Metamodels for Model-Driven Development - Requirement and Usage

Within software engineering, there are several standardisation activities aiming at developing the best general process metamodel. Two candidate standards are SPEM (of OMG) and SMSDM (of ISO/IEC). This paper studies each of these metamodels with respect to model-driven development (MDD), evaluating their domain appropriateness and comprehensibility appropriateness. The conclusion is that both metamodels are appropriate for the MDD domain, but SPEM is less comprehensible than SMSDM. A third criterion, technical actor appropriateness, should be evaluated for these metamodels when used in automated process modeling tools. Such tools should enable the combination of different process frameworks, by instantiating reusable process elements and tying them together to form tailored process models. Metamodel interoperability is required for this purpose.

Oppdragsgiver The Modelware Project (FP6-2003-IST-2-511731)