecture for workflow management systems based on Catalysis that was evaluated with Rapide simulation tools, avoiding implementation details.
Abstract: This paper presents a component-based product line architecture for workflow management systems. The process followed to design the proposed architecture was based on Catalysis. Extensions were made to represent variability across the process. The domain of workflow management systems has been shown to be appropriate to the application of the product line approach as there are a standard architecture and models established by a regulatory board, the Workflow Management Coalition. In addition, there is a demand for similar workflow management systems but with some different features. The proposed architecture was evaluated with Rapide simulation tools. The evaluation was based on selected scenarios, thus, avoiding implementation details.
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TL;DR: It is found that a large majority of the reported VM approaches in SPLE have not been sufficiently evaluated using scientifically rigorous methods, and further investigations need to pay more attention to the contexts under which different approaches can be more beneficial.
Abstract: ContextVariability management (VM) is one of the most important activities of software product-line engineering (SPLE), which intends to develop software-intensive systems using platforms and mass customization. VM encompasses the activities of eliciting and representing variability in software artefacts, establishing and managing dependencies among different variabilities, and supporting the exploitation of the variabilities for building and evolving a family of software systems. Software product line (SPL) community has allocated huge amount of effort to develop various approaches to dealing with variability related challenges during the last two decade. Several dozens of VM approaches have been reported. However, there has been no systematic effort to study how the reported VM approaches have been evaluated. ObjectiveThe objectives of this research are to review the status of evaluation of reported VM approaches and to synthesize the available evidence about the effects of the reported approaches. MethodWe carried out a systematic literature review of the VM approaches in SPLE reported from 1990s until December 2007. ResultsWe selected 97 papers according to our inclusion and exclusion criteria. The selected papers appeared in 56 publication venues. We found that only a small number of the reviewed approaches had been evaluated using rigorous scientific methods. A detailed investigation of the reviewed studies employing empirical research methods revealed significant quality deficiencies in various aspects of the used quality assessment criteria. The synthesis of the available evidence showed that all studies, except one, reported only positive effects. ConclusionThe findings from this systematic review show that a large majority of the reported VM approaches have not been sufficiently evaluated using scientifically rigorous methods. The available evidence is sparse and the quality of the presented evidence is quite low. The findings highlight the areas in need of improvement, i.e., rigorous evaluation of VM approaches. However, the reported evidence is quite consistent across different studies. That means the proposed approaches may be very beneficial when they are applied properly in appropriate situations. Hence, it can be concluded that further investigations need to pay more attention to the contexts under which different approaches can be more beneficial.
256 citations
Proceedings Article•
17 Oct 2005TL;DR: A UML-based process for variability management that allows identification, representation and delimitation of variabilities as well as identification of mechanisms for variability implementation and offers better support for variability tracing is presented.
Abstract: The software product line approach (PL) promotes the generation of specific products from a set of core assets for a given domain. This approach is applicable to domains in which products have well-defined commonalities and variation points. Variability management is concerned with the management of the differences between products throughout the PL lifecycle. This paper presents a UML-based process for variability management that allows identification, representation and delimitation of variabilities as well as identification of mechanisms for variability implementation. The process is illustrated with excerpts of a case study carried out within the context of an existing PL for the Workflow Management System (WfMS) domain. The case study was carried out based on the experimental software engineering concepts. The results have shown that the proposed process has made explicit a higher number of variabilities than does the existing PL process, and it offers better support for variability tracing.
65 citations
Cites methods or result from "A product line architecture for wor..."
...This case study together with the results of previous work [6] made it possible to create an experimental baseline for a PL....
[...]
...The context of the case study was an existing component-based product line for Workflow Management Systems (WfMS) [6], [7]....
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...The process was conceived within the context of an existing component-based product line for Workflow Management Systems (WfMS) [6], [7]....
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...Feature Modelling – In previous work [6], we did not use the feature model because we gave priority to modifying a traditional software process, to reduce the impact of a PL adoption....
[...]
TL;DR: It was found that PLs only partially address the BPM lifecycle since the last business process phase is not a current concern on the found approaches, indicating that PL approaches for BPM are still at an early stage and gaining maturity.
Abstract: ContextBusiness Process Management (BPM) is a potential domain in which Software Product Line (PL) can be successfully applied. Including the support of Service-oriented Architecture (SOA), BPM and PL may help companies achieve strategic alignment between business and IT. ObjectivePresenting the results of a study undertaken to seek and assess PL approaches for BPM through a Systematic Literature Review (SLR). Moreover, identifying the existence of dynamic PL approaches for BPM. MethodA SLR was conducted with four research questions formulated to evaluate PL approaches for BPM. Results63 papers were selected as primary studies according to the criteria established. From these primary studies, only 15 papers address the specific dynamic aspects in the context evaluated. Moreover, it was found that PLs only partially address the BPM lifecycle since the last business process phase is not a current concern on the found approaches. ConclusionsThe found PL approaches for BPM only cover partially the BPM lifecycle, not taking into account the last phase which restarts the lifecycle. Moreover, no wide dynamic PL proposal was found for BPM, but only the treatment of specific dynamic aspects. The results indicate that PL approaches for BPM are still at an early stage and gaining maturity.
60 citations
01 Jan 2005
TL;DR: A UML-based process for variability management that allows identification, representation and delimitation of variabilities; and, identification of mechanisms for variability implementation is presented.
Abstract: The software product line (PL) approach promotes the generation of specific products from a set of core assets for a given domain. This approach is applicable to domains in which products have well-defined commonalities and variation points. Variability management is concerned with the management of the differences between products throughout the PL lifecycle. This paper presents a UML-based process for variability management that allows identification, representation and delimitation of variabilities; and, identification of mechanisms for variability implementation. The evaluation of the process was carried out as a case study within the context of an existing PL for the Workflow Management System (WfMS) domain. The results have shown that the proposed process includes well-defined control mechanisms that increase the possibility of identifying and tracing variabilities.
6 citations
Cites background or methods or result from "A product line architecture for wor..."
...This case study together with the results of previous work (Gimenes et al., 2003) made it possible to create an experimental baseline for a PL....
[...]
...The design of the product line for WfMS (Gimenes et al., 2003) was mainly based on the Catalysis method (D’Souza and Wills, 1999)....
[...]
...Feature Modeling: in previous work (Gimenes et al., 2003), we did not use the feature model because we gave priority to modify a traditional software process to reduce the impact of a PL adoption....
[...]
...The evaluation of the process was carried out as a case study within the context of an existing PL for the Workflow Management System (WfMS) domain....
[...]
...This section presents the PL for WfMS used as a basis to design the proposed process for variability management....
[...]
01 Jan 2012
4 citations
References
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01 Jan 1999
TL;DR: The Unified Modeling Language Reference Manual as discussed by the authors provides an excellent real-world guide to working with UML, from structured design methods of the '60s and '70s to the competing object-oriented design standards that were unified to create UML.
Abstract: Written by the three pioneers behind the Unified Modeling Language (UML) standard, The Unified Modeling Language Reference Manual provides an excellent real-world guide to working with UML. This title provides expert knowledge on all facets of today's UML standard, helping developers who are encountering UML on the job for the first time to be more productive. The book begins with a history of UML, from structured design methods of the '60s and '70s to the competing object-oriented design standards that were unified in 1997 to create UML. For the novice, the authors illustrate key diagram types such as class, use case, state machine, activity, and implementation. (Of course, learning these basic diagram types is what UML is all about. The authors use an easy-to-understand ticket-booking system for many of their examples.) After a tour of basic document types, The Unified Modeling Language Reference Manual provides an alphabetical listing of more than 350 UML terms. Entries range from a sentence or two to several pages in length. (Class, operation, and use case are just a few of the important terms that are covered.) Though you will certainly need to be acquainted with software engineering principles, this reference will serve the working software developer well. As the authors note, this isn't UML for Dummies, but neither is it an arcane academic treatise. The authors succeed in delivering a readable reference that will answer any UML question, no matter how common or obscure. --Richard Dragan
4,531 citations
01 Nov 1990
TL;DR: This report will establish methods for performing a domain analysis and describe the products of the domain analysis process to illustrate the application of domain analysis to a representative class of software systems.
Abstract: : Successful Software reuse requires the systematic discovery and exploitation of commonality across related software systems. By examining related software systems and the underlying theory of the class of systems they represent, domain analysis can provide a generic description of the requirements of that class of systems and a set of approaches for their implementation. This report will establish methods for performing a domain analysis and describe the products of the domain analysis process. To illustrate the application of domain analysis to a representative class of software systems, this report will provide a domain analysis of window management system software.
4,420 citations
Book•
01 Dec 1998
TL;DR: This title provides expert knowledge on all facets of today's UML standard, helping developers who are encountering UML on the job for the first time to be more productive.
Abstract: Written by the three pioneers behind the Unified Modeling Language (UML) standard, The Unified Modeling Language Reference Manual provides an excellent real-world guide to working with UML. This title provides expert knowledge on all facets of today's UML standard, helping developers who are encountering UML on the job for the first time to be more productive. The book begins with a history of UML, from structured design methods of the '60s and '70s to the competing object-oriented design standards that were unified in 1997 to create UML. For the novice, the authors illustrate key diagram types such as class, use case, state machine, activity, and implementation. (Of course, learning these basic diagram types is what UML is all about. The authors use an easy-to-understand ticket-booking system for many of their examples.) After a tour of basic document types, The Unified Modeling Language Reference Manual provides an alphabetical listing of more than 350 UML terms. Entries range from a sentence or two to several pages in length. (Class, operation, and use case are just a few of the important terms that are covered.) Though you will certainly need to be acquainted with software engineering principles, this reference will serve the working software developer well. As the authors note, this isn't UML for Dummies, but neither is it an arcane academic treatise. The authors succeed in delivering a readable reference that will answer any UML question, no matter how common or obscure. --Richard Dragan
3,456 citations
TL;DR: This paper provides a high-level overview of the current workflow management methodologies and software products and discusses how distributed object management and customized transaction management can support further advances in the commercial state of the art in this area.
Abstract: Today's business enterprises must deal with global competition, reduce the cost of doing business, and rapidly develop new services and products. To address these requirements enterprises must constantly reconsider and optimize the way they do business and change their information systems and applications to support evolving business processes. Workflow technology facilitates these by providing methodologies and software to support (i) business process modeling to capture business processes as workflow specifications, (ii) business process reengineering to optimize specified processes, and (iii) workflow automation to generate workflow implementations from workflow specifications. This paper provides a high-level overview of the current workflow management methodologies and software products. In addition, we discuss the infrastructure technologies that can address the limitations of current commercial workflow technology and extend the scope and mission of workflow management systems to support increased workflow automation in complex real-world environments involving heterogeneous, autonomous, and distributed information systems. In particular, we discuss how distributed object management and customized transaction management can support further advances in the commercial state of the art in this area.
1,687 citations
Book•
01 May 2000
TL;DR: This chapter discusses Software Architecture and Product Lines and the design of Software Architectures and its transformation into Family-Based System Development.
Abstract: 1. Software Architecture and Product Lines. I. THE DESIGNING OF SOFTWARE ARCHITECTURES. 2. Design of Software Architectures. 3. Software Architectural Design: Case Studies. 4. Functionality-Based Architectural Design. 5. Assessing Software Architectures. 6. Transformation of Software Architectures. II. SOFTWARE PRODUCT LINES. 7. Software Product Lines: An Introduction. 8. Software Product Lines: Case Studies. 9. Designing a Product-Line Architecture. 10. Developing Components: Traditional. 11. Developing Components: Object-Oriented Frameworks. 12. Family-Based System Development. 13. Evolving Product-Line Assets. 14. Organizing for Software Product Lines. 15. Industrial Experiences. References. Index.
1,305 citations