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Where does model-driven engineering help? Experiences from three industrial cases

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Abstract

There have been few experience reports from industry on how Model-Driven Engineering (MDE) is applied and what the benefits are. This paper summarizes the experiences of three large industrial participants in a European research project with the objective of developing techniques and tools for applying MDE on the development of large and complex software systems. The participants had varying degrees of previous experience with MDE. They found MDE to be particularly useful for providing abstractions of complex systems at multiple levels or from different viewpoints, for the development of domain-specific models that facilitate communication with non-technical experts, for the purposes of simulation and testing, and for the consumption of models for analysis, such as performance-related decision support and system design improvements. From the industrial perspective, a methodology is considered to be useful and cost-efficient if it is possible to reuse solutions in multiple projects or products. However, developing reusable solutions required extra effort and sometimes had a negative impact on the performance of tools. While the companies identified several benefits of MDE, merging different tools with one another in a seamless development environment required several transformations, which increased the required implementation effort and complexity. Additionally, user-friendliness of tools and the provision of features for managing models of complex systems were identified as crucial for a wider industrial adoption of MDE.

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Abbreviations

API:

Application Programming Interface

BPM:

Business Process Modelling

DSL:

Domain-Specific Language

DSML:

Domain-Specific Modelling Language

GUI:

Graphical User Interface

MBT:

Model-Based Testing

MDE:

Model-Driven Engineering

MDPE:

Model-Driven Performance Engineering

OMG:

Object Management Group

SOA:

Service-Oriented Architecture

UML:

Unified Modeling Language

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. SINTEF, and Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Oslo, Norway

    Parastoo Mohagheghi

  2. SAP Research Center, Belfast, UK

    Wasif Gilani & Mathias Fritzsche

  3. University of Pitesti, Pitesti, Romania

    Alin Stefanescu

  4. Ericsson, Valladolid, Spain

    Miguel A. Fernandez

  5. WesternGeco, Asker, Norway

    Bjørn Nordmoen

Authors
  1. Parastoo Mohagheghi
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  2. Wasif Gilani
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  3. Alin Stefanescu
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  4. Miguel A. Fernandez
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  5. Bjørn Nordmoen
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  6. Mathias Fritzsche
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Parastoo Mohagheghi.

Additional information

Communicated by Prof. Perdita Stevens.

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Mohagheghi, P., Gilani, W., Stefanescu, A. et al. Where does model-driven engineering help? Experiences from three industrial cases. Softw Syst Model 12, 619–639 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10270-011-0219-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10270-011-0219-7

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